There’s an underlying theme that runs through the stories we write every month for Print+Promo: effective problem-solving. Think you can offer an attractive price and call it a day? Think again. Today’s corporate culture demands a deep understanding of client goals. This means conducting research, asking the right questions and anticipating roadblocks. Print and promotional distributors are doing this and more—and we’ve got the proof. For the next few weeks, we will be highlighting case studies that show the importance of exceeding expectations. The full collection is published in our June issue.
Strategic Transition Meeting
Submitted by Nadav Raviv, account executive, City Paper Company, Birmingham, Ala.
The Client: Belk, a large family-owned and -operated department store company.
The Goal: Last year, I had an opportunity to work on a project for Belk’s Strategic Transition Meeting. As most know, Belk is a 118-year-old retail company with more than 250 locations across the U.S. In August 2015, Belk was acquired by a private equity firm. Needless to say, with any merger or acquisition, there are a lot of unknowns. The new owners wanted to reassure the senior management team that everything would remain status quo, so they decided to hold a fun-filled meeting at the Charlotte Knights baseball stadium, the local AAA team.
The Solution: The theme of the event was centered around baseball, so Belk employed us to come up with catchy taglines to use for this event and source product incorporating the taglines. Our amazing in-house art department jumped head first into the deep end on this one. ... On the hard good side, our team of merchandisers went to work finding relevant products.
After a few intense days of sourcing and presentation buildings, we sent Belk our options. From the multiple taglines and numerous products, they chose the following from our presentation:
- Tagline: “Our Field, Our Game”
- A Raglan Two-Tone Jersey Shirt (provided by SanMar, Issaquah, Wash., and United Logo, Alabaster, Ala.)
- A Baseball Flap Notebook (provided by Chameleon Like, Gilroy, Calif.)
- Edibles: Peanuts, Cracker Jacks, Big League Chew (provided by Midnite Snax, Bethpage, N.Y.)
Belk provided a Fitbit to go in the boxes since the company is a vendor of that product.
... On the retail packaging side, I reached out to one of our box vendors who has custom dies that packaged the product perfectly. We hot stamped the two-piece gift boxes [featuring a white gloss setup] with the tagline on all four sides.
The Challenge: There was one miscommunication. I was unaware that the customer wanted the lid for the boxes as well. However, through our deep relationship with the vendor, we had the lids turned in time without even expediting shipping and without a rush fee.
The Outcome: The meeting went well and the CEOs and senior management loved the items we provided. That one project created other opportunities within Belk for us, where we enjoy a great relationship with multiple departments and even division locations.
Don’t forget to check back next week!
- People:
- Nadav Raviv
Elise Hacking Carr is senior production editor for Print & Promo Marketing magazine, and managing editor for PRINTING United Journal.