American Innovative

Making Time for Toys

“AI is a debt-free, profitable company with $500K in sales last year.” — Rachel Zinser, American Innovative

A company spokesman makes her case for American Innovative’s founder to be a part of TDmonthly’s Toy Frenzy! documentary:

American Innovative was founded in Boston, Mass., in 2003 to pursue the development of innovative new consumer electronics products that should exist, but don't.

Founder and President Adam B. Hocherman was looking to get out of the software industry, having spent his entire professional career building products that could not be touched. As an undergraduate at Cornell University, he had conceptualized a product that later became AI's first offering ― the Neverlate 7-day Alarm Clock.

This product allows the user to set a different wake time for each day of the week, thereby accommodating the fluctuating morning routines of students, parents of young children, athletes, shift workers, etc.

STAYING INDEPENDENT

Wanting to retain full ownership and control of the company, Hocherman wrote a business plan and sought and received an SBA loan in the amount of $90,000 to finance the development and manufacture of that first product. Meanwhile, he researched, wrote and filed a patent on the Neverlate concept.

The early success of the Neverlate enabled Hocherman to develop other consumer product ideas, and the Chef's Quad-Timer and Roadshow Travel Alarm products followed.

INSPIRED BY THE TIRED

More recently, Hocherman was drumming around the idea for a kids’ product. Over lunch one day with an old friend, the idea for the Teach Me Time! Talking Alarm Clock and Nightlight was born.

Adam, 31 years old at the time, had many friends who told the same stories of how their young children would bound out of bed at 3:00 a.m., since they had not yet mastered the concept of the hour of the day.

Homegrown solutions to this problem generally took the form of masking-taping over the minutes section of an old digital clock and informing the child, "OK, now don't get up until this number is a six."

Among other features, the entire Teach Me Time! Clock glows and is a nightlight. At a time programmed by the parent, the color of the glow changes from yellow to green. "Green means go!" — time to get up.

TEACHING TIME, TOO

But AI didn't stop there. Teach Me Time!'s digital face renders the time of day in both analog and numeric formats. Once the child is old enough, the built-in, talking, time-teaching game provides a context for a dialog between parents and kids about time and how to tell it. Special controls for the parent (hidden in a concealed rear hatch) allow flexibility in playing the game and are adjustable as the child learns and grows.

SUITED TO THE USER

AI spent a lot of time conducting polls and market research surveys in order to determine the feature set and visual aesthetic of this versatile learning toy. Among other features, the front colored bezel is interchangeable; the product comes with blue, pink and yellow options. AI will market Teach Me Time! to education-focused parents of children ages 3 to 8 years.

TRYING FOR TOYS

At this year's Toy Fair, AI will also introduce the Klip! Kids Teaching and Time-Out Timer — another parent-focused product devised after listening to many stories from the mouths of young parents.

Today Hocherman employs one full-time employee and utilizes the services of a half-dozen independent contractors for things ranging from engineering to packaging design. Hocherman has since paid down the SBA loan in full. AI is a debt-free, profitable company and is 100-percent owned by its founder.

AI did approximately 1/2 million in sales in 2007 and is looking to surpass that figure in 2008.

Teach Me Time! Talking Alarm Clock and Nightlight by AMERICAN INNOVATIVE LLC

The dual-color alarm clock and nightlight timer lets parents appoint a time for the nightlight to change from yellow to green – teaching young children when it’s okay to get out of bed. The built-in interactive talking time-teaching game is a fun activity designed to foster an educational dialog between parent and child before bed. The product’s functional alarm, kid-friendly shape and interchangeable colored bezels make clock and nightlight duo a good fit in any room at any age. "Teach Me Time! is a unique educational time-teaching tool that grows with the child, beginning from the day he or she is first out of the crib," Rachel Zinser, of American Innovative LLC's strategic sales and marketing department, told TDmonthly. Launch date: February 17, 2008.
— As of 8.24.10, this product had 4.5 out of 5 stars from 2 reviews on Target.com and was listed in the top 30 best-selling toys and games. PROS: Educational, entertaining and not too loud. 11/21/2007 (MSRP: $49.95; Age: 3 and Up)