Hey, there’s a coffee cup in the mail box.

We do a lot of printing at Heritage, but you already knew that. We print all sorts of things that are plain-Jane, ordinary, different, fun, unique, wild, complicated, and amazing. The pieces we printed for Cubic, a Tulsa-based creative agency, and their customer Cox Business were unique, complicated, and amazing all rolled into one!

The goal of the project was to get new customers for Cox Business.

This is the approach Heritage & Cubic came up with:

#1. Send an introduction. Did you know that you can actually mail a handshake? Well, you can. A printed piece was created with a matching envelope – the card represented the Cox Business Sales person actually introducing themselves to the potential customer-to-be. The 3D mailer was an actual hand that came right out of the card when it was opened. (Remember…unique, complicated, amazing!) Talk about attention getting.

#2. If the “hi, how are ya” handshake didn’t get their attention, there was more to come. Two weeks after the handshake mailer went out, the second round was sent. For those folks that didn’t respond to the handshake, they received a coffee cup. Did you read that? They received a coffee cup. Not a plastic or glass coffee cup all wrapped up in a box – but an actual paper coffee cup that was shrink-wrapped and mailed. It took our account manager and the team several “tries” to make sure they got it right.

They had to make sure the coffee cup would mail correctly, and not crush when mailed. They tried spraying spray foam inside the cup, they tried filling it with paper, and bubble wrap – and after each sample they would mail it to themselves to test it. How did it look after mailing?? Did it stay looking like a cup, or did it look like a truck drove over it??

They finally found the perfect thing to hold the cup solid so it wouldn’t crush in the mail – it worked! Yay! (Oh, you wanted me to tell you what they used? Yeah, I can’t do that. It’s a secret recipe now.)

Inside the cup was a packet of coffee and another call to action – a request to meet with the Cox Business sales rep. If they would schedule a meeting with the sales rep, they would also receive a $25 Starbucks gift card. This entire project was printed digitally, and used variable data imaging (meaning each piece was personalized to the recipient with great detail.)

When you’re coming up with ideas to “get noticed” do things that GET NOTICED!

We can shrink-wrap and mail all sorts of things – and we’d love to brainstorm with you about different things you and your company could mail to get noticed!

Mix Masters

Recently we helped our friends over at Dr Pepper design a totally cool t-shirt for their client SONIC. These aren’t just your run-of-the-mill t-shirts. These are color changing shirts, that actually change color when they’re in the sun! Pretty cool, right? We thought so. The lemon & the lime on the front of the shirt look just like the rest of the shirt, until they are exposed to sunlight and they turn green and yellow. Awesomeness.

The designers that worked on this project did an amazing job on the creativity…I mean come’on, a boom box with lemon and lime speakers and the slogan “Mix Master” – it’s genius. Get it? It’s for SONIC…where you can order a cherry-orange-blueberry-coconut-diet-Dr Pepper-with-a-splash-of-lime. Definitely Mix Masters. (Makes me curious what the oddest combinations they’ve ever been asked are!??! Hmmmm.)

So the next time you need a t-shirt designed and the group says “we want something different” talk to Heritage about a color changing t-shirt! And...the next time you need an ice cold Dr Pepper run over to the nearest SONIC and create your own specialty!

VOTE for a Cure!

A while ago we blogged about the Breast Cancer Awareness shirts we did for INTEGRIS. Well those shirts have literally gone viral!!! (Not sure that’s the best analogy when talking about a hospital and I’m also not sure it’s 100% true!) WHAT IS TRUE is that INTEGRIS entered a video into the 2012 Pink Glove Dance contest sponsored by Medline, and they need our VOTES!

This all started in 2011 when a 30 year veteran INTEGRIS employee, Monica Rostykus, approached her employer about entering the Pink Glove Contest. She was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer on April 7, 2008 and was re-diagnosed four more times. Throughout her journey, she went through 14 surgeries and countless rounds of chemotherapy and radiation treatments. Despite her challenges, Monica made it her mission to raise breast cancer awareness. Through bake sales and other efforts, Monica became the #1 fundraiser at INTEGRIS, and the #2 individual fundraiser for all of Oklahoma City for Susan G. Komen. She also took part in the INTEGRIS YOU-&-I campaign, promoting her passion to fight cancer.

