Getting a Head in Business

The Greeks staved off the Persians, Genghis Khan stopped short of Kiev, and the Cold War ended with no major Eastern incursions. But it appears that a new monster has risen from the East, this time in the form of 7’6 Rockets’ center Yao Ming. Yao has arrived in full force, and his impact has been felt both in the paint and in the world of marketing, where Yao has been a smash hit in the past year.

Three young entrepreneurs, including Justin Y. Wei ’03, are cashing in by producing likenesses of Yao’s head made out of foam and selling them to eager Yao fans around the world. These novelties are worn on the hand—think the foam #1 finger.

The idea was born at a Rockets-Celtics game in February, where posters of Yao, made by Justin, his brother Austin and their friend, Eric Young, landed them a brief appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter.” Sensing an opportunity, Austin Wei decided to mass-produce foam likenesses, hoping to sell them at games and online.

A recent trip to Philadelphia revealed that the market for their product is much broader than they initially thought. “We went down there thinking that we would get most of our sales from Asian fans,” says Justin, “but as it turned out, most of the people who bought them were white or black.”

The trio is hawking their wares on a new website—www.yaoheads.com—for anyone interested in purchasing a Yaohead. If you’ve had “large Chinese foam head” on your shopping list for awhile, but haven’t been able to check it off for lack of outlets, it’s your lucky day.