A Smyrna company recently won two awards for its new product at Invent Help’s INPEX International Trade Show, but they’re using local suppliers, manufacturers, and retailers to build what company leaders hope will become a global success.
John Wagenhoffer Jr. came up with the idea for FACEMATE, a silicon rubber “frame” that fits on a computer monitor to hold notes, photos, and business cards. It can even hold an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper while you type.
“We all like to personalize our space and we all have things we need a reminder about,” said Wagenhoffer. “I was always putting sticky notes on my monitor, ‘Get milk.’ I had a photo of my kids. I had reminders of business meetings. But that was messy and sometimes the notes fell off.”
His first solution was using rubber bands stretched across the top, bottom, and sides of his monitor to hold items in place, but that didn’t look good, and the rubber bands often broke.
He talked about his idea for a better solution with his friend, Ken Kennedy, sometimes at the Smyrna Diner.
"This was literally the idea on a napkin that grew into a company,” said Kennedy. “We knew we’d have to do a lot of work and research if we were going to bring it to market. We had to do our due diligence.”
Betting the farm
They also had to decide if they were willing to risk their current jobs to pursue the idea full-time.
Wagenhoffer, a graduate of Lake Forest High School and Wilmington University, had built a profitable career in real estate, renovating homes to sell, and renting homes. He now lives near Garrisons Lake south of Smyrna.
“I talked with my wife and she said, ‘You don’t want to be 55 wondering ‘what if,’” he said. “I had the means and ability, but that was what I needed to hear because she’s my grounding rod. Once she said that, it was full steam ahead.”
He sold his real estate investments to come up with the cash to start the company.
“My wife and kids love FACEMATE, and they believe we can do this,” said Wagenhoffer, who has a son and twin daughters.
Kennedy and his family live in Smyrna. He grew up in Wilmington and graduated from Wilmington Christian High School and the University of Delaware. He had a successful business career with experience in sales and banking, but he gave it up to go into business with his friend.
“My wife was my biggest supporter when I told her the idea,” said Kennedy, who has a daughter and a son. “My wife said, ‘You may only have one opportunity to make a name for yourself and your family.’ She said, ‘I believe in you.’ It was stressful, yes, but we were all really excited that this could be a successful product.”
Turning the idea into reality
Creating a successful product included finding the right material with the right texture to hold photos, cards, and something as thin as a sheet of paper in place, without damaging the computer monitor or leaving any sticky residue.
“The whole idea is ‘display, organize, remember,’” said Wagenhoffer. “We wanted something that looked good that would help reduce the clutter."
They obtained patents for their idea and applied for trademarks for the name. They found a company in the Philadelphia area to produce the silicone rubber product and contracted with a Harrington company to make the boxes.
“We want to keep as much of the process here as we can -- whatever local companies we can tap into to benefit the local economy,” said Wagenhoffer.
Then they test marketed FACEMATE through the American Marketing Association.
“The response was phenomenal,” said Wagenhoffer. “Sixty-six percent of the people classified FACEMATE as a ‘need’ over just a ‘want.’”
With an estimated 500,000,000 flat-screen computer monitors in the United States alone, Wagenhoffer and Kennedy thought the market for FACEMATE could be huge.
While developing their first product, they tried to think of a great name for their company.
“I kept saying, ‘I want to be ‘it,’ I want to be ‘it,’” said Wagenhoffer, “and so we tried to think of a name with the letters ‘I’ and ‘T.’ Ken and I were just racking our brains to come up with something.”
They had ideas like “innovative technology” but nothing really unique or exciting.
“My mother came up with ‘iconic,’ and I thought that was great,” said Wagenhoffer, “because ‘iconic’ is something that is so well known that it’s become a symbol. So then we just needed the ‘T’ word, and as we were going through lists, we hit on ‘tsunami,’ and we thought that it was perfect. It starts with a ‘T’ but it’s pronounced with an ‘S’ so it’s unusual, but a tsunami is very powerful. We thought it was perfect because we want to release a powerful wave of products that are iconic.”
And so Wagenhoffer became the chief executive officer at Iconic Tsunami, and Kennedy took the title of executive vice-president. Their director of finance is Dara Nigreville.
The big moment
In June, the founders of Iconic Tsunami entered FACEMATE into the competition at Invent Help’s INPEX International Trade Show in Pittsburgh, with nearly 400 other companies from around the globe.
“We had been raising this baby for the past 16 months, wondering how it was going to turn out, and now we were about to find out,” said Kennedy.
Well, their precious FACEMATE was a hit, winning a bronze medal in the “Office Supplies” category and a bronze medal in the “Novelties/Household” category out of a total of 150 awards presented.
“This is the biggest invention show in the United States, and we won awards going up against the best of the best,” said Kennedy. “It was a real honor.”
Wagenhoffer said, “The awards were the validation we were hoping for. We had done our due diligence. We had a product that we believed in, but now we have the international recognition, too.”
After winning awards at the trade show, the SkyMall company asked to carry FACEMATE in their catalogs which are available on most U.S. airline flights and many trains.
What’s next
Wagenhoffer and Kennedy recently hired a Delaware company to produce a FACEMATE commercial that can be used on the company’s website and in future television ads.
The product is now on sale at Forney’s Too in downtown Dover, and the company is pursuing a variety of other retailers.
FACEMATE is available in black, blue, and pink in a variety of sizes, with more colors and sizes on the way.
“At the INPEX Trade Show we were inundated with requests to make one for the Apple ipad,” said Kennedy. “People saw that FACEMATE would help protect the ipad and also give them a place to hold a business card or note, especially while they were typing in the information.”
The company also plans to pursue licensing agreements with sports teams and celebrities.
“You can just see someone wanting a FACEMATE with ‘Phillies’ or ‘Eagles’ or ‘Hannah Montana’ across the top,” said Wagenhoffer.
Products on the horizon at Iconic Tsunami include laptop computer carriers, laptop cooling mounts, smart phone casings, an ergonomic computer mouse, mouse pads, and a variety of organizational products.
"We’re excited,” said Kennedy. “Right now we’re a small company, but we’ve been experiencing some big successes.”
They’ve been talking with the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce and they plan to meet with the Delaware Economic Development Office about expansion opportunities.
“We don’t want to be a one-trick company like you see on those late-night TV ads,” said Wagenhoffer. “We want to create a brand that people will have trust and faith in, and we want to fulfill the needs of our customers. We pride ourselves in sacrificing profits for value. We want to be a worldwide company while helping the local economy right here in Delaware as much as we can.”
ICONIC TSUNAMI
Featured product: FACEMATE computer monitor accessory
Available at: Forney’s Too, 102 W. Loockerman St., Dover, and on websites, www.facemateproducts.com and www.iconictsunami.com
Office location: 57 Pier Head Boulevard, Suite 2, Smyrna
Phone: 1-877-653-2010
