What's In A Name

N.B. This article was written by me 13 years ago!! I firmly believe NOTHING has changed within our industry since.

For me, it all started with a "tree." The phone rang and on the other end of the line was a party planner asking if we make "balloon trees." Now my first instinct was to reply, "palm or maple," but not wanting to sound like a wise-guy, I opted for, "how many balloons would you like in your tree?" Whatever their answer was, it was blurred by my imagination running wild with the thought of balloons stuck in some tall woody plant with people climbing branches to release them from their tangled imprisonment. What else would happen to balloons in a tree?



As the years have past, new names have come across my desk and over my phone lines. There are puff balls - or are they clouds or perhaps clusters? There are cascades - but they could be corkscrews. Everyone makes packed arches - but are they triples, quads, quints, or just spirals? A double arch could be a zipper or butterfly arch. A balloon column sounds nice, but isn’t that a tree to some? Do we use a cylinder or a tank, a nozzle or a regulator? Hmmm...


Are 16" balloons ‘jumbo’ sized? Doesn’t that leave out 30" or 36" balloons, or larger? And whatever happened to the "paddle" balloon?


Other industries have come to standardize many of the items they sell. Is it time for our industry to follow? Do we need to differentiate our products like sub-compacts and sedans, or queen and king size beds?


Maybe that "tree" is the process of standardization taking place already. With regards only to the "tree," I kind of hope not!


However, much in the industry is standardized to a degree. There are 5", 9", 11" balloons and so on. 18" Mylar balloons are a standard size, or are they? How about those 20" or 21" stars. You probably pay more for them and just as sure you probably don’t charge more for them. Of course, there are those 10" and 12" latex balloons to add to the mix.


What about tank sizes? Surely to a compressed gas company there is some important difference between a 106, 107 or 110 size cylinder. A 285 versus a 292 cylinder must also carry some mystical reasoning as to why they are both offered. But in the end does such a small bit of compressed gas (helium or nitrogen) come to mean that much?


Now we come to packaging balloon products. A gross pack seemed to be (in the US) a fairly comfortable standard to rely on for many years. Then came 72 packs, 36 packs and even 12 packs which all made some sense as they were divisions of the original gross pack of 144. Hold on - here come what may be the more sensible 100 count and 50 count bags. Do we now need to rely on both types of counting for years to come? Possibly and probably.
How about Mylar (or is it metallized or foil?) balloons with their single packs, 5 count, 10 count, etc.?



A number of the items I have listed above are standardized to a degree. However, much of the standardizing may be from within the one company that is manufacturing or distributing the particular product. I don’t want to sound like a rant on paper here, but is it time for some real hard thinking about standardizing certain aspects of the balloon business to aid all concerned - the customer, manufacturer, distributor and reseller?



So next time a customer asks if you make "balloon trees," don’t hesitate to reply "palm or maple," and watch what happens.

2008 Goodbye, Good Riddance

You can’t possibly think we need anything other than a great big SO LONG to 2008. It can’t leave fast enough. All the troubles and woes of a world in a complete tail spin. I think we should all pretty much be car sick by now, don’t you??

So, what do we do? What on earth do we do? Well, for one thing we have got to hang on. Wait the storm out as best we can. That, of course, is so much easier said than done. But what else can we do? Most all of the “experts” have got this world crisis all wrong and I suppose that’s why we are where we are today. We listened to the experts and now we see they really haven’t a clue as to what to do. Just hang in there baby!

Second, we have got to position our own businesses as an ANSWER to the crisis. What’s that you say? “Mark, are you mad??” Well, maybe, but aren’t balloons the most cost effective way to decorate, to celebrate, to commemorate? Flowers be damned, Props? No way. Balloons are the way to go!! Celebrations will go on. Less of them to be sure, but they will take place. Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, corporate affairs and holidays will still be events that occur. We may all wish to be more subdued in how we celebrate, but what is life without even a small bit of revelry?

Balloons will help everyone keep things in perspective as we must show the public we can still celebrate in a cost effective way. Creative balloon work will make your customers appreciate the true value of balloons and make your business have an increased value to those customers.And in today’s (and tomorrow’s) economy isn’t absolutely everybody looking for VALUE in everything?

Balloons – colorful, wonderful and a true value for everyone!

HELP - My Clients with $$ Won't Spend It!

So off I went to NYC tonight for an ISES (The International Special Event Society, http://www.isesnyc.com/) meeting featuring four very interesting speakers. The topic of the event was entitled "How Luxury Brands Use Special Events in This Challenging Economy."

The premise of the program was about how even the most affluent customers are now slower to spend and need "a reason to shop." Many brands are using special events to achieve the 'wow' factor with best customers.

I was really hoping to find out why MY higher end clients aren't buying. Well, they aren't buying most likely because of what I already knew and what they termed tonight "Luxury Shame." Quite simply upper class clients still HAVE money to spend. The problem today is though they still have the money, the appearance of celebrating is wrong for our times right now.

At work or at play, you just can't show the slightest bit of extravagance. Well, you can't let others see the extravagance. The upper class is still buying cars (so said the Director of Marketing for Bentley Motors), flying in private jets (according to the Blue Star Jet CEO) and drinking fancy champagne (as told by the Moët Hennessy USA Director of National Events who was just back from the Oscars as her company sponsored many of the events Post-Oscar night).

What seems to be working for the luxury clients are small private events. House parties, intimate restaurant gatherings; just doing things under the radar seems to be the best way to celebrate. Also important is connecting to a charity at more visible events makes for a good "hook" or a good reason to celebrate. This helps define ROI for companies.

How does this help me (http://www.lotparty.com/) or all of us sell balloons? Well, I'm still not sure, except to say balloons will save a client money, add value to an event with little cost and, in the end, help the almighty ROI numbers soar with all the money one could save by using balloons.