When Dan Touhey, 29, became manager of basketball products for Spalding's sporting-goods division in 1997, his group was doubtful about the prospects of creating a truly breakthrough product. Spalding was a respected brand name, but buyer indifference had been driving basketballs—which Spalding sold in greater numbers than any other company—toward the dreaded status of a commodity.

As soon as he arrived, however, Touhey began looking for new ways to inject excitement into his products. "Consumers are rarely able to verbalize what their real needs and problems are," says Touhey, who had previously worked at Bayer as a product manager for Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold Medicine. "When a moderator in a focus group asked about problems people had with basketballs, the number one answer was probably grip. But once the conversation was steered toward inflation, every hand would shoot up. Everyone had a story." Spalding managers had been aware of inflation frustration for years, but little had been done to address the problem.