For many, the pandemic has halted business, but for Paul Blakely and Collin Lee, co-founders of Four Faces Marketing, a Santa Clarita-based marketing consultancy company, the pandemic has actually led to new business opportunities.
Recently, the business partners came across something new and useful in the fight against COVID-19: a nano copper film, which provides an extra layer of protection from bacteria and viruses on high-touched surfaces.
“I’m Korean-American,” Lee said. “My sister resides here in Stevenson Ranch, as well as in Korea, because she has a business out there. She brought to my attention this copper film because it’s quite popular out in Korea.”
South Korea and the U.S. identified their first cases of COVID-19 around the same time, but while cases continue to spike in the U.S., South Korea was able to quickly slow the rate of spread.
While that may not be directly related to the film, innovations like it certainly are aiding in those efforts, the business partners said.
In Korea, the film is now used all over public transportation, elevator buttons, touchscreen kiosks, school desks, lunch tables, grocery store carts and checkout counters.
The transparent, adhesive film is infused with copper, and the natural antimicrobial property of copper treats surfaces, making them microbe-free overnight, without cleaning.
“It’s going to be an extra layer of protection that as soon as different viruses and bacterias hit the copper, within moments it’s already starting to break it down,” Blakely said.
Upon doing their research, Lee and Blakely realized that the film had yet to be introduced into the American market, finding an opportunity to do so themselves.
Lee and Blakely then co-founded nanoCOPP, a Four Faces business, which imports the film from South Korea, while they do the sales and marketing based here in Santa Clarita.
“This copper film is in a nascent stage of usage, so we’re just kind of on the front end of all this,” Lee said.
For more information on nanoCOPP, visit nanocopperfilm.com.
