Fun with hitches
Photo credit: MARK RECHTIN
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When dealers have had enough of wading through the booths of DMS providers, CRM solutions, sales training vendors and social media helpers, they may look for the unusual on the show floor.
The winner of the "unusual" prize this year belongs to Hitch Critters, which sells rubberized, miniature ducks, fish, dogs, you name it, to mount on the trailer hitches of trucks. The toys plug in to the tailgate-lights connection, so that when a truck hits its brakes, the animal wiggles furiously on the hitch. Some even light up.
Dan Chesnicka, director of Evoke Ventures, which makes the Critters, says he has sold nearly 500,000 of the things. His latest venture is fake deer antlers to mount on rolled-up car windows. Next up is Collegiate Critters, which will have mascots of your alma mater dancing on your hitch.
Hey, there's no accounting for taste, and if you can make a buck doing it...
You can reach Mark Rechtin at mrechtin@crain.com. -- Follow Mark on 
