A Milestone: Inventions from Davison Hit 1,300 Retail Stores

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pittsburgh, PA, March 11, 2013 – Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, Walmart, Home Depot, Sears, K-Mart, JC Penney, Jo-Ann Stores, FAO Schwarz, Cabela’s, Petco, Dick’s Sporting Goods. These are but a handful of the 1,300 retailers and online stores who have carried Davison-designed products.

“When we started out more than twenty years ago, the notion of selling our clients products in thirteen hundred stores was like a schoolboy believing he would have a Super Bowl ring on his finger someday,” says George M. Davison, CEO of Davison, the Pittsburgh-based new-product development firm and home of Inventionland. “But we made the first one thousand stores our mission and now here we are at thirteen hundred and counting.”

It started with Walmart, the first major retailer to offer Davisons Oil Filter Gripper in 1996. Other early products that were picked up by retailers include the Personals Air Freshener and Yard Address Stick. Specialty Gourmet Goodies marked the 1,000th retail venue to carry Davison products by offering the Healthy Steps Pasta Basket. Two weeks prior to Specialty Gourmet Goodies, T.J. Maxx began to sell a popular Davison pet toy, the Hydro Bone. Since then, Blueify Store, Buy.com, Chicago Metallic, Snooty Pooch Boutique and Sports Authority have picked up popular Davison-designed products.

Over the years, George Davison has perfected a nine-step method of developing products. He works closely with his own designers, individual inventors and corporate clients to create professional-quality prototypes and packaging. Approximately 140 product prototypes are turned out each month at Inventionland, and those that are licensed and marketed bear the distinctive Davison “D” placed discreetly on the product packaging.

“The once unthinkable has happened,” Davison said from his tree house office at Inventionland, the creative design facility Davison opened in 2006, and where his creative team goes to work each day with the mandate to invent. “Davison products have now been sold in thirteen hundred different stores and online retailers. This is an incredible milestone for the company and for all of us who have made this dream come true.”

“Dare to invent” is Davisons motto, and he counts among his role models Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Walt Disney. “I find it extremely rewarding to be able to help the everyday ‘idea person bring an idea for a new product to life, and then hear their reaction after they actually see it in packaging and on the store shelf,” Davison said. “There’s nothing more exciting.”

The company and its wide range of products have been featured in a variety of media, including the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Popular Mechanics, Smart Money, Forbes, CBSs The Early Show, PBSs Dave & Dave Show, the Rachel Ray Show and many others.

Inventionland was honored as an IDEA 2012 Annual Design Review finalist in the Kitchens category for its Surprise Pan. Inventionland won a 2011 Creative Rooms in Business (CRIB) award, which “celebrates creative work environments incorporating nontraditional design” and is bestowed annually by the Pittsburgh Technology Council.

Web sites:
www.inventionland.com
www.davison.com
www.georgemdavison.com

Davison News & Media Contact:
Contact us online
or call 1-800-544-3327 or 412-967-0124 for those outside the U.S