The Best Idea Yet - 📷 Polaroid: Invented (sort of) by a 3-Year-Old | 8

Episode Date: December 3, 2024

It’s the OG of instant photography — It paved the way for the iPhone, inspired Instagram, and fills every photo album on your parents’ bookshelf. Polaroid became a fave of world-class artists like Ansel Adams and Andy Warhol, but did you know its inventor, Edwin Land, actually got the original idea from his 3-year-old daughter? Find out how Polaroid and rival, Kodak, went from friends to frenemies… why Steve Jobs was obsessed with this company… and why Polaroid is the best idea yet. FYI: If you’re listening, OutKast, you’re actually *not* supposed to shake the picture (we’ll explain why on the pod).Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterFollow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting www.wondery.com/links/the-best-idea-yet/ now.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to the best idea yet early and ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. So my specialty these days, I carve the bird. Okay. That's good. You're taking less of a production side, more of a managerial execution, getting all the credit at the end kind of a thing. Well, the key is how you present the turkey to the group at the table.

And I've learned how to cut the bird in such a way that it's just Instagrammable. This is very podcast-y. You're presenting the product at the end of the day. What's your specialty at Thanksgiving dinner besides preheating the oven? I can't confirm it, but I'm pretty sure everyone is still talking about my key lime pie from last year.

Allegedly. That thing got a lot of likes and a lot of love and that thing photographs well, by the way. You know, Nick, I actually snagged a photo from Thanksgiving way back in the day. Really? You ready for this? Let me see this thing.

Let me see this thing. Whoa! Oh my God. That's like a Norman Rockwell. Yeah. My mom, my oldest brother, Nick, my other older brother, Tuck, and the top half of my head.

Well, here's the key thing. You didn't whip out your phone for that one. That is a physical photo. Yeah, it's not in your shared iCloud folder that you have no idea how to share. This is a physical piece of memory right here. Jack, how do I know that that picture's from 1995? Cause your mom wrote in a Sharpie

on the white margin along the border of the image. The white border is the dead giveaway that besties, we're looking at a Polaroid picture. Polaroid one step brings a dead party to life in seconds. It's a one step, Buzzy. Take a picture. Ow. Just point it and press the button.

Polaroid means fun. The Polaroid camera. It was the original Instagram. Yes, it was. Capturing spontaneous moments with the look of an instant classic. Even if you or your parents never owned a Polaroid camera, you still know what a Polaroid photo looks like.

And if you did own one, you definitely remember the ritual that goes along with taking a picture. You push the button, a motor whirrs inside that thing, and your picture pops right out like a fresh batch of cookies. And then you shake it, right? Checking. Technically, you're not supposed to shake it, but more on that later. Ah, okay.

But Polaroid gave us way more than a gram-worthy aesthetic. It gave us one of the most revolutionary inventions of the 20th century. Instant photography. The Polaroid was a sensation from the moment their first camera hit the scene and will become beloved by world famous photographers from Walker Evans to Andy Warhol. At their peak in 1991, Polaroid's revenue hit nearly $3 billion. That's almost $7 billion in today's money. Jack, I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to ask you, can you please develop a little context for us over there? $7 billion is double the revenue of OpenAI today, and none of

it would be possible without the obsessive vision of a Harvard dropout named Edwin Herbert Land. Edwin Land invented the world's first polarizer, as in the coating that goes on your Ray-Ban glasses. That's right, your trendy aviators and your Polaroid camera are cousins. But it's his work as an inventor and founder of Polaroid that made him a hero to Steve Jobs. Yeah, he was operating straight from the Polaroid inventor's playbook. But yetis, the story of Polaroid isn't just about innovation.

It's about cutthroat competition because the rivalry between Polaroid and Kodak is bigger than the Yankees and the Red Sox and it would go down as one of the most epic corporate battles in history. This is the story of how Polaroid and Kodak go from friends to frenemies and how the analog Renaissance in the 20-teens helped save Polaroid from total extinction. This story has cameos from Barry Manilow,kast, and The Muppets. Jack, they should cut an album. This is why Polaroid is the best idea yet. From Wondery and T-Boy, I'm Nick Martell. And I'm Jack Kraviche Kramer. And this is the best idea

yet. The untold origin stories of the products you're obsessed with, and the bold risk takers that brought them to life. Give me one more, it's hot in Boca de Roma. It's a gorgeous day in Santa Fe. An inch of powdery snow dusts the ground, but the sun is so warm, you don't even need your coat. It's early December, 1943, and 34-year-old Edwin Land is taking a rare moment of vacation with his family in New Mexico.

Okay, underrated but fantastic time to visit the Southwest. Now, we say rare because as the co-founder and chief executive at Polaroid Corporation, his work is never done. He dropped out of Harvard to found his company in Cambridge, Massachusetts more than a decade ago, and ever since then he's been working tirelessly towards his goals. Okay, you want to know how tirelessly? This dude once worked 18 days straight, including Christmas and New Year's, without going home to even change his clothes.

