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Peeball is now sweeping the world. Having taken the UK by storm 'the amazing game that's changed the way
1,000,000s of men go to the toilet' has now launched in Australia and is set to pee off in the USA in late 2004.
Peeball is a sporting, awareness and fundraising phenomenon. Many tales have been told about the origin of the
game, but here's the true story.
Peeball was created in March 2000 by Matthew and Elaine Sweetapple (Sweetapple) following a discussion
about extreme sports and advertising.
The comic potential of the sport of Peeball was immediately recognised by both Matthew and Elaine.
They worked together for a design company and so, for their own amusement, they created a website
triumphantly introducing the traditional Gentleman's Sport of Peeball as an on-line game, with a full
history dating back over 100 years. The fictional Peeball-playing universe was born.
During this time alternative names such as Weeball and Slashball were also registered.
A growing fan base visited and re-visited the website.
That Christmas, as a result of their website's growing popularity, Elaine and Matthew decided to produce
a small quantity of actual Peeballs for friends and family. Produced on a tiny budget, these were very
primitive when compared to the Peeballs of today, in fact they were simply branded Ping-Pong balls in
boxes - but they proved a huge hit at Christmas with male and female friends alike.
Peeball and its website remained popular, with a cult following throughout 2001. At this stage Matthew
and Elaine were busy pursuing their careers and build their own agency, Sweetapple.
In February 2002 Matthew attended a routine business meeting (at Virgin Megastores HQ in London).
The weather was particularly cold that day, so he wore an old, heavy coat that he hadn't worn for over a year.
During the meeting he was introduced to charismatic businessman named Alvin Yip. Matthew knew nothing of
Alvin apart from the fact that he was involved with the production of videocassettes.
At the end of the meeting Yip and Sweetapple left together. Wrapped up against the cold outside they
turned to shake hands and say their farewells. As Matthew pulled his hand out of his coat something,
long forgotten, in the depths of his pocket, fell out onto the pavement below.
Alvin picked it up. It was a Peeball box. Yip examined the box and its (unused) contents with amusement.
Yip and Sweetapple retired to a local coffeehouse and Peeball as we know it was born.
Peeballs are biodegradable compacted-powder balls that break down rapidly when exposed to liquid... especially
pee. Every man who has ever used a urinal is already familiar with the basic skills of the game, having played
it, unofficially, with disinfectant cubes or discarded cigarette butts as targets.
The genius of the sport of Peeball stems from this essential simplicity and the fact that all a player needs
is a Peeball, a urinal and the need to pee. Firstly, the gentleman removes the Peeball from its protective
wrapping and places it carefully in a urinal (single and trough urinals are both acceptable playing surfaces).
He then takes aim and relieves himself on the Peeball - attempting to destroy it in the shortest possible time.
Although Matthew and Elaine had discussed the charitable potential of Peeball long before they'd met Alvin Yip,
his intervention and subsequent "un-masking" as an international entrepreneur and manufacturing guru allowed them
of focus their attentions on what Peeball could really achieve.
Prostate Cancer is the world's fastest growing cancer disease.
Currently over 21,000 men in the UK are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year. It is estimated that the number
of cases will increase 47% by 2021, yet prostate cancer research and charitable funding levels are disproportionately
low. Prostate cancer is a "difficult" cause and has received very little coverage in the media or in the political
arena.
Despite many raised eyebrows from their more conservative charity trustees, Sweetapple soon won support from
The UK Prostate Cancer Charity as Peeball's partner and beneficiary in the UK.
With The Prostate Cancer Charity as active partners, Matthew and Elaine decided to develop the Peeball product
as quickly as possible.
Alvin Yip offered to manufacture Peeballs which, to be commercially viable, now had to be made from
biodegradable, non- toxic, urinal-friendly material.
These Peeballs would retail for £1 and had to include a significant donation to The Prostate Cancer Charity.
In order to be able to produce the balls within this £1 price point they had to create a secret formula
and, together with the new ball design, a whole new set of Peeball rules and tactics.
Elaine and Matthew spent all their spare time, travelling around the UK, presenting to possible retailers.
Carefully they worked out an innovative new commercial business model for charity products.
Attempting, sometimes with extreme difficulty, to fit their Peeball work around their day jobs, the Sweetapples
continued their search for retailers who would join in and support Peeball. In order to keep the idea secret,
they could never reveal the details of Peeball on the phone. During the bizarre and difficult cold calls, some
retailers were receptive and curious, some were rude and unpleasant. But they carried on.
More retailers showed interest, 6 Continents (the UK's largest managed pub owners), Scottish and Newcastle
(another huge pub estate), River Island, Maplin and Virgin.
From the Sweetapple's point of view, although everyone agreed Peeball was a fantastic idea, actually getting
people to buy the product in quantity was always going to be tough.
It a may be simple choice for an individual to spend £1 on a Peeball for a laugh and to support charity, but
imagine the decision faced by the retail buyer faced with signing off significant sums of money (over £100,000
in some cases) for balls that men put in the toilet and pee on!
As the Sweetapples worked with and developed the Peeball concept they began to realise the true power of the
idea and the potential importance of Peeball to The Prostate Cancer Charity and to male health awareness in
general.
There were many, many barriers along the way - at times it looked as though the project would never get off
the ground - the Peeball had to be completely redesigned at one stage - but, with every hurdle crossed and
new solutions found, the project grew and strengthened. For the Sweetapples, Peeball became a crusade and
backed by the unswerving support of Alvin Yip, a commercial reality.
Since its launch in November 2002 over 600,000 Peeballs have been sold into retail in the UK and over
£100,000 has already been received by The Prostate Cancer Charity - with considerably more received as
result of Peeball related donations . Peeball has received extensive media coverage - press, radio and
TV. The Peeball website (www.peeball.com) has now received over
1,000,000 visitors.
Peeball has been embraced by patients and prostate cancer sufferers, Health Authorities (some of which
now provide free Peeballs to male patients), health professionals (including some leading urologists),
lobbying groups and male orientated organisations, football clubs, students unions, rugby clubs and party
organisers. As a means of engaging and educating men Peeball has already a huge success.
Peeball has been described by the Prostate Cancer Charity as 'a wonder product' that is 'revolutionising
attitudes to prostate cancer and its symptoms amongst young and old, men and women'. The Marketing
Director of Virgin Megastores has called Peeball, 'a sales phenomenon'.
As a result of the success of Peeball in the UK, the product has now been adopted for launch by Prostate
Cancer Charities in the USA, Canada, Denmark, Ireland and, notably, Australia where Peeball will launch
on 22nd March 2004, sponsored by Carlton United Breweries. This genuinely groundbreaking campaign offers
a solution to a world awareness problem.
Peeball is an original and creative approach to a difficult and growing problem.
And that's just the start. Alvin Yip and the Sweetapples now work together sharing their creative ideas and
manufacturing know-how.
SWEETAPPLE, the company launched as a result of the success of Peeball, has already registered an extensive
portfolio of worldwide patents for other original ideas combining creative thinking and invention with
charitable cases and sound commercial sense.
If you think Peeball is different, just wait to see what they've got planned...
To see peeball.com or peeball.com.au for yourself click here.
Matthew and Elaine SWEETAPPLE. March 2004
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