As part of our commitment to product development and customer service, ADJ is pleased to announce that fog guru Joey Olaerts has joined the team as Atmospheric FX Specialist. With an unbridled passion for atmospherics and 10+ years of industry experience, Joey is ideally placed to manage the growth of ADJ’s catalog of fog, haze, faze, snow, and bubble machines. He will work together with ADJ’s Sales and Product Design teams to develop new products that perfectly meet customers requirements while ensuring the high standards of reliability and usability that ADJ is known for.
Having been a lifelong Halloween enthusiast, Joey Olaerts’ first experience with atmospheric effects was using fog machines to enhance his backyard Halloween displays while growing up in Montebello, CA. He quickly developed a love for FX and expanded his collection each year, to the point that his home Halloween display utilized an incredible 70 fog machines – many of them ADJ products. After High School, Joey went to college to become a lawyer but instead decided to make a career from his passion, setting up a Halloween business that focused on fog fluid. Starting out with just two fluid options, over the next decade Joey expanded the company, Fog It Up!, to become a major supplier to the Halloween market with seven own brand fluids as well as a strong retail business selling fog machines from numerous manufacturers, including a ADJ. During the COVID pandemic Joey felt the time was right to move on to new challenges. Fog It Up! was acquired by Antari, where Joey has worked for the past 15 months as a Sales Representative while also setting up the company’s fluid production facility. Ready for a new challenge, Joey is excited to be joining ADJ in the new role of Atmospheric FX Specialist.
“There really is no one like Joey when it comes to his passion for all things atmospheric,” comments ADJ USA’s National Sales Manager, Alfred Gonzales. “His enthusiasm for FX is infectious and his technical knowledge and expertise are unparalleled, making him the ideal person to oversee the development of ADJ’s line-up of atmospheric products. This segment of the ADJ catalog has always been strong, but having Joey on board will help us to develop it to the next level.”
Based at the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles, CA, Joey will be responsible for managing the ADJ line of atmospheric FX equipment. He will provide technical support to ADJ’s Sales and Service departments as well as identifying opportunities for adding new products to the range. He will then work with the R&D team to ensure that the resulting devices meet customer needs and expectations as well as the high quality standards that are synonymous with the ADJ brand. Joey will also be overseeing the Magmatic atmospheric product line of ADJ sister company Elation Professional as well as that of Eliminator, another of ADJ’s sister companies.
“I really couldn’t be happier to join ADJ!” enthuses Joey. “As an ADJ dealer I already know the existing product line very well and I’ve built such a good relationship with many of the guys at the company that it feels like a natural step to be joining the team. Over the past ten years, all I have done 24-7 is eat, sleep, and breathe special FX machines and I’m excited to be able to take everything I have learnt and apply it to developing the atmospheric range of what I know is a great company. It won’t be a matter of just trying to bring out as many products as possible but ensuring that the products that we do bring out are top notch. I really want to listen to what the customers want and to develop equipment that they will not only enjoy using but that will withstand years of use.”