I have never worked Christmas or New Year's, much less 18 days straight. Well apparently people knew he was in the office because they'd be like, oh I think I smell the boss. But why is Land so busy? Because it's World War II, and his company's services are badly needed by the US military. In 1943, the Polaroid Corporation has nothing to do with self-developing photos, and everything to do with the material that Land invented, called polarizer.

Originally created to reduce road glare for auto safety, LAND's Polarizer is applied to surfaces from sunglass lenses to windshields to 3D glasses. All these use cases are perfectly suited for aerial combat. And it's used on millions of pairs of flight goggles. This is a major differentiator for the US and the Allied forces during World War II. Our pilots could simply see better than the enemy while barreling through the blinding sunlight at high altitudes.

In fact, General George S. Patton, ever heard of him, is often seen with his Polaroid goggles on the field of battle. I mean, Jack, you do not get a better military endorsement than General Patton struttin' around in your goods. The company's annual sales at the time shoot up by 20x during the war from $760,000 before the war to more than $16 million in 1943. Bessie, some quick context. That is a quarter billion dollars today and war contracts, they

actually account for close to 90% of Polaroid's total sales. So Land's company, Polaroid, is the eyes of the American Armed Forces and Land is making bank off it. So honestly, it's no wonder Edwin Land needs a break. So we find him taking a walk with his three-year-old daughter Jennifer in Santa Fe. He's snapping some photos of his little girl with his camera and then Jennifer asks him one question that would change everything. Why can't I see the pictures now? I don't want to wait. Now parents of little three year olds, you are relating super hard to this moment because your kid asks a question and that question only leads to more and more and more questions.

All right, so let's role play this. I'm going to be the kid, you be the dad. All right? I'll do it. No problem. I'm ready for you, man. Daddy, why can't I see the pictures now? Well, because the pictures, they need to develop.

Why? Well, because the photo isn't a photo until the negative image is exposed onto a piece of gelatin. Why? Well, because that's just how photos work. Like, we need to soak the negative in a chemical bath in a dark room and then enlarge it and transfer it to a photographic paper and that has to bathe in chemical soap. But I don't like baths. Yeah, well the photographs, they really love the baths.

Why can't I see the picture now, Daddy? like bats. Yeah, well the photographs, they really love the bats. Why can't I see the picture now, daddy? Okay, what? Yeah, where's the candy honey? But instead of blowing her off, Land starts thinking seriously about Jennifer's last question. Why can't we see the photos now? Yeah, how can we make it possible to instantly see photos?

So besties, according to Land, within an hour of that moment everything becomes clear. The camera, the film, the chemistry that he would need to pull off this challenge. His brain, it is on fire with this new idea. And it's all thanks to that tenacious questioning of a curious three-year-old asking why, why, why. The same night he calls up his patent lawyer, who also happens to be vacationing in Santa Fe. Oh, okay. Is that like serendipity? Or does he just take patents really seriously? Actually, Nick, Land has always been extremely diligent about patents.

So I wouldn't be surprised if he packed his lawyer in his suitcase. And right now, he's just dreamed up how to squeeze an entire darkroom into the back of a handheld camera So he and his lawyer stay up half of the night jotting down these details that have been in his head and land calls The project ready for this Jack the sx 70 YXS 70 the sx stands for special experiment and the 70 is because Well, the last two projects were number 68 and number 69. So it's a working title.

He has a super rough prototype less than a month into his secret project. But Edwin Land is a perfectionist, Nick. He wants every aspect of his self-developing film experiment to be perfect. So he and his team get to work. It's an exhilarating project and they feel like they've got time until September 1945 when World War II ends and so do those lucrative government wartime contracts. And once that money drives up, suddenly a whole lot more is riding on this new experimental product. Nick, the next time you go to a Rangers or Nick's game at Madison Square Garden, glance across 7th Avenue when you get out of the arena. There's a bunch of construction now, but it used to be the old Hotel Pennsylvania, a towering brick building welcoming every train-bound

visitor who just got out of Penn Station to New York City. And on February 21, 1947, the Pennsylvania Hotel's Georgian Room couldn't look more glam. What's going on here is the Winter Convention of the Optical Society of America, where scientists, professors, and PhDs alike gather to learn the latest innovations in their field. It's basically like Coachella for contact lenses. Edwin stands on stage with his colleague. He's about to present a revolutionary new prototype to this room of experts, not to mention the journalists and photographers from the New York Times and Life magazine that Land had been quietly inviting here for weeks. He's hinted that at this otherwise routine conference, he's going to be dropping

