The TanWall Blog

The 1^st ever Smart Tan Show Downtown Nashville 2009 proved to be an exceptionally successful show for TanWall. TanWall was featured in multiple areas at the show. When walking through the entrance of the trade show you could spot 4 rooms that TanWall designed for PC Marketing. These rooms were showing off that “Black is Back”…..Black Licorice that is. Black Licorice is the name for TanWall’s black salon walls that are one of the newest color additions to the TanWall collection. PC Marketing’s rooms were framed out by TanWalls silver framing and upgraded painted metallic silver doors.

Moving to either side of the show floor to the back left or to the back right you could set your eyes on two separate areas where TanWall designed rooms for ETS. ETS chose to go with TanWalls sleek Rosewood TanWalls that are 1 of 3 colors choices from TanWalls Wood Grain Collection. ETS choose to frame out their walls with TanWalls silver framing and had their doors upgraded to a painted black.

Moving to the center of the show floor you couldn’t help but notice TanWalls huge overhead balloon and signage that stated “Your Image Starts Here” and “Get A Room”. Veteran salon owners will tell you that TanWall is the leader for Modular Walls in the Tanning Industry and Newbie’s to the Industry will know soon enough. TanWall is more than a place that salon owners can get their build out needs met for their salon. TanWall helps create your salon brand image. “Salon owners who own from one salon to multiple salons see how important creating a unique brand for their salons is and how ultimately that is the key to their success. TanWall is the perfect solution for building your image.  We can make our TanWalls, retail displays and desks meet any look you are trying to achieve” said National TanWall Design Manager Kristina Admire.

TanWall displayed a large island booth which consisted of new ideas for color schemes for salons for the upcoming 2010 season. One booth was a bright contemporary inspired white color with a red door paired with an accent of a graffiti style modern sconce lights in red. The other booth was an ultra modern room with upgraded silver laminate with bright blue powedercoated framing and a silver laminate door. The accent of this room was “bling” “bling” scone lighting that brought together an ultra futuristic look.  Also unveiled for the first time was TanWalls new retail display line and newest modern desk called the Château.  Both the retail line and the reception desk got rave reviews from salon owners along with TanWalls new 2010 colors.

With the largest color selection in the industry, this is just further proof that your Image Starts with TanWall. For further information contact Kristina Admire at kadmire@tanwall (dot) com or call toll-free at 866-Tan-Wall or (866) 826-9255. You may also visit our website TanWall.com.

Working the Smart Tan Trade show 2009 in Nashville, Tennessee was a great experience in learning.  Talking to Tanning salon owners from across the globe, there are many similarities but just as many differences. Demographics, styles, color ideas, marketing approaches, future business plans and many other topics.

This led me to write some of those differences and provide a different perspective in many of these areas.  Over the coming year, I will be blogging about those different types of perspectives from around the country.

With our knowledge and experience I believe we can provide a perspective on different areas that business owners need to pay attention to. Being in a successful business for more than 20 years I believe that we understand just a bit more than most.  Helping over 15,000 companies in our industry achieve their objectives over the years, I think we bring to the table a time of knowledge that we would love to share.

The entire world is made up of marketing messages all around us.  Some of which we buy into some we don’t.  Some of them we buy into so much that we think that it is reality.  Although no data or facts to back up the claims people believe them.  It’s been said that each person faces upwards of 30,000 marketing messages per day.  From television commercials to signs on the side of the road, everyone is trying to get their message across. With new social media, the messages are only increasing.

On the positive side, people can learn what ever they want whenever they want.  In our digital age we can be informed with a little extra effort become experts in just about anything.  I might want to caution you though, a lot of people claim expertise when in fact they don’t know much.  Just enough to spin their perspective and change you’re thinking of something.

There are many myths in the marketplace.  One of them which I always find fascinating and the tanning industry is airflow.  Movement of air can be extremely complex but in most cases it is just a matter of common sense.  I heard several times at the show that they would like an air gap underneath the wall to help the heat removal from a salon room and be more energy efficient.  Of course there are several people in the industry pushing that this is as real issue.

Common sense tells us how could that be?  Hot air or the molecules move up.  That does not mean that the air has any velocity and moving up caused by heat.  Without fans or other equipment to push the air out of the top of the room no pressure or back draft will be caused under the wall.  Obviously the reason for this is that some people in the Tanning industry make a product that stands off the ground.

I have heard more horror stories than success stories with having a gap underneath the wall.  There are currently more than 30,000 lawsuits per year in the United States attributed to privacy issues in retail locations.  This day and age with cell phone cameras and other spyware technology, a salon owner is putting themselves at risk by not providing the maximum amount of privacy to the consumer. As a matter a fact, I have not seen one energy study, heard one salon owner say after putting a gap under the wall they saved money on their electricity bill… If that is the case, why do people believe it? Marketing…

Many people have heard of the case of Erin Andrews, sports announcer who was photographed at her hotel room naked and posted on the Internet.  Most of the stories do not make front page news but they do end up in the courtroom causing thousands of lost dollars to salon owners trying to defend themselves from these cases. Yet, some companies are still insisting that energy efficiency in their salon is happening in the gap under the wall.

Let’s go ahead and say for argument sake, you were saving money or your power bill.  How much do you think that would be?  Doesn’t your air-conditioning systems still have to remove the same amount heat? I could get into a lot of technical beta to prove to you that it really doesn’t matter but it really comes down to common sense.  Even if you were to save $20 a month would the risk be worth it? I’ll let you be the judge.  Last time I checked attorneys were very expensive.