Reading about the two new distributions of Zalight, CantoUSA and the Fantek and Lightshark brands of the Spanish Equipson, we thought of contacting the company to let us tell you more. We spoke to Business Development Manager Luca Di Donato, who told us about the recent developments.
When we hear that the Covid-19 pandemic can also be seen as an opportunity, and not just as a misfortune, we always raise our eyebrows a little. However, there are realities that take it upon themselves to deny so much skepticism: one of these is Zalight, born in 2013 as a distribution structure for the professional lighting sectors, from Broadcast to Cinema, from Theatre to Rental, to the Architectural world. “With the pandemic – Luca Di Donato tells us – the need for various changes has arisen at a company level, we have expanded the scope of activity and we are in a phase of development and growth, we are also investing in a new showroom. I come from the entertainment market and I joined the company a little over a year ago, with the aim of being more active in this sector: we started the distribution of several brands dedicated to entertainment, as well as deployed seven sales agents for the whole Italy and a close partnership with companies that deal with installation products.”
How was Zalight born and with what objectives?
LDD – Zalight makes its debut to provide a service in the Broadcast and Cinema sectors, but recently we have reoriented the mission made clear by the new payoff “sharing innovation”: sharing innovation is what I believe in most. We always try to acquire new knowledge and expand the distribution, perhaps of not very famous brands but of quality, with products that can give new ideas to System Integrators and designers.
Even before the pandemic, the live events industry was already reformulating. You have decided to invest in it, how?
LDD – We think that the world of events will never die, the desire for participation and sharing is inherent in humans. We are convinced that the market is moving towards a more fragmented mode, with new opportunities: smaller events, widespread, with massive use of Wi-Fi systems for transmission, without cables, without large infrastructures. In short, small “widespread events”, as I like to call them, made with versatile equipment, easy to use. Battery-powered LED floodlights, for example, are a key product for these events. Obviously we also remain in the television sector and in big events: it is no coincidence that we participated in the recent Eurovision Song Contest with an innovative product called Rollstar. On the other hand, entertainment is very mobile, which is why we want to remain diversified: smaller events are more resilient to market difficulties, of any nature.
How is the company structured and how is it characterised?
LDD – We are a five-person facility, but we are looking for more staff. I take care of the whole strategic part, with new brand acquisitions and management of the sales network. One of our characteristics is our close relationship with lighting designers and cinematographers, with whom we often discuss market developments and new products. We always try to have a very direct relationship also with customers, whom we like to meet and get to know personally.
How do the recent distributions of the Fantek and Lightshark brands fit into your catalogue?
LDD – These are two brands of Equipson, a company that I already knew well and that we appreciate very much because it is diversified in its business. The agreement was born in two successive stages: first with Lightshark because we needed a smart and versatile control unit to integrate into our portfolio, both for small events and for installations. Subsequently, Equipson also proposed Fantek, a brand that develops hardware systems for the live sector, and everything was aimed at ISE 2022.
And CantoUSA?
LDD – For us it represents a challenge: it is an American retrofit brand that is not only applied to the projectors for the show, but also to the service fixtures for any place where events are held. Also linked to the theme of energy saving, on which there is a lot of attention at the moment, it is a brand that has enormous potential and I believe it will give us a lot of satisfaction. Although well-known and established in the United States, it is now taking its first steps in Europe, and we are the partner for Italy.
What are your goals for the immediate future?
LDD – We are completing a showroom that will become the heart of the company’s future activities, not only a place to exhibit products but also for meetings, training … As for logistics, we are reorganising the warehouse to better manage requests, also in consideration of the new brands. We want to complete the portfolio with some products that we still lack and develop the field of battery-powered projectors and installation products. In the longer term, however, I refer to our motto “sharing innovation”: a concept that we want to fully implement.
www.zalight.it
www.rollstar.it
www.equipson.es
www.lightshark.es
www.fantek.es
www.cantousa.com
