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Milwaukee Brewers

By Jennifer Fujimori

The Milwaukee Brewers and their fans have a lot to be proud of. The team is currently just one game back from taking the lead in the NL Central division. Their closing pitcher Corey Knebel has recorded 14 saves this season. Legendary hitter Hank Aaron called Milwaukee home for his entire MLB career, and now serves as the senior vice president of the team. And perhaps what speaks the most to the integrity of this team is their commitment to giving back to their community.

The Brewers Community Relations program works actively with players and their families, coaches, and personnel to find and participate in events supporting various causes. Highlights include speaking engagements, youth baseball clinics, fundraising through events like bike rides and 5K runs, and a fan fest from which the proceeds are donated to Brewers Community Foundation youth recreation and education programs.

To recognize these achievements in community outreach, the Brewers organization presents each participating player with an annual gift. This year, the gift of choice was the sleek and lightweight Beats Pill+ speaker, which is a device Fusion of Ideas has customized for several past projects. When the Brewers club approached Fusion, their goal was to elevate the gift even further. They wanted the gift to be both a superior piece of technology and a token of personal appreciation from the team. With the help of mockup designs from our creative team, the client decided on a custom laser etched Brewers logo, which is a letter “M” with a sprig of barley underneath to represent Milwaukee’s brewery tradition.

The resulting final product sent a heartfelt message to the players that their team places a high value on philanthropy and giving back to the Milwaukee community. We couldn’t think of a better way to say thanks.

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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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HomePod Gets A Make Over

We’re predicting that the Apple HomePod might be at the top of many gift lists for the holiday season later this year.  The HomePod already gets major cool points as a gift, but when you add laser engraving, custom printing, custom packaging, and custom gift wrap, you take it to a whole new level.  Our Business Development Team made a very cool video to show how you can customize a HomePod. Check it out!

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Xilinx AirPod Project

It was almost exactly a year ago that the Xilinx project went down in Fusion of Ideas history.  The new Apple AirPods had just been announced, and everyone was anxiously waiting for them to hit the market.  A few months had gone by since Apple’s announcement, and the public wanted to know when the AirPods would be arriving in stores.  Small batches of AirPods were released to stores, but were immediately sold out. Fusion was told that it would be awhile before businesses would have the opportunity to purchase them in large quantities, because production was just not fast enough to keep up with the demand.  Then Xilinx reached out to Fusion after being referred by Apple. They had 800 AirPods (a big deal, since stores hadn’t even received this many yet) and they wanted to find out more about our customization services.

Xilinx was planning to give AirPods to each of their employees as a special gift from their executive team.  They wanted to customize the AirPods’ white custom casing with the Xilinx logo. They also wanted to send the AirPods to employees in unique customized packaging to show their thanks and appreciation.  Fusion was their one-stop-shop for getting both of those things done in record time. The custom packaging included signatures of all of the executive team as part of the design, meant to show their appreciation.  

“Xilinx was looking for something cool to give their employees,” said Theresa Brown, Senior Business Manager at Fusion of Ideas. “Gifting the Airpods alone would have been nice, but the real wow factor came from outfitting the AirPods with logos and customized packaging including their executive team signatures. It took the gift to a whole new level.”

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What We Think of The New HomePod

Since the release of the new Apple HomePod our Fusion of Ideas tech expert and Business Development Manager, Jacob Sarabia, has been busy testing and utilizing the device since the moment we got it. Here is what he’s saying about it:  

What do you like and dislike about  the design?

Apple has done it again: blending art and technology to create the new HomePod. I personally appreciate the attention to detail on how seamless the fabric mesh covers the internal components. Every detail down to the power cable, which is carefully woven together, showcases the quality of Apple products. Additionally, there are no physical buttons that might distract you from the overall design. Apple accomplished this by placing a touch screen display at the top of the speaker. I had a hard time trying to find things I did not like about the HomePod design. When comparing it to the other speakers on the market, I still chose the HomePod.

We hear that you have to keep the cable installed into the HomePod. Have you found this to be a problem?

Initially, I did question Apple’s decision to make the power cable non-removable when comparing it to other speakers on the market. Technically speaking, it can be removed with some force, which I do not recommend trying (this leads me to believe it’s reserved for servicing the device).  If the HomePod is being used the way Apple intended it to be used, then there really is no reason for the cabled to be removed, so overall, this has not been an issue for me.

What’s the audio quality like? How does the HomePod compare to similar smart speakers?

Music has always been in Apple’s DNA, and they certainly proved this with the HomePod. They have upset the marketplace by offering an unparalleled audio listening experience that is like no other competing smart speaker. The audio notes are rich and clear with little to no distortion, even at a 100% volume level. Most of the other speakers on the market focus on AI technology first and speaker quality second.

Is it easy to use Siri on HomePod? Have you encountered any issues?

Siri is just as easy to use on the HomePod as on my current iOS devices. Of course, there are some limitations, but knowing that Siri is available practically everywhere in my home/office is great. One of the down sides to utilizing Siri on the HomePod is that it can’t distinguish my voice from someone else’s. If I allow full access through the initial set up process, anyone can ask Siri to read back my text messages, notifications, and so on. Also, I can’t set up multiple timers, which would be useful while listening to music and cooking. I really see the HomePod being used primarily for music and home automation tasks.

How would the HomePod be used in a business?

For now, the HomePod would be perfect inside of a conference room for taking calls – you can’t beat the amazing sound quality it provides. As Siri progresses, I can imagine a day when developers can integrate Siri into their web/mobile applications to run tasks or provide real-time information by simply asking a question. The HomePod would be the perfect gift for someone who is looking for not just a “smart speaker,” but also better sound quality at a reasonable price point. And it could be a great gift for employees or clients.

Are the HomePods customizable? What areas can be customized?

You know us – at Fusion of Ideas, we always push the limits to provide the best customized out-of-box experience. Every new product release poses new challenges for our team. Different shapes, sizes, and raw materials can all affect our capabilities. The services we currently offer for the HomePod include: custom packaging, laser etching, and our customizable film, Stealth Armor. Stay tuned for more exciting HomePod capabilities as we continue to go through the research and development process.