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Field of the invention

The present invention relates in general to commercial premises, such as supermarkets and the like, in which products on sale are exhibited, for example confectionery and foodstuffs in general.

State of the prior art

In the framework of the activity of such commercial premises, it is normal practice to launch advertising and promotional campaigns tending to draw attention of the purchasing public to certain products in order to increase sales. This entails providing systems of communication that is in particular, albeit not exclusively, visual, for example on shelves where the products forming the subject of the campaigns are exhibited. Typically, said systems may consist of panels or the like resting in front of the shelves carrying the products exhibited, or else adhesives applied on the floor. Panels that are set resting run the risk of being shifted accidentally by customers, which evidently annuls their function. Adhesives avoid this drawback, but involve relatively long operations for their removal at the end of the promotional campaign. Manufacturers who are particularly attentive and active vary periodically their campaigns to keep constantly alive the attention of consumers, a fact that further accentuates the problem linked to removal of the adhesives corresponding to the campaign that has finished and to their replacement with new adhesives bearing the information on the next campaign.

Summary of the invention

The object of the present invention is to overcome the drawbacks described above and to provide a communication device for environments where products are on sale that, albeit preventing risks of any accidental removal, can be applied and removed in a simple and fast way.

According to the invention, the above object is achieved thanks to a communication device characterized in that it consists of a mat formed by a flexible plate, the top face of which carries advertising information, promotional information, and the like, and applied to the bottom face of which is a repositionable adherent material constituted by a thin polyurethane layer .

Thanks to this arrangement, the communication device according to the invention guarantees in use that the information directed at consumers is kept stably unaltered, and on the other hand ensures the possibility of it being easily and rapidly removed and then applied again subsequently, or else in different areas of the sales environment or else again in other commercial premises, simply by cleaning the polyurethane layer by washing it so that it can be repositioned .

Brief description of the drawing

The invention will now be described in detail with reference to the annexed drawing, which is provided purely by of way of non-limiting example and is a schematic perspective view of a communication device according to a preferred embodiment of the invention.

Detailed description of the invention

With reference to the drawing, the communication device according to the invention is designated as a whole by the reference number 1 and consists in a mat formed by a flexible plate, typically a relatively thin sheet of plastic material, which is to be positioned on the floor of commercial premises, alongside or in front of the shelves on which certain products towards which it is intended to draw the attention of customers are exhibited on sale.

The top face 2 of the mat 1 has images and/or information indicating the products as well as the trademark of the corresponding producer, whilst its bottom face is coated with a thin polyurethane layer 3 designed to bestow on the mat 1 capacities of permanent adhesion at the same time enabling ease of removal, without on the other hand requiring the use of adhesives or glues proper, the detachment of which might prove problematical. Prior to use of the device, normally applied on the polyurethane layer 3 is a peelable protective film.

In use, the characteristics of adhesion of the polyurethane layer 3 enable on the one hand stable application of the mat 1 in a position corresponding to the products associated thereto without the risk of it accidentally being displaced or removed, and on the other hand ensures the possibility of it being easily and rapidly removed and then applied again subsequently, or else in different areas of the sales environment or else again in other commercial premises, simply after restoring the polyurethane layer by washing it to render it repositionable with characteristics of removable adhesion unvaried.

Of course, the details of construction, and in particular the shape and thickness of the mat 1, may vary widely with respect to what is described and illustrated herein, without thereby departing from the scope of the present invention, as defined in the ensuing claim.