Why The World Went Crazy for Fidget Spinners (it was all marketing, baby!)

I know fidget spinners were made to combat negative emotions, but I think the craze of 2017 gave me some kind of PTSD.

I mean, you could not escape them. They infiltrated every space possible. At Uni. At work. On the bus.

I’d go to visit my little sister, and she had 8 different versions. And I’d have to tediously sit through listening to her tell me about each one.

Fidget spinners were flying off the shelves. Merchants literally couldn’t keep them in stock.

Then overnight, they were gone.

Except, they weren’t. The fidget spinner had simply diversified into other 'fidget toys' which are still wildly popular today. We just hear less about them (thank God.)

But, believe it or not, I’m not just writing about these products to trigger myself.

The phenomenon of the fidget spinner craze speaks volumes about the 4 P's of marketing.

Their popularity is proof that, if used right, these principles can be the ultimate framework for success.

So, let's break these 4 P's down to figure out how fidget spinners pulled this world takeover off.

Place.

Fidget spinners existed long before their diabolical rise in 2017. However, there was a singular driving force that pushed the product forward in the market for everyone to discover. Guess where?

TikTok. Of course. YouTube, also.

There were quickly millions of videos of users playing with their spinners in whatever way they could, sparking a global craze. Social media was the perfect place to market a product that was so suited towards a younger audience.

By May 2017, spinning variants has taken over every position on Amazon’s top 20 toy-selling list. They also accounted for 17% of toy shops’ online sales at their height of popularity.

Price.

Because of the simplicity of the make, fidget spinners were super cheap. Businesses were purchasing fidget spinners for approximately a dollar each from China. Then, they resold them for around $20. Insane, right?

The $20-and-under fidget spinners that became so popular in the U.S. were an unstoppable success. Retailers were unable to hold onto the products as Chinese production ramped up for the United States in large quantities.

This meant that any kid who saw a TikTok and went on to nag their parents for one, were likely to get one. They were accessible to a large demographic because you could pick one up (and shut your kid up) for as little as $6.95 a pop.

Not a bad deal, huh?

Product.

They were not noisy or invasive. And they were small enough to fit into your back pocket. But, more than that, the product value, or perceived product value, is what made these little suckers take off.

Product value is a representation of how much benefit a customer believes they can get from using a product. You can calculate the value by measuring how a product specifically meets customer needs.

People buy a product because they believe doing so will improve their lives.

It was almost too easy to sell a popular product that claimed to treat people with anxiety. This is something that’s one of the most pervasive problems we confront today. So, of course people were going to buy into it, regardless of whether those benefits were real or not.

Promotion.

Fidget toys were relentlessly promoted by influencers across TikTok and YouTube. They marketed them as a balm for anxiety and the incessant need to do something with our hands.

Influencers claimed they had major mental health benefits, and on top of that, they were fun!

The ‘Pop-It,’ a variant of the fidget spinner, reached astronomical popularity after a capuchin monkey-turned-influencer named Gaitlyn Rae was seen playing with one in a viral video.

These toy companies never paid for this kind of promotion. Instead, they relied on word of mouth and UGC to push the products across the globe, and with much success.

By the end of 2017, schools had started banning the toys due to the chaos they were causing.

The world had seemed to begin losing interest in the phenomenon anyway. The fall of fidget toys appeared to be as fast as the rise.

However, they are still a great example of how a product can cut through the noise and generate global buzz.

Today, you can still purchase them. Although I have to say, it’s been a while since I’ve actually seen one in the wild.

And I’m so incredibly grateful for that!

-Sophie, Writer

🌀 Curious how fidget spinners went viral? 🎧 [Watch the clip here!]