ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100008
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: EVAN RAMSTAD ASSOCIATED PRESS
THOSE THIN RUBBER PADS are more than a place to lay your mouse; they're now a hot, new advertising forum.
Looking for ways to promote his company's new rotary saw blades, Dave Fortin considered having Frisbees printed with the firm's logo or getting some electronic greeting cards that sounded like a saw when opened.
Then he remembered that his clients all use personal computers and decided a mouse pad would be perfect. He even designed it like a rotary blade, round with 22 spike points.
``We were looking for something that is a novelty item that our customers could use and would stay around for a while,'' said Fortin, merchandise manager for Raleigh, N.C.-based Cooper Tools, maker of Nicholson saw blades.
``They get a million pens and pads,'' he said. ``We were looking for something that would have that kind of lasting power.''
Now, thousands of companies have gotten the same idea, turning the mouse pad into one of the most popular items sold by advertising novelty companies these days.
``I'm inundated with them,'' said Herb Edelstein, a data networking consultant in Potomac, Md. ``It's moving out from just the technology vendors into much more general advertising because everybody uses a computer.''
There is no precise market research on mouse pads, apparently dismissed by statisticians because of their ubiquity.
But the Advertising Specialty Institute, a promotional products industry group, informally estimates a doubling of mouse pad sales both this year and last.
``Some early suppliers almost stumbled into this,'' said Marvin Spike, president of the Langhorne, Pa.-based group. ``As it became popular and established, suppliers who manufacture with similar materials just added it to their line.''
Several large manufacturers said their business grew even faster in 1993 and 1994, but they note that more competitors have since jumped in.
``We're seeing a lot more people come into the business,'' said Roger Laudy, president of Image Matters Inc. in Winston-Salem, N.C., the firm that made the Cooper Tools mouse pad. The Advertising Specialty Institute counts 116 mouse pad makers.
The most basic are simply a colored piece of foam rubber, in thicknesses from 1-16th- to 1/4-inch thick. More common are versions made with Neoprene, the stuff in diving suits, that are topped with polyester and printed with full-color graphics and even photographs.
(Rubber for some of the mouse pads comes from Rubatex Corp., the Bedford company that makes foam rubber for industrial uses and consumer products. Rubatex confirmed Wednesday that Image Matters is one of its customers.)
In the past two years, a new kind has emerged with a hard plastic called Lexan on top, which allows for higher-quality printing and fast traction.
The most elaborate are cut in special shapes, such as the Cooper Tools saw or a wristwatch for Guess?, a tire for Goodyear and a sports stadium for the Phoenix Suns.
``We're in the process of doing one shaped like a double burger,'' said Mike Meath of Precision Line Inc., a mouse pad maker in Plymouth, Minn.
Other variations have built-in calculators, transparent pockets to stow a photo or another document and inch-high wrist rests in the front. Office suppliers sell $20 mouse pads topped with leather and ready for a monogram. And some consumer gift catalogs offer to convert a person's photograph into a mouse pad for about $30.
With the growing use of the World Wide Web as a marketing tool, companies from the makers of Jack Daniel's whiskey to QVC have used mouse pads to keep their Web addresses in front of people.
``Every company suddenly has a new need to create, buy and distribute advertising that constantly remind prospective clients of a new address that's not on a street but on the Internet,'' ASI's Spike said.
Though a mouse will usually work just fine without a mouse pad, many people like them because they set aside a regular place where the mouse can always be found. In addition, a mouse pad can make a statement about a person's interests, becoming, like a screen saver, one of the few ways to personalize a PC.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. An array of corporate mouse pads is laid out beforeby CNBa computer in New York Tuesday. Thousands of thoughtful businesses
have turned computer mouse pads into one of the most popular items
sold today by advertising novelty companies. color.