Brisk business seen during elections

MALOLOS CITY , Philippines  – Business not only gets more brisk when elections near, it’s very exciting too, as it opens new opportunities.

This is especially true to Nards Gomez, the proprietor of AdSystem, a local firm that specializes in making signage here.

“We’re swamped with orders, mostly tarpaulin posters for local politicians,” said Gomez, the acknowledged “Tarpaulin King” in Bulacan who introduced its use in the province in 2000.

He said that as early as December, candidates for local elective positions started coming in and asked either for comments or advice on the design of their campaign posters.

Others came with soft copies of their posters’ designs stored in compact discs (CDs) or flash drives.

“They still prefer our ser­vices because they have tried us before,” said Gomez, an award winning painter who started AdSystem 15 years ago.

He said competitions sprouted in the last three years in the province offering tarpaulin printing services, yet AdSystem still gets the lion’s share of the local market.

“Our first advantage is our track record along with the quality of services we deliver, and the design that we make since I have a background in visual arts and graphics design,” Gomez said.

With regard to pricing, Gomez said that compared to rates in 2000, it has gone down dramatically this year.

But business is still thriving as more customers come in and they now prefer the more durable tarpaulin over cloth streamers as part of their campaign paraphernalia.   – Dino Balabo