Young Inventors at Inventionland
Alex Petrie (left) and Ryan Young (right) with their winning product “Insole Patrol.”
Creating a new product can be extremely exciting and have its ups and downs, however a lot of work goes into it. After actually making the invention, promoting, packaging, pricing, and much more has to take place. Who will the product be sold to? Where will it be sold? How can consumers give feedback?
Mrs. Butler’s marketing students made their second trip back to Inventionland on January 15, 2019 to present their inventions to a panel of judges. The classes first went in September to tour the building that they would be presenting in at the end of the semester. Each team began work in November to brainstorm a problem and come up with a product to solve their problem. Thirteen teams presented their invention to the judges, and out of those teams only one winner was chosen, based on their idea, process, and presentation.
Alex Petrie and Ryan Young won the competition with their product “Insole Patrol.”
The name of their product came from the idea of the insole protecting from a negative force, which in this case was foot odor.
Young and Petrie’s brainstorming process was not an easy road. They had to think of and test out multiple ideas.
“We ran into many problems throughout the production process such as raising the arch of the insole too high, and making the insole too thick to fit into a shoe. We were able to test out multiple ideas by using materials that limited both the thickness and width of the insole,” Young said.
The team went through three prototypes, correcting previous mistakes with each new prototype.
“Our main struggle was finding the most compact and simple way to create a pouch for the insole to have a customizable and removable scented and deodorizing stick, that is, Sole Stix, our co-product,” Young said.
Sole Stix is a brand of different scented deodorizing sticks that Young and Petrie used in the insoles.
One of the requirements for the Inventionland project this semester was to take advantage of the technology available to us in the library, meaning the laser engraver/cutter, 3D printer, etc.
“We utilized the technology available in the library maker-space. With the help of Miss Riebel, we were able to engrave our logo and product name onto the insole,” Young said.
Young and Petrie went above and beyond with their product. Most groups in the classes had either three or four members, but they decided to just stick to two. They were able to understand each other better, and got a feel for what they wanted with their product. They were able to stay together throughout the whole process, not having to split up for any of the class periods.
With just Petrie and Young working together, it allowed them to create a bond that some other groups did not have. This bond also gave them a boost for their presentation.
“The communication and teamwork needed for this project really taught [Young and Petrie] valuable skills that we can benefit from for the rest of our lives,” Young said.
The hardest part of the project, and the most nerve wrecking was the presentation. Trying to sell your newly invented product to three judges [Mr. Princeton, Mrs. Shannon, and George Davidson] can be terrifying. Petrie and Young were prepared and confident.
They started off their presentation with a brief skit, pretending to be a criminal and an officer with the criminal getting arrested for having odorous feet, then tying their pitch into it.
“Our main goal before presenting to the judges was making sure that we were comfortable in our own skin and that we didn’t hold back in any way. We wanted to stand out right from the beginning and we made sure our entrance was something the judges wouldn’t forget,” Young said.
Petrie and Young are unsure of what they want to do moving forward with their product, but would love to get the name out there, now that they have won the competition. Since their group won, they are going to be going back to Inventionland to compete with winners from other schools in the regional competition. They will now be able to say that they are the proud owners of the Insole Patrol.
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