The Man Behind the Bandz

Robert Croak went from promoting concerts in east Toledo to the center of one of the hottest kiddie crazes in years. Here's how he did it

Michael Edwards

By Susan Berfield

The UPS truck rumbles down Main Street in Toledo most mornings, past the boarded-up Cloud 9 bar, the abandoned Masonic Temple, the car wash, the tattoo parlor, and the payday loan shop. It stops at the small warehouse of BCP Imports (Brainchild Products), where a dozen young men, recently hired and plenty eager, rush to unload, sort, and repackage hundreds of boxes of Silly Bandz. They are this year's kiddie rage—brightly colored silicone bands shaped like the outlines of animals, letters, princesses, and more. Kids, and a few notable parents such as Sarah Jessica Parker, stretch them out to wear like bracelets. When taken off they revert to their original shapes. Kids also trade them, count them, and fling them, which is why they've been banned in some schools around the country. A pack of 24 costs about $5. Robert J. Croak, the 47-year-old founder of BCP, says he has sold millions.

Croak is sitting behind a desk covered with piles of paper and four computer screens, halfway through a bottle of chocolate Yoo-hoo. He's wound up and blustery, his voice raspy from late nights in the office. Croak has been a bar owner and concert promoter in Toledo's gritty east side for years. He grew up in the neighborhood, earned a degree in marketing from Owens Community College, then took over his grandmother's Main Street restaurant after she died and turned it into a rock club called Frankie's Inner-City lounge. For the past several years he has been selling custom t-shirts, dog tags, mugs, and silicone bracelets made popular by Lance Armstrong. Nothing in his background suggested that he would find himself at the center of one of the biggest successes in modern-day toy selling; Croak is an opportunist who has found the greatest opportunity of his life. "I'm the luckiest guy alive right now. I don't think you're going to find anyone who has a reason to be happier than I am," he says. "I have the hottest toy, the hottest fashion product on earth. All the right people like Silly Bandz. Everyone asks who my publicist is. I don't have one. We don't advertise. All we do is viral marketing. This is happening on its own."

It might also end on its own, its energy exhausted, once kids' attention turns elsewhere. "This isn't a cultural phenomenon, it's a schoolyard fad," says Christopher Byrne, an independent toy consultant. "It's tracking the way a lot of fads do. The product is out there for awhile, it hits critical mass, then kids get tired of it." On the fad hierarchy, Silly Bandz might have reached the level of Kooky Klickers and scented erasers, but it has a long way to go before achieving the status of Beanie Babies. The products are also easier than most to copy—already, cheaper-looking imitations are widely available. Croak says he's not concerned about any of this, although he is trying to establish Silly Bandz as a brand that resonates beyond the bands themselves; after all, they have no logos, no characters, no stories. "We've been planning some new products that will make Silly Bandz a household name for the next 5 to 10 years," he says. As with many aspects of his company, he declines to get into specifics. "I'd love to share some details, but I can't."

About three years ago, Croak and the manager of the factory that produces his silicone bracelets visited a trade show in China, where the manager spotted stretchy animal shapes that were sold in Japan as rubber bands. "I liked the way they looked, and I thought if they were done correctly—larger and thicker—they would make a great fashion accessory," says Croak. "It's like any entrepreneur: If you see something you like and have the capability to develop it differently, then the sky's the limit. You know the Dyson vacuum guy who says in his commercial that he had 180 prototypes before he got it right? With Silly Bandz, we got it right the first time."

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