REPUTABLE DISPLAYS
Focusing on the design, manufacture, production and printing of products for the promotion of products and services, Display Mania International has branches in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and Zimbabwe. It also has agents in Botswana, Kenya, Malawi and Uganda. Company owner Wendy Smith tells Adcomm Media about the company, and a recently launched product.
Catering across-the-board
Established in 1999, providing across-the-board products for promotions, Wendy says they soon realised that the majority of their clients needed accompanying print products with their already established offering. “This led to the opening of our Digital Division,” she smiles, “appropriately named, Digital Mania.” The company has full digital divisions in both the Cape Town and Johannesburg operations and all branches offer comprehensive product ranges for both indoor and outdoor requirements.
Display Mania’s product offering includes snappa frames; fabric frames; freestanding units; outdoor systems; portable stands; light boxes; and its recently launched ‘The Hanging Banner System’. Each category has a number of sub-categories enabling them to cater for the majority of clients’ needs. Wendy, who travels extensively to source new ideas, concepts and methods, and look for new markets, is not adverse to innovation and experimentation. “The objective of my travels is to discover new concepts that can work in the South African market and, of course, be manufactured locally.”
Joint venture
To ensure adequate provision of bulk orders, Display Mania has a joint venture with a Chinese-based company. “While we use our JV partner to ensure cost-effectiveness for bulk orders,” Wendy says, “it is important to note that 85% of all our manufacturing is done in South Africa by South Africans. Display Mania is dedicated to supporting the local economy and creating employment where we can.”
Anticipating action
Wendy reveals that the company, at the time of the interview, had just launched two new versions of established products which have the potential of altering the market. When asked to elaborate, the answer is simply, “watch this space”. Rationale for non-disclosure is a competitive advantage.Adcomwill be covering these products in the near future (keep your eye onAdcom Onlinefor further developments). All Wendy is prepared to reveal is “it is exciting stuff that the industry has been waiting for.”
Product evolution
Towards the latter end of February 2012, Display Mania introduced an original version of the hang banner to the industry – the brainchild of Wendy’s business partner, Leanne Brown-Waterson.
- Rationale
“We discovered that there was a concern with people losing hanging banner components,” Wendy says wryly. “The end caps, trace wire and hanging kit were supplied separately and occasionally one or more of the units would go missing resulting in an appalling appearance, or rend the banner unusable. We also needed to find something that could accommodate the three different most popular media – paper; fabric; and PVC. In addition, we wanted an offering that encompassed both single and double sided requirements.”
- How it worksFabric is stitched around the rubber chonk which is inserted into the hanging display system. When the material is pulled or stretched there is no risk of it detaching. A cap on either side of the frame is attached using bungee cord so when disassembled, the caps remain attached to the fixture voiding the risk of losing these components. “The result is a single, easy to transport and easy to assemble unit,” says Wendy.
- End product
The hanging banner system can accommodate up to a 6m length banner, has a heavy weight holding capacity and can be used both in- and out-of-doors. “There are many other available hanging banners,” she points out. So, while not unique, this aspect is new to the market.”
Generally used in the clothing, banking, fast food and restaurant industries, Wendy says there are no limitations to this banner system except for the fact that it cannot, at this stage, be illuminated. “However, this is just a beginning and this type of hanging frame is going to evolve,” she says. It is the first in South Africa of this shape and size, and with Display Mania having invented the mould and dye; and the first to use the chonk in this method, future evolution is inevitable. “We are in the process of developing this into a free-standing unit,” Wendy points out.
Into Africa
The company is making great in-roads in Zimbabwe, subsequent to the company’s launch there at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in 2011. They currently have business dealings with Schweppes; Zimbabwe Water; Net One (cellular); TM Bank Limited (commercial); and First Mutual Life Insurance.
“There seems to be an inaccurate perception that there is no real business market in Zimbabwe,” Wendy concludes, “but we have found ample opportunities.”
Display Mania has been doing business in Kenya since 2003, and with agents in the other afore-mentioned African countries and future possibilities in others, it seems as though the company’s expansion has only just begun.
