Artistic Toy's New Friends

Our REFER A FRIEND program is off to a great start. I would like to take a minute to thank the people who think well enough of Artistic Toy to recommend friends to start doing business with us. It's these type of people and comments that get me excited about what we do every day.

Please enjoy these gracious comments from our friends:

Becky Moore (Impressionable Solutions) REFERS Julie Kneubuehl (Amazing Promotions)

Julie,
Here's an email from Artistic Toy/ASI#37122 you might enjoy. I ordered a sample from them for a marketing idea this past March & it was really cute. It was the Baseball Bear Mailer. With all of my marketing talk, this Baseball Bear is one of the neatest ideas I've come across and I hope to use it as a marketing tool eventually. Anyway, I know you can order samples if you'd like. I don't know if there's a fee for all the samples but my Baseball Bear is more elaborate in it's functionality. They have some links on ideas for marketing using the toys. Click on the Breast Cancer Bear & see this adorable pink bear for an October Breast Cancer Awareness idea. I would schedule a mammogram just to get this pink bear!

There's an idea for a school fundraiser that you might like to look at. Anyway, check it out. I've spent some time on their website & they have some cool ideas. When I ordered my Baseball Bear Mailer, they were very helpful over the phone. My sample baseball bear even has our company logo printed on the bear's shirt! How cool is that? There was a cost for my sample bear but it is the coolest bear I have! They also have a refer a friend program & you can get that same bear that I paid for - for free! I hope you get a chance to check their ideas out. - Becky

Linda Mangun (Peak Promotions - Aubrey, TX ) REFERS Shari Ave (Peak Promotions - McKinney, TX)

Jim - I started her by sending her the Fireman flyer and she has already sent it to 3 fire departments. Yeah!
We signed her up for your mailings and I told her you are a marketing genius and will help her sell.

If you have a good friend in the business please check out our REFER A FRIEND program by clicking here.

Thank you,

-Jim

PROMOTIONS EAST 2009 - Panel Discussion Delivers Great Value

Here are 15 key takeaways from five industry leaders to help recharge and motivate your current strategies :
1. Focus on "OAR MTV" in your Client Meetings (Outcome, Assess Value, ROI, Message, Target, Vehicle)
2. Challenge clients to redirect spending. ("What's your ROI on your Newspaper Advertisement")
3. Know What You Do for a Living. ("I help clients attract customers and retain employees.")
4. Overcome the NO Budget Objection. ("Can You Explain to Me Your Objective Again.")
5. Use LinkedIn to research prospects, find shared connections, setup breakfast meetings, and receive introductions.
6. Don't put up road blocks when working with self motivated salespeople.
7. Keep in Touch with Clients... There is no substitute for Belly-to-Belly Meetings.
8. Believe in what You do and use more promotional products in your business.
9. Always take advantage of opportunities to mentor people in the industry.
10. PPAI Studies - Now More Than Ever
11. Hot Industries to Call On: Healthcare, Software, Training and Education, and research Venture Capital companies that are looking to market themselves.
12. Stay focused on your plan.
13. It's not an objection, it's a fact as they see it.
14. Promotional products work so well, they won't let doctors use them.
15. Get Back to the Fundamentals like Direct Mail and Making Phone Calls.

Sherri Lennarson, MAS (Bankers Advertising Company) moderated a panel discussion that provided solid strategies to succeed in any economy with the contributions from a well prepared group of panelists. Joe Scott, MAS (Scott & Associates), Fred Snyder, MAS (Geiger), and Kippie Helzel (CPS/Keystone Line) shared her thoughts and spoke on behalf of Julie Levi (Progressive Promotions).

Artistic Toy Kirby Bear Meets Larry King Live

I recently learned that the Caylee Marie Anthony Foundation chose our 8" Kirby Brown Bear with imprinted t-shirt (S2158) to comfort families and children in distressed situations.

You can view the 2 minute segment from CNN's Larry King Live interview that explains the purpose of the foundation and how the bear will be used.

This is a testament to how a stuffed toy can outperform other forms of advertising and promotional marketing pieces. The creative team at Barker Specialty understands how to develop a cause promotion that serves a greater purpose. Not only will it help the foundation fulfill its mission to prevent child abduction through the creation of awareness of child safety measures, but will also provide support to families and law enforcement during child recovery efforts. This cause promotion assists in the well-being of children that need comfort and support during difficult and stressful times.

You can support the foundation by clicking here to donate. To learn more about the Caylee Bear Program click here.

