Editor’s note: This article was first published in December 2013. It was written in 2013, and whether Funkybod still trades and its range is still as described may have changed.
A few months ago we came across the creator of Funkybod, a British company that makes a kind of padded undershirt that gives you fake pecs, biceps, triceps and shoulders, to the point of giving men what looks like a gym-honed body.
Ash Bhunnoo explained how he came up with the idea: most men want a good gym body but don’t have much time or desire to work out, so he thought that if women can fool men with push-up bras that add a cup size or with shapewear that moulds the figure, why couldn’t a man do the same?
After all, we live in a world where first impressions are physical: a couple sit down on their first date, she in a Wonderbra and he in his Funkybod shirt. Both have time to earn points for inner beauty before things get intimate.
The idea was a huge success, to the point that Bhunnoo has expanded his range of shirts.
But if we look at why it succeeded, we might find an explanation that can be very useful when thinking up other ideas.
When I talked about this man, people asked me what exactly he sold, and some answered that he sold padded shirts. And yes, that is what sells, but that is not where the success of his business lies.
Funkybod sells one of the most profitable businesses there is: “false appearances, so you can have without effort what others have through effort”.
In other words, in this life we cannot have what a millionaire has without first working hard. We cannot get a degree without studying, and we cannot learn a subject without devoting time to it. But this entrepreneur has managed to focus his business on something he can sell you so that you have what someone else has without any effort, even if only in appearance.
Anyone looking for a business idea only has to apply this concept to another product.
It may seem silly to many, but if Coca-Cola only sold you a soft drink, the company would have disappeared long ago.
Further reading
- The invisible girlfriend and the coffee nobody drinks: 2 ideas
- 5 new business ideas
- 6 futuristic clothing ideas already under way
Featured image: unknown author, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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