Santa Maria Times from Santa Maria, California • 6

6-Monday, April 7, IMo, Santa Maria, Tlms Michael Lcs 925-2691 Making giant inflatables a booming business ple company," he said. "Our little suggestion box in back Is loaded with ideas that most people could retire on." A humorous touch is a horn hanging down the hall from Dickson's office that sales people can blow to announce a sale. i It all fits in with what Dickson said his philosophy Is "Smile and have fun." "I'm 50 going on 27, and he's 27 going on 50," Dickson joked. The atmosphere at the company's plant In El Cajon on San Diego's eastern fringes Is relaxed and open. The inflatables are manufactured there and the 46 employees include artists, seamstresses and silk screen painters.

Dickson said the staff is bulging with creativity. "We're totally 100 percent a peo mercial time for the game, Dickson said. Dickson, 50, and Bachman, 27, previously worked for another Inflatable firm In San Diego. They are equal owners in Bigger Than Life along with two investors who put up $300,000 capital. Dickson coordinates many of the marketing and sales efforts, while Bachman Is more of an Innovator and creator.

event. The company Is producing 20 to 30 Inflatables for the World Cup soccer event in Mexico In June and is working on a giant walk-in Honda four-wheeler Inflatable that Dickson said will hold up to 600 people. It would be used at sales meetings and promotions. "You could walk in and have a cocktail with the chairman of the board," Dickson said. Dickson said inflatables are a good marketing tool because they are innovative, eye-catching and usually cheaper than conventional large-scale advertising.

"We are the alternative means of advertising," he said. "There's no other medium in the world that can touch our cost." A can or bottle, which can be mass produced, can be purchased for $2,000. The cost of the more intricate Super Bowl extravaganza was $157,000 an amount that SAN DIEGO (UPI) Less than a year after forming the company, the founders of Bigger than Life Inc. were frantically producing 37 of their giant inflatables for the Super Bowl halftime show, and business has been booming since. "It went bananas on us," said president Dick Dickson of the company he co-founded last May with partner and executive vice president Mark Bachman.

Five months after being in business, they needed more space and had, to move. Bigger Than Life surpassed the million dollar sales mark in January and sales this year are expected to double that. "We anticipate reaching $2.5 million in sales by the close of 1986, and we have only begun to tap the potential market for inflatables," Bachman said. Bachman's wife came up with the name for the company, which specializes in designing and manufacturing huge vinyl-coated nylon beats the price of television com- ttmwu lining m1 i 1 i. Tony Giorgianni, Eureka manager; Ben Russell, store Geoff Case, assistant buyer, TimesBrad Blsquera JOANNE GUEVARA, of Santa Mar-la, is the winner of a trip to Mazatlan in a Eureka Co.

contest in conjunction with Gottschalk's With her are, Kodak to distribute 8mm videos forms that are Inflated and sold for advertising and promotion purposes. "That name has been magic for us," said Dickson. Among the more than 400 inflatables the company has produced are a 20-foot jeep for American Motors giant bottles and cans for Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, Dr. Pepper and Royal Crown Cola, a 20-foot purple cow and towering "Popples" characters for the 1986 International Toy Fair in New York City. Other clients include Anheuser-Busch, Procter Gamble, Wendy's, Chevron USA and General Foods Corp.

The Super Bowl order was the company's big coup. The 37 inflatables were part of an outer space motif for a halftime segment in the January game. It included 16 planets and a giant city. The project took 67 days of round-the-clock work and had to be kept secret until the day of the the agreement, McEwen said. He also declined to say what Kodak has projected for sales.

By choosing the 8mm format, as opposed to the more traditional half-inch VHS and Beta tapes, Kodak said it hopes to expand that portion of the video market. An 8mm video cassette is roughly the same size as an audio cassette, McEwen said, and sells for roughly half the price of VHS and Beta tapes. Equipment to play the smaller cassettes is therefore also more compact. Kodak introduced 8mm video IM. .147 7 ITT JfanMona.

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(AP) -Eastman Kodak Co. today announced that it will begin distributing major motion pictures and music videos on 8 millimeter video cassettes. Kodak signed an 18-month agreement with Los Angeles-based Embassy Home Entertainment that will enable the world's largest photographic products manufacturer to distribute up to 46 Embassy titles, said Kodak spokesman Robert C. McEwen. The two companies agreed not to release financial information about GM price increases hit DETROIT (UPI) The National Automobile Dealers Association Monday called General Motors latest round of price increases "an idea least likely to help consumers aid dealers." NADA, a Washington-area trade group representing about 24,000 franchisee! new car and truck dealers, said Monday a poll of its membership showed dealers are "dumbfounded and perplexed" by GM's 2.9 percent increase announced March 28.

"In a period of high inventories and lukewarm sales, this is an idea least likely to help consumers and dealers," the NADA statement said, adding that "higher prices just are not logical." NADA, based in McLean, said it is urging manufacturers of imported and domestic automobiles to show restraint "so as not to kill the market for the rest of 1986." A NADA spokesman said the association does not normally comment on pricing policies and was urged by GM not to publish its criticism on the increases. Although details of the new pricing have not yet been announced, it is expected to average about $400 a car. GM had no comment regarding the NADA statement. GM's price increase, effective wnh shipments April 14, apparently is causing confusion among dealers because of large supplies of unsold stock and lackluster consumer reaction to the automaker's 7.7 and 9.9 annual percentage rate financing programs which expire April 12. GM has about 1.2 million unsold cars in dealer lots, with about 16 model lines exceeding a 100-day supply when 60 days is considered normal.

GM said its recent price hikes are due to increases in labor and manufacturing costs. Ford Motor which raised some prices last month on large-engined cars, and Chrysler Corp. have not yet followed GM's general increase. products in January 1984 and earlier this year introduced an 8mm modular video system that allows owners to build 8mm home entertainment centers. Ten prerecorded 8mm programs will go first to dealers who carry Kodak 8mm video components, with shipments expected by June.

"Our intent is twofold," said Daniel H. Carp, vice president of Kodak's consumer electronics division. "First, we want to seed the industry with 8mm software to ensure the growth of the format. Secondly, we view distribution oi 8mm programs as a profitable business opportunity." About 125 manufacturers of 8mm equipment have agreed to standardize their hardware, Carp said, so any 8mm videotape will fit into any 8mm player. Video products will also include Kodak blank video cassettes, music videos and instructional programs eventually sold in drug stores, photo stores and supermarkets, McEwen said.

Pre-recorded movie cassettes will carry a suggested retail price of $29.95, while the instructional videos and blank tapes will sell for less, McEwen said. Some of the titles planned for release in the new format include, "Kiss of the Spider Woman," "The Cotton Club," "The Emerald Forest" and "Blade Runner." Gold prices Selected world gold prices Monday. London morning fixing $336.50, up $2.00. London afternoon fixing $337.65, up $3.15. Paris afternoon $337.26, off $0.52.

Frankfurt fixing $337.10, up $0.92. Zurich late afternoon bid $335.60, up $336.10 Handy Harman $337.90, up $3.40. Engelhard $338.05, up $3.15. Engelhard fabricated $354.95, up $3.30. NY Comex gold spot month Fri.

$335.40, up $0.20. Silver prices NEW YORK (AP) Handy Harman silver Monday $5,305, up 0.165. The bullion price for silver earlier in London was $5,244, up $0,137. Engelhard silver $5,310, up fabricated $5,682 up $0,166. NY Comex silver spot month Friday at $5,200 up 0.071.

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