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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

You're doing fine Oklahoma...

As you know, the State of Oklahoma is changing! It’s wonderful to see all the changes to the landscape as well as streets, highways, buildings, historic areas…everything! But, did you also know it’s changing virtually too?

We recently started managing the Oklahoma Department of Tourisms website Okie Boutique! Super cute name.

(Click here to see just how cute it is!)

It’s a site for anyone who loves the State of Oklahoma, and how can you not love a state that has wind that comes sweeping through the plains?

There’s tons of cool stuff on the site, but we’re a little partial to the gift boxes! I know you haven’t finished your holiday shopping??

Well here’s your opportunity to customize a gift box with Made in Oklahoma foods and other Oklahoma-inspired gifts. The Oklahoma gift boxes are the perfect gift for teachers, clients, speakers, or anyone else on your list. Once you’ve selected the items you want in your gift basket we package it up all purdy (come on that’s Okie slang for pretty, you know that) and ship it out. So take a minute and go check it out…you know you want to!

I just can’t end this post without saying…

You're doin' fine, Oklahoma! Oklahoma O-K-L - A - H - O - M - A OKLAHOMA! Yeeow!

(You’re going to be humming that all day now – hey, it’s better than Grandma got Run over by a Reindeer!)

Fight Like a Girl!

You already know we love those folks over at INTEGRIS! We’ve been managing their company store for a while now but recently we were contacted about a new program for them. INTEGRIS Women's Health Services wanted to raise breast cancer awareness. They were on a bit of a time crunch, and wanted t-shirts printed to offer to their employees. We got the ball rollin’ and produced these adorable pink shirts…


with the title “Fight Like a Girl”. The shirts were going to be available for 10 days online and no one realized how popular they were going to be! Well 10 days, and 2700 shirts later, we thought “hmmmmm, I guess they liked ‘em!” We did a reorder and in one week another 1200 were sold! Even the guys were ordering them for their wives, it was a successful campaign to say the least!

Heritage is making a donation to the Susan G. Komen foundation on behalf of all INTEGRIS Health Employees.

Great job INTEGRIS – Go pink!

Apple a Day

Recently we decided to try a little direct mail campaign for Heritage! (We wanted to try out some new solutions and track the response rate of the direct mail as well.) At Heritage we have to be able to show our customers, first hand, what's working and what's not when it comes to direct mail. (Studies online show that most campaigns that involve variable data text & imaging can receive more than 19% response rate, as opposed to those using no variable data at only 1% response rate. We had to prove it!)


Our "Sweet Smell of Success" campaign launched a few weeks ago. The piece was designed using variable data text, and looked like an iPad. Once opened, the recipient was asked to "scratch the apple" if they smelled the apple scent they were sent to a website to enter our contest for a iPad give-a-way! Let the scratching begin....

Obviously, we used a green apple scent on the apple, and it smelled great!!! (Made me want some green apple Jolly Ranchers each time I smelled it!) We sent out 489 pieces, and got an overwhelming response rate of 22%! Woo-hoo!

We collected our responses and did a good-ol'-fashioned drawing. This is Tim, he's one of our expert variable data gurus....so we thought he'd be perfect to draw out our winning name. All the names went in....

and our lucky winner was....

Marla Stebens from Pioneer Telephone in Kingfisher, Oklahoma!

She was so fun and so excited she won! (We were excited too!)

We took her some yummy apple treats from Panera Bread!
Oh....and we took her a 3G iPad! (I tried to give her the empty box, but she didn't fall for it!)

Adding personalized creative elements to your direct mail campaigns, such as variable data text & images, scented inks, and scratch-off foils WILL:

• Create immediate emotional engagement with the recipient
• Improve Response Rates & ROI
• Increase campaign recall and brand awareness

SO....are you ready to make your competition green with envy? We can help!

Wellness Rocks and so does INTEGRIS!

I love leaving the house at…

for customer events. Yes, that’s 6:04 AM. (Early, but worth it!)

Recently we attended the Wellness Rocks Tour for INTEGRIS Health. (Forget Wellness Rocks, these PEOPLE rock!! We love them!)

We manage the apparel website for INTEGRIS employees, so attending their yearly benefits fair was a GREAT way to meet INTEGRIS employees and show them all the cool new merchandise on the website.

INTEGRIS does so many amazing things for their employees, their Total Rewards Fair is a chance for the employees to come through and meet with representatives from each company and organization that provides benefits to INTEGRIS employees.

Elvis even stopped by, and got dressed up….

in a sweet new INTEGRIS t-shirt.

He rocked it.

Great Job!

We're always happy when we hear that something we printed for a client
receives awards or recognition, because we know that great designers
pick great printers to make their print pieces greater. (I'm thinking
of using this as one of our tag lines, "Heritage - We make it look
greater!" ...yeah I'm still workin' out the kinks.)