Toys Touching Lives

Carol Floyd, Blake Advertising Inc. (ASI/141075) used our 8" White Rabbit plush toy (S2041) in 100 Easter baskets in celebration for The Lovelady Center in Birmingham, Alabama. The pictures of the children with rabbits and baskets tell a wonderful story.







We are happy to hear and see the success of the event. It was a pleasure working with you.

Artistic Toy To The Rescue...

Here is an actual, dyed in the wool, success story from Jeff Hamilton in Southern California on how a Patriot Vendor, Artistic Toy, got him out of a very tight spot:

My client had ordered 750 - 8" custom stuffed bears back in the beginning of December for an event that began this past Sunday,March 15th. After multiple assurances from the initial vendor, we were informed on Friday, March 6th at 2:35 PM PST that their order was not going to make it in time for their event.

We called Jim Socci at Artistic Toys at 6:30 AM PST on the morning of Monday, March 9th. Jim and his crew pulled a miracle out of thin air. Not only did they deliver the bears on the morning of Thursday, March 12th, the client was elated with the new choice of bear provided versus their initial selection.

Our advice is, if you're doing stuffed animals, there is only one choice, Artistic Toys. Thanks again, Patriot vendor, Artistic Toys.

Jeff Hamilton
American Solutions for Business

Character Matters

The last 3 weeks, Artistic Toy has been busy building character with its first Character Marketing Sales Team. The team consists of 23 top salespeople working together to implement Artistic Toy’s Character Marketing Sales Playbook. After three weeks of 1 hour web conferences over 70% of the team members are joined to a private Facebook group where they share ideas, case studies, proposals, prospecting campaigns, and presentations. In addition to sharing and learning, the team members have developed several proposals to introduce characters into existing and new client promotional marketing campaigns.
Character Marketing is a philosophy that leads to success, best stated by Ralph Waldo Emerson:


“Sow a thought and you reap an action;
Sow an act and you reap a habit;
Sow a habit and you reap a character;
Sow a character and you reap a destiny."

While discussing the BINGO sheet (One Page Business Plan) with Jim Nixson, The Vernon Company, he realized the opportunities are abundant with characters in marketing and it would be nearly impossible to exhaust them all.

Leon Davidson, Promoshop – Sacramento, said he has worked with a large university for the last 10 years and he always knew there was an opportunity to develop a plush toy mascot for them, but he just needed some help to get the proposal together.

Walker-Clay Inc. - Amanda Clay is literally going to the bank with a proposal to help her bank client energize a savings program for children.

Cary Romanoff, Ice Box Promotions, is thinking about ways to make their very own “Ping” the penguin a hot character to draw more attention to their brand through the use of a stuffed plush toy miniature.

Ted Davies, Paradigm Partners, reports an opportunity to make a bear an important game piece in a grocery store promotion.

Win Oppel, Ad-Merica, is discussing ways to expand a regional utility company’s energy conservation program with a custom plush toy replica of a character in a coloring book currently being used in their marketing.

Sherrie Rhoads, Success Promotions, Inc, received an email from a hotel client inquiring about plush toys with a Caribbean theme for their children's amenity program and to sell in their retail shops. While responding to her client’s request she asked some key questions and made a recommendation to consider branding themselves with their very own plush toy character that a guest cannot find anywhere else to act as a powerful reminder of the resort. This recommendation landed her an appointment with the General Manager of the Hotel.

Even in the doom and gloom of the economic crisis, this cast of characters has realized that it’s their Character that will pull them through. The team has proven that it doesn’t matter if your client is in a serious business or fun business you can find ways to use characters as powerful marketing tools that can be used in any and all industries.

350 Chef Bear Mailers Sent to Clients

Artistic Toy launched a trial campaign late last year and early this year to all the people that attended the Cliff Quicksell webinar or pre-registered to see us at the ASI Orlando Tradeshow to receive box mailer to 10 clients or prospects for FREE.

The mailer is being being shipped today (Feb 9) to over 350 distributor sales people's clients. We are very excited to learn about the results of this mailer.

It would be our intention that our participants would secure lots of plush toy orders from this mailer; however, our measurement is also on how many:

1. Phone Calls that New Prospects Take from You
2. Appointments You Make with Prospects / Customers
3. Presentation/Proposals Given
4. Quote Requests
5. New Orders (T-Shirts, Bears, Mugs, etc)

Please send us an email or leave a comment on our blog to let us know what reaction or benefits you are getting from the mail campaign.