Every business day we give $500 in promotional products to a charitable organization through our one by one® program.  These organizations are out there everyday making the world a better place, and I’m excited to see how they use the products they select.

Victoria from Unity House in Troy, NY sent us some snaps of how they used one of our reusable shopping totes to distribute food to those in need, reminding the recipients that they should reuse the bag should they need to visit the food pantry.

Ideally, organizations like Unity House wouldn’t need to exist, but given that things aren’t always ‘ideal’ I’m sure glad they do!

(p.s. – If you know a charitable organization that could use promotional products to deliver services, raise awareness, raise money or thank volunteers, be sure to tell them to check out one by one®!).

Above: Unity House puts resuable grocery totes to the best possible use.

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.

Word of mouth marketing has been around forever, far before the advent of advertising. The goal is to get people talking about your business and, of course, saying good things.

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Leveling the Playing Field
En-Vision America

For the blind or visually impaired, it’s common to use rubber bands or small, textured objects as prescription medication differentiators.

Or, it was.

Fortunately, those days may be over thanks to Normal, Ill.-based En-Vision America. For more than 12 years, the family-owned company has provided product barcoding services to the blind and visually impaired population.

Its next feat? The prescription drug market.

“After pharmacies place an RFID encoded label on the prescription, a multi-language handheld reader can voice the label information, warnings, side effects and overdose information to its user,” detailed Anna McClure, sales representative for En-Vision America. “The ScripTalk Station reader literally provides ‘help, at the touch of a button!’”

En-Vision America’s talking bar code scanner product database is the largest of its kind, housing more than 2 million unique items. From DVDs, to groceries and hardware tools, the company’s revolutionary service assists more than 20,000 customers in the United States, Canada, England and Australia.

“We’ve grown so much due to the blind community itself. They’re an action group in that, when someone finds something great, they tell other people about it right away. Word of mouth has been huge in delivering success through the years,” said McClure.

Another increasingly important part of the company’s growth lies in the use of promotional products to increase awareness . and, to have fun, of course!

“At one of our national product shows, we ran a game where participants had to use the I.D. Mate OMNI reader to sort through items. If they beat the clock, they received a logo’d T-shirt or water bottle. Everyone had a blast while witnessing the product’s potential at the same time,” said McClure.

En-Vision America keeps customer service at the forefront as well, consistently ensuring its users are comfortable with their product choices. In fact, a group of the company’s employees recently took a detour while en route to a conference to assist a gentleman in using his purchase correctly.

Now that’s going the extra mile to serve the customer.

“Being a family-owned business, we always realize how important it is to serve the needs of family, friends and those close to you,” said McClure. “If that means forming that personal connection or going above and beyond, we’re going to do it.”