Monica approached the marketing department in 2011 to put together a Pink Glove video, but due to time constraints, INTEGRIS was unable to meet the deadline. The marketing department promised to put it on the calendar for 2012. Many hours were put into creating the video by numerous people from videographers to dance coordinators. Monica was at the heart of it all, appearing in the video in the OR at Baptist.

In August, just a few days after filming her part in the video, Monica began experiencing increased pain and shortness of breath. By September, Hospice had been called in to help manage her pain. When the pain could not be controlled at home, she was moved to the INTEGRIS Hospice House where she was constantly surrounded by both her personal family as well as her INTEGRIS family. During her stay, she watched the Pink Glove video and even did the dance motions while lying in her bed. On Sept. 27, Monica’s battle finally came to an end. Monica’s unyielding faith and indomitable spirit were an inspiration to everyone who knew her.

INTEGRIS kept their promise to Monica, and have dedicated this year’s video to her!!

Here’s what you can do to help….

#1 VOTE
Vote for their video! Voting has started and runs through Friday,November 2nd. To vote, visit pinkglovedance.com or go to integrisok.com and click on the Pink Glove Dance banner and search for the INTEGRIS video. Voting will be conducted using a contest application integrated with Facebook. Users must have a Facebook account and be logged into that account in order to vote.

The top three videos receiving the most votes will have $10,000, $5,000 and $2,000 donated to a charity of their choice. INTEGRIS has selected Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Central and Western Oklahoma Affiliate as the recipient if they are in the top three. (Last year’s winner had 65,000 votes! So start voting people!!)


#2. WATCH THE VIDEO

When you vote, watch the INTEGRIS video! It’s very well done, they did an awesome job. You’ll be glad you did. See how many times you can find the shirt we helped them with! : )

#3 STAY AWARE!
• Each year, approximately 200,000 women and 1,700 men are diagnosed with breast cancer
• More than 40,000 women and 450 men die from the disease annually
• After skin cancer, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer among women in the U.S.
• Approximately 1 in 8 women will have invasive breast cancer some time during her life
• The likelihood of dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 35
• Nearly 90% of women diagnosed with breast cancer will survive the disease at least 5 years
• There are about 2.5 million breast cancer survivors

• Starting at age 40, women should undergo annual mammogram screenings

• To schedule a mammogram at an INTEGRIS facility, call 855-MY-MAMMO (855-696-2666).

Thank you for supporting this amazing company for an amazing cause! GO VOTE!!!

Unique Gifts...Unique Websites

At Heritage we get the privilege to work with some amazing companies & organizations.  Over the past year we’ve maintained the Majirani Market website for World Neighbors.  (Yes, you probably have heard a lot about World Neighbors over the past few weeks on the news due to their yearly fundraising gala “A Journey Around the World” and WorldFest.) 

The Majirani Market, is a fair trade store featuring unique gifts, home décor and international food and coffee. Majirani means “neighbor” in Swahili.  (Love the creativity of their website name!)

I know you’ll want to click on the Majirani Market website to see all the amazing items – so go ahead, you can.  The items sold on the site are one of a kind, but what makes the items awesome is knowing where the items come from, and knowing your purchase is supporting something greater.   World Neighbors focuses on training and educating communities to find lasting solutions to the challenges they face – hunger, poverty and disease – rather than giving them food, money or constructing buildings.  World Neighbors invests in local leadership and organizations that continue and expand program activities after they end their support. The average time World Neighbors stays in a community is eight to 10 years. The goal is to achieve long-lasting improvements in people’s lives and the community, not quick fixes that depend on outside assistance.

Currently, around 500,000 people benefit from World Neighbors program work in 11 countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Each website we create at Heritage is unique and offers different functions and capabilities that fit the customers' needs! Speaking of unique....next time you’re looking for a unique gift idea check out the Majirani Market and see what they have to offer.

Love is in the Air

As part of our partnership with Integris, we have the amazing opportunity to work on special projects for them throughout the year.   For the third year in a row we’ve had the pleasure of working with the employees at Integris Comprehensive Breast Care Center to help design, promote and sell shirts for breast cancer awareness.  A donation from each shirt sold is made to the Susan G. Komen Foundation. 

