9/11 Emergency Responder Packages

What happens when one of your amazing customers calls you and says “we have this special project and we need about 50,000 promotional items produced and ready for shipment in a week and a half, can you help?” Well, if you’re the Ad Specialties department at Heritage Solutions you say, “sure – no problem!!” (Then you proceed to ask all your employees to dig in their heels for the next week and a half! They love a good challenge!)

Our great partners over in Community Relations & Corporate Events at Chesapeake Energy Corporation recently had a need arise. They wanted to send 250 packages to emergency responders in their Marcellus Shale operating area to show their gratitude for all they do on a daily basis, but also to remember the 10^th Anniversary of September 11^th.

They wanted each box to be stuffed with goodies such as baseball hats, koozies, footballs, playing cards, frisbees, dominoes and flashlights that the responders would enjoy! The kit included the following thank you note:

“You put others first. We call when we need your help, and you’re the first to respond. Today, we want to put you first. On this day we remember the sacrifices made 10 years ago and the commitment you continue to make to keep our loved ones safe and our communities secure. Thank you for everything you do.”

Our ASI team got busy (when I say busy, I mean busy) they got on the phone with vendors, made calls, sent emails, got product proofs, made more calls….and a week and a half later all the product was delivered to Chesapeake for the kitting process. (Yes, we do kitting here at Heritage, but the customer wanted to be all hands on and assist in this project, it was close to their hearts…which we thought was pretty cool!)

Denise, our ASI manager, went to the clients to ensure everything was received properly and then rolled up her sleeves and stayed around to help with the kitting. It was a great team effort.

Now I’m picturing the guy from the A Team saying “I love it when a plan comes together!” The plan did come together, which makes our customer very happy…and us too!

Online Virtual Mini-Catalog

We’ve told you before that we manage the warehousing & fulfillment for ecommerce websites, like the OU Alumni Store for instance, but even though we’ve told you that it’s inevitable that someone will say “You manage websites? I didn’t know you did that!” Well, we do. Promise. (If you don’t believe us you should come hang out some day and take a tour of our warehouse, it’s pretty amazing complete with giant tater-tots. HA, now you want to come out just to see what I mean by giant tater-tots! Well, you’re just gonna have to come out and see for yourself!)

As we roll out new merchandise on our websites we like to try to find new ways to get the word out about what we’ve got! We do things like eblasts, direct mail, fliers, online advertising, and facebook advertising…. pretty much anything we can do to notify people of the specials and new merchandise on our sites.

Last week this bad boy was emailed out to 90,000 OU alums & their closest friends!

It’s working well…

CLICK HERE to view the mini-catalog!


Oh and please feel free to shop…that’s what it’s there for!

Everyday Creativity

Yesterday several of us from our sales team at Heritage headed over to the Moore Chamber of Commerce to attend a workshop titled Everyday Creativity by DeWitt Jones, presented by Jan Astani. We had a great time looking at things in a new perspective, and thinking outside the box!



Curtis even made a friend.



(This picture is more disturbing than I realized. Sorry, and somehow me saying “you had to be there” doesn’t help much either. Oh well, you had to be there.)

Dewitt Jones is one of Americas top professional photographers. Twenty years with National Geographic, photographing stories all over the globe, has earned him the reputation as a world-class photojournalist. As a motion picture director, two of Dewitt’s films were nominated for Academy Awards.

His definition of creative is “the ability to look at the ordinary and see the extraordinary.”

Jan did a wonderful job walking our group through the 9 Steps of Creativity…
• Looking at the ordinary and seeing the extraordinary
• Every act can be a creative one
• Creativity is a matter of perspective
• There’s always more than one right answer
• Reframe problems into opportunities
• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes
• Break the pattern
• Train your technique
• You’ve got to really care

Since I don’t have the rights to use Dewitt’s material I better stop there with the descriptions and definitions…I’m sure he’d prefer you go to your own workshop and hear it for yourself. (That was my creative response, my real response here is I don’t wanna get my rear-end sued for using his stuff without permission!)


If you find a fabulous presenter (like Jan Astani) offering Everyday Creativity, I highly recommend you attend. It was very eye opening.

