International Trade Newsletter Copyright © 2000
Balloons @ WorkTM
In This September 2000 Issue Balloons@Work has a whole new look and a whole new list of readers.
Surprise! B@W Goes Global (editor's message) Official Launch of eballoons Network (news)
Banning Balloon Releases (the environment issue) Pro Tips #66 and #73
Olympics Business Bruce Walden's Uplifter Banner
Warning! Balloons in Heat (outdoor advice) Did You Know? (trade knowledge & trivia)
Gift Basket Co. Wins Ixla Digital Camera Letters To The Editor
Adjust-A-Length Ribbon Wheel (save time) Unique Print Designs from Down Under
What Does It Look Like? (product pics) Should Wholesalers Sell Direct? (opinion)
Click Here to Download Newsletter (Mac/Binhex)
SURPRISE!
Welcome to all our overseas readers. As one who is forever searching for more practical and economical ways of going about our business, we believe that with 4 years of service to the Australian balloon industry, B@W is now mature enough to go online and see if the rest of the balloon world enjoys our free publication as well. Not only are we converting to online distribution to those of you who have a computer, B@W is to be published three times more often! From now on, you’ll receive B@W monthly and can download it from the Balloon Headquarters http://www.balloonhq.com thanks to Larry Moss.
B@W can also be downloaded from: http://www.eballoons.com.auor http://www.bizballoons.com.au
That all boils down to:- more accessible, up-to-date world wide industry news and information. So..... your (compact) 12 issues of Balloons@Work will come to you by email in the first week of every month. If you are receiving your B@W by snail mail in Australia, yet you are online, please advise us of your email address so that you can always receive your International balloon industry newsletter days before the snail mail postal service readers. We think you’ll all enjoy the improved format. Don Dixon CBA - Editor
Official Launch Well Attended
Monday,August 7th saw a gathering of eballoons members, sponsors and select special guests for a live online demonstration of eballoons orders in action. The eballoons Network Services Manager, Dean Johnson, guided the audience through the complete ordering and receiving processes on a giant 54” monitor. The room decor of all ten inflated eballoons bouquets drew a lot of attention.
Managing Director of eballoons Australia, Don Dixon, welcomed all who attended and gave a brief history of his and Dolly’s 10 year background in the balloon industry and their recent decision to expand with a separate division in e-commerce via the balloon delivery sector. Within a week of being “open for business” on the internet, eballoons orders were being sent or received in Australia, the UK, Canada and America. One member has sent 21 orders to other members in a 4 week period. He quickly worked out that SENDING was the fastest way to make money from this innovative global delivery network. The eballoons web site received over 10,800 hits in the first 6 weeks. Not bad for a Business-to-Business web site. Dean Johnson plans to have initial talks with select people in Asia and North America for managed and/or hyperlinked web sites to help grow our overseas business. Qualatex distributors in Australia and NZ have been offered links from our sites to allow members fast access to eballoons bouquet products. Qualatex Australia and Walden Productions in Canada are extremely pleased with the amount of their product being moved as a direct result of eballoons”.
Olympics Business?
After 7 years of preparation and anticipation, the Sydney Olympic Games are just 2 weeks away. Dolly Dixon says her decorating and custom imprinting sales are up 150-200% on a year ago. Most Sydney decorators are indicating the same level of activity at present. Who are the customers??? The corporate and commercial sector. Everything from welcoming parties for the overseas guests and sponsors, to celebrating the completion of new hotels and sporting complexes. This city is already abuzz! But on a contrasting note, S.O.C.O.G. have advised the media and the public that there will be NO BALLOONS used for the opening or closing ceremonies for the Sydney Olympics. We are lucky that balloons are so versatile!
PRO TIP # 66 Workshop Production Tip by Stephanie Pilgrim CBA - Celebrating, Sydney Aust.Attaching underinflated 5” (12.5cm) balloon baubles to your balloon Christmas tree gives it colour and more of a Xmas tree appearance. You can glue them on? But that’s slow, messy and requires maintenance. The easy way is to connect two single baubles with an elastic band or deflated 260Q. Stretch the pair and fit one either side of the tree. Repeat till all your baubles are in place.
