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(June 2008) posted on Tue Sep 29, 2009

By Bill Wynkoop

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"Out of the mouths of babes..." is an idiom that every parent is well acquainted with. Even so, it can still surprise you when it's your child that is mouthing that darnedest thing. Such was the case for me in a recent exchange with my seven-year-old boy when he asked me how come I wasn't as smart as him.

More startling is that I didn't have a ready comeback, so I left the house in search of something—a boost to my brain power perhaps? Luckily for me—and for you if you get similar questions from your children—there are some new products on the market that can help us in our plight.

Upping your IQ

A favorite new entry of mine is Brain TonIQ. It's in limited but growing distribution and comes in a sleek, award-winning paperboard sleeve that is both eye-catching and functional. Brain TonIQ claims to be "The Smart Antidote to Head Fog." It is organic, caffeine-free and "nootropic"—a term I have learned indicates a class of drugs that are believed to improve cognitive abilities.

Scott Ohlgren, Brain TonIQ's owner and creator, came up with the idea two years ago when a chance encounter with a broken ATM forced him to go into a 7-Eleven store. As he walked down an aisle laden with energy drinks, he was intrigued and closely scrutinized their ingredients. Having a background in health, he knew that something better could be made and that it could succeed in the marketplace.

The next day Ohlgren coined Brain TonIQ and found a numbers guy to be his partner. His eureka moment took 18 months to perfect as a formula and another six months to package it and bring it to market. As a bootstrap startup, Brain TonIQ's partnership did not have the financial resources to develop a new primary package. They elevated a stock can with a great design and rethought the presentation of the standard four-pack carrier that was common to the category and was the focal point to the consumer.