I will leave you with one thought that I gleaned from the presentation. The quote “put yourself in the place of most potential” really got me thinking. Are you putting yourself and your business in the place of most potential? Are you reaching out to your clients in a way to gain the most potential? Often we do things “just because” or “because that’s the way we’ve always done it” BUT in doing that “thing”, are we putting ourselves and our business in the place of most potential. I can’t stop thinking about it…and I encourage you to think about it too.

Now I’m off to be creative! Okay, first I’ll get some coffee, THEN I’ll be creative.

Firsts.

When you do something FIRST you want it to count. You want it to be special, amazing, wonderful, and you want people to be wowed! Our friends over at STAPLEGUN got that chance. Their task: create the inaugural invitation for the First female Governor in the State of Oklahoma, Mrs. Mary Fallin. (This invitation will likely be on display at the Oklahoma History Center until, oh…probably the end of time….no pressure there.) Obviously pressure doesn’t get to those guys, because they literally knocked this project out of the park!



They created a classy and timeless invitation that wowed many as they arrived in mailboxes. (I never actually got one in the mail, it must have gotten lost. Surely, I was on the list….I waived at her when she was in the Edmond Liberty Fest Parade in 2009…we bonded.)

The invitation packet consisted of a booklet , an official invite, the response card, and an embossed envelope. It’s really quite impressive. After we delivered the finished product we then entered the piece into print competitions where we said things like “110# Classic Crest Solar White Cover, 4 color + PMS + Flood varnish, wet trap 2 side, 1 silver flat foil, 1 silver foil emboss.” (If you know what all that means, the FIRST step for you is admitting you have a problem.)


The piece won a local award and 3 National awards that we thought we should mention…
2011 Bronze Addy
Best of Category - 2011 Graphic Excellence Awards
Award of Recognition – 2011 Premier Print Awards
Neenah Paper – Silver Award 2011 Text & Cover Competition

We’d like to thank STAPLEGUN for allowing us the honor to be a part of this FIRST for the State of Oklahoma!

Personalized Direct Mail + PURLS = Marketing Strategy

We tell our customers all the time how personalized direct mail combined with PURLS can greatly increase their response rates. But, each time we get more data that backs up that statement, we like to share it! People like proof.

Recently this article was posted at PrintJunkie.net. (YES, there is a website for those addicted to print. The first step is admitting you have a problem.)

When you're done reading it, you'll say to yourself, "Can Heritage help me do all that? " The answer is, YES! Yes we can!

A recent article highlighted a prominent Midwest university who successfully deployed direct mail with a PURL to appeal to honors students as part of an admissions campaign. An A/B split test was conducted to research the affect of utilizing variable data printing in a marketing campaign.

Variable data printing tailored the direct mail postcard to the individual student’s interest in major, gender and whether or not they had visited the campus. Images and text were aligned to reflect the individual’s data. The PURL directed the students to a personalized landing page. For the other students, the Midwest university sent a more general mailing.

The university reported a 32% increase in student enrollment in 2010 over the prior year. 91% of those who registered were recipients of the PURL campaign. The use of a more focused mailer resulted in a 29% savings in printing costs.

“It’s all about making it relevant versus having high volume.”

At the same time, a non-profit organization used a personalized postcard and PURL to appeal to donors as part of their annual giving campaign. It reported that their normal donation rate is 2% to 3%. This campaign returned a 14% donation rate. “This is a bit more expensive, but it drove more conversions.”

“The trend is toward more efficiency and figuring out a multichannel approach with a much more layered cadence of communications.”

As online marketing becomes more saturated, innovations in printing and production are driving more marketers to use traditional channels to drive multichannel efforts.

How are you using direct mail in your multichannel marketing mix?

True or False

True or False:
Every promotional product ever made is already created – it’s just sitting on a shelf somewhere.

FALSE!


We’ve got proof!

The communications team at Oklahoma State University – Undergraduate Admissions were looking for a promotional product that would stand out to students and allow them to correlate Oklahoma State University with cutting edge promotional products. (Hence the reason why they couldn’t just buy any-ol’-thing.)


They knew that silly bands were beginning to become very popular and decided to have orange and black Pistol Pete’s created to put in campus tour and event bags.

We sent an image of Pistol Pete to our vendor and had these custom silly bands created just for them!
When students stepped on campus and received their goody bags, the silly bands were an instant hit!

Go Pokes!

