Labels for LifeLabels for Life will give tips for organizing your life, home and office.

St. Matthew’s Church likes to help out the community. This year they decided to hold a spaghetti fundraising dinner. The funds would help their nursery school and several community charities. A spaghetti dinner is a low cost event but appeals to many hungry appetites. So the spaghetti fundraising plans were underway.

Our tickets were reasonably priced. Adults were $5 and children were $3. You could eat as much spaghetti as you wished. We felt that was a good price. Sodas and drinks were an extra cost as those can get pricy. Dessert was included. A local restaurant stepped up to donate the spaghetti, dessert and even the soda pop!

After a few weeks, the ticket sales were low. Pastor Greg was concerned about the event and wondered what else could be done. The Church Secretary Betty suggested we get bumper stickers to promote the event. The Pastor budgeted for them and realized they were low-cost and an ideal choice for the fundraiser. Best of all they came in many colors and lots of font and graphic choices – so we really could create a top quality bumpersticker that would get lots of attention.

At church, the next Sunday bumper stickers were passed out during the coffee hour. It wasn’t long before then that the phone started to ring with people wanting to reserve spots for the spaghetti dinner. Best of all, lots of people who bought tickets also asked if they could have a bumpersticker – which promoted our event even more! We ran out of the first batch of bumperstickers and had to have a second batch printed up. But they came quickly and we could easily hand them out to new dinner ticket buyers.

Three weeks from then it was time for our spaghetti dinner. Pastor Greg smiled as the Parish Hall was filled to the brim with people. I don’t think we’ve ever cooked that much spaghetti before in our lives! We raised $6,000 and with half of it going to the nursery school we can afford to get a new computer and library of books for the children. The other half goes to community based charities.

Our favorite thing about the bumperstickers was that they were fun. They made fundraising easy. A flyer can also be easy and convenient but they blow away. Many people think a flyer can be a real nuisance to their business. With the bumpersticker people who took them and added them to their cars knew they were supporting a local community event by putting one on their car.

It was also very helpful that the bumperstickers offered very attractive fonts, graphics and many colors for us to choose from. We were able to create a good looking bumpersticker and one that looked quite professional.

I would recommend a bumpersticker to any community fundraiser. It just makes things easier. Bumperstickers help you get the word out. They help to get people excited about what you are doing. Choose bumperstickers and watch your ticket sales explode!

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The flood of counterfeit goods into the United States from the Far East, and especially China and India, has reached all time highs and is creating significant economic damage at home.  This incredibly damaging, criminal activity is spurring the development of IP protective measures, such as security holograms.

No-one wins when counterfeit products reach the market – the consumer buys goods which are not what they thought they were, while there may be serious consumer safety issues involved. Meanwhile, the manufacturer reaps the adverse reward of negative press and consumer comments because the counterfeit clings like a parasite to their brand image and reputation.  The retail distributor finds they have goods they cannot sell and quite possibly, legal consequences of holding counterfeit products they ought not to have in the first instance.

The issue is how to protect your own brand and intellectual property in a cost effective manner, and at the same time, ensure security measures are in place which will deter counterfeiters from using your product as the basis for a counterfeit operation.  The analogy of a homeowner ensuring all the doors and windows are locked, whilst fitting a highly visible alarm system to deter opportunistic thieves, is very appropriate in this context.

By applying a low-cost security device, design detail or production element to your product, you are making it harder for counterfeiters to profitably reproduce your goods.  Security holograms provide an excellent method for separating your product from the competition, and counterfeiters will be assessing a range of products to see which is simpler, cheaper and most profitable for them to replicate.  Making it more difficult to create a good imitation of your product by the counterfeiters, reduces the risk your product will be targeted by to begin with.

Security holograms can be produced as 2D or 3D images, the design of which is extremely difficult and costly for a counterfeiter to copy.  You can use the hologram on the packaging (where it can act as a tamper evident safety feature) or place them on the actual product themselves.  The presence of a security hologram acts in exactly the same was as a homeowner’s alarm system – it warns potential thieves to steer clear and try their hand at another product which is easier (and cheaper) to counterfeit.

