Larami Limited 1999

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Myung Song was the President of Larami and had a 50/50 shared ownership of the company with the late Al Davis. I have worked for many brilliant and clever men throughout my career and Myung Song would make it on my top 5 list. Success can be achieved in many ways and Myung Song had some critical strengths that increased his chances for success. 

1. His first was he hired smart people and then allowed them to help/advise him in his business efforts. 

2. He was very product performance oriented and he always pushed us to be bold with our designs, marketing, advertising, packaging, and public relations efforts, and to spend money very carefully.

3. He allowed for challenges and differing points of view even when he knew he could just make the decision without such input.

4. He knew what areas he was not strong in and then sought out input in these areas from others  

5. He made every effort to focus on the critical issues and then make sure his team all knew to move forward in unison. 

6. He was a better listener then communicator, usually allowing his team and others to speak more than him.

7. He avoided the spotlight, usually allowing his partner Al Davis to deal with the press and encouraged press/editors to interview Lonnie Johnson or Al Davis to tell the Super Soaker® story. Only occasionally did he allow himself to be interviewed. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/magazine/who-made-that-super-soaker.html 

8. He believed and repeatedly reminded us that his product/brand philosophy was very simple - 

a tire was not just a tire” = “Super Soaker® was not just another water blaster”

Although I have not seen or spoken to Myung Song since 2001, as far as I know he still lives in his homes in Gladwyne and Boca as he seemed to retire from the toy business once Hasbro started to move the assets of Larami in 2001-2002 to Pawtucket RI.  And I am sure he still plays golf at the various clubs he belongs to. When Hasbro hired the late Loren Taylor to take the lead in bringing our Super Soaker®, NERF® and VORTEX® businesses up to Hasbro® corporate offices in Pawtucket RI both Myung and Al came to the office less and less.  The only recent offering I could find on Myung was his introduction page for Al Davis’s book on Super Soaker® in June 2006 - https://www.amazon.com/Super-Soaker-Al-Davis-ebook/dp/B007NJR7ES. But let me tell you about the man I worked for at Larami. Myung Song is a highly educated (Korean, Japanese private schooling and University of Penn graduate), strategic and contemplative man. He does not like large crowds or large meetings, he would rarely speak in front of large groups and when he did only with short speeches that usually focused on thanking everyone for their support and efforts to build the business. He enjoyed one on one conversations and small group lunch meetings at least once a week, where we would talk openly on life, golf, our children and business progress.  He did not like to be photographed or be in any type of “spotlight” situation. He kept one photo on his desk, a picture of himself with Bruce D’Andrade and Lonnie Johnson. Sometimes I think he wanted people to underestimate him as this favored his “poor man” negotiating tactics. He liked to hear about other successful businesses and how they achieved their success.  He liked to go to retail stores, especially Wal-Mart, and determine if there were items we could make better or cheaper to gain business for Larami. Myung’s strength was his focus on the product performance factor of each item. Myung Song liked and respected engineering people the most. Although he was a tough negotiator and usually won every negotiation in his favor, he had tremendous respect for inventors and the engineering aspects of a product. He especially enjoyed toys that could fly -toy rockets, and planes. Any inventor submission or competitive product in these areas was a must see for him. Myung was a calculated risk taker focusing product development in categories he was familiar and comfortable with and those that leaned toward high performance at lower retails.  He and his partner Al Davis both took a calculated risk by taking on Lonnie Johnson’s air pressure water blasting devise in March 1989 and Larami richly succeeded for many years with the Super Soaker® business. Myung had great admiration for all of the people he worked with developing SUPER SOAKER®, NERF® and VORTEX® product. It was a pleasure working with  Myung Song, Al Davis, Bruce D'Andrade, Lonnie Johnson and Loren Taylor for almost 10 years of my life.

https://www.facebook.com/danwatson888/ 

https://danwatson.com/larami https://

www.linkedin.com/in/dan-watson-b0b5172a/ 

www.supersoaker.com https://www.philly.com/philly/news/20150609_Alvin_Davis__businessman_behind_the_Super_Soaker.html 

 This year marks the 30th anniversary of when the Super Soaker story truly began to take shape. Though it was conceived in 1982 and wouldn’t hit the market until 1990, it was in February 1989 when NASA engineer Lonnie Johnson first met with the toy company Larami to pitch his idea for a revolutionary new water gun. 

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