Fotobox Co. Has Revolutionised Old School Photo Booths, And They’re Looking Awesome
Say goodbye to those outdated photo booths!
By Hew Lee Yee — 07 Mar 2016, 04:26 PM
Before the selfie era was born, there was a time when multicoloured stickers from old school arcade photo booths brought unimaginable glee and happiness
Remember those times, lining up at cute photo booths, waiting to immortalise funny faces of your closest BFFs? Handing these stickers out and pasting them onto your stationery set was part of the ‘distribution’ process, and at the time, it was the coolest thing ever.
Soon enough, the novelty wore off. But Jason Ang, founder of Fotobox Co., was determined to bring back photo booths, albeit after a makeover.
In his guest room turned office back in 2011, he was working on the first prototype of Fotobox™, a product he believed would revolutionise outdated photo booths
The Fotobox photo booth is equipped with sharp photo capturing ability, complete with LCD and auto-exposure, with real-time integration system for mobile devices. In short, Fotobox™ doesn’t only capture and print photos on-the-spot. It also allows users to view the digital copy online, and share it on their social media accounts. The otherwise old school photo booth has now gotten a major upgrade.
“Couple months of hustling and Fotobox™ started growing and gaining traction”
The Fotobox Co. has come a long way since then, having provided their services to events like the JUICE 13th Anniversary Party, HBO Asia Oscars Screening, ELLE 70 Years of Style, and more. The team has also worked with other brands like BMW, Montblanc, Coach, and Sephora, just to name a few.
Mobsta is the portable sister of the Fotobox™, which brings the photo booth experience to users with zero radius restrictions. HelloGIF on the other hand, captures several images and converts them into a 15-second auto-loop video with synced soundtrack. Users can revisit their GIFs on Instagram under the hashtag #HelloGifFotobox and of course, instantly print copies.
The road to success, naturally, was not an easy one. Being a new player in the startup scene, they struggled to find their place as a software and hardware company, in a predominantly software-based culture.
“Many startup companies speak [sic] about scalability and perceive hardware as not scalable due to it's physical attribution to the product. But many also fail to see that physical attribution and digital experience is the key to gaining real experiences in the brands and consumer relationship,” Ang said.
Instead of just trying to offer virtual experiences, the team behind Fotobox™ believed in their product, which offers tangible experiences that users can touch, feel, and share.
Today, Fotobox Co. aren’t just ‘the photo booth guys’, but an event technology company that designs and reinvents solutions for events
Though they initially struggled to define themselves in the startup scene, one thing that has kept them grounded was their focus. By continuing to create and work on solutions that suit their clients, they made their mark in the scene. In the past 3.5 years they’ve been around, they managed to stand strong while they saw many startups come and go. Ang attributes that to their focus on growth, whether it be the team, space, markets, or product offerings.
The team is now at a humble total of 11 people, across 3 countries
As Ang would put it, they are a trendsetting team of forward thinkers, comprising of a mix of designers, marketeers, programmers, client servicing and most certainly, masters of selfies. Their mission includes these 3 core principles - consumer experience, brands ROI and the fun in selfies!
Now, Fotobox Co. can proudly say they’ve served over 400 events in Malaysia in 2015 alone
That being said, Ang felt that the biggest achievement of the company thus far is expanding their operations abroad to Singapore and Australia, working with top and mid-end consumer brands.
When asked what’s next for Fotobox Co., Ang said that they are always cooking up something, and it is their vision to further expand their services across the region
The team is keeping busy with more technology in the pipeline to be released this year, like the launch of their new brand, BIGGR Event Tech. “There are exciting days ahead for us, but we will continue to go where the technology and consumer interest brings us.”