: ''This is about the American manufacturer. For others, see Donald Duncan (disambiguation).'' Donald Franklin Duncan Sr. (June 6, 1892 – May 15, 1971) was an American

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

and inventor, and founder of the

Duncan Toys Company The Duncan Toys Company is an American toy manufacturer based in Middlefield, Ohio best known for its line of yo-yos. The company was founded in 1929 by Donald F. Duncan Sr. and purchased the Flores Yo-Yo Company from Pedro Flores, who brough ...

. He is known for marketing of the

Yo-yo A yo-yo (also spelled yoyo) is a toy consisting of an axle connected to two disks, and a string looped around the axle, similar to a spool. It is an ancient toy with proof of existence since 500 BCE. The yo-yo was also called a bandalore in ...

, and making it a commercial success. Although, he was not the inventor of it.

Career

Duncan is most commonly associated with the

, the commercial success and iconic status they enjoyed during the 20th century in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and the world being largely the result of his

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

efforts. Duncan is often miscredited with invention of the Yo-Yo. The name ''Yo-Yo'' was a trademark of his company from 1930 until 1965, when the case ''Donald F. Duncan, Inc. v. Royal Tops Mfg. Co.'', 343 F.2d 655 (7th Cir. 1965) resulted in a federal court of appeals ruling in favor of the Royal Tops Company, asserting that the trademark had become a part of common speech. Duncan, who was born in Kansas City, Missouri, founded other companies, including the

Good Humor Good Humor is a Good Humor-Breyers brand of ice cream started in Youngstown, Ohio, US, in the early 1920s with the Good Humor bar, a chocolate-coated ice cream bar on a stick sold from ice cream trucks and retail outlets. It was a fixture in Am ...

mobile frozen treats franchise and a parking meter manufacturing company. Most notable among the innovations credited to Duncan is the concept of the ''premium incentive'', a marketing tactic wherein the consumer is encouraged to collect proofs of purchase and redeem them for rewards, such as small toys or discount coupons. He died in Palm Springs, California due to "the effects of a stroke." Duncan's Birthday has been immortalized as National Yo-Yo Day, June 6.

References

External links

Duncan history page
at the Official Duncan Yo-Yo Website
Duncan Solutions
parking technologies
Good Humor
now a subsidiary of

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy dri ...

1892 births 1971 deaths Road incident deaths in California Businesspeople from Kansas City, Missouri 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American inventors 20th-century American businesspeople {{US-inventor-stub