Wife's Marketing Prowess Helped Edison See the Light

It is well known that Thomas Edison was an inventor, a genius, and he never slept. Did you know that Mrs. Edison was a genius and never slept too? She was the marketing guru behind his engineering success.True, Tom had discovered what is today known as the light bulb. When he showed it to the Mrs. Mina Edison, his second wife, she asked "what are you going to call it?"

Tom said. "I call it an affordable electrical home-lighting device."

"Great," she responded, "with a name like that it will sit on the shelf at the patent office. We will just add it to the other money-losing patents you have conceived."

"How will people know what it does? She asked sarcastically, "From its name? You need a short catchy description that customers (yes, even in the 1880s they were already called customers) will immediately identify with."

This time Tom listened. The English inventor, Sir Joseph Swan, his arch rival, was ready to introduce a similar device and he did not want to lose out this time.

Mrs. Edison started grilling her husband. "Why will people want to buy your affordable electrical home-lighting device?" "Well, it has the incandescence of 81 candles or 2.3 gas-burning lamps." he proudly answered.

"Tom, I keep on telling you that those are features. Customers don't buy features; they buy benefits," she said. "How will this device benefit people?"

"They will be able to stay up later and read more books," he offered.

She glared at him. "Are you telling me that people will invest tens of dollars to bring wires into their houses to connect to your affordable electrical home-lighting device just to be able to read the latest Mark Twain novel?, she said. "I don't think so. My research shows that only 18 percent of adults can read on an eighth-grade level."

She decided to bring in some of her neighbors and ask them their opinions of the device (history records this as the first documented focus group). Their comments were invaluable:

"I will be able to put make-up on before school," said the high school debutante.

A little 4-year old girl shyly whispered that she would be able sleep at night and not be afraid of the dark with an affordable electrical home-lighting device glowing in the hallway.

As always it was the female head of the households who saw the benefits most evidently. "No more soot from the oil lamps means cleaner floors and therefore less of a need to wash and wax daily. Why with the extra time, I would be able to go to school and get a degree and work independently and therefore have the money I need to leave my husband," one said.

Mrs. Edison was excited. This affordable electrical home-lighting device could finally make her husband an entrepreneurial success. However the focus group balked at the name. No way could they see themselves walking into one of those new Woolworth five-and-dime stores and asking for a dozen affordable electrical home-lighting devices.

Mrs. Edison would not let them leave. "So what would you call it?," she asked in desperation.

The responses were flying, "How about a non-candle lighting device" or a "Man-made bumble bee, or a ..."

The little 4-year-old girl said it looked like her dad's bald head. He had started shaving his entire head for some unknown reason, and it gave off lots of light. Why not call it a bald light or a light bald?

People stared nodding. They said the name was different and it would create a lot of buzz. They could see people walking into a store and asking for a box of light baldsPeople stared nodding. They said the name was different and it would create a lot of buzz. They could see people walking into a store and asking for a box of light balds.

So the obvious question is: "How did light balds become what are today universally known as light bulbs?"

Beats me.

Hesh Reinfeld writes a syndicated business humor column. You can read additional examples of his columns on his website: http://www.heshreinfeld.com Or contact him at hesh1@comcast.net