Ytuki bug promises not to produce a Y2K headache
By Shari Kaplan
Following the cliché, "when life hands you lemons, make lemonade," Los Gatan Sue Richter--owner of a local publishing and public relations business--teamed up with Santa Clara entrepreneurs Robert and Tana Marie Misrack to market the antithesis of the Y2K bug that has computer users of all levels and professions worrying that the apocalypse of technology is drawing nigh.
Enter Ytuki (y-TWO-key), also known as The Official Millennium Bug. The perfect foil for the actual computer glitch, this "bug" is in fact a brightly colored pin that resembles a fat little ladybug. Instead of appearing inside a computer, Ytukis appear in small zipper bags on electric yellow cards printed with three different captions, such as "Is Y2K bugging you? If so, make friends with Ytuki." The bugs also come in three different colors: purple, teal and pink.
"People need to identify with the abstract and not fear it. Ytuki will help us all better identify with the Y2K bug," explains Robert, an author, corporate trainer, motivational speaker and president of Santa Clara-based Strategies for Success.
"I think people are desperate to identify with this problem. It's almost a relief to have something fun dealing with Y2K. It's also a bug, and bugs are really big right now as novelties," adds Richter, referring to A Bug's Life and Antz, two popular 1998 movies featuring animated insects. "Everybody loves the pins. It's just been bizarre how much interest this has generated in just a month or two."
The road to success was surprisingly short. Richter, who became acquainted with the Misracks several years ago at a business mixer, saw the bug's prototype in March of this year and "just came unglued!"
Two months before that, Ytuki wasn't even a twinkle in the Misracks' eyes, but by April they had already begun working with an East Coast company to manufacture the pins. The name "Ytuki: The Official Millennium Bug" became a registered trademark on April 1, 1999--April Fool's Day--Richter explains, chuckling.
The winged Ytuki has flown into several chain stores, including--on the higher-tech end--Fry's Electronics and Kinko's. It is also available at many Borders Books, Long's Drugs and a select number of 7-Eleven stores. Before the millennium rolls around, the entrepreneurial team hope to create other Ytuki products, including stuffed animals, magnets and hairpins. And that's not all.
"In the year 2000, we're going to have a spin-off of this guy, because--Ytuki will be dead," Richter says with a wry smile.
For information, call 241-6080 or visit www.ytuki.com on the Internet.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
