In Conversation with Wong Joon Ian, co-founder of Bloomerang

Bloomerang is a start-up founded by two founders, Zhiwen and Joon Ian. Their first product, BloomerHang® transforms clothes hangers into a novel, eco-friendly advertising platform. What’s more interesting, it is a product made of recycled cardboard and completely biodegradable and recyclable. The product even goes as far as ending the team as a finalist to the President’s Design Award Singapore 2009: Design of the Year. What’s the story behind this eco-conscious and ideas-driven startup? We caught Wong Joon Ian, one of the co-founders and sat down to interview him about the story behind Bloomerang, the process of getting the trademark and the challenges in position BloomerHang as an advertising platform.

BL: Thank you for the interview. What did you do before setting up Bloomerang?
Wong Joon Ian: I like to say I’m a recovering journalist. I had a pretty atypical path in that I spent a lot of time freelancing and publishing my own stuff. I started out with intern gigs at New Straits Times in Kuala Lumpur, the independent publisher Malaysiakini (I’m Malaysian), the e-mail city guide Flavorpill in New York City and other places. I and some friends started Justdancelah.com, a Web magazine about electronic music and club culture in Singapore and Malaysia, back when ‘clubbing’ was the big new thing. That ran for almost three years. Then I moved to Shanghai and freelanced for folks like South China Morning Post and various expat rags. My last post was deputy editor at China Economic Review. In between, I’ve also written everything from artist bios for international DJs to hotel franchise booklets for investors in China.

Zhiwen was a business development executive at a sizable trading company in Singapore. The firm supplied disposable foodware to big companies like Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Starbucks, F&N vending etc. Zhiwen led efforts to open new markets for the company in the gourmet coffee, coffee machine, and cinema concession businesses. He was responsible for the local and regional development of the gourmet coffee business in Delifrance. He also expanded the concessionaire and snack foods business and presence at 7-11 and Cheers stores and Film Garde cinemas in Singapore.

BL: What is the story behind Bloomerang? How did you come about designing such a product?
Wong Joon Ian: We have to agree with the Straits Times when it called us ‘accidental environmentalists’. Zhiwen noticed a shortage of hangers at his gym, and at the same time, the surplus of advertising posters inside. He combined the ideas and started researching materials for his hanger. It turned out that paper was the best choice because it allowed high-resolution printing and the costs were relatively low. Zhiwen also happened to have a friend (and great supporter of our venture) who runs one of the biggest printing and packaging firms in Singapore.

BL: Tell us about the Bloomerang product and why is it “eco-conscious, ideas driven”?
Wong Joon Ian: We use the term eco-conscious because we think that awareness is the first step to being eco-friendly. To use a cliche from the self-help literature, admitting there’s a problem is the first step to solving it! We are not experts on the climate change debate, but we do believe in reducing our impact on the environment in ways that make sense to individuals.

With bloomerang’s paper hangers, for example, we chose a material that has a high recycle rate. Fifty percent of paper waste in Singapore is recycled, compared to seven percent of plastic waste, according to the National Environment Agency’s statistics. Most of the paper waste that isn’t recycled is food-related packaging that’s been contaminated by oil. Consumers who use our hangers can be confident that they will be recycled. In any case, our hangers are made of recycled paper to begin with.

We talk about being ideas driven because we like to frame problems in new ways where possible. For example, why not give consumers an alternative to the age-old, but non-biodegradable, plastic hangers? Why not offer marketers something offline that’s new, targeted and innovative? We have a few other ideas that we would like to try out in future, funds permitting!

BL: How does Bloomerang served as an advertising platform?
Wong Joon Ian: We distribute our hangers to four groups of people: independent travelers, university students, high-income households and gym-goers. This is achieved with our network of distribution partners, which includes drycleaners, student hostels, boutique hotels and gyms.

Across our four channels we work with more than 30 businesses and properties as distribution partners, and we are always adding more. Our partners are leaders in their class. They include The Gallery Hotel, The Hive and Habitat Hostel; Dryclean Express and The Laundry Boutique; Dynaforce gyms; and NUS and NTU hostels. Our channels reach about 8,000 university students, 5,000 independent travelers a month, and deliver some 16,000 impressions to gym-goers.

