Merwin: Flyagra vs. Pfizer

Once in a while I run across a fishing product that I admire more for its marketing than substance. I think the best of these was Flyagra, a terrific little tube of fly floatant that was ultimately killed by Pfizer, the pharmaceutical giant. (The Flyagra website, by the way, no longer functions.)

Back in 2006 (I’m testing my memory here) I ran into this product at a trade show. It was obviously sheer genius. That’s because hundreds of thousands of fly fishermen would very definitely be willing to spend the $4 or $5 bucks it cost just for the sake of being able to make wisecracks.

The makers played this angle, of course. “Keeps your fly up all day…” or “Just a dab on your fly…” combined with the product name filled the space around the maker’s trade-show booth with goofy grins.

Unfortunately, Pfizer, which makes Viagra, had no sense of humor and soon thereafter got the fledgling floatant marketer to cease and desist. Flyagra was indeed a perfectly good paste-type fly floatant, but that was ultimately beside the point. Without the zip of such a clever name, the product died. Or at least as far as I know, it did.

And once again a small marketer’s creativity was totally squashed by the big feet of corporate America….