Each year the program has gained popularity, and this year was tremendous!  The shirts were pre-sold to Integris employees via the iWear website that Heritage manages on behalf of the hospital.  Sales increased by over 40% this year and nearly 2,500 shirts were sold which proves they sure do LOVE these shirts (and LOVE helping a good cause!)!

Heritage worked alongside the Breast Care Center staff and set up an employee distribution area at their two larger locations.  Several hundred additional shirts were sold during the two distributions.  We would have taken pictures of the crowds of people lining up to buy the extra shirts but we were too busy!  Additional shirts will be sold at the Integris Breast Care Centers and will be available to the public.  To say the shirts were a hit, would be an understatement!  They love, love, love these shirts - and we love, love, love Integris!

Thunder Up!

Can you tell we were a bit excited for the "big games" starting tonight??  

Oklahoma is a rally state, we rally around our fellow Oklahomans in good times, and in bad times and that's why the Thunder is such a great team for OKLAHOMA!  They support each other, they always talk of teamwork, and they rally and fight for the win!  What an awesome time for them and our city. 

Greg and Julie added orange to their wardrobes this morning!  Julie has a great idea with the orange glasses....why didn't Westbrook pick orange ones too?

Greg turned a Pantone swatch into a "Thunder badge of honor" or something like that. It works!! Now his beard...that's another story.  I do fear it, and I fear the thought of him ever wearing it again.  ; )  Just kidding, Greg - way to show your team spirit!

 Heritage - proud fans of Oklahoma and the Thunder!  GO THUNDER!

2012 Heritage Golf Tournament

Aaron Sparks has been a loyal Heritage employee for 8 years, his positive attitude and smile light up a room. Aaron brings that joy to work even through hard times – his wife, of 18 years, Terry was diagnosed with Lupus in 2003 and her condition has continued to worsen over the years. Terry has other diseases including Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension, Congestive Heart Failure, as well as Fibromyalgia and Neuropathy. Their medical expenses continue to rise, as many of her medications aren’t covered under insurance, and some treatments are considered experimental so the medications can run up to $3000 per month.





At Heritage, Aaron & Terry are part of our “Heritage family” and we knew this year, our golf tournament needed to benefit them. Proceeds from our 2012 tournament will help cover monthly medications and other medical expenses for the Sparks family.

Here are the tournament details:

Friday, May 18th – Crimson Creek Golf Course, El Reno
Shotgun Start 11:00 AM

$60 Per Player Includes BBQ Cook-Out Awards Dinner Following Tournament
Mulligan’s can be purchased for $5 each, limit 4 per player.


$100 "PAR" – Hole Sponsor Includes: Company Name & Logo Prominently Displayed on Signage at a Hole



$500 "BIRDIE" - Company Sponsor Includes: One Foursome, Awards BBQ Dinner Cook-Out following

If you'd like to play, donate, or get more information please call KJ at 422.2655!

We Roll On...

Mid 2011, we decided that we should look at a new brand message for Heritage. People knew us as Heritage Press and even though that was what our “heritage” was built on our solutions & capabilities had outgrown the name. Plus, us saying “we’re more than just a printer” was getting old. So we began the process, which started with finding someone to hold our hand – and help lead the way.

We picked these girls, and they are amazing. Really amazing.

They interviewed management. They interviewed employees. They interviewed the sales team. They interviewed management again. It was a lot of details and digging – but they helped make it fun all along the way!

So fast-forward to February 29, 2012 – Roll out day! Even though we wanted our message to be clear to our clients and clients-to-be, we needed our message to be clear inside the walls of Heritage! We believed it – we needed our employees to believe it!





Our launch included a breakfast for our employees where management talked about our 38 year history and the reasons why (as a company) we decided to move ahead in this very well defined direction. Then the gals at Braid Creative talked about the vision behind our new message.




It was a great day. It sparked interest, excitement, and we were ready as a team to go out and conquer the world as an Integrated Resource! (That might be a little strong, but we were excited.)





So here we are – Heritage, The Integrated Resource. We are the integrated resource for companies who are looking to promote strategically, print resourcefully and distribute smoothly.





So now go to our website, right here – and watch our video! Then enter our contest to win a Kindle Fire. (See it WAS worth your time reading this!)

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!