From time to time, one of our distributors will ask about a competitors coasters.  Usually the end-user will find a coaster online and wonder why the item they see is less expensive.

As you’re about to see, not all coasters are created equal.  For over 40 years, we have been producing the finest coasters in the promotional products industry.  We do this by using the best materials we can so that your coasters will look as good in 20 years as they do today.  Of course, not everyone has the same needs, so we do offer 5 styles of metal coasters to fit every budget – but each of our 5 coaster styles is made to last.

1) Solid Bass means solid brass – not brass plated, not iron, not brass wrapped around zinc.  There are a number of products out there purporting to be brass coasters, when in fact they are not.  Take a look at the following example.   Some things to note about this coaster.  First off – Iron (aka steel) is a really bad material to use in a coaster for the simple fact that Iron will rust.  Nobody wants a rusty mess leaking out from their coaster.  That is precisely why no PinLine coaster contains any iron material.  Our Solid Brass Coaster is made of solid brass.

2)  Don’t Flake Out .  All PinLine coasters feature felt bottoms.  With over 40 years of experience manufacturing coasters, we found that cork bottoms simply do not last.  If you have a ruler on your desk with a cork bottom, take a look at it.  I’ll bet that unless it’s brand new, the cork is flaking off.  That is why we choose to use felt bottoms on our coasters – not cork.

3) Real Gold – Not “Imitation Gold” – Years ago, PinLine recognized that not all customers had the need or budget for a solid brass coaster.  That was why we developed our Boardroom, SlimLine and Executive (Square) coasters.  These coasters are made of zinc, hand polished and given your choice of finishes (polished gold, polished silver, satin pewter, satin brass or matte black).  Not long after we introduced our line of Zinc coasters, others followed with imported products (Our coasters are Made in USA).  In addition, to save costs our competitors zinc coasters often have a nickel and brass plated finish.     It’s a common trick used to save money and it’s sometimes called an imitation gold finish.  First nickel is plated on the piece to give it a shine, then brass is laid over the nickel.  Brass plating has a much more pale yellow finish than actual gold plating which has more of the deep red hues of real gold.   It may be enough for some folks to have a gold tone to their coaster, but we choose to use real gold.   You be the judge….

We are certain that you’ll agree there is no finer coaster line in the industry.

PinLine Announces the Golf Shoe Marker

January, 5 2009

David Wehr, President of Wehr Industries (UPIC: PinLine), is proud to announce the invention of the Golf ShoeMarker.  This new item was created by Mr. Wehr and is exclusive to PinLine.  Designed to keep a custom magnetic ballmarker where you need it most, the ShoeMarker clips easily to the laces of your golf shoe.  It is specially designed to clip on without the need to unlace your golf shoes.  A strong, rare-earth magnet holds the ballmarker (which may be imprinted in a variety of ways) in place.  An addition to the popular Adaptables Program – the ballmarkers which fit the ShoeMarker will also our divot repair tools, our popular Hat Clip and Towel Caddy.  The ShoeMarker is available in antique brass and antique pewter finishes.

Magnetic lapel pin backs have become very popular and it’s easy to understand why. On paper they make a lot of sense. By using a magnet you don’t have to pierce through your garment. Makes sense….right? Well in our experience many customers who make the switch to magnetic backs eventually switch back to traditional clutch backs. Here are five factors to consider when your customer asks for a magnetic back on their lapel pin.

