Bloom time for hanger advertising

Singapore - Six month old start-up outdoor media company Bloomerang is looking to secure advertisers for a recyclable clothes hanger cum advertising product it calls bloomerHang.

The company's founder, Thian Zhiwen, tells Marketing that bloomerHang will cost marketers $10,000 to push out 5,000 hangers across its network. In the last few months, Thian and director Wong Joon Ian have been speaking directly to the factories, which provide hangers to operations such as dry cleaners and laundromats, to switch to bloomerHang in a bid to beef up its network - currently standing at a monthly circulation of 20,000 hangers.

Bloomerang claims companies switching to their hangers, which are made out of recyclable corrugated cardboard, will save 58% on hanger costs. Currently the bloomerHang network only covers dry cleaners and laundromats and mostly around Singapore's prime district areas 9, 10 and 11 but Wong says the company is "in talks" with gyms and hotel chains about potentially carrying the product as well.

"There's two parts to the business model. One is the network but the second part is selling it as a product. So we're getting a lot of interest from conferences and those interested in internal messaging to boost CSR programmes," he said.

On 22 December, bloomerHang will run an initial run of 5,000 hangers through its distributors to raise awareness about environmental benefits of the product over traditional plastic and wire hangers.

The bloomerHang concept is similar to US-based company, Hanger Network which also delivers advertising on eco-friendly hangers although the latter's hangers are not 100% recyclable according to Bloomerang.