My favourite part of Dragons Den, is when Peter Jones asks a relatively simple question but gets a strange answer, and gives a gobsmacked expression while looking at the other dragons.
I think the virtual puppet guys made a big mistake using a dodgy looking gremlin thing - whenever he's saying something earnestly, it's giving a side eye and looking devious lol. Should have picked a happy character with a pleasing colour.
It's technology that already existed at the time and with far better implementation. The "characters" costing £8000 is INSANE. Even somebody with a bit of experience in blender could've knocked up a better rag doll model for probably £100 freelance.
It was so poorly made kit was a joke. Both my daughters run their own businesses making both 3d and 2d models for live streaming. All are so much more complex that that thing and even the facial tracking was poor in comparison . He had no hair physics or clothing movements, and they're not even the best by any means although still above average and doing well enough to live off it.
If I was given a Pound/Dollar for every time someone said = '' If I was given a Pound Dollar for every time...'' Then i would be able to buy a Tesla with Cash.
Imagine starting an olive business near-enough to spain, a massive, MASSIVE consumer of olives, and then you go on national television and acuse all Spaniards of being scoundrels. What a proper knober. Poor Clarkson
I’m Portuguese, my country is one of the biggest olive and olive related products in the world and was baffled at this lady’s awfulness. I’d rather go without olive oil- and virtually all Portuguese cuisine uses a lot of it- than buy ANYTHING from her.
Nah, if she had smoked a decent joint I don't think she could have been that unpleasant and standoffish afterwards. Speaking from personal experience 😅 Booze or coke maybe?
The perfume idea is genius tbh. To sell a scent that can be attached to a huge name like Cleopatra with zero cost for the rights is huge, if I were this guy, I'd have pitched the idea to the big perfume brands, because they've got the marketing to make it desirable.
Or, pitch it to museums and historians, cause if he's reverse engineered the perfumes of historical events and people, that is something that needs to be considered extremely intelligent, and genius.
Genius failure, actually. Anyone can make up any story they want about Cleopatra and claim that they reverse engineered it. It's nonsense. Proven in the real world.
Operating in the industry, I can tell you that there are well established brands like 'Histoire de Parfums' who reside in the niche perfumery vertical. They produce products that are based on historical events, characters and so on. You also have other brands like Zoologist who produce fragrances based on the habitats of animals (!) - and to someone like myself who enjoys the transportative of perfume - these kinds of fragrances last longer, have more character and development in their DNA than the generic 'teen Axe body spray' vibes of Dior, Bulgari and so on.
@@monkeyhouse1672 I may not like perfume (Strong fragrances seem to give me trouble breathing) but the history behind such perfumes. I'm a huge history buff. (So is my family. Sometimes our movie nights are history documentaries.
James Caan actually gave the virtual puppet guy a good idea...he should have given up trying to make more and instead used the one he already had for children's parties. Start up a business where he entertains kids with his virtual puppet. That would have been a really fun and unique experience for children back then. And he would have made the money he already put in back and then some.
thought that thing wasn't a bad idea for the film industry to be honest. I imagine it would be faster to create a new "skin" and use that device than animate entire characters during the movie production. But i dunno
Sadly, Scents of Time folded 5 years later. _"The company suspended its internet sales in January 2012 and closed down at the end of April 2012, after donating all remaining stock to charitable organizations. It cited a weak worldwide economy and marketing competition from celebrity-endorsed fragrances._
@@jarednil69 i think some people would care he could also make specia editions for different countries using the perfume of their most famous historical figure but you would never know if they’re telling the truth
Yeah, it's always entertaining to watch an unpleasant pitcher go down in flames. Apart from the woman's obvious offensiveness, that hair-flicking tic is so off-putting!
It's so funny that the cartoon filter stayed apart of the pitch 🤣 catching his expressions in the background made my viewing experience so much better 😆. The only thing that could've topped that off is if they walked out, forgot it was on and the cartoon started having a tantrum and started cussing the dragons out 😂😂😂
That puppet suit could have been a useful way of getting motion capture in areas outside the studios. Almost two decade's later we have gear like the Rokoko Smartsuit Pro II that lets you perform full body capture with no external sensor for $2700 right now. They sold the idea poorly and it was too expensive outside AA or AAA studios of the time.
They generally don't like investing in tech where there is no patent for the technology because the big players would have done it already. In any case, there must be developing in tech now that seems so far ahead of its time.
I was a producer in the games industry for 13 years. Video game companies, one of the largest markets for mocap, wouldn't want this. It doesn't have enough sensors for smooth, full facial movement (only the bare minimum for mobility and rudimentary lip sync), plus you can get a very good quality mocap suit that'll get you state of the art articulation for half of what they're asking. Furthermore, they have to provide the virtual puppet, not you. No development studio would ever buy this system.
Olive lady was hilarious.....the sort of person that goes to the airport and says at the desk 'do you know who I am?' and the front desk person asks her colleague 'this person has forgotten her name....lets help her'.
