Ridiculous Idea #1: Yellow Smiley

Ridiculously Rich People Behind It: Bernard and Murray Spain

Estimated Profit: $500MM

You order takeout and the deliveryman leaves you with a white plastic bag. On the exterior is a goofy yellow smiley face grinning back at you, encouraging you to “Have A Nice Day!” You take your food and plop in front of the television to find the same stupid smiley rolling down the isles of a Wal-mart ad, bringing customers shopping cheer as they peruse the super store.



Now imagine your father is the one who first drew this world-renown image. Imagine further how upset you would be if your father never trademarked his image, and only made a measly $45 from the icon. This is the story of Charlie Ball’s life.



Back in 1963 his father, Harvey, first drew the happy face for his PR company’s client, State Mutual Life Insurance. The only money the Ball’s ever made from the simple sketch was the two-figure dollar amount they made selling it to the client.



So who did make all that money off the brilliantly simple symbol? Two brothers, Bernard and Murray Spain, stumbled upon the unrealized potential of the smiley. Wanting to start a novelty store, Bernard and Murray bought the legal rights to the mark along with the now infamous tag-line,“Have a nice day.” The brothers began slapping the image on everything possible. The yellow smiley swept the nation and soon, the world. The fad peaked in 1971 and diminished after a year and a half, but that was enough time to do a lot of damage—50 million in sales worth of damage.



The Spain’s opened the first Dollar Express in the ‘80s where they continued to sell the smiley. In 2000, they sold their chain to Dollar Tree for $500 million.



And what of Harvey Ball? He became a yellow smiley-based philanthropist. What else would you do if you let a gazillionaire-dollar idea slip through your fingers?