something big. Jack, set the scene for us, man. Land holds a prototype in his hands, a Dierdorf camera, the kind of that accordion looking thing around the lens, but its back has been modified to hold a roll of film negative, a roll of photo paper, and a set of motorized rollers inside. It looks like Land is about to take the audience's picture, but instead he turns the lens on himself and clicks. It's like the OG selfie and Land, he just pulled it off on stage in front of everybody. And then he announces to the crowd, 50 seconds and they wait. Now, Yetis, while we are all waiting

anxiously to find out what happens in 50 seconds, Jack and I are going to tell you about what's actually happening here because we are about to go full Bill Nye on this selfie. When Land pressed that shutter, it created a film negative image inside the camera. Only this film negative uses paper with an opaque back, so daylight can't spoil it. This special negative then gets pressed into a sheet of glossy photo paper. Sandwiched in between these two sheets is a foil pod full of chemical developer. This paper sandwich gets fed through the camera's motorized rollers, which sort of squeegees the developer goo evenly between the negative and the photo paper. I believe goo is the technical term, by the way, Jack.

And 50 seconds later, Land peels the negative backing away. And there before the crowd is an 8 by 10 photo of his face. That's right. Land just made his own headshot in real time for an entire audience. And honestly, he looks fantastic in the photo. Well, he's very stern. I don't know why people didn't smile back then. Yeah, he's not smiling, but he did just pull off photography history. It's the first ever instantly developed photograph.

No dark room needed. And the crowd knows it. They are dazzled. Especially those reporters and photographers who know how transformative instant photography could be for their jobs. Because imagine reporting back from assignment as a journalist with fully developed pictures, covering wars, wars protests natural disasters Without having to scramble for a dark room in between this could revolutionize the speed at which the public gets its news

This is of course why land invited these reporters to the event in the first place very strategic Well the next day the pictures of land and his self-portrait While the next day, the pictures of Land and his self-portrait grace the pages of the New York Times and papers around the country. The Monday after that, it's the picture of the week in Life magazine. Instant photography was thought to be impossible. But suddenly it's here, just the way his three-year-old envisioned it. We should point out it's the prototype that's here. Because now, Polarized's to get this thing to market. Nick, that selfie that Land took, it was a stunt. Today you got like Mr.

Beast burying himself alive and that gets all the attention. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Back then he took a picture of himself. That was wild! In front of people who had no idea this thing could even work. So after that insane stunt, Polaroid spends more than a year working out production details of this new camera. It's now 1948, and they're on the clock to crank out their new self-developing film and their brand new camera at scale. Now, that is, building cameras,

that has been challenging enough. But each camera will need packs of specialized film too, and Polaroid is struggling. So Edwin Land turns to a surprising partner. Polaroid's arch-rival, Kodak. For most of their existence, Cambridge, Massachusetts based Polaroid and Rochester, New York based Kodak, they have the major competitors. Like if you're crossing that Massachusetts border on I-90, don't even think about continuing on to Rochester. We're talking about the Coke and Pepsi of

photography. Yeah. The Nicki Minaj and Cardi B of cameras. Jack, finding out Kodak made Polaroid film is like hearing that Abercrombie hired J. Crew to stitch their cargo shorts. But Kodak and Polaroid actually go way back. Kodak gave Land his very first commercial contract for $5,000 to make Polarizer for one of Kodak's cameras. Alright, so Jack, we can basically say Kodak and Polaroid are old acquaintances. But now, Polaroid is getting into the camera game. And that is Kodak's turf. So it seems like Kodak should see Polaroid as a threat, right? But they don't.

Kodak sees the new Polaroid as a novelty item, almost a toy really. It's the Easy Bake Oven of cameras. Kodak evaluates this new Polaroid thingamajig product and basically says, you know what, there JV, yeah, let them play, whatever. But also like an Easy Bake Oven, a Polaroid is easy to use, which means it attracts new customers to the photography sector. It's actually what Jack and I call a gateway product, or really a gateway goodie. A product that increases the ease of use and expands the potential user base from experts to anybody.

So a Polaroid camera will widen the customer funnel from Shutterbugs to the Shutterbug Curious. And that means more customers for Kodak in the future. And the Kodak management team actually articulates this in a telegram to their Salesforce. Anything that is good for photography is good for Kodak. So, Kodak agrees to help produce Polaroid film. And finally, in November 1948, almost two years after the convention in New York, Polaroid's first instant camera is finally ready to go to market. They drop the SX70 code name and it hits the shelves as the Model 95 land camera. Now Jack, I am looking at this first ever commercially available Polaroid camera and honestly it's different from the Polaroid

you'd see today. You know, it's got a lot of little nooks, crannies and whistles on this thing. A little more complex. Yeah, yeah it is. For starters, the instant part, yeah, that's relative. You gotta wait at least a minute between shots, because the developing picture stays housed in the back of the camera until it's ready. Oh, and then, Jack, we should also point out there are these different tabs you gotta pull. Like, you have to peel the sticky backing off

at just the right time. You add it all up, and this ain't today's Polaroid party camera. It's V1. It is. Land knows he's going to be tinkering for years to come, but it's still a revolutionary invention. For its release day, Polaroid makes the most capitalist move ever. The day after Thanksgiving.

