At that time, 100 Infomats (now called the FloorWindo) sounded like a staggering amount. Producing them had taken minutes a piece, and making sure that all of the units where top of the bill took even longer. As described in our last blog post, it had taken quite the effort to make sure that all window panels fit properly into the frame and base as designed.
(Get into the story with the previous blog post : Floor advertising, history of the FloorWindo – part 2 )
Visiting shops, trade shows and countless other venues finally brought Thijs and his business partner to the Plastics Fair in Utrecht. Windo Displays currently exhibits at several trade shows around the globe including USA, Japan, Germany etc. but at the start in 1993, they were happy to have the Infomat displayed at a friends trade show booth. Several Infomats where also placed at entrances and exits of the trade shows for extra exposure.
Placing these Infomats at key entrance points proved to be the turning point for the company. First of all, they were positioned just where you would want information to be displayed, second of all, the right people would visit that day.
A couple of gentlemen who had a printing company passed the Infomat and where instantly drawn to it. This was ‘the’ product to combine with their line of business.
But as clever as the Infomat had been designed, and as cool as the poster looked that was inside, one thing was not clear… who were the people that had placed this innovative poster display on the floor? The gentlemen from the printing company went home and that had almost been that. If not for a day later, a friend of these gentlemen had also spotted the Infomat and happened to speak to the young inventors. He had even managed to get ahold of a sample.
A meeting was set up in a small cafe near Utrecht. Not everyone could attend but it was clear that all parties were enthusiastic and determined to make the Infomat a success. More meetings followed, plans where drawn up and eventually it was 6 men who shook hands. They divided tasks to best suit everyone’s talents. Production and development was to be done from Delft while marketing and sales where headed up in Utrecht.
The FloorWindo (the Infomat was quickly renamed to appeal to a wider audience) was on its way to conquer the world!
Visit again in a couple of weeks for a new blog-post on Floor advertising and its history!