If your organization promotes to anyone that is likely to use prescription medication, this is a handy giveaway to consider. Great imprint area, and very, very handy!

And handy promotional products are very, very effective.

I love this picture.

Got a note from Shauna (one of our customers) who was looking for a way for her daughter’s soccer team to support a teammate named Riley who is battling cancer. Riley’s folks had already started ‘Riley’s Army‘ – an organization to help other families with cancer (which is amazing if you think about it!) – and the girls wanted something they could wear as part of their soccer uniform to honor their friend (and others who are fighting the fight) and so an idea was born.

These embroidered wristbands fit the bill perfectly. Love the way this photo gets all the hands together – a real feeling of solidarity.

Good stuff indeed.

It’s Customer Service Week and each year we schedule some fun things around the office to celebrate the work that our team does to serve our customers. The theme this year is around being service ‘heroes’ so we went with a superhero theme.

But as always, our incredible Facilities Crew was not satisfied with just posters or decorations (although we have some good ones!) – I offer the picture below as evidence (this is how you were greeted today if you work at 4imprint)! These guys work very, very hard to help us make 4imprint a special place to work and they’re always up for having some fun along the way to celebrate accomplishments, recognize holidays or just bring a smile.

Well done guys! Definitely brought some smiles today – and reminded me I need to work on my abs.

Love this snapshot.  Greg, our VP of Sales & Marketing, was relaxing in the wonderful northern Wisconsin city of Minocqua and spotted one of our Blue Boxes(tm) being repurposed as a raffle ticket container at a community event.

If you’re a 4imprint customer you’ll know what our Blue Boxes are all about – but it’s cool to see them have a life past delivering ideas and samples!

Business gift giving season is fast approaching, and as usual we’ve got a great range of products (and our annual Business Gifts catalog) that allow you to find the perfect way to say ‘thanks’ to important customers, donors, volunteers, suppliers or other ‘VIP’s’.

If you’re looking for unique gift that you can really feel good about giving, we’re excited to be offering a couple of products produced by Women Helping Other Women (WHOW).  WHOW is a non-profit organization that helps women who find themselves in difficult situations. They offer training, education and employment to women who have had to seek refuge in a domestic violence center or other shelter. The founder and board members work without compensation and the proceeds from the work they do go to scholarships.

WHOW uses original recipes, bakery skills and  kitchen creativity to create more than just award-winning (and super-delicious) products – they create self esteem, emotional and physical health and opportunities for women looking to start a new life.

WHOW’s specialty is fruitcake – and not the ‘I’m-not-sure-what’s-in-this-thing-called-fruitcake’ stuff you see around the holidays.  Their cakes are one-of-a-kind, all-natural, tasty goodness. We’re offering a couple of different versions – one is a 1lb Cake and Coffee combo in a gold box with your logo , and the other is a ‘triple pack’  of three different 1lb cakes in tin with your logo.

So, if you’re considering a ‘gourmet gift’, I hope you’ll consider a WHOW product.  In a way, you’d be giving two gifts at once!

Recently, the American Red Cross ran a campaign called ‘Heroes’ to raise funds and awareness to support the vital work they do to help those in times of need. We helped the Northeast Wisconsin region with imprinted ceramic piggy banks used to recognize ‘Heroes’ who have contributed  to helping ‘make it happen’.

Steve and Barbara from the chapter stopped by to give us a beautiful framed version of an ad that featured a picture of our little piggy! Guenevere from our research team really drove the process and she’s the one holding the bank.

I know this is a simple, value-priced product, but for those of us who love to read – especially business materials –  it’s a great item.  Also handy for spending quality time with contracts or other legal or detailed material.  Who doesn’t love that?

We’ve been a supporter of Kayak for a Cure from early days. It’s so exicting to see the event grow and now develop into a multi-site, multi-country mission to raise money for cancer research.  The ‘flagship’ Vancouver event was held yesterday and it was a huge success with more than $35k raised.

Now, the event is getting press – watch the video here.

In addition to the start of the football season, another sure sign that fall is around the corner was waiting outside my office this morning – our 2010 Exclusive Wildlife Calendar – and it looks great!

The calendar features photos taken by our own John Van Den Brandt, who is one of our National Account Executives, a very talented wildlife photographer. Each year he brings in the ‘best of the best’ photos he’s taken and several of us debate which photos should make it in – this year’s batch is outstanding.  Each month there is a different photo and a quick story written by John telling you about the shot (that’s one of my favorite parts as it really gives you the ‘back story’ on each photo).

Calendars make great promotional giveaways. They’re useful, and as such appreciated,  and they keep your message and logo up for all to see throughout the year. And a calendar with outstanding photography and paper quality is more like a ‘retail piece’  - so it has high ‘perceived value’ and will get a good spot on a nearby wall! This calendar has the added benefit of only being available in a limited quantity, so you’ll be giving something that people won’t see everywhere.

I’ve put a couple of the photos from the calendar below to wet your whistle. You can see them all here.

I have said to anyone who will listen – I work with the best people.  They are the reason behind any success we’ve enjoyed.  They’re thoughtful, creative, courteous and come in every day wanting to do the best they can and treat others as they would like to be treated.

So I should not have been surprised, but definitely was, when a large gathering of associates (like 200+!) formed outside my cube today – all to wish me a happy birthday and offer congratulations (and have a good laugh about…) my recent inclusion on a ‘hot list’ in our industry (I know, my name and ‘hot’ in the same sentence…makes me laugh too!).

There was cake, ice cream, some gag gifts, but best of all a real barbershop quartet to seranade everyone. The fact that one of the voices in the quartet  is our own Orien (or Big O) from our web development team made it all the better. The guys hit it out of the park!

If you work with us, these are the folks who are here to support you – and as you can see you, and I, are in good hands.