Jesus, if he didn’t want to put the cash into it or brand it himself then he must’ve had real faith in her ability or was him not fronting the cash up part of the reason to split or was it just her sparkling personality? 😂
@@gc7820 They split long before this happened. She left him after 6 months of marriage for his best friend. Then she claimed she was having an affair with him for many years while he was remarried. Anyway, this show happened post divorce.
It felt like the goblin was in court fighting for his very existence. Unfortunately for him, I believe, he only exists in the remnants of these Dragon's Den episodes. So long, Shrack!
I love Deborah for how even though she was extremely frustrated at the perfumist, she took care to say that she still thought he was competent in his subject and an honest man. She can be quite tough but never in a way like she's trying to cause a whole scene or needlessly hurt someone
Big O woman turned up like she didnt want to be there, im sure no-one forced her, yet turns up in a stinker like the dragons are inconveniencing her, crazy
There should be some kind of warning similar that that of swearing where you can skip watching any video that contains Theo saying the words "my children's inheritance"
The fellas wipes were explained terribly. It’s a perfect product to have one or two in your pocket bc you can’t take around the pack of baby wipes in a suit
I think the virtual character is a fun idea. But like many things that get proposed on this show, there is a difference between a fun small business idea, and what the Dragons think is worth investing thousands of pounds in.
very true. and the technology at the time was just too expensive. Online now lots of people use virtual characters for pretty much anything but its also because its pretty cheap to do. You can get a webcam and pay an artist anywhere from 30 up to a few hundred for some nice art (depending on the quality you want and movement). plus VR totally replaced whatever get-up the guy he had on too. I wonder what the guy thinks of things like VR chat- where anyone at all can buy a decent headset for under a grand and have a model made of pretty much anything. Most VR headsets come with arm movement now too
@@Nocturnalux the problem with that is that vocaloid might have been big enough to do something like that without his help. so, yes they COULD have possibly paid him a lot. But i'm still skeptical that they would have. I also have zero idea how the rigging works or if they own other models, but there's also the possibility that his equipment doesn't have a full body version, maybe it would have worked but at least most Vocaloid things i've seen have MIku's full body in it. what's the use in buying equipment that you'll have to spend a good chunk of money altering and changing if you can just use what already works. the dude just suffered from a good idea done badly, i don't think there was a lot that could save it, not even Miku.
They shouldn't have sold it at 20 thousand pounds. They should have sold it at cost and then made their money through developing different characters. Or renting out some redeveloped characters.
That lady with the Olives seem to have all the things the Dragons look for, a unique product with patents in place, but she completely turned them off with her attitude and not answering direct questions.
In my opinion the perfume guy actual made a good presentation. Pretty clear, direct and to the point. And all of the dragons had there nose in the air from the beginning. Believe he was treated a bit harshly and was scoffed at. I liked the idea and would be interested to see what they fragrances were like. Very cool.
In the end he secured two dragons and his investment which was good. Some of these people who think more scientifically it mathematically can struggle a little more with communicating - definitely not all, that's not a reflection of all science/maths boffins - but he got there in the end. I agree they he was onto something. I think it's fascinating to imagine the fragrance that Cleopatra wore or other historically significant fragrances. Hope he made it work.
I agree. Also side note. Dealt with Spanish suppliers before too and never had a good. Not saying all are that way but just my experience. Vietnam was way better
I think it worked out well because he wasn’t thinking big enough and the dragons weren’t quite listening actively to the dude cause he wasn’t charismatic lol
I felt a bit sorry for the guy; I hope he's doing ok for himself even if he is still selling puppets on the streets. But I have to agree with the Dragons that the motion-capture product was just a mildly amusing novelty with little business potential.
When Duncan told him to keep selling puppets in the street, that was the most brutal part in my opinion, but the idea was pretty bad so someone had to say it
Instead of selling the puppet product, they should rent it. Just use the one they have and either do events themselves and/or rent it out for events. And have more characters for free. That way, they don't have to spend 10k everytime they make it.
Whilst that virtual puppet idea would have become redundant within a few years of this pitch due to AI being able to do the same thing, I'm sure the novelty could have made a little money. But they needed a hiring model rather than a sales model. I think many businesses would have been open to spending 1500 for a one day hire. They would need to have a decent number of characters programmed that gives the businesses options to choose from. Most businesses don't have a character mascot of their own and wouldn't need a custom made one.
While working for the company then the contract means they own it all, but not copyright so can be copied by anyone (from orig) but he cant do it due to contract.
What he made was a pretty rudimentary version of much much more advanced products that would start to come out very quickly. Mo Caps been around longer than we often think. More of a parlor trick than anything else
So you buy the puppet for £20k to use at a party or reception, but then you'd need to employ someone to operate it surely? The same person you employ could have simply been an actual receptionist or child's entertainer and thus making the puppet redundant no?
In my opinion, it wouldn't be redundant. For kids the novelty is speaking to and interacting with a cartoon. At the time when this was filmed we had children's party entertainers but this cartoon technology was unheard of and kids would've loved it. In fact, I think even today it would be quite profitable, but even more so back then.
I love love love the perfume idea. It seems like he unfortunately entered the den too early but I hope he was able to get it off the ground because I’d love to buy a bottle!!
