The girls could think of nothing half decent - what would your ideas be?

I was thinking along the lines of some sort of hold-all which could have some sort of fold-out legs (or another way to to keep it above the sand so that everything doesn't get completely covered in sand) with plenty of pockets for all your bits and pieces. A kind of beach-tidy/hold-all I suppose.

Not exactly great, but what can you come up with?

A sand sucker
Sun cream applicator/massager
Nipple covers
Pubic shaver
solar beer fridge
flip flop with flipout flippers
snorkel/beer hose

X-ray sunglasses for the boys' team, with tassels.

Emma says can you make it out of card board? And Adam wants shoe sized pockets.
Leading to Nick's reaction : x and Karren's :sleep:

Fish trousers. Sells itself.

A wind-break which doesn't blow away or collapse with a slight gust of wind.

I'm a wheelchair user, so I'd like some kind of trackway I could lay down on the sand. I'm thinking of the scene in Wallace and Gromit where Gromit is throwing down train track in front of him as fast as he can... I'd need something that can throw it down in front of me and pick it up from behind me.

Otherwise I'd like a bubble - something to protect me from sand getting in my clothes, nasty salty air, horrid hot sun to burn me... I HATE beaches.

Serious suggestions... hmm, I can't think of much. Maybe something to protect my hair and hold it back - some sort of bandana type turban type thing which looks funky? Tricky task!

Something like this? http://www.ohgizmo.com/2006/04/23/of...he-tank-chair/ not sure about the centre of gravity though

Someone is making chairs fitted with caterpillar tracks commercially.
Scroll down to the bottom - wheelchair friendly beaches
http://www.tenerife-information-cent...-tenerife.html

Or just big tyres. Maybe they could be made as replacement wheels for certain chairs?
http://www.hotshotproducts.org/product.htm

I think contestants would be better coming up with an idea or concept rather than an actual product and pitching that, say an app on your phone that was like a pre paid debit card that you could buy things like ice creams or pedallos. The vendors could have the same technology on their phones. Saves you having to take cash or plastic to the beach with you as well.

Menk - I like your idea!

I am aware of stuff like that, but I have a chair which is created in my size (so I can self-propel most effectively) and was chosen for my needs (folded to go in car, etc) - I'm not going to hire another chair just to go on the beach, and even if I did I couldn't get it in my car! I have seen off-road chairs in use at festivals though, and I was jealous...


That's more to my way of thinking! But I'm not sure how I'd self propel with fat wheels - I wouldn't get my arms around them!

This is my chair: http://www.ottobock.co.uk/cps/rde/xb...m2_rdax_85.jpg - what I need is somethign I can clip on that's small (fits in a car boot along with my chair), affordable, and yet somehow enables me to ride over the sand. Maybe what I need is an array of mini jet packs that clip on and lift me up just a little, so I am still in contact with the sand enough that when I self-propel I still move forward, but am not pressing on the sand enough that I sink in...?

Um, yeh. Maybe the Book-eeze wasn't so bad after all!

Yeah, I'm sure I've seen things like that at festivals now you mention it.

I'm not an engineer, but my immediate thought was catapillar tracks that could clamp on. Looking at those sites, the front wheels would be better served by fat tires, the real by wide but low profile tracks so they don't interfere. perhaps with grip handles if the tracks/oval section tyres are too wide to grip themselves.

What really surprised me is I thought this would bring up more hits than it did. I mean it's not just on sand, what about going down the garden after the lawn's been soaked for weeks or snow and ice. I see some fit mountain bike tyres or those off road tyres are the same width. Ok if the going is rough but not soft.

THE main problem with the beach is sand not being a friend to bearings. That would be a reason for hiring one just to go on the beach. Same as pedellos or deck chairs. You have your normal one and just leave it as deposit/storage for going onto the harsher terrain. The company hiring costs in the price of all that extra servicing, not you. That's a market right there. The self propelled chairs are heavy and ungainly. I totally see your point about wanting to keep control yourself. The chief swimming instructor/lifeguard at our local baths when I was a kid, was in a wheelchair (ex-soldier, bullet in the spine in Cyrus). Was he ever fit!
Besides those tank-chairs etc are expensive and mean a new car and more. No I think something that can reasonably cheaply and quickly add to existing chairs is a product (range) that could be feasible for a business to spend time developing.

Well apart from the obvious existing wheelchair makers or a whole new business (can just see this on Dragons' Den), who could design it? Universities do do design work, though together with business. Another who would have an interest in seeing this would be the army. Sadly a sizable number of fit young men, used to outdoor sports etc, have come back over the past few years. They have rehab centres that do work to try and over come an individual's needs. The US army would be the same. Incidently (to nod to the Apprentice) Raleigh's brother had to spend time in a wheelchair after an IED. Raleigh now works for a troop charity whose patrons are 'the great and the good'. Contacts maybe?

As to why there doesn't seem to be anything like this at the moment, maybe just not found them. Or there are patent problems. In the US maybe, but didn't see any UK solutions.
New products that are useful are appear all the time, sometimes people haven't thought of it. I started a business (lasted 14 years) fufilling such a niche need, though it was in a market I knew well and with a technology that I could work out how to apply (printing). This would require real engineering experience, ideally in wheelchair design, but not exclusively. I think you've identified a real need, which means a market, which means it's worth someone's time to seriously investigate how to do it. Hope they do.
But as I'm not an engineer, sadly, with regret, I'm out

Seriously, I think it's worth pushing, as there is something there

a) this is a wet dream of the mobile industry already
b) no cash or plastic, but a phone, which will work well if it gets wet or sand inside it....

I thought the sandbox might have sold, if the market was brighton...

