Posted on

In the News: Russ Taylor on “Into the Corner Office” Podcast

Our CEO, Russ Taylor, was interviewed for a recent episode of the “Into the Corner Office”, a podcast hosted by Brandt Handley of Resource Options International, Inc. This is the 23rd episode of the podcast, which focuses on various CEOs and their stories. Russ talks to Brandt about his approach to business, leadership and talent management, and the driving forces behind our success at Fusion of Ideas. The episode is available at the link below or via Apple Podcasts.

https://go4roi.com/podcasts/russ-taylor-into-the-corner-office-episode-23/

SaveSave

Posted on

The Sky’s the Limit: Conga Custom Helicopter Drones

By Jennifer Fujimori

One of the best things about Fusion of Ideas customized hardware services is that the sky is literally the limit. We’ve showcased custom iPads, Apple Watches, iPhones, headphones, laptops, cases – and most recently, remote control helicopter drones. We worked with Conga, which offers a suite of solutions for using Salesforce.com, to customize a fleet of Cheerwing mini helicopters as a promotion for the actual helicopter tours they’re conducting at the annual Dreamforce conference. With help from our creative design team, Conga opted for a Stealth Armor cutout of their signature logo in white text on a red circle. The Stealth Armor is heat bonded to the nose of the helicopter to accent the red panels and create a polished, brand-new look. Check out the images of the final product, and let it inspire you to create your own custom tech!

Posted on

Branding Superheroes: Customizing the Apple HomePod

By Jennifer Fujimori

This may seem obvious, but we tend to nerd out every time a new Apple product is released. Apple’s livestream product announcement events, typically happening once or twice a year and bearing charming names such as “Let’s meet at our place” and “Hey Siri, give us a hint”, are monitored closely in the Fusion of Ideas office. Part of this is because many of us are personally Apple fans, but the other part is excitement about the branding possibilities that come with a new device.

The R&D process begins at Fusion well before the device has officially hit the market. Our customization team gathers information about the materials the device is made of, the dimensions, the packaging and any accompanying accessories. We get our hands on a sample device or two as soon as we can and get to work testing out customization capabilities.

When the HomePod smart speaker hit the market in 2018, it was the first completely new device released by Apple since 2014, when the Apple Watch was announced. It also posed a unique challenge: the round, cylindrical speaker did not present many obvious options for customization. “The HomePod offered a challenge in that there is not a lot of surface area to customize,” said Chris Mancuso, Customization Manager. “It pushed us to think outside the box to come up with customization options that would fit with the sleek and modern design of the device.”

Working with the Fusion design team for artwork and production files (and inspired by our office-wide affection for the Marvel Cinematic Universe), the customization team did a bold color print of the red Marvel logo on the white mesh of the HomePod. The top of the speaker is outfitted with a clear color printed Stealth Armor version of Iron Man’s arc reactor. Rounding out the sample package is a custom sleeve and gift wrap, printed with vibrant images of Iron Man and the Marvel logo in its signature red and black colorway. “We really pushed the boundaries with this device and came up with some really innovative ways to brand the HomePod,” said Mancuso. “The Marvel-branded sample provides our business team with a great way to show clients what we can do with this device.”

SaveSave

SaveSave

Posted on

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.

Posted on

Inside Look: Dassault Falcon Jet

By Jennifer Fujimori

Each month, the Fusion of Ideas blog will highlight a unique client project. We’ll be giving you an inside look at each client and project, including the customization details, the project, and the outcome. Keep reading below to find out how we partnered with an aviation company at the top of its field in design and innovation.

Who they are:

Dassault Falcon Jet is a subsidiary of the French company Dassault Aviation, a global leader in the aerospace field. Falcons are known for industry-leading technology and design, incorporating comfort, speed and efficiency into each aircraft. The Falcon family of business jets, the first of which was introduced in 1965, delivered its 2500th jet in 2017.

Their customization goals:

Dassault came to Fusion of Ideas with a plan to enhance the buying experience for its customers. Before each Falcon jet is delivered to a customer, the aircraft is outfitted with a custom iPod Touch, iPhone and customized case, custom iPad, or all four of those items. The inclusion of the custom devices aligns with the company’s reputation as a luxury high-tech brand, and makes a big impact on the customer.

The process:

At the beginning of our partnership with Dassault, we created a system to uniquely meet their fulfillment and deployment needs. We procure, customize, and ship devices based on preset requirements. The process is seamless and efficient; each of these steps is completed entirely by the Fusion team at our headquarters in Lake Forest, which works diligently to ensure a high level of quality and accuracy throughout the process.

The outcome:

Each device and case is custom printed with the sleek Dassault Falcon logo. Upon unlocking the devices, recipients see a specially chosen app layout against a black background with the Dassault Falcon logo in white. The devices are preloaded with the prerequisite Apple native apps, as well as four apps that were selected by Dassault. The finished product is polished and professional, contributing even more to the unique experience of doing business with Dassault Falcon Jets.