Ken Hakuta
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ken Hakuta has been affectionately known as "Dr. Fad" since 1983. Dr Fad was the host of the popular kids invention TV show, The Dr. Fad Show, which ran from 1988 to 1994. The Show featured kids' inventions, and promoted and fostered creativity and inventiveness in children by working with many schools around the country. Ken was the organizer of four Fad Fairs, a convention of inventors with fun wacky ideas, in Detroit, New York and Philadelphia. He received the Inventor of the Year Award from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
Ken Hakuta also is the creator of the Wacky wall walker, one of the best selling toys of the 1980s. The Wacky Wall Walker became a fad hit in 1983, and has sold over 240 million since then. Many of them were found in Kellogg Company cereal boxes. Dr Fad and the Wall Walkers can currently be seen on reruns of "I LOVE THE 80'S" on VH1 (in the year 1983).
Wishing to strike out in an exciting new direction in 1998, Ken capitalized on his long-standing interest in herbal medicine to found AllHerb.com, the first e-commerce company devoted solely to herbal remedy products and information. AllHerb.com fought to establish a dominant market position during the raging competition among health-related sites in the late 1990s. AllHerb.com sought to differentiate itself by positioning itself as "the most authentic resource for herbal medicine available today." AllHerb.com hired an unusual and captivating spokesman (a shaman, tribal healer and herbalist from the Amazon rain forest of Peru) to share his ancient wisdom and interact with visitors at the site. This publicity campaign and others attracted media attention nationwide. AllHerb.com eventually closed in February 2000, unable to survive the cut throat pricing driven by competitors such as MotherNature.com and Vitamins.com, which had greater amounts funding to "buy" new customers. There are two Harvard Business School case studies on AllHerb.com: "Ken Hakuta: AllHerb.com" and "AllHerb.com: Evolution of an E-tailer."
Ken has been featured in numerous media such as: The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Detroit Free Press, USA Today, Time Magazine, Newsweek Magazine, Forbes, Fortune, Inc, Entrepreneurship, Business Week, CBS Evening News, 60 MINUTES, 48 Hours, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, OPRAH, Geraldo, Today Show, Tonight Show, Conan O'Brien, Larry King, and numerous radio shows around the country.
 |
This article about an American businessperson is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
