Select Security partners with Mace to launch national DIY product

LANCASTER, Pa.—Select Security, a super-regional based here, is partnering with Mace, best known for its pepper spray, to launch a DIY product nationally in 2016.

Select Security's founder and CEO Patrick Egan said that teaming up with Mace to launch a DIY product is key to its success nationally.

“This is a whole different channel for us, and there was no way we were going to enter the DIY space without a strong, recognizable brand name,” Egan told Security Systems News. “The fact that we have executed a long-term agreement with Mace—a nationally well-known brand name—we think it's got legs.”

Select Security president Steve Firestone told SSN, “We are really bullish on the DIY space but we felt that the real play was with a brand that had a larger geographic brand equity than we do,” he said. “Going to market with their name means that immediately the consumer marketplace will have trust with the product.”

Firestone said Select has invited “what we believe to be the right manufacturers of the product” to come to Select's headquarters here for review and strategy sessions as the company finalizes its evaluation of what product will be included in the DIY offering. “Those who have been invited are extraordinarily excited about what they believe is the volume potential because of the value of the Mace brand,” he said. 

"With the changes happening in home security, it is a great opportunity and timing to introduce a product like this,” John McCann, Mace Security International president and CEO told SSN. “And with the experience and expertise of Pat Egan and Steve Firestone at Select Security, they are the perfect partners to make it happen. For both of us it is a big win.”

Select Security is currently interviewing for key personnel including an executive director to run the DIY program while it looks for the right location for the call/fulfillment center, as well as choosing an agency to handle the advertising and PR needs that come with running a nationwide project of this size.

“From a business-development perspective, we certainly will be doing digital and Internet-based marketing as well as some retail opportunities, and we probably will be spending some pretty significant money in media buys, all to drive traffic to the call center or ordering online,” said Firestone.

Although the new DIY product is being released under the Mace name, Select's professionally installed and monitored commercial and residential systems will continue to be sold under the Select brand.

“Select will continue its ordinary acquisitions and organic growth and its play of being a major provider in small markets,” said Egan.