In football, a blitz occurs when a defensive player charges the quarterback with the goal of forcing the football from his hands by any means necessary.
After making decorations for their Crocs with clay and rhinestones, Sheri and Rich Schmelzer and their kids started selling them to family and friends. They took out a home equity loan, set up an assembly line manufacturing plant in their basement and hit the trade show circuit. A year later, they had sold over 8 million Jibbitz decorations. While I could not verify it at their website, I have read that they set out from the start to form a company that could eventually be sold to Crocs, Inc. In October 2006, Crocs announced their purchase of Jibbitz, LLC for up to $10 million based on hitting certain financial targets.
People buy Crocs in part because they can choose their favorite colors. Jibbitz products heighten the Crocs experience by allowing consumers to further personalize shoes that they already feel emotionally connected to. So here's the tip. Invent a product that complements an existing product and perform a blitz of your own.
My kids have been asking for Crocs for months. Today, I finally got them some. We also got a Jibbitz (at $2.49 or $2.95 depending on whether they were licensed Disney characters) for each shoe. $2.49 x 8 million — and that was last year.
Now that's what I call a blitz.