What product failed in the market but was successful when used for something else?
Last Updated: 03.07.2025 00:41
Alfred Fielding and Marc Chavannes sealed two shower curtains together in 1957 - The trapped air bubbles made bad wallpaper, nobody wanted it, there was no need.
They called it Bubble Wrap, it protected things.
Sealed Air Corporation, the company Fielding and Chavannes started, offered their product, IBM said yes. The bubble-filled plastic protected the machines - It worked.
*The goal was to make wallpaper, they failed.
They tried selling it as greenhouse insulation, it failed again - the market said no. Then IBM needed something to protect their new computers during shipping -- The machines were expensive, they were fragile, the old packaging did not work well enough.
That was the truth of it, simple, direct, useful — By 1960, Bubble Wrap had found its purpose, not as wallpaper, not as insulation, but as protection for fragile items in transit.
Today, Sealed Air Corporation makes over $5 billion in annual revenue, failure became their fortune--Their mistake became their mission.