History of perfume, a small percentage? That's pretty ignorant. A man who reverse engineered historical perfumes, by studying them, understanding them, and finally recreated them should be respected. There's a far greater market for that... In fact, maybe he should consider discussing with a museum, or with historians, to people who could truly appreciate such a product. If he's figured out and successfully recreated Cleopatra's perfume, there are millions of Cleopatran and Ceasarian documentarians that would be tripping over each other, getting their hands on the perfume, and wanting to describe it and study it, for the world. The one dragon's right. put the man in a laboratory, with the historical details on past figures perfumes, and he would be an international gem. Let him crack how Oichi, Nobunaga's sister smelled, or his wife Nohime. Or look into Marie Antoinette's perfume when she was brought to the infamous blade. Or look into the perfumes the Sultans' harems used to control the Sultans. (Despite the Sultanas being the ones who ran things.) Instead of sending his perfumes to stores, send them, and him over to museums. He's too valuable than to be caught in expensive retail.
I think that busy bits toy looked cheap. If you're going to compete with Lego, you have to be the same quality or better. Many dragons have invested in products where the owners weren't doing a good job. They say, "You need me to get this product into all the stores." The fact that no dragon invested proves that none of them think it's terrific and Duncun was right.
Ok, Turkey Greece and Italy have olives... Not just Spain. And the Turkish olives would have been cheaper and potentially better at the time.... Wonder how she is doing now
Spanish olives are their own thing, just like Greek olives taste different than Spanish olives. I can't speak for Turkish olives, but Spanish olives are unique and very delicious.
The "Fellas" guy should have honed in on the fact that the wipes are individually wrapped....so when a guy goes out, he takes a couple of condoms, and a couple of "Fellas". He's then totally ready!
Yeah, I felt this was the key use case for them, but he was dancing around this, too shy to say "They are for having a reasonably clean dick before a drunken one-night-stand" when one of the dragon said he doesn't know what they're for.
Exactly this! I feel like it was a good concept, but he pitched it wrong. He pushed the appeal of individual wipes to people who don't need individual wipes like truck drivers who can benefit from a pack (which he should also want to sell). Individual wipes to fit in your wallet for those unexpected encounters (or mishaps) would be a great selling point, and giving them a more appealing scent than a baby wipe is where you have the edge in the market.
Puppet one was crazy to see how far tech has come, a few years ago I did a media psa using a VR headset that I paid £400 for and it was about 100x better than that rig.
The price point of virtual puppet was a little crazy, but with the way V-tubing has picked up traction recently, I can't help but feel like it may have been a missed opportunity.
This pitch was made when RU-vid was just entering the mainstream and its most-viewed video was The Evolution of Dance (two years before Charlie Bit My Finger overtook it). Livestreaming was a few years from even beginning to bubble, and V-tubers were almost a decade away. There's no way anyone could have broadcast that puppet thing live. Also not sure they'd want to be strapped up to that thing whilst streaming for hours everyday.
They didn't seem to have an issue with the concept, the problem was that the proposal had the concept but no business plan. Seriously, no market research, no detailed plan for who's going to buy it, no concept of how to run a business, just straight up "here's this gimmick, it might make money". He should've spent more time on his own, marketing it to people, trying to devise use cases, got some sales and use cases before going onto the den.
How many V Tubers can afford 28k on a puppet? The dragons said they liked it but the market was too small and the price was too high (and, indeed, this technology only became popular among streamers once it became available to everyone for free, which again would have killed this business)
Motion capture for film/tv has existed since the 90s. One of their selling points was not needing a whole room of cameras because of the contraption on the person. But if you already have a studio or will need a studio even when strapping a machine on someone it’s basically useless and does nothing different
The olive lady is shady and a bigot but I love olives. I like the idea and could see that product at the specialty epicurean stores, especially with the rise in interest in charcuterie boards. But Central Market has an olive bar already. I don’t know if that survived CoVid. But olives have a market, that woman doesn’t have a market for herself.
@@sherrix6881 Bigot: noun. _A person who is obstinately or unreasonably attached to a belief, opinion, or faction, especially one who is prejudiced against or antagonistic toward a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular group._ Sounds pretty accurate to me.
Once they have to take a deep breath and try to remember a pitch Duncan’s face is always the same, he smirks and then blows out his cheeks 😂 he may aswell not be here 😂
To be fair he also was the one to directly confront the olive woman about her racism lol. I feel like you're very much reducing the entirety of his contribution to a few moments.
I too think it was genius, the problem was it would've taken a HUGE marketing push from an established brand. He should've patented 10 major fragrances, then taken them to the big brands for them to sell.
@@WobblesandBean Went on the archived website. Really bizarre: For those who want to know how their fragrances smell, they give a list of other commercially available products to try. Imagine Some new fast food joint going "Our new burger sort of tastes like a Whopper, so if you happen to be near a Burger King, try that one".
Oh no I didn't know that. First time I saw her I was like, what is this woman! But the more I watched her the more I loved her. She was such a beautiful person
