A quick peek at a few of my stories for our upcoming August issue:
Holiday and Seasonal: On Greeting Cards
The likelihood that your client is targeting a multicultural end-user base is reasonable, so you are going to want to tailor your promotional copy accordingly in order to avoid hurt feelings among recipients. “A basic rule of thumb is businesses don’t want to say Merry Christmas, businesses want to say happy holidays,” said Joel D. Schaffer, MAS, CEO of Soundline Inc., Randolph, N.J. He noted as well that generic seasonal imagery, such as snow, is often preferred to Christian iconography like ornaments and Christmas trees. He explained however, that this was only a general guideline and that companies will sometimes opt for religion-specific greetings based on the personal preference of management or knowledge of their intended end-user group’s faith.
Corporate Meetings and Events: Lanyards
Whether for holding name tags or carrying key cards and other important items, lanyards are a standard for any large business gathering. When selecting lanyards for purchase, Jackie Francque, sales for Meetings Direct, Verona, Wis., recommended checking their fabric textures to make sure they’re not too rough or coarse, and also keeping the lanyard’s ultimate purpose in mind (a lanyard meant to display a badge would benefit from no-spin or length-adjustment features, while a lanyard for a key card would not, etc.)
POWER POINT: Plan for short notice on attendance levels.
“Buying lanyards offshore often requires 60 day delivery times,” said Francque. “That is fine for key rings or IDs for a business, but not for a meeting where a client may not know how many attendees they will have until two or three weeks out.”
MY BEST PROMOTION
Maria Vick, national account executive, Post No Bills Inc. Columbia, S.C., shared a story where she took a big risk on using discarded pumpkin netting as custom packaging for a corporate gift-basket room drop at a large national sales meeting. Selecting the netting because of its perfect color and homey, rustic look, Vick explains how she survived tight deadlines, packaging shortages and hand-wrapping all of the gift bags herself.
Until next week everyone!
Monday Mike Fact: Our office soda machine continues to be well-stocked with Cherry Coke Zero. Thank god for small miracles during the magazine production cycle.
