When it comes to keeping abreast of the very latest breaking news, Webster’s Flooring in Port Elizabeth is no walkover.
In fact, the Walmer business has, for the past 15 years, diligently provided motorists and passersby in Main Road with a smorgasbord of snappy headlines – each of them reflecting owner Garth Webster’s quirky take on daily headlines and stories from The Herald, and other major news events.
For 61-year-old Webster, this is simply because when it comes to traditional journalism and solid, old-school marketing, the writing is on the board.
In this case, it is a street-side sandwich board-style blackboard that has been providing captivating, cryptic and entertaining statements almost every day of the week.
“It was my wife, Athari’s, idea in the beginning,” a snappily dressed Webster said on Monday.
“At first, we had product information on the board and that was not working that well – people don’t really notice it.
“But when we started putting up the quirky headlines, people started taking notice and now it has become very popular.
“Some of the headlines are an obvious take on something in the papers, others are a little more cryptic and make people think.
“They even phone to ask what the meaning is.”
An example of this popped up on the board in June after The Herald published a headline reading “Residents get homes, but no toilets”.
Far from simply delivering a chalk and cheesy statement, Webster’s responding take was: “Still nothing to go on.”
“The whole idea has worked out very well,” he said.
“I know of people who drive past this way just to read the headlines every day.
“We publish them on our Facebook page and get a lot of responses from that.
“As a marketing tool, it has worked exceptionally well.
“It gives people something to think about and a smile each day.
“The thing is though, that I have to get up extra early in the morning to catch up with the news before I can formulate a new headline and get it written on the board.
“These days, I am coming up with 99% of the headlines, but I certainly get help with ideas and the best way to express something from my staff and others.”
With a 21-year-old business and a passion for sport, Webster said these aspects of his life, as well as the political shenanigans and everyday current affairs, provided him with all the ammunition he needed to keep generating interesting headlines and statements.
The value of his efforts was best described in a letter recently sent to the business, in which a woman wrote that she had been contemplating suicide.
“She said that viewing the statements on the board had made her rethink her choice, and that she had then changed her mind and had gone and sought help instead,” Webster said.