Companies that owe their success to a single star product

Experts regularly argue that diversification can ensure a company's financial success and avoid downfalls. However, concentrating on a single product can occasionally become highly profitable.

Some companies have based their success on a single, often revolutionary product, making history in their sectors. How many of these companies and products do you know?

On a trip to Thailand, Austrian Dietrich Mateschitz discovered an energy drink truckers used to stay awake. He adapted it to Western tastes and built an empire. According to its website, Red Bull sold more than 12 billion cans in 2023 alone.

In the indie 2006 comedy Idiocracy, the wardrobe direction chose Crocs as the shoe of a dystopian ridiculous future, assuming they would never become popular. Now, they sell around 150 million pairs yearly.

Michelin has been making tires for 135 years. Although they have diversified the size and design of their tires, they have never made anything other than a restaurant guide and rating system.

Lego blocks were the new idea for a wooden toy maker to solve a wood shortage after WWII. They moved to plastic, launched their brick, and skyrocketed to the beloved toy we know today. The base design has not changed since 1958.

Duracell is one of the most recognizable names in home batteries. It has been producing them for a century and has not changed its core product but has improved it.

Play-Do transitioned from a wallpaper coal cleaner to a toy to save the company after homes started replacing coal with gas in their heating systems. More than 50 years later, its star product still holds up.

Tupperware declared bankruptcy in 2024, but before that, the company had been successful with star products for decades. In many countries, the company's name is a synonym for food containers.

The name of WD-40 is a recount of its history: it took 39 failed attempts to come up with the right formula for the oil, which has not changed since its release.

Bic offers a wide range of products, including lighters and razors, but the Bic pen has been its flagship product since its launch. Its design has remained the same since its release, except for the little hole added to the cap for safety in 1993.

David Tran fled Vietnam to settle in California with only one possession: his hot sauce recipe, which has not changed since. He has never advertised the sauce, but it has become a famous condiment worldwide.

Alfred Woelbing developed the first batch of lip balm in 1937 in his kitchen to treat a cold sore. Almost 88 years later, Carmex Classic Lip Balm maintains the unchanged formula.