1. Magnets can be difficult to wear:
   When you put it on, you have to line up both pieces exactly for the best results. Typically the magnet attachment is small so it can be difficult for older folks to place the main piece on the clothing while trying to hold the small attaching piece in their other hand and then reaching into their clothing to line up the two pieces properly. At least with the military clutch, the “pinching” area of the clutch gives you something to hold on to.
2. The “attaching” magnet piece is easily lost:
   If it is not lined up properly and a good connection is not made, you will lose your magnet attachment and possibly your main pin. If you lose the “attaching” magnet part, your main pin now becomes useless and you may as well throw it away. On the other hand, if this pin had a standard military clutch back and you lost the clutch, it is a safe bet that you would be able to find a replacement clutch right in your jewelry or accessory box (whether you are a male or a female.)
3. The pin is more easily lost.
   Although the factory will use “rare earth magnets” that possess a very strong magnetic field, the connection can still easily be broken. Your clients should take care when putting on a coat or a sweater or bumping into someone or something….anything that can cause the cause the magnetic field to be broken so that you do not lose your pin or attaching magnet.
4. The pin/magnet connection is prone to failure.
   Magnets can not be fused or soldered to a pin – therefore they are glued in place with strong epoxy glue. However, no glue will ever be as strong as a mechanical bond (like is used to attach a traditional nail to the emblem back). The rare earth magnets are so strong, sometimes the constant pulling of the magnetic fields from the main pin to the “attaching” magnet causes the magnet that is glued to the back of the main pin to become unglued. It would not be unusual to find someone wearing only two magnets on their shirt – the main pin has come unglued and has fallen off and is gone forever!
5. Handling a bunch of magnets can be tricky!
   Let’s say you order 500 pins with magnetic backs.  They’ll typically be individually polybagged.  500 magnets create quite a strong magnetic field!  When you unpack them, they’ll try to stick to your desk, your stapler, anything made of steel.  Then at the end of the day, you take the pin off, put it on your bureau, and the next morning you find it stuck to your keys.  Magnets can be a pain!
   

– by Elaine DeSimone

Most of you have probably seen the “blue puzzle” piece lapel pin. You may not know what it’s all about but you probably have some vague awareness of it. If you saw someone wearing it, you would probably comment and ask them what it’s all about. That is exactly what the folks at Autism Speaks want you to do and they have done a brilliant job using the pin to raise awareness for Autism. Here are a few of the facets of their campaign that you may want to use with your clients.

At the heart of the campaign is a design that is simple, recognizable yet not obvious. The pin is clearly a puzzle piece in shape – yet it also has the rough outline of a person or child. There are no words, no call to action – the pin is designed to elicit the question – “what’s the blue puzzle piece represent?” At that instant when the viewer asks the wearer about the pin – the wearer spreads the message about the group. If the pin had copy on it such as “Support Autism Research” the person seeing the pin would know the wearer is showing support for autism but probably wouldn’t engage them any further. By being subtle, by getting people to ask that question, Autism Speaks has created an army of evangelists, talking about the organization, why they’re involved and how others can help.

Beyond the great design, the organization has a “distribution” strategy that has really catapulted their efforts. First, they decided from the beginning that they would never sell just one pin. Everyone gets at least two and is encouraged to “Pin It Forward” – giving the pin to someone else and discussing the need to raise autism awareness. Again, the act of giving the pin spreads the word about their cause and creates another evangelist!

Second, they made the pin “cool” by getting it into the hands of celebrities. The pin started showing up everywhere, on NBA Coaches, actors, musicians, all sorts of celebrities. The celebrities would even discuss their support for the group on national media – further raising awareness.

As you work with your non-profit clients, take some lessons from the success of Autism Speaks. Perhaps you can employ similar tactics in their campaigns.

~Dave

We’ve all seen it happen. Your customer will tell you they saw lapel pins online at a price that’s close to your cost. How can you compete? How do you respond? While you may be fuming mad and tempted to tell them to try their luck – here are some tips for handling this situation.

1. Uncle Sam is here to help!

In most cases, Im pretty much a “free-trade” guy. I’m all for letting industries in different countries slug it out on a level playing field. But since the US Government has decided in its finite wisdom to impose an 11% import duty on lapel pins - you can use this to your advantage.

Many of the online stores are basically virtual businesses run from a laptop computer with little or no brick and mortar presence. These “suppliers” will process the order, take your customers money and send the order to an Asian factory. They will almost always ship the product direct from China to the end user – and this is where you can plant a seed of doubt in your customer’s mind.

If this “supplier” is shipping the product direct from China – your customer is now an importer. Being an importer carrys with it responsibilities that your customer may not be willing to take on. As the importer, your client is now responsible for the import duty, customs, proper country of origin markings, and documentation. If the factory does not document the pins properly or worse intentionally puts an incorrect value on the invoice – your customer can be liable not only for the duty but also may be fined for trying to evade import tariffs. If the pins are not properly marked with the country of origin – customs will delay the package indefinitey. If the correct harmonized tariff codes are not on the shipping invoice, more delays and fees. Does your customer really want to be in the import business??

2. Complexity is your friend

I always say this and sometimes it draws a puzzled look – but I love the fact that lapel pins are complex, and sometimes difficult to understand. If you’ve ever tried to explain the difference between die struck, iron, cloisonne and brass etched to your customer you know what I’m talking about. Now put yourself in your customers shoes – faced with all this complexity and only a computer screen to deal with….

