Experience I WORK & PLAY
Retro revival
Rachel and Justin Bernhaut of Jack N’ Jill toothpaste. LEFT: Grug and his creator Ted Prior.
their children, but needed something to do when they arrived. They found the answer in their own backyard: giving life back to a toothpaste brand that had long since dried up. Justin’s pharmacist dad, Adam, had bought Jack N’ Jill toothpaste from Sigma pharmacies back in 1949, but in the ’90s it it was no longer his main focus and the brand faded from public attention. “We couldn’t find a
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toothpaste that was safe enough for our kids,” says Rachel. “I wanted the safest toothpaste out there, and also a tube that was not an eyesore in the bathroom.” So, after taking on the name familiar to many children of the ’70s and ’80s, they got clever with the marketing and developed a toothpaste that kids could swallow. They repaired the original mid-century equipment and made
50,000 tubes of it. “We set up our stand at an organic trade show in Sydney and it took off from there,” Rachel says. Justin says the success of Jack N’ Jill has completely blown them away, and the natural toothpaste is now sold in 35 countries. “The great thing about it is that we can see how much more we can do. Think all oral care for babies and families. We’ve got some interesting plans. It’s really exciting,” he says.
There are some other childhood-related companies that have staged remarkable comebacks. Here are just a few we’ve discovered. SURE-FOOTED There’s no doubt that kids look cool in a pair of Converse, but after filing for bankruptcy back in 2001, it was looking as though a generation would miss out. Nike acquired Converse in 2003. COOL IDEAS Have children? Heard of a little movie called Frozen? Does “massive success” come to mind? A couple of duds after the Lion King saw Disney heading downwards in the popularity stakes. Upset? They could let it go, thanks to Tangled and Frozen. JUST MARVELLOUS Marvel Comics almost went bust in the 1990s, but turned to film and linked all its characters together. The result? A giant superhuman powered force field of success. GAME CHANGER I still have my Game & Watch (circa 1980-1982). The Game Boy (1989) was super popular, too, but things weren’t so crash-hot for Nintendo when Sony and Microsoft launched the PS2 and Xbox. Eventually the Nintendo DS and the Wii (2007) were released and life for Nintendo, and gamers, was good again.
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11/07/2016 1:41 PM