NOMATCH SHOCKTUBE. Explode multiple balloons with confidence 
UPLIFTER BANNER - COMES IN 4 DESIGNSCBA TESTING IN AUSTRALIA is on Sunday 8th August at Business of Balloons premises 231 Victoria Road, Rydalmere NSW. Contact Rachelle Fraser on (61-02) 9905 9333 or email:rachelle@qualatex.com
COMPUTER / INTERNET TROUBLESHOOTING
Business of Balloons are the first balloon wholesaler in Australia to employ a full time I.T. Manager. Our new Network Services division manages eballoons and (currently) 5 business web sites. With this publication going online, Balloons@Work has become part of that division. A specialist who could take our business into the .com future and global e-commerce became imperative. But, how can that help you? Do you need someone who talks your language and understands you may be a complete novice at a keyboard? Can’t get the hang of programs for designing flyers and price lists? Finished your first web site, but find you need someone to manage or update it now that enquiries are coming in from all kinds of places? If any of the above fit your situation, our Network Services Manager, Dean Johnson, could be your (I.T.) Balloons Help Desk. He works with both PCs and Mac every day. Why pay through the nose for computer mumbo-jumbo from a technician who knows nothing about your balloon business needs? Email:help@bizballoons.com.au for low rates on Balloons Help Desk assistance.
THE MIGHTY DOLLAR? At present you can buy $100 worth of Aussie goods with only US$58
TROPICAL OR HOT LOCATIONS ??? - BALLOON WARNING!
(A valuable extract from the Balloon Headquarters deco mailing list)
We have had many learning experiences with outdoor events. Temperature can soar up to 110F/40C + wind can be a terrible problem and humidity is often a stinker. High temp tips:-
Type of ground: Is it bitumen, concrete, grass, dirt or water? The darker the surface the hotter the ground temperature will be. Lona of Balloon Images in California also wrote, “We did a job where we sent up 5ft balloons sized to 4ft appx 80 ft in the air with a column of 16" below them and the balloons that were over the asphalt parking lot popped and the ones over the dirt area stayed up all day. We did this two days with the same results each day.” Use only light colors. White and all the fashion tone colors are best. Use 40cm latex balloons sized to 30-35 cm. Size your 90cm latex balloons to 75cm and they should be OK.
Pay attention to where the sun will be in the hottest part of the day. If your balloons are shaded at around 2-3pm your balloons stand a better survival rate. Getting all day sun (or from 11am to 5pm) your popage rate will increase dramatically.
Finally; never tell a client that outdoor work will last. Explain that you will do everything possible to make the balloons look spectacular, but that you can't be held responsible for sun, rain, wind, vandals or other elements beyond your control.
Special credit to Lorna at Balloon Images in El Dorado CA for her advice on this topic via BHQ.
UNIQUE PRINT DESIGNS FROM DOWN UNDER
What’s the friendly word of “welcome” us Aussies will be expressing to the millions of visitors Down Under this month? In fact, it’s part of 
the official Sydney Olympics welcoming slogan.We have had this balloon printed on Qualatex Golden Rod for almost three years now. A great seller for Australia Day celebrations ... now the perfect non licensed 11” /23cm latex balloon for
your customer’s overseas visitors and Olympic celebrations.
“Celebrating (blank) Birthday” Personalize this latex balloon with a felt pen. Write in name and age. Example; “John’s 43rd” or “Jasmine’s 1st” Printed on Qualatex
Other unique prints; Fairies Around and Race Horses Around
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? Need more information??:- info@bizballoons.com.au
SHOULD WHOLESALERS SELL DIRECT? (opinion)
If you are a wholesaler who sells direct, you’ll probably argue that the law and the free enterprise system allows you to sell to whom ever you choose. That is true in most democratic western societies. But is it OK? Is it a question of ethics? Does a wholesaler have a moral obligation to his customers, as well as to his/her suppliers? The wholesaler is just like any other businessman. He has to make a living! He has competitors! He needs to achieve certain quotas in order to maintain a good buying price. Similarly, the wholesaler’s customers (the balloonie) has the same needs. But are each of them on a level playing field?
