Jason Permenter

Turns out, industrial lubricant maker WD-40 is looking to expand their product line away from their tried-and-true core product by leveraging their well-known, reliable brand name as the basis for consumer credibility. Even better, they’re asking people like you and me to send in ideas*. If they choose yours, you’ll get an advance and a cut of the profits. Not a bad business model.

From The Australian:

Lubricant maker WD-40 seeks customer help for new ideas

For the past half-century, WD-40, the maker of the lubricant that can silence squeaky doors and remove tough stains from your jeans, has been building the kind of brand recognition that most companies would die for.

Until now, WD-40 has limited its expansion to related product lines, such as cleaning goods, but it is open to new products. “We want to see if we can use the WD-40 brand like Richard Branson used the Virgin name, looking for areas where the customer is not being well served and seeing if we can do better,” he said.

The full article from The Australian is here, and a 22-minute BBC World News (audio) piece, with interviews, can be found here , from where much of the Australian piece was culled.

*BY THE WAY: I already have both WD-40 Squeaky Clean™ Cooking Spray as well as WD-Sexy™ (my take on a personal-time lubricant) in the works, so don’t you even think about stealing my ideas and therefore my infinite wealth.