Community Corner

Westport Company Assists Local Businesses to 'Big Screen' Exposure

Westport-based InLineAdz www.inlineadz.com provides a "branding style message" for local businesses being displayed in high foot traffic locations like Oscar's Deli on Main Street, which hosts two flat screen TVs.

“This is really about is branding. Companies are starting to realize that just having your nameknown in business is better than having something screaming, ‘Hey come buy from me,’”says InLineAdz CEO and President Joe Grushkin.

A good example of company branding is Geico. They’ve got the their logo outfield wall of everybaseball field, the lizard, and the caveman promoting their brand

“The question is, when they sell an insurance policy, which one got them the sale?” Grushkin says “They don’t really care, they just know their business is growing!”

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The owner of Oscar’s Deli sees hosting these screens as a relationship that benefits many businesses, including his.

“I don’t understand all of this real estate stuff going on, or the stock market. I am just a little guy from the country trying to make a living selling sandwiches,” says Lee Papageorge, the owner of Oscar’s Deli.

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“People look at it; it helps us support other local business, which are basically little guys from the country like me. We are all in this together,” Papageorge says.

InLineAdz, which started in Nov. 2009, is now in 17 states, with 40 locations, and has tripled its sales since its first year, according to Grushkin, who has been a Westport residentfor 32 years.

23 of those locations are in Connecticut and five are in Westport. There are 6,000,000 people looking at InLineAdz’ screens on an annualized basis nationwide, with over 500,000 in Westport alone, Grushkin noted.

Grushkin calls it passive media because people don’t even realize they are seeing it.

“Your mind can’t help but look at the screen, of which 70% is displaying the branding messages for local business. They rotate every ten seconds, so before you’re bored looking at it, the nextone comes up.”

InLineAdz puts the digital screens in a high traffic local business, owned and operated by a localbusiness person and provides exposure to hundreds of thousands of local consumers for less thanthe cost of a cup of coffee a day, according to Grushkin.

InLineAdz, provides all of the equipment, ad design, installation, and the sales and marketing efforts for bringing in clients. Each screen around the country is controlled at their central office in Westport through proprietary software.

The company is rapidly expanding nationally, specifically in New York, New Jersey and Iowa.

“My goal is to have 100 district managers across the county by next year, we are looking for entrepreneurial-minded business professionals who desire to build a “business within the business” essentially; it’s like having a franchise, but without the franchise fee,” Grushkin says.

During difficult economic times where people are having a tough time finding jobs, InLineAdz has an opportunity that serves the community, and provides an opportunity for income and growth determined by your own efforts, according to Grushkin.

“We have taken all the heavy lifting out of running a business, for instance, we source and handle all the technology, inventory, accounting, employees and administration,” Grushkin says. “All we want are local area sales reps. (LASRs) to do is find qualified host locations, sell the branding message and build relationships with the clients.”

If you know someone looking for a business opportunity direct them to www.inlineadz.com or If you’d like to increase your brand awareness in your local community contact sales@inlineadz.com and, mention “Patch” and you’ll receive $200 off their current retail price.

“We are serious about building something substantial with InLineAdz,” Grushkin says. ” I think we can have a $100 million company (or more) in a few short years. Watch us grow!”


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