Marketing Essay

Optical Distortion, Inc.

Optical Distortion, Inc. (ODI) is the world’s first company to introduce contact lenses for

chickens. In 1965, the ODI lens were invented by Robert D. Garrison with the purpose to

partially blind a chicken’s vision. The idea was founded by accident when a farmer observed that

his blind chickens were much more well behaved than chickens who could see. In 1966, James

Arnold, invested in ODI lens and formed a business with the Garrison’s.

In the early stages of ODI lens, there was a problem of the lens not being able to stay in

the chicken’s eye and their eyes would become red. By 1969, the company issued a U.S. patent

when the retention problem was solved by making the lens a smaller size made of a plastic called,

hydrophilic polymer. The hydrophilic polymer could be molded and in1973, Daniel Garrison

contacted New World Plastics that controlled hydrophilic polymer and obtained a long-term

license for the exclusive use of hydrophilic polymer for chickens.

In exchange for New World Plastics to exclusively produce the polymer for ODI only,

ODI, agreed to pay New World $50,000 and to only purchase the lens from New World. This

exclusive contract secured ODI a competition advantage as the lens were the only of its kind at

the time. At the same time, Daniel Garrison purchased 25% of ODI’s stock and became president

and chief executive officer of the company. Ronald Olson because the vice president of

marketing and both worked together effectively to ensure ODI’s success.

The poultry and egg production industry has many different stages and the earliest stage

was a form of family barnyards and backyards. Chickens could be raised in local households and

by 1921, larger commercial egg farms started to appear. By the 1930’s and 1940’s, egg

production started to increase as farmers began putting the chickens in larger henhouses. Based

on this trend, the poultry industry started to change as farmers started to increase...