On Saturday, February 20, the Oklahoma pro chapter of the Society of
Professional Journalists held its annual awards banquet in Bricktown.
At the banquet, the Spring 2009 issue of the OCU LAW Magazine was
awarded Third Place in the Best PR Publication category and Second
Place for Best PR Publication Cover.

Assistant Dean for Communications and Marketing Damon Gardenhire,
Senior Communications and New Media Content Specialist Nathan Gunter
and freelance graphic designer Whitney Porch accepted the honors for
their work on the magazine.

For more information about the OCU School of Law click here, and for
more about Whitney Porch you can read all about her right here!

Congratulations Damon, Nathan and Whitney, you did a great job!

Free to Live

We recently printed calendars for Free To Live. Free To Live is a non-profit sanctuary for stray, abandoned and mistreated dogs and cats. It is the largest no-kill sanctuary in Oklahoma. From Free To Live more than 500 animals are adopted out to loving homes each year. At the sanctuary, animals that are not adopted live out their lives with healthy food, shelter and medical care. Euthanasia is not practiced.


Well...the 2010 Pet Calendars are now available!
These calendars were beautifully done (I'm not just saying that because we printed them...well maybe I am. No matter why I'm saying it, they are nice, and you need one!) It has over 200 pages, and has month/week at-a-glance for jotting down things to remember. It's packed full of cute, funny and absolutely precious photos as well as poems, stories and helpful information.

Don't you need one???

I mean who can resist a sweet puppy dog face....



Calendars are only $15, and proceeds go to Free to Live! (Let us know if you want one!)

We're not begging...really we're not. (Insert whimpering sounds.)

I’ll be HOME for Christmas!

We are currently working on several print projects for our friends at Home Creations. They’ve been building new homes in Oklahoma since 1981.

They build ENERGY STAR qualified new homes with tornado safety features, AND they even pay closing costs. Wow! Dear Santa (aka Husband), All I want for Christmas is a Home Creations home, preferably the Wilshire floor plan, with black granite counter-tops, and a Jacuzzi tub. That’s all.



You can only imagine the joy and celebration that took place at the Home Creations office when President Obama signed the Home Buyer Tax Credit extension! The extension continues the $8,000 tax credit for first-time buyers and those who haven’t owned a home in three years, and it offers a tax credit of $6,500 for existing home owners who purchase a new home. The home purchased must be used as a primary residence. Buyers must be under contract by April 30, 2010, and close no later than June 30, 2010. (There's more details, just click HERE to check it out!)

So, are you tired of renting? (Oh boy, I get to use my infomercial voice…) Stop renting. Act now! Call Home Creations today at 877.277.7121 and find out how you can own a brand new home and get an amazing tax credit as well! BUT THAT’S NOT ALL! If you call now, and sign a contract with Home Creations they’ll send you a Snuggie...

.....hmmm, I probably should have asked Home Creations about that first…I was just on a roll with my infomercial voice, and I couldn’t stop myself! Okay, here’s a deal for you…if you sign a contract with Home Creations based on reading this blog post, I’ll buy you a Snuggie! I think I should quit using my infomercial voice.

Just think...if you sign a contract with Home Creations you could be celebrating Christmas next year in a brand new, energy efficient home! Did you HEAR THAT SANTA? By NEXT Christmas! (I doubt my subliminal messages are working on Santa.)

I’m Dreaming of a Green & Yellow Christmas!

We’re not obsessed with John Deere around here….well, a few of us might be. (Remember this?)

Our friends at Western Equipment own stores in Clinton, Weatherford, Hobart, Alva, Altus, Woodward, Childress and Amarillo, and they sell a lot of tractors, combines, mowers, and sprayers! But did you know that they also sell t-shirts, sweatshirts, artwork, gun safes, and dog collars? Yep, they do!

Their 9^th store is online! They created greentractor.com, which features John Deere merchandise, and they have ANYTHING you could ever want with a yellow deer on it! Backpacks, money clips, poker chips, pet supplies, grill covers, coat racks, golf balls, license plates, and even remote control gators! (Yeah...I'm not gonna show this one to my husband because if he sees it, he will own one before sundown!)

It’s not too late to get some Christmas shopping done! If you need a fun gift check out greentractor.com! OR, if you really want to make someone happy stop by Western Equipment and buy one of these bad boys! (That's a real one, NOT a toy!)

While you start shopping, I’m going to keep coming up with more catchy John Deere Christmas tunes…

Here comes Santa Clause, Here Comes Clause… ridin’ his new John Deere

All I Want for Christmas is Two John Deere’s

I saw Daddy kissing his new John Deere

Grandpa got run over by a John Deere

I’ve been informed I should keep my day job!! Oh….wait, what? Ohhh! I misunderstood. They said….”Stop coming up with song titles if I want to KEEP MY JOB!”