Something that every grade school kid knows: you need to have a Trapper Keeper to be cool. Things that no grade school kid knows: Trapper Keepers are pure case study of the importance of research, strategy, focus groups and quantitative analysis. Which makes them even cooler.

Trapper Keepers have been keeping kids organized since 1978 and their success isn’t an accident. As inventor E. Bryant Crutchfield says,

“[The Trapper Keeper] was no accident,” he tells mental_floss. “It was the most scientific and pragmatically planned product ever in that industry.”

Working with Harvard researchers, the inventor of the Trapper Keeper conducted situational analysis to determine that the number of school-aged children would be increasing in the coming years. That, coupled with the rising sales in portfolios, gave Crutchfield  the idea for a new way to hold an organize school supplies.

Next came market research. After creating a prototype, Crutchfield test marketed the early version to teachers to see if they thought it would be  a useful tool. After a resounding ‘yes’, he moved into more intense focus groups and product testing for more than a year.

From there, Crutchfield moved into advertising – filming a commercial and soliciting feedback, in the form of a comment card, from the parents and children who purchased the product. He understood the importance of continual customer feedback to adapt and change to meet the changing needs of the market. 

And the rest, as they say, is history.  But perhaps my favorite part is the story of how Trapper Keeper got its name. Because (and here is where I provide you with a little insight into my own strategic process) no matter how data-driven and scientific a product launch might be, there is always a human element to it. In Trapper Keeper’s case, there were two human – drinking martinis – when the name was decided.

Makes you love the strategic research process even more, right? Save the martinis for after work but, other than that, your next product launch or marketing initiative will benefit from Trapper Keeper’s example.