At least once each week I’ll talk with a distributor who is trying to fix a bad situation caused by one of these stores.  My experience suggests that these online pin sellers either don’t understand the complexities or don’t take the time to understand the customer’s needs and then select the best way to manufacture the emblem. It’s as if they assume that the customer doesn’t care what type of pin they end up with – they simply take whatever art is presented and produce a pin that makes the most sense to them. The result can be a very disappointed customer. You add value by understanding what your customer wants and working with a supplier to translate those wants into a product that meets the needs. It’s hard work – but that’s what we get paid for and your customer will be happier when all is said and done.

3. Time is on your side – sometimes

While production times have gotten shorter and shorter for everyone – you still have two weapons available to you the online sellers can’t provide – domestic production facilities and huge stock pin libraries. 

If you look at it objectively, the fact is that the production times are pretty much uniform across the industry.  However, many of these sites will advertise that they ship custom pins in 10 days – but they mean they are shipping from China in 10 days. Then of course you need to add the transit time to the customs clearing house, the time to clear customs and then shipping to the final location.   Guess what – they’ll offer expedited shiping and all of a sudden those “cheap pins” aren’t so cheap anymore.  

When comparing apples to apples (allowing for production and shipping)  production time for a pin made in China will be the same for you vs these online sellers.   But – when your clients schedule does not allow for overseas production you can pull a rabbit out of the hat and deliver a domestically produced custom pin within 10 days. You can also draw from inventory and ship stock pins within a day – something a “supplier” working from his spare bedroom can’t provide.

While you may think your client will dismiss these objections as your attempt to protect your business,  the bottom line is your customer will be more satisfied in the end by working with you and a reputable factory. Who knows, they may get lucky once or twice and may save a few pennies – but none of these online stores can match the services you and your supplier can provide.  Stick to your guns and don’t pull any punches – your clients will thank you for it in the end. Trust me, Im the guy who usually has to step in and clean up the mess.

Designing Your Pin To Fit Your Program

Now that you’ve designed your clients recognition program and have determined the number of levels of recognition we can begin discussing ways to show those levels in lapel pins.  In this discussion we’ll cover 6 basic categories:

1. Stock recognition options 
2. Using attachments
3. Indicating levels with stones
4. Using one design but indicating the level on the pin
5. Indicating the levels in the design itself
6. Using finishes to represent levels

Stock Options 

Stock recognition items are obviously the quickest, least expensive options, they’re also the least flexible.  Stock options include existing lapel pins designed around common themes such as Quality, Attendance, or Years of service.    They are on the shelf ready to ship and can be purchased at very low quantity and you may mix designs when ordering.   A good trick to make these seem a bit more customized is to place them on a custom printed card with your clients logo and a message to the recipient.

Using Attachments

If the recognition program you’ve designed contains sequential levels of recognition – where the user would want to display that they’ve achieved a number of levels – then consider using attachments.  If any of you were involved in scouting as a kid – you know how this works.  Remember we all wanted to be the kid with the most patches on our uniform – well the same mentality applies here.   The sequence of attachments creates an instant visual cue that the wearer has achieved various levels.  The longer your chain of bars, the more you’ve achived. Read the rest of this entry »

A customer called on Friday – in a bit of a panic.  His client had called and asked him to present ideas for creating an employee recognition lapel pin program and needed help. 

The first step we discussed was assessing the needs of his client.  Generally companies will establish such programs because it’s easier (e.g. less expensive) to keep current employees than it is to find new ones and train them from scratch.  While most recognition programs have retention as the primary goal – specifics of your clients organization will have a big impact on the type of program you put together.   For example, a fast food chain faces different employee retention problems than an insurance company.  The fast food client constantly hires many young workers and they’re lucky if they can get them to stay 1 year while the insurance company may expect a good portion of hires to make a career in the business.   You obviously wouldn’t give solid gold pins to a burger-flipper at McDonalds – but you may for an insurance executive who sold $5M in premiums.  The fast food employee will also probably wear their recognition pins on a hat, while the insurance client will put theirs on a suit.    Each of these factors will influence the type of pin you choose.  Consider the specific challenges your client faces, and translate that into how it will effect the recognition program.  Read the rest of this entry »

