Omega Plastics' inventor sees orders soar with Channel 4 TV slot

A budding inventor’s appearance on a popular daytime TV programme has seen order books ‘boom’ for a North East-based plastics manufacturer.

Washington-based Omega Plastics is benefitting from its customer, Andrew Brooks’ appearance on Channel 4’s Buy It Now.

Hosted by actor, presenter and comedian, Brian Conley, Buy It Now is a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style show in which inventors are given 90 seconds to pitch their creation to an audience of potential customers, before they are spun off a revolving stage.

However, if the inventor manages to keep the audience engaged until the time is up, they will then have the opportunity to pitch to a panel of retail buyers.

Andrew managed to successfully win the audience over with his design for the pokito collapsible travel cup, and capture the imaginations of all three of the show’s retail panellists, including JML chief executive officer, Ken Daly and Firebox managing director, Kristian Bromley.

Andrew said: “I was really nervous presenting live to a live audience of over 100 people, but generally everyone was really receptive to the pokito and the panel of experienced national retailers were keen to place significant orders.

“They were also keen to know that pokito is being manufactured right here in the UK.”

Adjustable to match the size of the user’s drink (from 8oz espresso to 16oz grande), the pokito has been designed to collapse when finished with for ease of storage and portability.

Managing director at Omega Plastics, Gary Powner, added: “We’re absolutely delighted that business is going so well for Andrew and the pokito.

“We have been working closely with Andrew from the very beginning to provide a full turn-key solution for the pokito, successfully creating the tools needed to produce and mould all five of the pokito’s components and then supporting the project through the manufacturing process.

“Working alongside inventors and startups on projects like pokito which are creative and a bit niche is something we really enjoy at Omega Plastics, so to see one of the products retailing so well is absolutely fantastic.”

This sentiment has been felt across the UK recently with the government’s proposed 25p tax on all disposable coffee cups.

The nation’s coffee drinkers initially had mixed reactions to the proposed ‘latte levy’, which was discussed in parliament earlier this year, but now it seems like people are ready to embrace the idea of reusable cups in a bid to save the planet and their pennies.

“I never expected the pokito to get such an amazing reaction from the audience and the buyers on Buy It Now, but I am so glad it did!” Andrew concluded.

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