Sean Larson was your average college football fan.
He made plans around heading to the stadium on most Saturdays, going to watch the Georgia Bulldogs play between the hedges in Athens. He dressed in red and black, hooked his school flag to the car window, and took off for the game.
But, that school flag was a problem. Larson remembers the day that he had enough.
“I was on the way to Athens for the Georgia Tech game in late November, 2010,” he recalled. “On the way, I was seeing car flags lying on the side of the road. I thought, ‘somebody ought to come out with a better design that won’t blow off the car’.”
Ideas started running through his mind. Maybe it would be magnets. Maybe adhesive or suction cups. He remembered how noisy and annoying the flags were.
“I thought, ‘what if it didn’t stick out above the car in the wind,’” he said. “That’s when the idea came together. It didn’t need to be a flag at all. It could be anything – the mascot, logo or any symbol.”
After several trial designs during the next few months, Larson decided on a single design for all teams – the football helmet.
“The concept was to overcome the natural flaws inherent with car flags,” he explained. “And, we are sports fans ourselves. We wanted to make products designed for people who have passion and pride for their teams. It grew far beyond my initial expectations, becoming the product that we now produce. It is such a tremendous improvement over the car flag design.”
WindowFanz products are 3-D authentic football helmets designed for vehicle and home, constructed with helmet grade polycarbonate to exacting detail. The company, with corporate offices in Monroe, Ga., stresses “quality, authenticity and uniqueness,” according to Larson.
These are officially licensed collegiate products with items for more than 30 schools already available. That includes some teams from each of the Power 5 conferences, as well as lesser-known schools, including Presentation College, Western State Colorado University and Kennesaw State, among others.
“We plan to grow and add more teams each year as we become more recognizable in the marketplace,” Larson said. “When launching any new product that the public has not seen before, it’s important to educate, demonstrate and market the product any way possible.”
Trade shows, advertising and promotions have been utilized to build product awareness.
“Trade shows allow us to demonstrate the products to a wide variety of retailers and consumers alike,” Larson said. “Our product has been received extremely well by the sports public. This is partly due to the unique nature of the product, as well as our dedicated efforts to authentically replicate the helmet of the beloved teams.
“We are planning many new product designs in the next few years, including motorsports, baseball, basketball, hockey, lacrosse and softball. We’ll also be expanding to include products outside the sports world.”
WindowFanz products are unique, attractive and durable presents for Christmas, birthdays or as a gift to the college sports fan year-round. They are available at many retail locations around the country, and can be purchased through the company web site at www.windowfanz.com.