New product ideas come from the darndest places. Last month, Benjamin Stern, a 16 year-old out of Melbourne, FL swam with the sharks—”Shark Tank” sharks that is—to fund his personal care venture.

Young Benjamin’s patent-pending invention is Nohbo, billed as the world’s first single-use, eco-friendly shampoo ball. Each ball of Nohbo is wrapped in a biodegradable plant-based material suitable for composting. Down the road, Stern says he’ll roll out conditioner, body wash and shave cream in the same no-bottle-needed, single dose format. Shark Mark Cuban liked the kid’s idea so much, he gave Stern $100,000 for 25% of the company—contingent on Nohbo receiving patent protection.

Successful new products have always been a company’s lifeblood, and that’s never been truer than today, when consumers have so many choices—and so many of them miss the mark. According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (see p. 14 in this issue), consumer experience with purchased goods and services is worse than ever. Couple that with recent Procter & Gamble data that shows the dramatic shift from mass to e-commerce, and it’s clear the answer to the questions how and why consumers buy our products are changing—faster than most of us care to realize.

What works today, won’t work tomorrow. P&G’s new CEO David Taylor admitted just that when he faced financial analysts for the first time last month. Taylor agreed that the company has been slow to react to changing consumer habits and vowed to make major changes in that area.

For business executives who think like young Benjamin Stern, they’re still having a ball no matter what tomorrow brings. Sun care formulators always seem like they’re having a good time, don’t they? They make something we need and something we use. Sales are always growing; so it’s no wonder that more companies are entering the category.

Our annual look at the sun care market starts on p. 76 in this issue. For new ideas in OTC and color cosmetics, turn to p. 55 and p. 69, respectively. And, if you’re thinking about the next big thing in skin care, read more about airborne antagonists on p. 60.

Tom Branna
Editorial Director
[email protected]