A Business Out Of Big And Small Inflatables

I’m not an American, but I do know of America’s Macys Thanksgiving Parade of which I believe the most noticeable draw or attraction are the giant inflatables which look like the most popular entertainment culture attractions in America.

I have even seen the American hosts and other reporters of the parade giving special mention to the inflatables. This is how the giant inflatables have become an integral culture of this parade.

But it’s easy to see the reason why. Most people have always been attracted to big things. Most people, especially most children for example love the dinosaurs. They bigger they are, the more children are awed by them.

But things don’t have to be dinosaur sized to get people awed. Seemingly everyday common people also draw attention from other people if they are noticeably taller than them. It’s just the way people react to big things.

You don’t have to look far to see this effect on people. It’s the reason why in many cities, big statues and monuments are erected in order to gain people’s attention. Large billboards also take the place of statues for businesses hoping to attract customers.

But there is an obvious problem with these big things: they are heavy. A stone statue for example can easily weight more than a few hundred kilograms, way more than the lifting strength of people.

This is the reason why special machinery is usually needed to install these things to their display locations. Expensive cranes and forklifts for example, need to be either bought or rented just to move these things.

There is also the matter of moving these things. The Statue Of Liberty for example has to be transported piece by piece from Europe to America before being assembled in its destination.

Then there’s also the issue of cost. The bigger a statue or a billboard is, the more expensive it gets. This especially applies to the former. It is to be noted also that artists and artisan demand high compensation from making such statues and billboards.

A couple of years ago, I accompanied the family of one family member to a toy store where it was having a store celebration. The toy store used plaster statues of comic superhero characters to attract customers.

And from my perspective, their strategy worked. Many people who were merely passing by the toy store actually stopped to notice the plaster statue and take pictures of them. Many passersby were even having their pictures taken with the plaster statues.

This human behavior was also again demonstrated to me whenever I am with my young nieces and are shopping. They would never pass the opportunity to have their pictures taken with some large character object.

These could be a giant Christmas tree, the statue of Santa Claus, a giant M&M figure in a chocolate store or just the plain unknown mascots of some shop. As long as these character figures were big, they want their picture taken with it. Of course, adults do it too.

There is enough demand for what I would call as “big thing displays” that there have been businesses that cater to such demand. These businesses create usually plaster made statues and rent them out to shops as attractions.

But of course, even though these statues are made out of plaster, they are still heavy and requires a carrying and even lifting equipment to erect them in their display space. Also, it is more likely that a few people would be needed to move these heavy statues.

But how about if the business who offer big thing displays offered inflatables instead? Let’s consider the logistics of such a business. First, you don’t need a big warehouse to store these inflatables.

These inflatables can be inflated when needed to be displayed and deflated once they are to be stored. Another big advantage would be their relative lightness as compared to other kinds of solid statues.

Even one person can deliver a couple of these big inflatables to their customer’s premises and inflate them using only a simple air compressor. The air compressor doesn’t even need to be electrically powered.

Would the customers even care that the store displays are mere big inflatables as compared to plaster statues? Seeing how most people are awed by big things, I could argue that this won’t be a big issue to them.

But inflatables also have a big disadvantage as compared to other solid statues. It obviously has got something to do with its vulnerability to damage. Unlike solid statues that can withstand small acts of destruction, a small pinhole damage can deflate it.

And there’s no going around this. Balloons, inflatables and anything that contains air and gas has this vulnerability. The only thing that can be done is to promptly locate the location of the air leakage and seal it. The inflatable can be inflated again to let it regain its shape.

You might say that these kinds of situation rarely happen because people don’t usually intentionally intend to vandalize or deflate inflatables. Most adults may not, but how about children?

There are children who seemingly has a fondness for touching and even wanting to pop a balloon. The same behavior can be said to inflatables. The only solution I can recommend for such problem is to form a protective situation for the inflatable.

You could place the inflatable in a location such that most small children won’t be able to reach them but see them nonetheless and have their pictures taken with them. The extreme measure would be to put a barrier between people and the inflatable.

You may not want to go in the business of big inflatable displays but may want to make one for yourself either as a big toy or big display for yourself and your family. As usual, I turned to YouTube for DIY videos and YouTube didn’t disappoint me.

All that I needed to do for example was to use the search keyword ”DIY inflatable” and sure enough, plenty of useful DIY videos popped up from amateur to professional quality DIY videos.

There were even videos for DIY inflatable pools and boats. So this means that your product line could be more than just besides inflatable statues. You can use again the advantage of inflatables over solid structure counterparts.

Inflatable pools are for example very appealing to people who cannot afford to have a permanent pool installed in their location. People who live for example in extreme weather areas were there is both snow and scorching heat would only need a swimming pool sparingly.

Inflatable boats are also popular with people who either don’t have the budget for an actual wood or don’t want the hassle of having to carry a boat to their favorite water spot. This is understandable too since boats are not used as regularly as cars.

Now that we know that you might have a market beyond inflatable statues. Depending on your marketing skills or just the need of your customer, you might also have a market for permanent statue fixtures.

For example, the “Waving Cat” or ”Lucky Cat” statue is very common in a lot of Asian owned businesses. In case you don’t know, many superstitious people believe that this statue would attract business luck to their business.

Imagine if you made an inflatable out of this statue and made the waving part of the cat separately attached to the whole body. The paw of the cat can then “wave” with the slightest touch applied to it like the wind from an electric fan.

Now imagine if you scaled this inflatable such that it is about the size of a small child or adult. It would draw attention and all it needs is the wind from the electric fan or vibrations from anything to make the cat’s paw “wave”.

Let me repeat that this cat is popular with many Asian businesses both small and large. These Asian businesses can number in the millions so there is a good money to be made if you ever successfully sell the product.

Perhaps you might not be aware of this, but inflatables are also being used to replace people. In case you’re thinking that I’m referring to inflatable sex dolls which replace actual women, you may be partly right, but there’s more to it.

Inflatables are not only being used as both male and female sex dolls, but as substitute for actual people and objects. A couple of years ago, I read articles of militaries using inflatable soldiers and tanks and even fighter jets to confuse their enemies.

I won’t mention the country because it’s not right at the moment, but in this country, there are businesses that create inflatable military tanks, jets and other military vehicles. And this business is profitable considering that military contracts are usually very profitable.

Imagine a military organization or an amusement center located near the waterfront and they have an inflatable submarine, warship and maybe even an aircraft carrier floating near their shores. Wouldn’t this be an attraction and at the same time a deterrent to invaders?

What about guard towers being manned by both real soldiers and inflatables? I’m sure that the enemies of the soldiers would think twice once they see that there are more soldiers than they anticipated. The same goes for security personnel guarding factories and buildings.

Inflatables can be used to temporarily replace a lot of the more solid objects and structures that people have around them. They are easy to store, transport and setup. They don’t need special equipment except maybe for an air compressor or an air pump.

More than just decorations, they can be used as pools, boats, flotation objects, and so on. They have even been used by militaries to confuse their enemies. They’re relatively easy and cheap to construct too.

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