Read Time: 10 Minutes

Like Me, You Might Be Wondering...

I occasionally find myself confused, overwhelmed, and paralyzed by the bombardment of information circulating the internet about employee recognition. Make the mistake of Googling it, and you'll quickly start getting targeted ads about everything from ideas for pens to improve employee engagement to company sponsored trips. So it led me to wonder... how is anyone supposed to know where to start?

Need some help? Download our Employee Recognition Toolbox (below) for ideas & tools to get you started!

Read Time: 7 Minutes

If you're like me, you scour every blog you come across that offers you a list of marketing tools to save you time, headaches, or a way to block your ex-boyfriend's entire existence. Okay... maybe that's just me.

The point is, I'll read anything I can find that could give me some insight into the biggest, baddest , and latest marketing tools to make my job easier because I'm kind of obsessed with efficiency. And here's why...

 Read Time - 4 minutes

…in a galaxy far, far away, there lived a fair prince named Bruce.  Bruce was a fox who lived in a castle with a real moat and everything.  As foxes go, Bruce was the clever variety, not the smarmy and sly type so common to this particular genre of literature.  That sort of stereotype is not what Bruce The Fox is all about.  Like I said, Bruce was a fair prince.  Let’s just leave it at that.

As the CEO of all the land, it was Bruce The Fox’s job to present the annual award to the best storyteller in the kingdom.  And tonight was the big night, as Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were slated to receive this year’s award.  Right after Dan Marino’s keynote address.  It was a big night indeed!

But, alas, Bruce The Fox was flummoxed.  In a way that foxes rarely are.  Having contemplated his bemusement with the word flummox, he turned to his mirror and said, “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, what shall I present at this night’s ball?”   The mirror said nothing.  It’s a mirror, after all, and mirrors don’t talk, even if foxes do.

Read Time - 6 Minutes

You should be thankful.

Yes, for family...for friends…for health…blah, blah, blah.  What I really mean is you should be thankful this blog contains not one but TWO lists!  Lucky you!

Dialing back to when I was creating the schedule for these blog articles, I got to this spot on the calendar, and I was trying to find a way to tie in recognition awards to something related to Thanksgiving.  So I hashed through some obvious symbols.  Pilgrims?  Nah.  The first feast?  Yawn.  Cornucopia?  Hmmm…maybe.  How cranberries were originally known as crane berries?  Pretty obscure—not bad, but not sure what the connection might be.

So, much like the Mayflower Pilgrims, I settled on Plymouth Rock.  Which I’ll get into in a bit.

But FIRST, a bit of self-indulgence!  (It can’t really be self-indulgent if it’s not first.)  Since it was April at the time I came up with that, I can’t really say I had my turkey on.  So I didn’t really embrace the seasonal aspect of Thanksgiving as it pertains to Plymouth Rock.  Instead, I kept circling back to the word “rock”.  Which naturally (at least in my mind) led me to think of songs with the word rock in the title.  Which led me to creating a list of them.  Which will lead to the voice in your head singing these songs for the rest of the day.  Sorry, not sorry!

Hey, let’s go to the beach!

Sure, lemme just grab a few things.  Can’t just go to the beach unprepared.  Let’s see…towels, sunglasses, lotion, something to read, phone (can’t escape entirely), iPod and headphones.  Chairs and umbrella.  Football and paddle game.  Boogie board.  What else?  Cooler!  Beverages, ice…we’ll need to stop off to get some.  Snacks, of course.  Wallet, hat…and a wheel barrow to haul it all out there.

We all have “The Beach List”—essentials that enhance our seaside experience.  But, as a promotional products pro, do you have the same kind of list when it comes to providing awards to your customers?  Are you making the best of the opportunity?  Do you know how you can make the experience better for your client and the award recipients?

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know the answers—your customer probably doesn’t know either.  But here’s a cheat sheet to help you along.  When you share these ideas, you might get a “I didn’t think of that” or two:

Read Time - 5 Minutes

Here’s a picture of our hero, Carl Friedrich Gauss, at the peak of his life, which spanned from 1777 to 1855.  Gauss was a German mathematician, and developed many statistical theories, including the Gaussian principle of normal distribution, a.k.a. The Bell Curve.  So here he is, comfortably camping out under the famous bell shape I rendered with a particularly smelly marker. 

Hurry up and scroll down so we don’t hafta look at this creepy thing anymore!

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There, that should be enough scrolling.

So, what’s up with the troll doll?  Well, I wanted to address the topic of what trends we’re seeing in the world of recognition awards and corporate gifts, and I didn’t want to mistake fads (like the troll doll) for legitimate shifts in what appeals to buyers and recipients of awards and gifts.  There are numerous points along the bandwagon route where passengers can jump on.  And off.  Fads (e.g. Pokemon GO) are short-lived; trends (e.g. “augmented reality”) are far stickier and have greater lasting power.

Identifying valid trends, and distinguishing them from mere fads, is essential to your business.  Ask your supplier partners what’s trending in their world.  In doing so, you’ll discover rare jewels among the pet rocks—valuable solutions and possibilities that endure and set you apart.

Here are some lasting trends we’ve seen developing in the recognition award and corporate gift industry:

Read Time - 5 Minutes

I do a fair amount of the grocery shopping for our household, and I pride myself on my ability to navigate my cart like the pilot of an F/A-18 Hornet.  Sure, there’s some collateral damage from time to time, as there is in any theater of war.  But with my shopping list as my nav chart, I glide through unharmed and unfazed.  Most of the time.

Except one time recently.

I was doing my Top Gun thing in the local Meijer store, and the body count was running high.  I was taking no prisoners.  Until I made the mistake of improvising…and leaving my cart (with the list) behind while I quickly fetched something an aisle or two…or three…away.  My side trip fulfilled, I returned to the cart and resumed my singularly-focused, OCD-fueled sortie through the store, body parts flying and mushroom clouds mushrooming.

I covered a few more aisles, exclusively from memory, before I had to refer to my list.  It was at that moment I realized the cart I was piloting was not mine.  Goodness gracious!

Read Time - 6 Minutes

On this date in 1969, Apollo 11’s lunar module—the Eagle—landed in the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon.  Shortly thereafter, Commander Neil Armstrong stepped off the Eagle’s ladder and became the first man on the moon.

Fast-forwarding ahead 47 years, it strikes me that many elements of the Apollo 11 mission run parallel to how we define effective recognition at our company.  Or maybe I’m just a bit of a space wonk.  Either way, just work with me here.

Effective recognition can take you to the moon if you…

Read Time - 3 Minutes

Hey, let’s go to the beach!

Sure, lemme just grab a few things.  Can’t just go to the beach unprepared.  Let’s see…towels, sunglasses, lotion, something to read, phone (can’t escape entirely), iPod.  Chairs and umbrella. Boogie board.  What else?  Cooler!  Beverages, ice…we’ll need to stop off to get some.  Snacks, of course.  Wallet, hat…and a wheel barrow to haul it all out there.

We all have a “Beach List" of essentials that enhance our seaside experience.  But, as a promotional products pro, do you have the same kind of list when it comes to providing awards to your customers?  Are you making the best of the opportunities in custom awards?  Do you know how you can make the experience better for your client and the award recipients? 

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know the answers—your customer probably doesn’t know either.  But here’s a cheat sheet to help you along.  When you share these ideas, you might get a “I didn’t think of that” or two: