Print Solutions Magazine, March 2005 -- Case Study: Promotional Products

Clients Show Donor Appreciation With Glass Tumblers

When donors to a private school in Massachusetts make meaningful contributions, they receive a screenprinted crystal tumbler with the school’s logo seal and the calendar year. Barry Sneirson, sales manager at Future Print Unlimited LLC, Woburn, Mass., assisted in the creation of the program with a development associate in the school’s alumni office.

When the employee moved to a new position with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, she took Sneirson and the gift appreciation program with her. The hospital’s existing gift appreciation program when she arrived amounted to a standard personalized letter. “She convinced them that for certain types of financial gifts, they should recognize the contributions with something a little more special than a letter,” Sneirson says.

The hospital ordered 175 tumblers for its Pillar Society-level donors. Each 11-oz. tumbler was screenprinted with the Pillar Society logo. “It’s not a blaring image on the side. It looks like it was etched into the glass,” Sneirson says.

Achieving the correct look took time. Detail in the original logo design was lost during the screenprinting process. Working with the designer, the printer modified the logo design to optimize its image quality. “I think through the entire process, satisfying the graphic designer took the longest amount of time,” Sneirson says. Each glass also is imprinted with the year, encouraging donations in subsequent years as individuals add to their tumbler collections.

The hospital supplied personalized letters and multicolor labels pre-addressed to each donor. Sneirson tri-folded the letters and tucked into each one the corresponding label. He wanted to guarantee that the workers would match correctly the addresses and personalized letters. He then took all the components to an organization that provides jobs for mentally handicapped employees. The center’s workers wrapped the tumblers in bubble wrap inside a 200# test white corrugated, 1-piece box. The personalized letters were placed around the tumblers. The boxes were closed and secured with clear tape, and the address labels were then affixed to the top of each box. The organization also coordinated fulfillment of the gifts. They shipped 126 of the packages to donors by USPS priority mail. The remaining packages were sent to the hospital to use as needed.

The response from donors and the hospital’s development staff has been positive. “This was a cost-effective project with a classy looking end result where they had to do virtually nothing,” Sneirson says. He hopes to continue providing the components to the program year after year, as he still does for the private school. He’s even working with the development office to expand programs with gifts for other levels of giving.

—Andrew Brown

Tips

• Barry Sneirson, account representative at Future Print Unlimited LLC, Woburn, Mass., lands jobs by keeping track of end users he has worked with before. “If you find that somebody has moved elsewhere, and you have done something with them successfully, it’s worth the trouble to find out where they went and what they’re doing,” he says.

• When Sneirson works with clients, he gets involved as much and as early as they’ll let him. “I encourage them to give me things that involve project management. I like to start out as early as the design of the product, because it multiplies the value of the sale two or three fold.” He also tries to get the client’s printing, packaging and fulfillment business.

• Sneirson’s clients understand the value of programs that show customer appreciation. One client sent his existing customers imprinted Post-it Notes and faux Mont Blanc pens. His contact information is printed on the side of the cubes and on the upper portion of pen. Although they’re nice gifts for his client’s customers, “the purpose is visibility, appreciation, recognition and getting people to call when they have a need,” Sneirson says.

Barry Sneirson, account representative at Future Print Unlimited LLC, Woburn, Mass., developed an appreciation program for a hospital’s fund-raising department. Pillar Society-level donors received an 11-oz. glass tumbler with a logo and the year screenprinted on it.