Black Friday, 1948. That's when this first instant camera hits the market. The price tag jack? $89.75, or a little over $1,000 in today's money. Still cheaper than the Apple Vision Pro. The camera debuts at the Jordan Marsh department store in Boston, and it sells out in a single day. In fact, sales of this Model 95 Polaroid camera hit $5 million bucks in their first year, which is more than $65 million in today's dollars.

The public hunger for this product shocks even Edwin Land. His most optimistic projection was that they might sell 50,000 units total ever. Instead, over the next eight years, they sell a million of these cameras. Okay, so we was off by about 20x. No big deal. May want to talk to the production guys. It's a runaway hit that will drive the company's power and Edwin Land's status as a genius.

Here's the thing, yetis. Edwin himself, he's still not satisfied. Not by a long shot. Remember, this guy once wore the same clothes for 18 days straight. So he's thinking of what Polaroid could be if he and his engineers keep on pushing. if he and his engineers keep on pushing.

So, Yetis, as you expect, Land is not satisfied with V1 of his instant camera. As the Polaroid Land camera and its instant developing photos are taking off, Edwin Land is already working to improve them. Now, funny thing, Yetis, Steve Jobs called Edwin Land is already working to improve them. Now, funny thing yet is Steve Jobs called Edwin Land one of his heroes and a key reason why was his constant drive. This guy Land, he's just never satisfied with the product as is because he can see in his mind what it could be. Land even had a personal motto, do not undertake a program unless the goal is manifestly important and

its achievement is nearly impossible. So you can kind of see why land with Steve's kind of guy. When you think of those classic Steve Jobs product unveils, where each iPhone is a little bit better than the last one, that approach is pure Edwin Land. And in 1949 Polaroid photos, they are fast, but they're also like a little grainy and sort of brownish jack. I guess in Instagram terms, we would say these are sepia. And of course, the picture, it doesn't leave a negative. So what uses it to a professional photographer? Right. Land doesn't want only to serve amateurs with this new camera. He wants serious artists to use Polaroid too. So one of

the first moves he does is to recruit a certified American legend. Ansel Adams, one of the most highly regarded photographers in America known for his gorgeous and astonishing landscapes of the American West. Polaroid hires him as a technical consultant for $100 a month. Now Jack, we should point out that is a crazy good bargain. Like even if you figure that it's about 1,300 bucks a month in today's money, like imagine getting Kim Kardashian to consult for your Instagram or getting MrBeast to cut your YouTube videos.

Yet he's the value of having the ultimate user on the team to give you feedback on your product, that is priceless. But Ansel Adams isn't the only one advancing artistic innovations at Polaroid. One of Edwin's brightest protoges, a woman named Meroe Morse, is in charge of one of the company's top priorities, moving their film from sepia to crisp, modern black and white. Now we know you're thinking, Bessie, yeah, piece of cake, just like, change the color. This is actually a major scientific challenge because they have to totally

reformulate their whole chemical process and start some parts completely from scratch. Mereway keeps her lab going and shifts, putting in 18-hour work days just like her boss, trying to get any breakthrough possible. Like no time for lunch, Jack. They're trying to fix the flux capacitor. Great Scott! And in the summer of 1950, all that overtime finally pays off when Morris and her team deliver a beautiful, crisp, black and white film stock right to their hands, which Polaroid puts into production ASAP.

But within a few months, there's already a problem. Okay, pause the pod for a sec, Jack, because this isn't just a problem. I think out of all the products we've covered, this may be the biggest problem we have ever seen. The black and white, fully developed Polaroid photos, they are starting to fade. Yeah, the photos are disappearing! The same problem Marty McFly faces in Back to the Future. Oh my god! Polaroid customers are facing with their photographs.

Seriously, Jack, maybe it is the flux capacitor after all. Customers call in. They're furious and devastated because their memories are being bleached out into pure white nothingness. I mean, Jack, that is bad. Like that is, it is 2008 and my computer crashed and I lost my entire term paper bad. Actually, imagine you turned on your iPhone right now and all your photos were just gone. Your wedding photos, your baby photos, every visual memory you've tried to capture. Since Polaroids don't leave behind negatives, these memories are gone forever. This is a crisis. They need to hack together some sort of fix right

away. So they create a finisher solution that the user can literally paint over their photos like they're painting their nails. Polaroid starts including a small bottle of finisher within the box of every film. So Jack, how's our buddy Edwin feeling about this hacky solution? He's not a fan. It's messy, it smells nasty, it disrupts the frictionless user experience he wants to deliver. But customers accept the inconvenience rather than letting their photos fade. So Jack, this is a lot about how much people loved Polaroid cameras. The very fact that they were willing to put up with a smelly ink solution just for the ability to take an instant photo.

