When is a mouse more 
than a mouse?

In the world of consumer electronics, gadgets are extremely popular with buyers. But gadgets should also be useful in a variety of ways. Could a computer mouse be a marketing tool?

Nick Pajic says yes. As CEO of Jelfin (Phoenix, AZ), he knows marketing. An accomplished entrepreneur, Pajic founded SkyMedia, a media company that pioneered patented specialty in-flight tray-table advertising for the U.S. airline industry. In 2008, he sold his interest in SkyMedia to a multibillion-dollar private equity firm in New York. “I made a few bucks so I went to France to take a year off, and while there I met a French inventor who had some prototypes of the product,” explains Pajic. In late 2008, he bought into the company, and acquired all the interest in Jelfin in 2010.

After three years of R&D, Jelfin launched its unique computer mouse in January 2010 at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, NV. Its key point is the ball-shaped design, which better fits the natural curve of the hand as users cup their fingers naturally around the ball. A molded, soft-durometer gel cover protects the hard plastic ball from getting dirty.

Pajic drew on his experience with SkyMedia to shape his vision of the product. “Initially the Jelfin gel-covered mouse was supposed to be a consumer item, but in June of 2010 I decided to make it a promotional item,” Pajic explains. “I looked at my tray table ads. Once you were on the plane I had you for an average of 2.5 hours as a captive audience in a noncompetitive environment. I saw the mouse the same way. This thing sits on your desk all day and you’re grabbing for it. So now I can put your brand in their hand. Advertisers pay for frequency and recall—if it sits on someone’s desk for a year, it would be an awesome marketing tool. Then I dressed them up as real balls—a basketball, tennis ball, baseball, soccer ball, and golf ball.”

The gel cover that provides the ergonomic feel also spawned Pajic’s difficulties with production in China. “The cost of doing business in China on the surface is less, but when I factored in the fact that I didn’t understand anything they were talking about, it got pretty frustrating,” says Pajic. “One of the reasons I wanted to move the manufacturing was the cost of shipping, the cost of having a translator go with me every time I went there. And, I could never get a date out of them. It was always ‘ASAP’ whenever I asked when my product would be shipped.”

His processor struggled with consistency as well. “Every time they molded the gel cover, it was different,” he says. “The durometer would change, it would turn yellow—it was always something.”

An Internet search connected Pajic with Mastercraft Cos. in Phoenix, just minutes from his home, and last summer they met to help engineer a new mold for the mouse covers. Mastercraft decided to make the mold in China with a partner mold company it had worked with for many years. To be cost effective, it chose a two-cavity mold with interchangeable inserts to make covers for the various types of balls. The plastic bases are molded from PC/ABS.

PolyOne, a material supplier to Mastercraft, stepped in and the two companies began working to find the right-durometer material. “It has to smell right, feel right, and have memory to keep its shape when you take it off to wash it,” says Pajic. “Plus, it has to be printable with ink that doesn’t smear with sweaty hands. Currently, we’ve settled on a 55-durometer PVC—but we’re still experimenting.”

Pajic says his goal is to have the Jelfin mouse made entirely in the United States. “You have to watch your costs,” he notes. “However, making the product at Mastercraft takes the worry out of the equation and not having to speak Chinese is a big benefit.”  —Clare Goldsberry