Quite often a customer will call with an existing emblem that their client had ordered long ago and now they want to duplicate it. The question always comes up – How can I tell which process was used to make it? With 40+ years of experience it’s pretty easy for us to look at an item and tell you how it was made – but here are some some quick tests / tips to help you narrow down the options: 

1. Try to bend it – This will help you narrow down the material.  If you can bend it (and it doesn’t snap) then it’s probably pewter.  It is definitely not zinc – zinc is very hard and would snap before it bends.  Brass and steel will bend – but difficult to do with bare hands.
2. Stick a magnet to it – try placing any magnet (a refrigerator magnet works well) to the item – if it sticks then it’s steel / iron.  Magnets will not stick to brass, aluminum, zinc or pewter. 
3. Look for a beveled edge.  If you examine the edge of the item – do the two “halves” come together with a slight bevel?  If so the piece was cast (if it’s a fairly prononuced bevel – then most likely zinc die cast – try the bending trick above to confirm).  Cast items need to come out of their mold when the metal cools.   If the edges were not beveled – then the piece would not eject from the mold easily.  If there is no beveled egde and there is a 90 degree angle between the face and the side of the item – it was probably die struck. 

Read the rest of this entry »

A few days ago – Marv at Pure Marketing Group gave me a good idea for a post.   During the course of our discussion – Marv asked me “What’s the difference between genuine and imitation cloisonne?” 

The difference boils down to the material used in the color filling step.  The products are manufactured the same way up to the point that the colors are added.   The piece is diestruck (traditionally in guilding metal – but as copper and brass have gotten more expensive – steel has become an option) creating the details of the design in raised metal.  Each piece is trimmed to shape, deburred and the nail is fused on.   This is where the two production processes diverge.

Click Image to see at Full Size

In Genuine Cloisonne the color fill material is created from ground glass mixed with metals.  The various metals used create the color in the metal (iron mixed in creates red – for example).   There are a couple competing color systems (Aoki and Flower Vase are the most popular) and each have their strengths – but no cloisonne colors are able to match PMS colors exactly.   The cloisonne material goes in as a powder, then the piece is fired until the material melts.  The cavities are purposefully over-filled so that the color goes over the metal lines.  Once it cools – the piece is then polished on a wet stone wheel – which grinds down the color fill until the surface is flat and the metal lines exposed.  Finally the piece is plated (gold or silver – traditionally). Read the rest of this entry »

 Are you planning to wear an 8″ lapel pin?  Did you want a keytag the size of a your laptop?  No?  Then why did you create your art so big??  Of course we know the answer to this question.   Most of the time clients create art for other media – then wish to use it for emblematic items.    That sounds like a good idea – but squeezing an 8″image onto a 1″ lapel pin usually doesn’t work. 

So how do you know which is the right size?  

1. Image is everything.  Consider the impression the item makes.  Is this a prestigious award for achievement? if so you probably want an understated look.    Are you introducing a new product or service?  Now is not the time to be subtle - don’t be shy -make it bigger.  Understanding where you need to be along this continuum is an important first step.  Is your client leaning toward a bigger, bolder item or toward a smaller, understated appearance.
2. Be practical.  Big keychains are bulky and don’t fit easily in your pocket.   Women however, tend to keep keys in purses and want to find them quickly.   An Inn or Bed & Breakfast will often prefer big keytags because they don’t want guests walking off with keys.   Think through the practical implications of size.
3. Test it.  Sometimes I’ll be discussing the size of an item with a customer and I can just tell by their reactions that they’re not getting it.  To them  1 3/8″ is just an esoteric number that doesn’t have meaning.  It’s the same way with mechanics.  A mechanic can look into a tool box and spot which nut is 15/16 and which is 7/8.  Don’t rely on the numbers when picking a size.  Pull out your pencil, paper and ruler and sketch the item at the size your considering.  Now cut it out.  If it’s a pin, hold it up to your lapel – how’s it look?  It may seem silly, but it works. 
4. Reality check.  Using the “ballpark” dimensions you’ve selected, scale your art to size and print it out.  You can’t tell how something will look on a computer screen – you must print it out.  If you can’t figure out how to scale the art before you print it – then print it and use a copy machine to reduce it to size.  Now that you’ve got your design on paper at actual size – look at it.  If you can make out the details you should be ok. 

The next time you find yourself struggling with a design - try some of these techniques.