As you may already know, FUSION OF IDEAS is deeply passionate about helping businesses mobilize and scale. We believe in creating high-impact brand experiences through the power of customization.
This holiday season, we helped businesses in all industries create impactful corporate gifting programs. And as we look ahead to the new year and a new decade, we are focused on accelerating our momentum in customization.
FUSION OF IDEAS will be on the road at two marquee industry events in January:
As attendees at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas on January 6-10
As exhibitors, booth #647, at PPAI Expo (Promotional Products Association International) at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas on January 12-16
We look forward to sharing new and exciting ways to re-define customization for our customers. If you will be attending either show in January, we’d love to meet and discuss your plans for 2020.
Merry Christmas on behalf of the entire FUSION OF IDEAS team,
For more than a decade, we have committed to helping our clients create powerful brand experiences to mobilize and grow their businesses. We do this through our laser etch, full-color direct print and StealthArmor branding solutions, as well as custom device packaging.
Additionally, we are proud to hold the ‘Product Safety Aware’ status in PPAI’s Product Safety Awareness Program. This means we have met or exceeded the PPAI product safety training and education requirements.
Maintaining this status is an ongoing effort we are committed to. We are dedicated to continuing education on all matters related to product safety and compliance in an effort to increase the value in the service that we deliver.
Founded in 1903, PPAI has a long history of leadership in the development of training and education programs meant to enhance safety programs in the promotional products industry. The Association is the world’s largest and oldest not-for-profit trade association for the $18.5 billion promotional products industry and is the leading provider of promotional products safety and compliance training and education with more than 50-years of professional development and certification.
For more than 25 years, Kidd’s Kids has taken children with life-threatening and life-altering conditions and their families on an all-expense-paid trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
For the ninth consecutive year, FUSION OF IDEAS has gratefully donated our app development and customization services to this amazing cause. Together with Best Buy and Microsoft, we provided and personally handed out customized Microsoft Surface laptops to each Kidd’s Kids family. Each laptop was personalized with trip information preloaded in the devices.
The gift of technology is an impactful one for the families. The children use these devices for schoolwork as well as entertainment when they are in the hospital, and for some, who are nonverbal, technology devices are valuable communication tools.
Kidd Kraddick founded Kidd’s Kids in 1991 with a dream to make a difference in the lives of children and their families who were dealing with life-altering conditions. The Irving, Texas-based organization has sent over 4,000 children and their families on a trip of a lifetime to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
More than 80 aspiring young scholars, scientists, entrepreneurs and public servants recently gathered in New York City to meet with some of the world’s most outstanding leaders in the arts, sciences, business and public service.
The highlight of the programwas the Banquet of the Golden Plate where 34 guests of honor were inducted into the Academy and presented with the Golden Plate Award.
Some of this year’s guests of honor included: Two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Leymah Gbowee and Nadia Murad; American blues guitarist and singer, Buddy Guy; Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court Brett M. Kavanaugh; The Who’s Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey; musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber; and designer Thomas Heatherwick.
Attendees at the event used iPads that contained preloaded content, including an app that directs the guest to the event’s agenda, as well as iBooks and podcastscreated by the Academy. Each tablet was protected by a smart cover printed with a custom design artwork for the event. All of these services, including the kitting of the iPad packages, were serviced by FUSION OF IDEAS.
“We plan all year for our International Achievement Summit and it’s important that we create the best experience for our guests,” said Ethel Terrado-Lowe, Academy of Achievement Director of New Media and Design. “The FUSION OF IDEAS team understood our mission and were not just order takers, they were partners with us in creating a complete brand experience for our program guests. The team was timely, responsive and knowledgeable, which made working with them a seamless experience.”
The American Academy of Achievement is a nonprofit organization that brings together the most accomplished people from diverse fields around the world to encourage and inspire the next generation. The organization was founded by Brian Blaine Reynolds, a photographer known for his contributions to Life magazine and Sports Illustrated, in order to bring aspiring young people together with preeminent achievers, who excel in their chosen professions.
A well-considered corporate gifting program can help celebrate employees for a job well done, establish and enhance your customer and vendor relationships, and promote activities that benefit the overall business.
When choosing the perfect gift for your corporate gifting program this year, we put together our top three things to start thinking about before the flurry of activities hits the holiday season:
High-End or Budget?
Even if you are the most generous person in the world, you are still operating a business within a budget. Whether you go luxury, conventional or somewhere in-between, don’t think you have to choose a high-end gift just because it costs more. Do it because you think that’s the gift the other person will appreciate. If luxury is the route you choose and budget is a concern, narrow your recipient list.
Company Logo and Customization.
To logo or not to logo, that is the question. For many businesses, customized gifts keep the company name in the minds of recipients. When the item is practical and likely to be used every day – such as a calendar, pen, coffee mug, or tote bag – this amounts to free daily advertising. But there’s a tackiness quotient to consider.
That being said, keep in mind that you can minimize the size of your logo and still have your brand printed but in a more subtle way. Second, customization does not have to come in the form of a logo. For example, you can personalize the gift by adding the recipient’s name.
Packaging.
We call this the unboxing experience. The unboxing experience triggers emotions and senses when the recipient opens the gift. The packaging, the gift wrap, the ribbon all matter. When done right, it can improve the way the recipient feels about the actual product because first impressions matter.