Cranston firm teams with 50 Cent
When Chris White was first introduced to “skins” in the summer of 2004, he loved the idea but hated the execution.
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The product – at the time, just a sticker designed to fit on PlayStations, Xboxes and other video game consoles to personalize the machine – was a great invention, but it was cheap and offered consumers little value, he said.
As a video game fan who had made his money designing impulse items – “lunchboxes, gum ball machines and things of that nature” – White saw an opportunity to get involved at the ground level with something that was going to be big.
With the formation of his company, Gamer Graffix Worldwide, White seized that opportunity, creating a brand that is defining the emerging industry.
Since the Cranston-based company began turning out the product in September 2004, the success has been phenomenal, said president and CEO White, who goes by the name “Whitey” on his company’s Web site.
In the time since White first decided to put out skins, the company has received accolades, sold out of products within days of releasing them and done business in 39 different countries.
It’s led the path in its field, putting out a product of much higher quality than the stickers.
But perhaps the biggest indicator of Gamer Graffix’s success is the alliance it recently formed.
In June, White got a phone call from one of the company’s independent representatives, starting the process that led to Gamer Graffix’s most prominent deal to date – one that has aligned the company with arguably the world’s biggest rap star.
“He said, ‘Hey, my son happens to play soccer with the son of 50 Cent’s lawyer,’” White said. “I gave them some skins and they ended up in the hands of this lawyer. They said, ‘[50 Cent and his team] want to talk to you – they want to do something with you.’”
Expecting the talks to lead to a licensing agreement with the rap star, White and Gamer Graffix representatives went to meet with 50 Cent.
When they got there, he said he wasn’t interested in a license. Rather, he wanted to own a “substantial” part of the company, White said.
And the agreement was worked out, pairing 50 Cent with Gamer Graffix’s other investors, which include people such as Richard Oster, a prominent Rhode Island businessman who formerly served as vice president of Cookson America.
The deal includes an endorsement clause and, according to White, the rapper has already been spotted at award shows wearing a Gamer Graffix T-shirt.
The high-profile agreement, according to White, gives Gamer Graffix credibility and a name – things that at this stage of the company’s development are crucial.
“We’re in a brand-new category and we’re a brand-new product,” White said. “I think it’s important to educate the consumer as to what it is we do and why it’s different.”
Before the partnership with 50 Cent, the company had designed skins to coincide with the release of the rapper’s video game, “Bulletproof,” which is designed by Vivendi Universal Games. But the deal with the rapper himself will bring some business back to White’s impulse item company, Tristar Merchandise Inc., of which he is the sole owner. Products may include stationery, wall clocks or anything else 50 Cent may want from the company.
Gammer Graffix has made its mark in the skins industry because of the quality of its product, White said.
Unlike the stickers that made up the entire market when White entered, Gamer Graffix’s line uses a gel coating that fits over the machine. A specially designed adhesive allows for the product to be affixed and removed with relative ease.
While he admits the product may look like a low-tech item, he said as much as $250,000 went into the research and design of the product.
Currently, the company employs 32 people locally. Gamer Graffix also maintains a warehouse in California and does its manufacturing in China.
But that may change soon, he said, with the company slated to bring its manufacturing operations to Rhode Island. Part of the reason for the move is to cut back on time between design and production. But another is because he hopes to tap resources within the state.
“There’s so much talent in Rhode Island that’s not being tapped into,” White said. “We felt like we were not only doing ourselves but also our state a disservice by not bringing jobs back here. The quality is second to none; the production time is second to none. It just makes so much sense to do it here.”
In 2005, White said the company had profits “well into seven figures.” Still the only non-sticker skin company in the market, White said he anticipates 2006 will produce numbers five times as high.
But despite there being minimal – if any – competition for the company, White said he welcomes other companies entering the market with a similar product.
“It’s like this company is a Ferrari on a racetrack with no other racers,” White said. “We’d like to have some other racers jump aboard. How else are we going to show off?”
And the way that Gamer Graffix will remain competitive is by trusting its gut, White said.
Popular video games such as “Zelda” make up part of the company’s skin designs, White said. However, the staff does much of its own design work – skulls, flames, shattered glass – and all of it is “edgy, edgy, edgy,” he said.
And the more popular ones tend to be those designed by the staff, White said.
It all comes from the staff’s own minds, where a lot of the employees, like White, tend to be gamers at heart.
“At the end of the day, we’re building for us,” he said. “One of the things I love about this company is that it hits all of its people right between the eyes. It’s fun to build stuff for 10-year-olds. However, it’s a blast to build stuff that you actually dig yourself.”
