BladeTape Uses the Games to Shoot for New Markets

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“It is truly the last great piece of real estate in the game to be realized for marketing purposes,” says Richard Findlay, President of Blade Pro Products Inc.

The company’s flagship product, BladeTape, is a unique hockey stick tape that combines a rubber surface material with peel ‘n’ stick technology to enhance durability (up to 15 games or more), improve stick-handling and reduce friction.

But BladeTape’s big advantage is that it can integrate a number of marketable screen printing applications, including the use of high resolution images and logos. This capability provided an irresistible opportunity for Findlay and his team to partner with one of the world’s most recognizable and reputable brands – the Olympic Games.

“The Vancouver 2010 Winter Games are an unparalleled opportunity to showcase our products to the world,” says Findlay. “This agreement will have a positive impact on our long-term growth potential.”

Even though it is a small Canadian company in only its third year of operations, Blade Pro has secured a licensing agreement with the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) to produce branded hockey blade tape.

“When you compare us to VANOC’s other suppliers and partners, it is quite clear that we do not operate with the same fiscal capacity,” says Findlay.

Despite this fact, Blade Pro was able to demonstrate to VANOC that it could add value to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games product portfolio. Findlay believes sharing VANOC’s core values – team, trust, excellence, creativity and sustainability - was the key to winning the contract.

Blade Pro has a devotion to excellence and creativity, and produces high quality products that are meticulously inspected and game tested. The company is also environmentally sensitive.

“Our products already produce less waste than traditional cloth hockey tape and we are working to find innovative ways to further reduce our waste,” says Findlay.

Blade Pro intends to release five different graphic designs for BladeTape over the license period and one of these designs will be created in cooperation with local First Nations artists.

“We jumped at this opportunity as the Games were in our own backyard and the sustainability initiatives aligned well with our corporate thinking, processes and product line-up,” says Findlay.

Blade Pro hopes to become the number one alternative to traditional hockey tape this year, and the only way to tape your stick in ten years time. By landing a licensing agreement with VANOC it hopes to greatly accelerate the path to success.

“Launching our products into the worldwide marketplace has been the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” claims Findlay. “But with a really great team behind me, including VANOC, I am now well on my way to changing the way hockey sticks are taped.”