(Narrator: George M. Davison (aka Mr. D), CEO and founder of Davison)
Meet Pete Meier, he’s a guy who works right here at Inventionland, and everyday he helps bring many inventors’ ideas that come through our bookshelf to life, but one day, he had a surprising idea of his own.

(Inventor, Creationeer: Pete Meier)
We were working with XHP, this is one of the companies that we currently work with, and we were in a brainstorm, and they said, ‘Why don’t we put a nail inside a potato and it’s going to cook it from the inside out?’ I said, ‘Well why don’t we just take it and push it right through a muffin pan, then we’d be able to put something right on the nail, a marshmallow, or a snickers bar…’ as people started to look at it they said, ‘You know what?… we may be onto something.’

(George M. Davison (aka Mr. D), CEO and founder of Davison)
Hey, Pete’s not your average idea guy. Pete’s been with me for a lot of years, and he also just loves tearing things apart. Figuring out how they work, blowing stuff up even, so Pete coming up with an idea for a cupcake pan… that surprised all of us.

(Narrator: George M. Davison (aka Mr. D), CEO and founder of Davison)
Cupcakes actually originated right here in the U.S., in the late 18th century, and they were often baked in pottery cups called ramekins. This is how cupcakes got their name. Today, they’re baked in muffin tins, the most common way to create your little tender morsel of delight, but Pete’s idea for a new cupcake pan will change the way we bake and eat cupcakes forever.

(Jason, creationeers)
So, I was in the meeting with HXP, sitting next to Pete and I know how he thinks. Before this was over, he had all of the logistics completely figured out.

(Narrator: George M. Davison (aka Mr. D), CEO and founder of Davison)
Jason and his crew got the nod for Pete’s idea, what they had to do was, well, not much at all, just had to follow Pete’s lead. The team created a cupcake pan with an inner post that you push your favorite filling onto, then you pour your batter around it and you bake it. When you pull it out of the oven there’s a surprise inside your cupcake, so we call it the Surprise Pan.

(Dan, Licensing)
The same thing that makes this design unique also makes it a liability. The posts are way too sharp on this product and XHP can’t take the risk of one of their consumers getting hurt.

(Pete)
That looks good.

(Clay, Creationeer, Test Dummy)
I have some serious safety concerns about this.

(Jason)
Well you know, cupcakes go out of the pan, they have to be sharp to…

(Clay)
Well, yeah, but I can prove how dangerous this is. Lucky, so uh, what are you up to?

(Lucky, World’s Greatest Sideshow Performer)
Howdy gentlemen.

(Voiceover)
What is that?

(Lucky)
A bed of nails, that is my favorite thing to take naps on.

(Clay)
Can you help me to prove the dangers of this pan design?

(Lucky)
Before I test this out, I’d like to, uh, try something a little safer

(Lucky throws crushed glass onto the floor)

(Jason)
Are we going to need safety glasses for this?

(Clay)
The safety glasses were already ground up and put in with the beer bottles.

(Lucky walks on the broken glass)

(Voiceovers)
Holy heck…Ahh…Ow Ow

(Lucky)
Want to make this a little more dangerous, Clay?

(Lucky lays face down on the glass)

(Lucky)
Can you stand on my back?

(Clay stands on Lucky’s back)

(Voiceovers)
Are you insane…A little, there we go gentlemen, safe and sound,…A little bloody, just a little bloody…

(Clay)
Now that we know your tolerances to pain and suffering, stand on that.

(Lucky stands on the Surprise Pan)

(Lucky)
Ahhh, ah…I just, I’m sorry, but that pan is way too sharp

(Jason)
We get the point, we get the point. We’re going to round these off and we will shorten them as long as you stop doing what you just did.

(Clay)
Well alright. Well Lucky, looks like we made our point.

(Narrator: George M. Davison (aka Mr. D), CEO and founder of Davison)
So Clay’s test got the team to adjust the pan by smoothing out the posts to be a lot safer. Way to get to the point Clay.

(Dan, Licensing)
XHP immediately licensed Pete’s idea. It went on QVC and was an instant hit. It’s in Bed, Bath and Beyond selling everywhere right now. It’s up for an IDSA award, which is like the Grammy’s of the product development industry.

(Voiceover)
To celebrate the success of the Surprise Pan, we decided to send a message to all those boring baking pans.

(Brings out baking pans)

(Inventor, Creationeer: Pete Meier)
Gentlemen, may I present-the competition

(The group begins shooting at the tied up baking pans)

(Voiceovers)
Yeah…Oh yeah…hahahaha…wow, really good

(Pete Meier holds up shot up baking pan)

(Inventor, Creationeer: Pete Meier)
That’s what I call, ‘putting a hole in the competition’

(Narrator: George M. Davison (aka Mr. D), CEO and founder of Davison)
Pete joined me on this inventing journey many years ago and for his idea to now go through the Davison inventing method, and to be such an outrageous success, nothing could be better. I’m really happy for Pete.

(Inventor, Creationeer: Pete Meier)
For so long it’s always been somebody else’s idea, now it’s mine. It’s pretty cool.

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Copyright: Davison, George Davison Studios