Quite a few of the small vendors much prefer cash
What about all those arcade machines? Have to buy some real money back

Seriously this is what is coming and is at least partly here esp in the UK. http://www.rfidprivacy.org/rfid-for-...d-payments.htm
Only RFID technology is being used for so much more. It can be your own personal tag, so your movements can be recorded. One example in the UK tracks shoppers as they move from store to store recording what they buy. That info can be sold so stores can gain a better idea of local buying and target promotions better.

It's not designed to be for your benefit. It's your eggs in your basket. Soon enough a way will be found to steal money by just standing next to you.

For a fuller list of RDIF applications
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_Field_Communication

Perhaps there's a market for tin foil hats

LS said everyone goes to the beach so it was a simple task. A pity he couldnt tell us what he would choose. Since its mostly parents with kids, something simple to be able to find them among all the others on a crowded beach.

Only thing that really annoys me is when you go to a beach (especially when you SC). You want to go in the sea, with your partner and kids but somebody has to stay on the sunbeds to watch the valuables, usually your purse,wallet or watches.
I think some kind of costume/trunks with a water tight pouch, for small amount of items, would be useful. Same when you visit water parks. It is a pain everytime you need to revisit your locker for some money (usually situated right back where the entrance is)
Would I buy it I don't know. Just my only gripe.
Yeah I know 'Geek'

http://www.austinkayak.com/products/...ght-Pouch.html

In the summer expect to see quite a few:
http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=45075

Or you could use a little plastic food box in a bum-bag. That would be totally waterproof and probably float too.

In the past condoms were used to keep small stuff dry. That came out all wrong

The relatively few replies to this thread show how difficult it is to come up with workable ideas for an original beach accessory against the clock. Cue thrusting young executives being deliciously cut down to size once again, even though they’ve been given an impossible task. I should think many of them preferred to keep their mouths shut and sit about looking blank rather than run the risk of exposing a childlike side of themselves that they’ve been working so hard to hide because it has no place in this ruthless, hyperintelligent business world that doesn’t exist.

Here are a few ideas though:

1. Got sand between your toes? Yuck! You need a multi-pronged paddle designed to remove sand from between your toes in one simple motion while perhaps at the same time delivering a soothing and moisturising balm. Problem solved! A catchy name is all-important. We introduce the ToeWipe!

2. Where do you put your valuables when you’re having a swim? StashCash is the answer! This is shaped like an enclosed trowel in which you put your money and mobile and bury in the sand next to your towel and book. Attached at the top would be a model of a worthless object designed to throw the opportunist thief off the scent – such as a cloth crisp packet or rubber dog turd.

3. How can you take pictures of the opposite sex cavorting all around you in their underwear without attracting unwanted attention and the reputation of a maldeveloped voyeur? What would definitely come in handy is an attachment for your camera which makes it take on the appearance of a sextant, thus allowing you full rein to indulge your cowardly lasciviousness at your leisure while appearing to be charmingly fascinated by more scientific concerns. PerveSwerve! (£49.99)

A foreskin protector.

A Screeching Child-Muffler.

In practice new products are not identified or developed against the clock. They are either the result of someone looking for something and finding it doesn't exist or an evolution of an existing thing. Science produces new materials or finds new properties and it's years before anything practical appears.

The task is a way to find those who have quick idea forming minds. Also a test for all to analyise which ideas might have merit commercially and can be built upon. How aware they are of consumer buying and markets basically. There's also a good chance someone will mess up in a very visual easy to remember way.

I don't think they think about ruining their image by having a childlike view (looking with fresh eyes). They need to shine. Those that are quiet is I think because they don't have any ideas just out of nowhere. Not everyone has a mind like that.

StashCash - how will you recognise your particular dog turd? Perhaps a small pirate flag could be used instead?

PerveSwerve - that would have appeals to several of the boys team There is/was a photographic attachment that had a 45 degree mirror and a fake lens in front. It was horribly obvious A sextant would have been much better

I finally thought of a good idea (when I was trying to sleep a few nights back).

Either - a see through plastic thing which rolls up like a giant wallet but has a zip up space for suncream (to keep it contained if it spills), a space for shades and a velcro strip designed to hold a rolled up sun hat, so you can take your extras to the beach in a quick grab, and have somewhere to store them when not in use rather than just getting sand on them...

...or just a clear plastic zip up pocket which goes over a bottle of suncream, you pull the large tag (which has a grip pattern on it so wet fingers can grip) to unzip, flip open the plastic, then apply suncream from the bottle and reseal the plastic pouch / pocket. That way if the suncream spills it won't go over anything else in your handbag / luggage. They could be kept at the tills and sold for £1 - "I see you're buying sunscreen, do you want a Screen Saver for a pound?" Would also be useful for other bottles you might take on holiday - shampoo etc. It could be sold simply - would just need a cardboard insert showing a bottle of suncream and the name / simple wording - so it wouldn't cost the earth to manufacture.

I think I'd have gone for the simplicity of my "screen saver". After all the winners were judged on number of sales so I'd rather go for something cheap that will shift in big numbers rather than a luxury item.

What do you reckon?

(If anyone wants to make the Screen Saver remember to come to me for the rights )

I've got a great idea, maybe I shouldn't mention it as someone may get rich out of it and I won't get my cut, hmmmm.

Well my idea first.

What about getting models to offer applying suntan cream ro people for a fee? I think that would work well! Seriously!

Styker, how will you sell that to Boots? Presumably people could buy it in any one of their 500 stores, and would then need to package up the model and take them in their luggage to their holiday destination?

Its a general idea in response to the title of the thread not how to make Boots happy.