PEOPLE did not know they needed the Post-it note when it was first invented, but it is now ubiquitous. The same could one day be true of Sugru, a material which resembles modelling clay but sticks to almost anything and dries to a tough, rubbery finish. The new substance has emerged from a former button factory in east London. It is beginning to stick thanks to social media, thus bypassing the traditional routes by which new products find a market.

Jane Ni Dhulchaointigh, an Irish-born woman, was studying at the Royal College of Art in London in 2003 when she began trying to find a material that was easy to shape, durable and attractive looking. She began developing her idea with the help of friends, including two retired scientists. In 2005 she got a grant from Nesta, a British innovation foundation. But after forking out £5,000 ($7,800) to a commercial laboratory for just three experiments, she decided to learn enough chemistry to come up with the formulation herself.

Some big firms showed interest in taking her product to market but progress was slow. In 2008 Ms Ni Dhulchaointigh decided to go it alone and build her own brand. With a deepening overdraft things were looking dicey. Finally a private investor put up just enough money to launch the product. In December 2009, with no marketing budget, she started a website and sent packets of Sugru to some technology bloggers. Their reviews were picked up by others, who also began to link to her website. The first 1,000 packets of Sugru, which took a month to make, sold out in six hours to customers in 21 countries.

That was enough to convince more investors to put money into the firm. Ms Ni Dhulchaointigh’s company, FormFormForm, now employs 22 people. It had sales of £700,000 in 2011 and expects to more than double that figure this year. It has opened an office in America—the firm’s biggest single market.