industry toys founded 1948 founder richard knerr and arthur spud melin key people kyle aguilar ceo owner jeff hsieh website http www.wham o.com wham o former headquarters in emeryville wham o inc. is an american toy company in woodland hills california united states . they are known for marketing many popular toys in the past 60 years including the hula hoop the frisbee the slip n slide the super ball the trac ball silly string the hacky sack and the boogie board . 1 contents 1 corporate history 2 timeline 3 products and marketing 4 other products 5 strategy 6 references 7 external links corporate history edit richard knerr and arthur spud melin two university of southern california college graduates unhappy with their employment began the company in 1948 as wham o mfg. co. in the knerr family garage in south pasadena . their first product was the wham o slingshot made of ash wood which knerr and melin would promote by showing off their own skills at demonstrations . the powerful slingshot was used by clubs for competitive target shooting as well as for small game hunting . 2 the name wham o was based on the sound of the slingshot s shot hitting the target . 3 when they outgrew the garage they rented a building on s. marengo ave in alhambra california in 1955 the company eventually moved its manufacturing plant to neighboring san gabriel california . timeline edit frisbee political campaign advertisement designed by san francisco based advertising executive bob gardner of gardner communications as part of u.s. president gerald ford s 1976 advertising team and given to ford at the 1976 republican national convention . 4 at the time gardner s company also held the frisbee advertising account . 4 1948 wham o founded for about a year in the fifties the company tries to brand their sporting goods under the name wamo . the sporting goods buyers don t care for the switch so it is soon dropped . 1957 wham o acquires the rights to the flyin saucer frisbee from fred morrison . 1958 hula hoop first marketed by wham o. 1958 the hula hoop craze occurs . 1958 flying saucer frisbee sales improve . 1961 slip n slide first manufactured by wham o. 1965 super ball first manufactured by wham o. 1982 wham o was purchased by kransco group companies . 1994 mattel buys wham o from kransco . 1995 wham o buys aspectus . 1997 wham o becomes independent again when a group of investors purchases the company from mattel . 2002 arthur spud melin dies . january 2006 wham o is sold for us 80 million to cornerstone overseas investment limited a chinese company that owns or controls five factories in china . that same month wham o donates the office files photographs and films of dan stork roddick dir . sports promotion 1975 1994 to western historical manuscript collection midwest disc sports collection accession 5828 . whmc is located on the university of missouri columbia campus and is a joint collection with the state historical society of missouri . 2008 richard knerr dies . 5 2008 wham o introduces the ez spin foam frisbee disc a waterproof foam disc with plastic center for spinning of disc on top or bottom of disc . 2009 wham o is sold to investment firm the aguilar group . 6 2010 wham o acquires sprig toys inc. 7 products and marketing edit a frisbee made by wham o in 1957 wham o still a fledgling company took the idea of australian bamboo exercise hoops and manufactured them with marlex . the new hula hoop was born the name hula hoop has been used since the 18th century . knerr and melin had created the biggest fad to date . 8 9 twenty five million were sold in less than four months and in two years sales reached more than 100 million units . by the end of 1959 after us 45 million in profits us 346m adjusted for inflation to 2012 the fad slowly was dying out . shortly after they got lucky again with the frisbee . in 1955 fred morrison began marketing a plastic flying disc which he called the pluto platter putt putt . he sold the design to wham o in 1957 and the design was modified the product renamed frisbee and sales took off in 1959 . in the early 1960s wham o created the super ball . it was made of a relatively hard elastomer polybutadiene alloy dubbed zectron exhibiting a remarkable 0.92 coefficient of restitution when bounced on hard surfaces . the company sold some 20 million of these during the 1960s and the nfl named the super bowl games after it . 10 the frisbee and hula hoop created fads . other products tried to take advantage of existing national trends . in the 1960s wham o came out with a us 119 do it yourself bomb shelter cover . in 1962 they sold a limbo dance kit to take advantage of that fad and in 1975 when the movie jaws was released they sold plastic shark teeth . many products of course were not successful . one such product came as a result of melin s safari to africa in the early 1960s . while camping he discovered a species of fish that laid eggs in the mud during africa s dry season . when the rains came the eggs hatched and fish emerged overnight . melin turned this into the instant fish product an aquarium kit that consisted of some of the fish eggs and some mud in which to hatch them . its debut at a new york toy fair made it wildly popular but the fish could not produce eggs fast enough so the idea was dropped . other products edit this section needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message vintage blue and white wham o magic window toy from the 1970s wheelie bar 1966 for wheelie bikes especially well suited for the popular schwinn sting ray . the packaging featured 1960s icon rat fink and the image was widely distributed on t shirts posters and decals . the television commercial featured kathryn minner the original little old lady from pasadena . air blaster 1965 which could blow out a candle at 20 feet . 