Cadaco Motion Header Demonstrates Chalkworks

Spray, stamp, stencil or draw it on! The colorful graphics and informative text of this header show what kids can do to driveways, streets and sidewalks with Chalkworks chalk. But wait a few seconds -- the same sign shows Mom how to wash it off.A motion-dissolve header was used to educate shoppers. The first panel shows children using the chalk products to produce four messages: "Spray it on!", "Stencil it on!", "Stamp it on!", "Draw it on!" The second picture shows an adult, presumably mom, hosing off the blacktop, cleaning up the day's play.Cadaco, a division of Chicago-based Rapid Mounting & Finishing Co., took advantage of its relationship with the display maker to create its first end-aisle header.The header measures 22 inches wide by 18 inches tall with an interior opening for the dissolve that is approximately 17 inches by 13 inches. A 4-inch-wide chipboard frame encases the dissolve. The battery-powered display is intended for short-term promotional use."We needed a way to communicate the variety of products in the line," explains Mark Hartelius, president of Cadaco. "Last year we put up a video where consumers can actually see kids playing with the Super Spray Chalk," he recalls. "But you've got to have a plug nearby and you take up a lot of retail space because you're using the shelf where the product would be."Ironically, he says, the big idea was already in the company's own back yard. "By merely using [Rapid's] innovation -- the dissolve -- and hanging it on top of the gondola, we can communicate our story to the consumer at the point-of-purchase. And we're not eliminating any retail space."The Chalkworks line offers five modern versions of the old stick chalk used in sidewalk games: Super Spray Chalk, Super Stamp Chalk, Super Stick Chalk, Super Snap Chalk and Super Chalk Writer."Chalkworks is an entire outdoor art activity for the driveway or the sidewalk," Hartelius says. "Little girls use the (Snap Chalk) lines to build the floorplan of a house, the Stick Chalk to put the furniture in and the Stamp Chalk and Spray Chalk to decorate the furniture."Realizing that chain stores have different end-aisle configurations, Rapid created a series of adaptable inserts so the header can accommodate any size gondola.The display is "almost completely assembled in the factory," says Hartelius. "Retailers need only insert batteries and drop the unit on the endcap. Store personnel are not usually experienced with motion displays, so we wanted to make the display quick and easy for them."Originally planning to produce a mere 150 units, Hartelius says the company has already received more than 2,000 orders for the display. The unit is supplied free with a minimum stock order.Hartelius believes P-O-P is superior to televised commercials. "You can't just hope that by the weekend the people who saw the commercial will remember it when they go shopping." The toy industry especially, he says, is based on non-planned purchases.Rapid Mounting also put together a video to show how the dissolve works, and sent it to retailer merchandising groups. "It helped, because they came back with suggestions that Rapid was able to use in their development," he recalls. Some of those suggestions led to the gondola adaptors. The retailers "had their own ideas on how they were going to augment it with sale signs, but for the most part they accepted it the way it was."

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