So Land got Ansel Adams on the payroll, helping him refine camera mechanics. He's got Meroe Morse solving true black and white. And he puts another team on the Mount Everest project of instant photography. Color. Now, yeah, we should point out for a sec that, amazingly, the first color photograph was actually created back in the 1800s. But no existing process translates easily to Polaroid's instant developing system. So color photographs, yeah, that's a Mount Everest.

It takes up until 1956. But finally, they crack the case on instant color. As a demo, they take a photo of a young woman in a red silk jacket. Land is so proud of this human accomplishment that he personally hand delivers it to Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York. And that red silky jacket, it puts a different color into Kodak's executive minds. And that color is green. Instant color photos sounds like a big business.

Yeah, it does. Whether for photojournalists on assignment or for snapping pics at your cousin's Christmas party. He has those crazy sweaters, you know. So they agree to once again supply Polaroid with film stock and expertise. In 1963, Polacolor Film debuts to the general public and it becomes one of the most profitable products Polaroid has ever made.

This is a profit puppy. But Land makes a major strategic error during the rollout. Don't tell me we lose all of the color photos Jack When life magazine does a spread on Policolor the name Kodak appears nowhere in the print article In fact Polaroid barely acknowledges Kodak's contributions Just one small mention in a pamphlet and Kodak is not Happy they definitely notice the snub. Jack, to quote John Blatarsky in Animal House,

don't get mad, get even. So it's 1963 and Polaroid has just snubbed their frenemy, Kodak. And Kodak responds in proper mean girl fashion. Oh yeah. They launch a compact, highly portable camera of their own, Kodak Instamatic. Oh, Jack, this is a classic Regina George retaliation.

I mean, they may as well have launched a burn book on these guys. Now, an Instamatic has instant vibes, since you can grab it in an instant and point and shoot in an instant, and there's no manual focus. But you still have to take the film to a developer, so it is not entirely instant. Kodak is making a strategic move here. They know Polaroid is starting to build a brand. Their customers are already

committed to the camera, so instead of competing with Polaroid on quality, they go with the oldest trick in the business book. They're trying to beat them on price. Kodak's Instamatic camera retails at just $16 or a little more than $160 in today's money. Whereas the price tag on the latest Polaroid? $164.95 or $1,600 in today's money. So what we're saying is that Kodak's camera is 90% cheaper than the Polaroid camera. And that's not just cheaper, that is a different world, man. And at one-tenth the price, the Kodak Instamatic is positioned to become a category killer.

This thing will go on to sell some 70 million units within the first decade on the market, and it sells 10 times as many units as Polaroid's first run of cameras, even though it's not even really instant. It's instant-ish. Now, this really is a problem for Polaroid. Oh, totally. Especially since the mid-1960s are an inflection point for candid photography. Good point, Jack.

So, yetis, these were the swingin' 60s. Picture Austin Powers. Foxy Cleopatra's going out, she's looking good, and she wants some photos of herself. This is the era where people don't look stern and unhappy in their photos. They start smiling and taking candid. It's big for photography. You're going to Rolling Stones concerts in a mini skirt and black boots. They kill your feet, but they look fantastic. And even better on camera. Just like now, young people are obsessed with capturing everyday moments, and most of them can't afford a camera that costs hundreds of dollars. So Polaroid has to interrupt the Instamatic craze before they lose out on an entire generation

of customers. And that's why in 1965, Polaroid collapsed back with a brand new camera. And what do they call it, Jack? The Swinger. The Swinger. The Swinger. Technically that name the Swinger is because of its cute little strap that lets that camera swing around your wrist but they definitely mean it both ways. The name Swinger is brilliant and it was dreamed up by a legendary ad exec, a real

life Peggy Olsen of the era named Phyllis Robinson. More on her in a sec. For the first time, the camera has been repositioned from tech gadget to fashion accessory. Pairs perfectly with your product first. Oh, and its viewfinder even tells you when you have enough light to take a photo by spelling out the word, yes. Oh, it's so much nicer than when my iPhone lectures me

that there's not enough light. So rude. And at a retail price of $19.95, it's competitive with the Instamatic. The Swinger sells out like Beyonce tickets. Sales are also helped by an ad campaign featuring this catchy jingle written by that advertising phenom, Phyllis Robinson, and sung by a young Barry Manilow. Make the swinger, Polaroid swinger. It's more than a camera. It's almost alive.

