AirPods Trend

Since their release in late 2016, Apple’s AirPods have been flying off the shelves – and landing here at Fusion of Ideas, where we’ve been customizing unprecedented numbers of the wireless earbuds for our clients. We expect AirPods to be the most customized device during the upcoming holiday gifting season for the second year in a row – it’s an excellent portable piece of technology at an affordable price point for many of our clients. Customization options include the earbuds themselves, the charging case, and custom sleeves and gift wrap to tie everything together. Here’s an example of a recent custom AirPods project we did for a client that nicely showcases all of our available services.

The Rock Gives Back

We got so excited that we posted on social media, but forgot to include the news right here on the blog.  Dwayne Johnson, also known as The Rock, gifted custom Skyscraper edition Xbox’s to a group of amputees. He’s seriously a huge role model.  We wanted to share a clip of the video of him giving them away, as well as some of the really cool product shots we got of the project before it left our doors.  We love working on projects that are used to do good in the world.

Neiman Marcus: The Ultimate, Interactive, Client Gifts

By Jennifer Fujimori

To many people, Neiman Marcus and other department stores might warrant the occasional stop when wandering the mall or looking for something in particular. But for an elite circle of customers dubbed the “Chairman’s Circle,” shopping at Neiman Marcus is part of a lifestyle – and one that comes with perks. Members of the Chairman’s Circle (the highest loyalty level under the InCircle Neiman Marcus reward program) must reach a designated annual spend using a private label credit card. Once they’ve met those requirements, customers unlock a treasure trove of exclusive benefits, including in-store dining, salon services, access to tickets for in-demand events, hard-to-get restaurant reservations, and premier getaways.

It was the last item on that list that Neiman Marcus sought to optimize with Fusion’s help. Working with the team at Neiman Marcus, our app developers created a completely custom mobile app for Chairman’s Circle members. When a user opens the application on an iPad (customized of course!), a message is displayed describing the purpose of the app, which is to detail the amenities available at Chairman’s Circle level. The app then shifts its focus to one particularly notable amenity: a complimentary trip to one of eight destinations around the world. Using the navigation at the bottom of the screen, users can tap an icon labeled “Itineraries.” This leads to a selection of clickable photographs with destination names, which users can click to view the details of the excursion and corresponding hotel.

To present this as a gift from Neiman Marcus to Chairman’s Circle members, we created a fully customized package including an iPad wrapped in matte silver Stealth Armor, a sleeve to house the iPad box, and a high-quality box with magnetic closure encasing the entire bundle. It’s the best kind of gift: one that contains another gift inside.

We have worked with high-end retail clients before and we dove into this project headfirst, gathering information from the client until we felt confident enough to build the app they were looking for. “Neiman Marcus knew they wanted to gift their Chairman’s Circle members with a free trip, but they were looking for a truly memorable way to package that information,” said Hollie Go, App Development Project Manager. “Instead of sending a letter or an email, this app is an interactive way for recipients to see full color photos and details about each destination.” With Fusion’s custom branding, packaging, and mobile app services, Neiman Marcus found the level of prestige they were looking for in a gift for their most valued customers.

In The News: Lil Yachty Opening Custom Xbox and Controller

We love seeing people react when they’re opening a gift customized by Fusion. Today, the recipient happened to be @lilyachty. Check out this video of rapper Yachty showing off his brand new custom Xbox and controller.  

 Repost 7/11/18 video credit: @lilyachty on Instagram.

A few more photos we took at our Fusion headquarters before the project went out. Photos by Fusion of Ideas

 

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Picture Start: Making Your Mark as a New Business in an Elite Industry

By Jennifer Fujimori

Throughout our many years of customization experience, Fusion of Ideas has worked with clients in almost every industry – healthcare, education, food service, construction, entertainment, fashion – the list goes on. We relish the chance to impress our clients by customizing devices or mobile apps for their employees or customers. But for many of our movie-obsessed team members, it’s hard to deny that it’s especially thrilling when we get the chance to work with clients who are in the entertainment business.

PICTURESTART is a production company who set out to find a customized tech gift for 200 top clients and company executives. Our design and business teams went to work, collaborating with the PICTURESTART decision makers to create a sleek logo print for Apple AirPods. The PICTURESTART logo is printed on the charging cases for the AirPods, the stems of the AirPods are printed with a clean blue stripe, and to round out the project, we did a custom sleeve to fit over the AirPod box. PICTURESTART is focused on youth-oriented movies and shows, so the colorfully printed AirPods were the perfect way for the new company to announce itself as a fresh and innovative presence in the film industry.

The gifts you give your clients and the technology used by your employees offer unique opportunities for you to make a statement about your brand and the way you do business. By partnering with Fusion of Ideas, PICTURESTART created an impactful brand experience that recipients will recall every time they pull out their AirPods. “We’re finding that the AirPods have become a highly preferred gift in the year and a half since they were released,” said Russ Taylor, CEO at Fusion of Ideas. “They’re compact, useful, and can be customized in several areas. Plus, they have the appeal of being a relatively new Apple product, at a price point lower than an iPad or Apple Watch.”

Whatever your tech and design preferences may be, we can help you come up with an unforgettable gift. And if you’re on the fence, check out some of the finished projects on our website and Instagram account. We’d love to create your custom gift next!SaveSave

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