Target Practice

We schmooze twice a year at the OKC Chamber of Commerce event SchmoozaPalooza! (I can now spell it without having to look it up.) It’s a fun event and we always have a great time. This time around Groupon sponsored a vendor lounge and we were treated to free appetizers and drinks – that was nice, REALLY nice! (Thanks Groupon!) We always go to Schmooza with a new theme, something fun and different. This year it was…

Nerf Dart Tag – Fury Fire! (Have I told you lately that I love my job?) It was so fun.

But we weren’t just playing tag- there was a method to our madness. We were talking about hitting your target with One-to-One Marketing. We printed a nifty handout that talked all about One-to-One Marketing (which is a communication of individualized, relevant messages to a large number of recipients.) One of the key points was Proper Targeting + Proper Personalization = Better Response! At Heritage we can help set your company apart and get your message noticed with the use of…

Variable Data Printing – Using customer test and images to speak directly and personally to each of your customers instead of sending everyone the same message/offer.

Cross Media Marketing – Using more than one medium to connect with your audience.

The channels we have available to integrate your company’s marketing efforts are: Direct mail, Email Marketing, Personalized URL’s/Landing Pages, Text Messaging Campaigns, and Social Media. It was a hit! People obviously loved playing Dart Tag with their friends and we even had some customers come by and ask to shoot at us, so we played along and let them. (We think they enjoyed that part a little TOO much!)

We handed out these fun slinky note pads with targets on them (hmmm…I bet I know where you can get some of those if you like them! Hint hint.)

Overall the event was a huge success – I definitely think we hit the TARGET!

Action Report

We printed a book for our fab friends over at Funnel Design Group! They designed the book for the PHF Research Park – we’ll stop here for a minute because I know you’re asking yourself, “what does PHF Research Park do?” Well let me use their words and tell you, (I’m sure they’d say it better anyway)… The Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park is a 27-acre, seven-building, 700,000 square-foot complex that supports biomedical technology.

The Research Park is located in close proximity to the Oklahoma Health Center. At the Research Park, Presbyterian Health Foundation's mission is to provide biotech companies with Class A wet laboratory space and office space, currently there are 36 science based companies housed at the complex. As you can see they do a lot! They created this "Action Report" to raise awareness and promote the important and life-saving science happening in Oklahoma! The reports were distributed to the investors, lawmakers, and the scientific business sector. Funnel's objective was to create a comprehensive overview of the vast scientific research going on at PHF Research Park.

The custom microscopic imagery forming “words” was designed to give the reader the “Aha” moment that a scientist might encounter when solving a scientific puzzle. As far as design goes, some of our favorite parts of the book are the French Poptone Tangy Orange flysheets & matching orange envelope, the rounded corners of the book & the label that wraps around the cover similar to that on a prescription bottle. Pretty cool!

Matt Goad , Creative Director at Funnel had these words to say, “This project was commissioned by the President of the Presbyterian Health Foundation Michael D. Anderson, PhD in 2010, being his final year as acting President before retiring. Dr. Anderson is a big proponent of Scientific Research and Creativity in Oklahoma, and without him this book would never have been possible. We are truly indebted to him!”

Matt also bragged on us too (and since it’s our blog we feel it’s only appropriate to share it) “Heritage and our account manager made this very large and complex project very painless and actually fun!” Now that’s what we like to hear!

Thank you PHF for promoting scientific research and innovation in this great state. Also, thanks to Funnel Design for sparking creativity, thinking outside the box, and allowing us to be a part of that creativity. We enjoyed seeing it come alive on paper!

Let's Celebrate!

Recently we helped our friends over at NEWCASTLE Gaming Center pull off something pretty cool!

They needed a creative way to invite their VIP’s to a Mardi Gras Tournament Celebration, and we helped them do just that!


We printed the invitations that were made to look like Mardi Gras masks, then they were also die-cut.

The invitation then was placed in a box (boxes are more likely to get opened, because people are just too curious and they HAVE to know what’s in it). Inside the box were two sets of beads (you can’t have Mardi Gras without beads) and the beads had customized medallions – reinforcing the NEWCASTLE brand!


The remainder of the box was filled with string confetti that matched the printed piece & beads. A label was printed using variable data on the outer box wrap.

NEWCASTLE Gaming Center sent the boxes to their VIP’s – and we ran their mailing list through NCOA & made a few corrections. (NCOA is National Change of Address which helps reduce undeliverable mail by automatically updating your list with addresses of customers who have recently moved.) We recommend running all lists through NCOA, but especially if the item you’re mailing costs more to mail (like a box), you don’t want to waste postage on a bad address.

The NEWCASTLE Gaming Center Mardi Gras Tournament Celebration was very successful and they had a GREAT turnout…that’s what we like to hear!

Neenah Greenah

This blog post is brought to you by the color GREEN.

Everyone is always interested in how they can "go green", and here's a cool tool to help.



Those creative folks over at Neenah Paper have an Environmental Calculator that allows users to instantly calculate the environmental savings achieved by using paper made with post consumer fiber as well as the savings from using paper made with 100 percent renewable energy. (It's super cool!)

Symbols for wood, water, energy and waste can be used in creating customized savings reports for annual reports and other print projects. Information on how to use the symbols is included in the Symbols Toolkit, which you can download on their site as well!


You've gotta try it...click RIGHT HERE!


Go green! Oh...and Happy St. Patrick's Day!

New Partnership

We're always excited when we embark on new partnerships with vendors, customers & clients, but this recent partnership is different...exciting, and different, and we're excited to share the news with you.

First, some history...

The Center of Family Love, located in Okarche, Oklahoma, serves as a safe haven and home for over 117 developmentally challenged adults of all ages and abilities. Now in their 30th year, CFL provides a true continuum of care for the challenged adult.

Recently Heritage was set up as a work environment enclave for CFL residents. What does this mean? Well, as an enclave CFL residents come to Heritage to work, and work right alongside Heritage fulfillment employees kitting items and fulfilling certain projects when appropriate. A CFL job coach is assigned to encourage the employees and to ensure that projects and tasks are being completed.

Now for some good ol' fashioned quotes...

David Hardin is Director of Vocational Services at CFL and believes it’s a perfect situation for their folks to work. He said, “It gives them self confidence and makes them excited to come to work each day.”

(This picture was taken when David Hardin & Larry Smith came out to visit the CFL residents working at Heritage.)

Larry Smith, State Use Administrator and Contracting Officer, is pleased with the partnership as well, and said “The CFL residents are happy at Heritage; it brings joy to us knowing that they’re happy and thriving in a safe work environment.”

The enclave partnership between CFL and Heritage is rapidly growing as new projects arrive each week. Curtis Jones, our VP of Sales at Heritage, said “I’m excited to see what opportunities become available for our CFL team, they are capable, meticulous, and are clearly devoted to the work they do! They’re encouraging our employees just as much as we’re encouraging them.”

Ad Club - Heritage Style

Heritage sponsored the monthly OKC Ad Club meeting this past Wednesday. Kent Dean (the guest speaker) is a 22-year veteran of the advertising industry and is also a Licensed Facilitator for True Colors™ . His seminar, Improving Workplace Communication... or Why Do I Have to Work With Freakin' Aliens, was great! We left saying things like, "oh, girl.....you are SO gold!" and "I'm blue, hug me, hug me!" I guess you'd have to be there, to get it. Sorry.

We decided since we were going to be at a True Colors workshop folks should actually get to color! So we had a little coloring contest, winner receives a $100 VISA check card.

We had some great honorable mentions, like...


and...

and...

(I don't think this one was colored with crayons, but we let them enter anyway, just cuz we like them!)

but, there could only be one winner.

The winner is...

Brett Grimes from Third Degree! Great job Brett. I'm so blue I wanna hug you right now!

We also had folks fill out a quick survey online to win another $100 VISA check card, and the lucky winner was Jill Brown with Tierra Media Group! Congrats Jill!

Thanks to all who participated!

Santa voted, did you?

Once Santa heard how cool our Christmas card campaign was he jumped on board and texted in his vote as well!

The results are in...

(drum roll please......)

The Ronald McDonald House received 23% of the votes
Regional Food Bank of OK received 36% of the votes
Infant Crisis Services received 41% of the votes

Each of these fine organizations will receive a portion of our donation based on the percentage of votes they received! (We will be hand delivering checks next week...I'm sure there will be a blog post and pictures in the near future.)

Thank you to everyone who voted...as you can see, your vote counts!