RM Online - Interactive inflatables rise in popularity; bounces aimed at home parties

The demand for inflatable games, whether for backyard birthday parties or event promotion, has risen dramatically in the past few years. Combine that with a huge trend toward interactive inflatable games that are fun for adults as well, and the stage is set for making a huge ROI for party stores.

"Volume continues to grow for inflatable games, and the driving force is that people are becoming aware that they are available for home use," said Frank Scurlock, president of Space Walk Sales in Kenner, La. "If reasonably priced, rental stores have a huge potential with the home market."

The most popular home products are basic 15-by-15-foot bounce rides with animal or sports themes - aimed at events from birthday parties to company picnics. Some of the newer inflatables, like Space Walk's Basketball Jam, also have inflatable hoops inside so that kids can shoot baskets while they jump around.

"Birthday parties are by far the biggest application," Scurlock said. "When you look at it, the main birthdays are from ages 2 to 12 in terms of parties. That's 10 years, so our goal is to have an inflatable used at three of those parties. That should also be the goal of party rental operations."

Another trend for inflatables is their use for fund-raising events or event promotion, according to Hilton Glass, president of Balloon on Wheels in Biloxi, Miss.

"Public and private schools, as well as churches, have fund-raising events all fall and winter, and what they are telling us is that using inflatables has more than tripled their fund-raising efforts," Glass said.

Most fund-raisers are on a Saturday, so many firms display the promotion types of inflatables the Monday before or week before. "If it's on a street with a traffic flow of 20,000 cars a day, you'll be getting from 60,000 to 80,000 people seeing it a day. And since products like our balloon light up at night, it's informational as well as an attention-grabber 24 hours a day."

Glass is seeing a move away from rooftop inflatables for promotions because they are labor-intensive and cannot be moved around easily. Some of the key applications for the portable inflatables include car dealership promotions, hospital blood drives and festival promotions.

Scurlock said there are basically two breeds of rental stores that carry inflatables: party stores that start with one and add one or two a year and amusement rental firms that start with 10 and sometimes have as many as 100 or more inflatables.

There is room for both kinds of rental operations in this business; it just depends on how the rental store is managed. Space Walk conducted a survey of how people find inflatables. Less than 20 percent said they would search by phone. About 15 percent said they would go to a rental store, but more than 50 percent said they would call a friend who has used one before. So the bottom line is doing all you can to market your product and keep the customers you do have satisfied, Scurlock added.

One area of inflatables that has really grown in recent years is the demand for interactive inflatable games. While not suited to the backyard party mostly due to price and size, there has been a huge trend toward their use at festivals, carnivals and pre-sports game events, according to Yvonne Jones, sales/marketing manager for Pro Team Playables in Noblesville, Ind.

"The inflatable line has been around for a long time with icons like the Pepsi bottle, but interactive games have less than a 10-year history, and a lot of people haven't seen them before," she said.

The firm only carries licensed inflatables for such organizations as the NFL and NASCAR, as well as 32 colleges and universities. Products include slides, a bungee run and the Touchdown Obstacle Course, a 50-foot-long unit that has a start-to-finish obstacle course inside. Other games keep track of scores, such as the Basketball Shoot, which provides a digital readout.

"Professional sports teams have really taken to these kinds of products for pre-game events because they add a lot of value," Jones said. "They get fans coming in two or three hours before and after the game."

Many of these organizations buy their own games, but many rent these items, such as the Hall of Fame Classic in Canton, Ohio, which is totally rental. Budweiser-sponsored events also feature rented games, so the potential is there for rental firms. Fund-raisers also offer possibilities for rental. Pro Team works with schools in Indiana and does a percentage split of the profits.

Rise and fall of fun centers

Remember when Discovery Zone and similar family entertainment centers started cropping up everywhere several years ago? Their initial success could have meant a major loss in rentals for party stores, but almost the reverse has happened, according to Space Walk's Scurlock.

"We were in on the ground floor of supplying to family entertainment centers. When Discovery Zone started in the late '80s, it proved it could take investor money and create a chain of 300 family entertainment centers.

"Well, when a business is new it's easy to get people in to try it out, but as it ages then you get the true picture. DZ went into bankruptcy and closed up half its stores across the United States because it cost too much to maintain all these facilities," he said.

"What this confirmed was the need for affordable entertainment, and that has actually propelled the market for rental of inflatables," Scurlock added. "In order for family entertainment centers to survive, they have to charge between $12 and $18 per child. Whereas with rental if you have a birthday with 20 kids or more, for a flat fee an unlimited number of kids could come to the party."

Ease of marketing

Perhaps the greatest thing about inflatable carnival/ fund-raising games is their visibility and drama. "My belief is that even without running one ad anywhere, all you have to do is set the inflatable up in front of the store and you'll more than make up the volume you need to get your return on investment," Scurlock said. "Several of our rental customers who have done this have called back and ordered additional units."

At this year's A.R.A. rental trade show, a man who had purchased an inflatable in 1997 came up to Space Walk's booth. "He said I had mentioned it should return about $6,000 in the first rental year. He went on to say that I was wrong, that it had returned $7,000 instead," Scurlock said.

As far as inflatables go, rental stores should track missed opportunities, Scurlock added. If you have two inflatables in your inventory it might not be enough to meet the demand. "We've had people call and say they've called 10 rental stores to find an inflatable for the July 4 weekend. So obviously there is a huge need or potential for party rental stores to serve this market. Counter and yard people need to make managers aware of the need for more units."

Inflatables are also a great cross-selling device, because if someone comes in to rent one, chances are he'll also need other items for the event, such as chairs, tents, etc. One rental operator told Scurlock he gets local schools to sign annual contracts for overflow luncheon tables and in return he gives them a free inflatable for certain functions.

Glass agrees that cross marketing works well with inflatables. "Most rental stores, whether they are party or heavy construction, can use inflatables in conjunction with other rentals. We have three balloons that go out every month to a car dealership, and rental stores have the same kinds of regular clients."

Balloon on Wheels also offers a set of multi-colored postcards with its packaging. "The postcard has a picture of the balloon saying rent me for your next special event. Rental stores can put their name on it, and do a direct mailing when they know special events are planned for their area."