It's only $19. And $95. First of all, you're welcome, Yetis, because you're never going to be able to forget that song. My mom actually told me that it's Barry Manilow who sang that, because she still remembers the commercial to this day. Well, Jack, your mom was a fan of that commercial. But funny thing, Land, the guy running Polaroid, not a fan of this

product. He worries that pushing a lower end product will damage Polaroid's reputation among serious photographers. They don't keep Ansel Adams on the payroll for nothing, man. The Swinger becomes their fastest selling camera to date and it gives them the fuel to move ahead on Land's true dream project. The thing he's obsessed over since he first came up with instant photography in 1943. Yetis, it's now the late 1960s. Edwin Land sits quietly in his laboratory in Cambridge, Mass. Everyone else has gone home for the night. He's finally got a moment to himself to think. Now that the team isn't sitting around chatting about their weekend plans or significant others or children. And what he's thinking

of is his promise he'd made to his daughter on their walk in New Mexico 25 years ago. Why can't I see these pictures right now dad? I don't want to wait. Edwin Land, the inventor of the most innovative camera ever, has never fully been satisfied with that camera he invented. The Polaroid photo of Land's imagination is one that develops in one step, like magic. And to get this, Land has to somehow eliminate the backing sheet, which means solving two technical problems. One, where do you put the developer chemicals? And two, how do you keep light from ruining your negative? Well, those two problems, they're gonna take years of innovation to pull off, but

the solution leads to one of the most accidentally powerful features in history. Land and his engineers design a new kind of photo paper that hides a strip of developer chemicals at one end of it. So when the camera rollers squeegee the chemicals out, what's left behind is just a single white strip along the bottom of your photo. That one half inch white strip ends up becoming the most iconic element, the most defining feature

of the entire Polaroid camera. It becomes a space to caption your new instant photo. It's an accidental invention and it is game-changing. So Lan makes sure to get it patented of course. And then just as before he heads straight to Kodak headquarters. Yeah they may be competitors but the Kodak folks they're still business partners. They've been manufacturing Polaroid film packs since the 1940s. So even with the hurt feelings around credit, the arrangement has been good for both companies. So Land figures that they can collaborate on this new kind of film too.

With pride, Land explains to the Kodak brass his recent breakthrough on self-developing film and his vision for the new truly one-step instant camera. Then he heads home. And just as Lan closes the door, each of those Kodak executives looks around the room and starts freaking out. For years Polaroid has been both a lucrative corporate client and a pain in the neck, but what Lan just told them is scary. Polaroid's new instant camera with its magic self-developing film. This is no easy make of it. This is an existential

threat to Kodak. This ain't no JV squad. This is varsity. So Kodak stands to lose billions if Land can get this one-step self-developing film off the ground. And that's why Kodak lays down an ultimatum. They'll bring Polaroid's nifty new film to market if Polaroid finally allows Kodak access to some of those sweet sweet instant photography patents. Remember we mentioned Land is big on patents. He's got a patent passion. Ever since his first Pol polarizer patent in 1929, he's patented not just instant photography, but every single aspect and detail of instant photography. And so far, it's been the only thing keeping Kodak from swooping in and dominating the instant photoc

market right now. Kodak obviously knows how to make instant film, because they've been doing it for Polaroid for years. Yeah, totally. It wouldn't be hard for them to figure out the camera part. But they need Polaroid to grant them a license if they're going to legally do it. And Land is having none of it. He refuses to grant Kodak any of his patents whatsoever. Okay, so Jack, what does Kodak do in this tit-a-tat standoff situation?

Kodak basically breaks up with Polaroid. They refuse to print a single square of Polaroid's brand-spankin' new film. They can't spare a square like Disney and Netflix. Netflix, they were great at distributing Disney stuff until... ta-dum. Until Netflix made Orange is the New Black and House of Cards. Awkward. And then everything changed. They went from frenemy to straight- up enemies real quick. So Disney, they pulled all their content off Netflix and canceled their partnerships,

just like Kodak did with Polaroid. So Land stands firm. He won't give Kodak access to his patented instant photography tech, even though he knows this is gonna cause problems. Because Polaroid has always contracted out their film manufacturing. They don't even have a working prototype for their new invention.

And now, not only do they have to perfect it, they also have to build a factory from the ground up so they can produce it at scale. And now it's only a matter of time before Kodak tries to copy it. With or without a patent. It's 1972. For the past four years, Edwin Land and his team have been toiling away at Land's nearly impossible dream. Instantly self-developing film and a brand new camera to go with it. Or in business speak, they're working on vertical integration of Polaroid.

Vertical integration. Something lots of companies do, cutting out middlemen and gaining more control over their supply chain. Now, when you're not relying on outside vendors to make key components of your product, you are eliminating a major variable and it's nice to be in control. On the other hand, that means every component of your product from start to finish, it's on you. And that's expensive, and it can also be a lot of pressure. Polaroid had to vertically integrate not because they wanted to, but because they had to. So Polaroid is mass producing this camera, and at first, it's code named Aladdin. But soon, Land gets nostalgic. Oh yeah.