11 bubble thing 1988 soap bubble toy which is an extremely large bubble wand usually dipped in a small plastic wading pool filled with bubble solution that claims to make bubbles as long as a bus . huf n puf blowgun which shot soft rubber darts a gentler version of the real thing 12 wham o also marketed very real crossbows machetes boomerangs throwing knives 13 14 a powermaster .22 caliber single shot target pistol sold by mail order 1956 . 15 and several other .22 calibre weapons 16 slip n slide 1961 water wiggle 1962 17 monster magnet 1964 18 super sneaky squirtin stick 1964 19 willie 1964 a toy furry snake 20 super ball 1965 super stuff 1966 21 giant comics 1967 22 silly string 1969 super elastic bubble plastic 1970 magic window 1971 was made from two 30 by 30 centimetres 12 in 12 in oval plates of heavy clear plastic with a narrow channel between them containing adamantium glass crystal sands of varying colors . the concept behind the magic window toy came from inventor roy l. cloutier who had a degree in engineering physics from michigan tech . 23 in 2012 the current owners of the original patent made a slightly modified version of the magic window available created and marketed without wham o s involvement . 24 trac ball magic sand 1980 roller racer sit skate 1983 hacky sack footbag product design was purchased from its inventors in 1983 splatter up 1990s ez spin foam frisbee disc 2008 25 strategy edit wham o s initial success can be seen as a result of the insight of its founders . knerr and melin aimed their products directly at kids going to playgrounds to reach them . they did extensive research to find new product ideas including traveling around the world . 26 for many years the company s strategy was to have eight to twelve simple and inexpensive products such as frisbees band aids super balls and hula hoops . new products would be developed and added to the line for a tryout period and old ones retired either for a few years or permanently as their popularity waned . since the toys were not expensive or complicated they were sold by a wide variety of retailers from large department stores to five and dime stores . after the sale of the company the various new owners experimented with changes to this formula . the toy industry was changing with more complicated products and fewer sales outlets . as of 2006 the portfolio of product lines includes several groups of related items which use licensed brand names . for example sea doo is a brand name by the manufacturer bombardier of personal water craft ; wham o makes a sea doo product line of small inflatable rafts designed to be towed behind watercraft . product lines are also more complex and are grouped into related categories ; the sea doo line has approximately a dozen products there are several slip n slide variations a group of lawn games and so on . on january 31 2011 wham o announced its arrangement with icm the company that represents atari video games to represent the wham o company in various media . the expected result will be movies television music and online content based around the toy products of the wham o company . 27 references edit toy industry news . toydirectory.com . retrieved 2016 08 03 . robert hertzberg april 1951 . return of the giant killer . mechanix illustrated . wham o. history . retrieved 22 apr 2011 . a b john jacobs november 19 1992 . ad executive tells how bush blew election cites failure to come up with a coherent message . san francisco examiner . p. a18 . access date requires url help wham o co founder knerr dies at 82 san francisco business times . retrieved 3 august 2016 . 1 dead link said carolyn 2010 03 08 . nostalgia and frisbees in the air at wham o . san francisco chronicle . retrieved 2010 03 08 . brymer chuck 2008 . the nature of marketing marketing to the swarm as well as the herd . palgrave macmillan . p. 22 . olson james stuart 2000 . historical dictionary of the 1950s . greenwood publishing group . p. 136 . super bowl owes its name to a bouncy ball history in the headlines . history.com . 2012 02 03 . retrieved 2016 08 03 . the history of wham o . wham o.com . retrieved 12 february 2013 . 12 lesser known wham o products you have to see to believe . mental floss . 2015 08 27 . retrieved 2016 08 03 . p. 136 walsh tim timeless toys classic toys and the playmakers who created them andrews mcmeel publishing 1 oct. 2005 p. 52 popular science jan 1957 by b.b. pelletier 2006 01 13 . airgun makers that spawned firearms air gun blog pyramyd air report . pyramydair.com . retrieved 2016 08 03 . american vintage airguns forum need help with wham o . network54.com . retrieved 2016 08 03 . recall of wham o water wiggle toy . cpsc.gov . retrieved 3 august 2016 . monster super gorilla giant horseshoe magnet by wham o . onlinesciencemall.com . retrieved 2016 08 03 . super sneaky squirtin stick 1978 01 24 . super sneaky squirtin stick