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1996-1999 |
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1996: The Anywayup Cup starts to sell in unprecedented numbers (a rate of 60,000 per week). An audacious ploy of sending the chief buyer of a supermarket chain an Anywayup Cup filled with juice through the post, sees the product onto the shelves and sales soar. US Company "The First Years Inc" are signed up as exclusive USA licensees, selling trainer cups under the Tumble Mates brand.
1997: Sebastian Conran Associates (now Conran & Partners) is appointed to redesign the Anywayup Cup.
1998: The Anywayup Cup is stocked by all major supermarkets and chemists and is sold in Australia, South Africa, America and most of Europe. Sales are approaching four million. V&A take a license and invest in their own factory to manage increasing production. MAPA, a key distributor is appointed to sell the Anywayup Cup under its own brand name NUK Magic Cup in Europe and beyond. Mandy Haberman, together with V&A, serve a writ on Jackel International Limited when they see a Tommee Tippee cup on sale that is like her early prototype.
1999: World sales of Mandy's invention total seven million per annum and are still rising. Sebastian Conran Associates design the Anywayup Smiley Cup - a new version of the same technology - developed in conjunction with the UK Health Education Authority to coincide with its dental health campaign "Smile".
Mandy Haberman successfully wins the legal battle over her invention after suing Jackel International, the firm that copied her idea. An injunction preventing further infringement of the patent lifts the threat of lay-offs for the workers in Cardiff. Jackel International take leave to appeal.
The Anywayup Cup is awarded the accolade of "Millennium Product" and exhibited in the Spiral of Invention at The Dome, London and the ongoing travelling exhibition. The tour schedule includes: Poland, France, Hungary, Norway, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Chile.
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