So like the first ever Polaroid camera, Land calls this new model the SX70. Oh, the old SX70 brings me back to 30 minutes ago in this podcast, Jack. Well, this modern 1972 SX70 is a slim, elegant camera that folds into itself when you're not using it. It's leather bound exterior is smooth, it is sleek. You could pull this thing out of your pocket, pop it open, and take a picture in seconds.

So between this new factory, the research and development, SX70 costs Polaroid nearly a billion dollars. That's more than $8 billion today. With that much money, they could have acquired Lyft. And he makes this huge investment with something that's going to freak out a lot of tech CEOs out there. He makes the investment with zero market research. It's a super risky move.

Land is simply going with his gut. He knows that people are going to love this Polaroid. And you know what? Land looks pretty smart when this new SX70 first hits the market, doesn't he Jack? It is a monster success. It makes the 1948 Land camera look like a flop by comparison. Yeah, remember, 55,000 of his first camera were sold that holiday sales season beginning on Black Friday in 1948.

But sales of this 1972 model, they're almost nine times that. But Polaroid wants to keep the momentum going. So they invest Hollywood style in Hollywood. Like Nike nabbing college athletes, Polaroid starts signing celebrity endorsements like Candice Bergen, Christopher Plummer, and the Muppets. Yeah, come with the frog,

he doesn't care about your Kodak moment. He wants his holiday pic with Miss Piggy shot on a Polaroid. Polaroid is pushing for market dominance at this point. Celebrity spokespeople are part of that strategy. Polaroid also courts ultra-famous photographers. Andy Warhol, he goes crazy for the SX70, photographing every it guy and it girl from John and Yoko to Muhammad Ali. And then aside from one tiny blip in their stock price around the time when they couldn't meet demand,

things couldn't be better for Polaroid. The sun is shining and shareholder value is soaring. But Jack, our old friend Kodak, they haven't gone away. In fact, they've got a little something to say about the instant photography market. It's not cheese. So remember, the only thing keeping Kodak out of the instant camera business has been Land's comprehensive patents. They know how to make these cameras. They know how to make the film. They just legally can't because Land owns the idea. Legal! But in 1976, Kodak releases their own instant camera anyway.

It's called the Kodak EK6. And our buddy Land, he is personally offended by this copycat because this Kodak knockoff is clunky. It looks like a parking meter. Frankly, this Kodak knockoff is the McDowell's Big Mic to the Polaroid's Big Mac. So just six days after Kodak unveils this new camera, Edwin Land announces a lawsuit. And it will bang around the courts for 14 and a half years until in 1990, Kodak is finally forced to pay out $909 million to Polaroid for stealing their idea. But ultimately,

when the money finally comes, it'll be too late for the person most interested in the outcome. Because Edwin Land, the founder and fierce captain of Polaroid for its entire heyday, dies in March of 1991 at the age of 81 years. And honestly, after his death, the company that he created just slides into disarray. Polaroid is going to fail at staying competitive during the real category killer, digital photography. When the bottom falls out of the film photography business, it happens all at once. In October of 2001, Polaroid declares bankruptcy, and in 2008, the company stops making their

iconic film altogether. And besties, that would be the last word on Polaroid. Except for a mysterious, almost Edwin Landian figure who couldn't bear to hear the story's end and did not want our podcast to finish. It's February 2008, the month that you and I met each other as freshman year college roommates. Yeah, totally.

Great time for you and me. Tough time for Polaroid. We had no idea what was going on at that cute little camera company. Polaroid has just announced that they're shutting down production on their iconic self-developing film. Polaroid factories are shutting down all over the world. At the height of its powers, 1978, Polaroid employed 21,000 people. And now it's down to 150.

But after Polaroid announces that they're shutting down, analog film lovers, in particular Polaroid lovers, send out a sort of global cry of woe. Enter Florian Dach Caps, great name, an Austrian entrepreneur and analog tech enthusiast. Dach is appalled by the sight of Polaroid factories shutting down worldwide. One by one they're disappearing until there's only one left. It's in the Netherlands in a town called Enchede.

In October 2008, Doc decides to buy it for $3.1 million. He teams up with a handful of Dutch scientists and they decide to rebuild the Polaroid photographic process from scratch. They call it the Impossible Project. handful of Dutch scientists, and they decide to rebuild the Polaroid photographic process from scratch. They call it the Impossible Project. Now, Yeddies, before we go full Jurassic Park on this, we got to point out, there is no supply chain, there is no institutional knowledge, there's basically no way they could pull this off.

