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APART FROM THE FACT THAT THEY CAN HATCH WITHIN MINUTES AFTER contact with water, brine shrimp are unappealing creatures. They're ant-sized and translucent and bear a striking resemblance to sperm. Yet brine shrimp packaged as "Sea Monkeys" are currently sold as children's companions, and portrayed on their boxes as pink, pear- shaped simian creatures with spindly legs, paunches and coy smiles. They are one of the most impressive achievements in the annals of marketing.
Harold von Braunhut, a former manager of novelty acts, first packaged his patented hybrids in 1960, transforming the Sea Monkeys into American icons via millions of comic book ads. Von Braunhut also wrote the 32-page handbook that is included in most Sea Monkey kits to this day, which states that the creatures can be hypnotized, play baseball and rise from the dead. The tone of the handbook is florid and huckstery: "It seems that at mating time in the Animal Kingdom, the males engage in combat to win the fin, paw, flipper, hoof, wing or what-have-you, of their 'lady love.' "
In 1999, the Sea Monkeys were in line for an overhaul: The freeze- dried creatures were, and still are, licensed to Educational Insights Inc., a Carson-based company whose ExploraToy division handles production development and sales of the Sea Monkeys. According to then-art director Gregory Bevington, the classic '70s naked monkeys lounging on a seaweed bank in front of a castle are too "lame" for today's children. Hoping that a new look and some razzle-dazzle would parlay Sea Monkeys from an undisclosed-but- "significant" portion of their $40 million in annual sales to a $25- million-a-year line, Educational Insights brought in Alan Fine, who spent the majority of his adult life in Mattel's marketing department.
"I have a lot of background on what is attractive to kids, what works and what doesn't work," said Fine, who is no longer with the company. Before leaving in August, Fine helped wage a multimillion- dollar media blitz in honor of the Sea Monkeys' 40th anniversary. Five new products were being unveiled, including a Sea Monkeys speedway and an LCD watch that houses up to two Sea Monkeys for up to 24 hours. But the linchpin of Fine's campaign was a brand new television commercial...