With online shopping making the world a smaller place and an even more competitive marketplace ..... how would the wholesaler react if Pioneer Balloon Co or Belbal decided to sell latex balloons DIRECT to the public via their web site? Amscan could be planning to do the same? e-commerce ..... credit card payments ..... postage delivery. ??? Will the wholesale distributors scream as loud as the retailers and decorators scream at them? Even louder!
At Business of Balloons we don’t sell direct! We don’t sell custom printed balloons either. Why? Because we don’t want to take business from our customers. Our company policy ; "We will only supply product to those who derive their income from the sale of balloons!" We won’t even donate product to charities or community fund raisers. Those organizations should be directed to our customers, so they can decide if there is marketing value in such a donation. In short; we will not force our customers to compete with us.
We forego the temptation to take large orders direct from the Coca Colas and McDonald’s of the corporate world. We get the calls and then make sure one or more of our customers gets the lead. Some of the corporates actually admire our ethical stance on the issue and ask us to recommend a few of our customers. Ultimately, we get to supply the goods anyway. Our trade customers appreciate the commercial and corporate business we send them and best of all ..... we sleep sound at night. Isn’t that the way it should be? Or are we Australians not yet aggressive enough? Should it be every man for himself?
DID YOU KNOW?
* The lovely Linda Bruce CBA will be the special guest instructor for a seminar being hosted by the Northern New Jersey QBN Chapter on September 11th. Info; Rosa Cutrona, CBA (201) 438-7203
* Again in New Jersey .... the 3rd annual All Star Review. Four days of balloon education classes and much more. Info or to acquire a Registration Kit; Phone: (201) 4414224 or email lifeotheparty@email.msn.com
* Rule of thumb .... it takes 1 cubic metre of helium to lift 1kg of mass. (love those metrics)
* Chinese consider Gold & Red are lucky colours. Some Asian cultures are superstitious about having white balloons at weddings. White symbolizes death! For Italians, Green symbolizes Good Luck.
* The rubber tree yields enough latex to produce only three ten inch balloons per day.
* Hanna Match N.Z. will be hosting Mala Salakas CBA seminars in Auckland New Zealand in November.
* Even non members can use the eballoons online delivery network to send a bouquet of balloons from LA to London, Miami to New York, or just across town. If you are a member, you actually earn a few dollars for sending, however other balloonists or the public can order bouquets for delivery by a member in a remote location/city. Memberships outside Aust & N Z are currently FREE! Check http://www.eballoons.com.au
* Christopher Horne CBA is being hosted by Coniston Flowers & Balloons in Quezon City, Phillipines for seminars on September 18th and 19th. The SE Asian market has HUGE growth potential for balloons.
* The everyday practice of inflating two balloons and knotting them together to create a duplet ..... repeat this and then joining the two duplets together to make a cluster of 4 balloons .... the first balloonist to demonstrate this nearly 2 decades ago, did so at a Singing Telegram Convention. She was a Canadian and so the cluster of four was originally known as “The Canadian Twist”. Prior to the Canadian twist, a paper clip was threaded through the lip of each individual latex balloon. Some trade trivia from Rocky Toomey.
COMING IN THE OCTOBER ISSUE
* Time saving math for balloon people * When to use Hi-Float * Drop Nets * The Pick Machine
* The Qualatex Master Bow - worth it? * Forward Balloon Calendar * Pick-The-Mix Latex * Did You Know
* Pro Tips #16 & #41 * Letters To The Editor * What Does It Look Like * Twister’s Pumps + More
CONTRIBUTIONS
If you’d like to contribute a tip, a photo, some news