They had to reverse engineer Polaroid's entire self-developing process. It takes years. But Doc finds a way. In 2017, the Impossible project acquires the Polaroid brand and becomes simply Polaroid. Today, a quick trip to Polaroid.com gives you the option to buy a range of cameras, instant film, and accessories. It sells to analog enthusiasts and professional photographers worldwide. Plus, you can find LAND's polarization principles still applied to everyday items like cell

phones, computer screens, and sunglasses. So the next time it's 72 and sunny outside and you toss on a pair of Ray-Bans, give a shout out to Edwin Land. Nick, you and I, we've both been guests at many a wedding. Plenty of weddings. Polaroid camera is a great party prop, right? People can take photographs and put it in the guest book. Pro tip, the whole wedding party loves a Polaroid on the dinner table. But you'd be shocked that Polaroid's business is way more than just wedding party props. There's still a huge business today despite the digital revolution.

Their global estimated revenue as of 2023 is $777 million. That's on par with Yeti coolers, Hoka's running shoes, or Goldfish crackers. In a world where every phone can instantly and digitally take a picture, Polaroid is still almost a billion dollar brand. And the spirit of both Polaroid and their frenemy Kodak live on in their modern descendant,

Instagram. When Kevin Systrom co-founded Instagram, he combined the nostalgic visual elements of both Polaroid and Kodak for Instagram's logo, its photo filters, and the shapes of the photos themselves. Which is of course a square with some room at the bottom to write captions. Hashtag blessed. Hashtag Edwin Land. Hashtag no filter. So yeah, that is the story of Polaroid and its genius inventor Edwin Land. Nick, what's your takeaway?

Jack, my takeaway on Polaroid? Ask why seven times. Why? You know, I thought you never asked why seven times. Why? You know, I thought you'd never ask why, Jack. Well, the idea of asking why seven times is at the heart of what we call first principles thinking, the concept where you break down a problem into its essential elements.

So business leaders, they talk about doing that a whole bunch, but kids understand that concept instinctively. And when Lan's daughter asked him why she couldn't see her photo right away, she was trying to get to the truth that she could understand. That helped Lan get there too.

So asking why seven times, basically thinking like a child about an adult problem, that takes apart the conventional wisdom and the flawed assumptions that make up the status quo. And once you've broken those down, then you are free to create something new. But Jack, I got a question for you. What's your takeaway on Polaroid?

What you think is a flaw might be your best feature. Well, putt, putt, putt. The extra space Landon and his team made to hide the pouch of developer chemicals, it turned into one of Polaroid's defining features. It's the margin where we caption our picture. It gave the photos a visual style that has since become iconic.

It's a differentiator. This won't be true every time. Some flaws are just flaws. But you should be keeping your eyes out for flaws with feature potential. But Jack, it feels like it's time for our favorite part of the show, the best facts yet. The surprising details we discovered in our research

that we couldn't find a place for in our story. Can I take it away? You gotta check. Contrary to the outcast song, Hey Ya, you shouldn't actually shake your Polaroid picture. In fact, when that song debuted in 2003, Polaroid actually put out a press release noting that shaking or waving of the photo

can actually damage the image. Still a classic dance move, though. Still classic. And during the Cold War, Edwin Land even acted as science advisor to President Dwight D. Eisenhower and was critical in developing both high speed and X-ray film, you know, for spying.

Robert Oppenheimer's got nothing on this guy. I mean, Jack, where's the Land movie? Hey, Christopher Nolan! We're gonna have to have a word. And finally, there are so many more stories about Edwin Land we didn't cover in this episode, like the fact that he employed historic numbers of female scientists.

And that is why Polaroid is the best idea yet. And yetis, wait till you hear the next episode of the best idea yet. We got the high flying, earth shaking, money making story of, wait check, is that a sneaker screech? What is that on the court? The Air Jordans. Follow the best idea yet on the Wondry app,

Amazon music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of the best idea yet on the Wondery app, Amazon music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to every episode of the best idea yet early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. The best idea yet is a production of Wondery hosted by me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Kraviche-Kramer. Besties, if you've got a product that you're obsessed with, but you wish you knew the backstory, drop us a comment and we'll look right into it. Oh, and don't forget to rate and review the show.

Five stars, rate and review. That's how we grow The Best Idea Yet. Our senior producers are Matt Beagle and Chris Gauthier. Matt Wise is our producer. Our senior managing producer is Nick Ryan and Taylor Sniffin is our managing producer. Our associate producer is H. Conley. Research by Samuel Fatzinger. This episode was written and produced by Katie Clark Gregg. We use many sources in our research including Instant, The Story of Polaroid by Christopher Bananos, Lands Polaroid by Peter Wensberg, A Triumph of Genius by Ronald K. Feirstein,

and finally, A Brief History of the Impossible Project by The Impossible Project. Sound Design and Mixing by CJ Drummala, Fact Checking by Molly Artwick, Music Supervision by Scott Velasquez and Jolina Garcia for Free Song and Sync. Our theme song is Got That Feelin' Again by Black Lac. Executive producers for Nick and Jack Studios are me, Nick Martel, and me, Jack Ravici-Kramer.

Executive producers are Dave Easton, Jenny Lauer-Beckman, Aaron O'Flaherty, and Marshall Louie for Wondering.