BL: What are the initial challenges in getting Bloomerang to market, for example, fundraising or marketing the product?
Wong Joon Ian: Educating marketers about the merits of an innovative new platform has been a challenge. Marketers (or their bosses!) are enthusiastic about the idea but, for various reasons, stop short of putting their money where their mouth is. While we can only speculate about the actual reasons, we think it’s mainly fear of new things.

As the saying goes, nobody ever got fired for buying IBM. In our case, replace IBM with SPH, Clearchannel or some other media giant.

So we try to make up for it by being flexible with what we can offer. We often go the extra mile in customising a client’s campaign for them — we don’t stop at receiving the advertising artwork and taking it to the printer. From creating a point-of-sale mechanism, to writing copy and enhancing artwork, we want to make sure our clients are rewarded for signing on with us.

BL: Bloomerang is registered as a trademark at Intellectual Property Office of Singapore. Can you share the process on how you get a trademark for your product and how difficult is it?
Wong Joon Ian: Our hanger design is design-registered at IPOS, and our company logo is trademarked there. Unlike most companies, we did the registration ourselves. The other people at the IPOS office were mainly couriers for various law firms, and the staff. We were the only people there actually registering our own stuff.

IPOS makes things relatively easy for users because it has a very comprehensive website and almost everything can be done online. But I say ‘relatively’ because for newbies like us, it was still a difficult process!

Here’s what Zhiwen did for design registration:

• Read this page of the IPOS website multiple times
• Put the hanger drawings onto a thumbdrive, along with a list of questions (Should we specify colours used in the hanger in the submission? Answer was no, because we don’t want to own the artwork printed on the hanger)
• Paid a few bucks to use the computer at the IPOS office on Bras Basah Rd
• Talked a helpful IPOS officer into walking us through the submission and answering our questions (technically IPOS staff aren’t supposed to give their opinions on submissions, in case they’re blamed for saying the wrong thing)
• Completed all the submissions at IPOS office computer and paid $250 for the design registration.

It was pretty much the same process for trademarks, except we also had to write a ‘specification of goods/services’. This is based on the classes of goods and services under the Nice Classification system. What you want to end up with is a paragraph of legalese and many commas, saying in what industry your mark will be used, in what services and on what products.

We are registered in class 20 and 35. The specification for class 35 in our submission goes like this:

Advertising; dissemination of advertising matter; distribution of advertising materials, not being transport services; direct mail advertising; rental of advertising space; outdoor advertising; outdoor advertising services; production of advertising materials; provision of advertising space; business consultation relating to advertising; planning services for advertising; business management of advertising space; market research for advertising; display services; retail services in relation to advertising materials; all included in Class 35.

That can be a difficult paragraph to write if you’re not a lawyer and don’t really know what you’re doing, like us! Luckily, we had the help of some great IPOS staff and friends to guide us.

BL: What has the experience of designing Bloomerang has taught you?
Wong Joon Ian: Design is a continuous process. It taught us not to be satisfied with what we have, and to continue adapting to the circumstances as required.

BL: So, what’s next for Bloomerang now?
Wong Joon Ian: The fourth iteration of our hanger is being developed now, with help from the NUS School of Design and Environment. As we continue to refine the design, we plan to retail the hangers in addition to offering them as an advertising platform. We’ve had many requests for a retail version of the hanger, and we will be ready to meet those requests when we’ve hit on the right design and production formula. We are also building our sales leads for advertising in the meantime.

BL: In your opinion, what are the three most important traits of an entrepreneur?
Wong Joon Ian:

1. Simple ideas can effect change. It doesn’t have to be high-tech, or a world-changing concept.
2. Form your own opinions. Since we started we have received a lot of advice, whether sought after or given freely. Do your homework and form your own opinions from there.
3. Sincerity and humility. Not to fall too much in love with yourself or your own idea. Be ready to adapt.

BL: Joon Ian, thank you so much for this interview. We wish Zhiwen and you good luck in the Bloomerang venture. Do let us know of any new developments and news on your social enterprise.