The reasons why security holograms are highly effective in acting as a deterrent to counterfeiting, are because they are cost effective, deliver multiple security functions and can be easily customized and applied to your products or to protect other intellectual property you own.

Security holograms provide a highly visible guarantee that the goods are genuine and are not seeking to hoodwink customers with fake branding; in this regard, holograms are powerful components of your brand identity if you include them.  Further security functions they perform include providing evidence the goods have not been tampered with and where they are used in conjunction with the brand image itself, they serve to protect the intellectual property which a brand represents.  The hologram itself can be subjected to fast and effective optical validation, which provides an additional layer of protection for your goods and reputation as well as being an additional mechanism to convey data such as stock and handling information.

Security holograms cannot be copied using photocopiers or computer scanners, which is a favorite technique utilized by counterfeiters.  It is also apparent when a hologram is real or not, given the ability to present a moving image to the viewer – the only way a counterfeiter can get around this security barrier is to source counterfeit holograms.  This is prohibitively expensive to do, or the alternative, to leave the hologram off their counterfeit products, quickly serves to mark them out as not genuine.

As counterfeit products rise and the ability of the fraudsters to deceive the consumer increases, it is vital for companies to protect their brand and reputation.  Security holograms are cheap to produce, and very simple to apply and manage through the distribution chain.  The simple presence of a security hologram is enough to deter many counterfeiters from even attempting to replicate your product, which makes it easier to target those counterfeiters who are attacking your intellectual property rights and reputation.

Toys Noticed This Holiday Season with Product Labels

Let’s face it – there are a lot of toys on the shelf this holiday season. Every advantage you have to stand out could make the difference between making a sale – or being the Closeout item come this January. Custom Product Labels give your toys a polished and professional look every time.

Toys deserve labels with a highly original and especially playful look. You aren’t going to find that with just an “everyday” label. Labels are important on children’s toys. They can remind parents to buy batteries, of appropriate age levels for a child’s toy or if there are non-toxic or choking hazards in your toy(s). Best of all, a label gets special attention – a label often comes in a contrasting or complimentary color and really stands out. This makes parents pay close attention to whatever you have chosen to put on the label.

A custom product label is an ideal way to point out your USP (unique selling position) for your toy this holiday season. Perhaps your toy is an educational toy that has received outstanding reviews from well-respected publications. A custom product label permits you to highlight these reviews or commendations on your toy’s packaging in a show stopping way.

You can also introduce new features or characters using a custom product label. If your toy has been on the market for awhile but you’ve made some changes to this new version, custom product labels can introduce new and current customers to your changes. Many customers may not read every detail on the toy’s packaging before buying. That custom product label can help you entice buyers – and also avoid confusion or disappointment. If your toy has switched age ranges for example – the parent of a four-year old will want to know that your toy is now appropriate for ages six through eight, not four through eight.

A custom product label is also a unique opportunity to encourage customer (and child) interactivity. If your toy company has a website with interactive features – or free things for purchasers of that toy – a custom product label is an ideal opportunity to highlight this feature. Best of all, you’ll get both adults and children excited about the idea of visiting your website to check out coloring pages, puzzles, games or other fun things they might have otherwise missed out on.

The best custom product label is one that both compliments and also contrasts your toy’s packaging. So if your doll is packaged in a sweet little girl pink color box, consider not choosing another pink color for the customer product label color – but a contrasting color or a color that will compliment yet also stand out. Try another girl favorite color like purple. Or green or blue. Or a metallic custom product label for extra shine – making your label gold, silver or another metallic color.

Custom product labels can be a toy company’s best friend. Children love stickers and will happily look for stickers wherever they go. When they see a sticker on a toy they like, this alone will encourage them to stop and look longer as they view the sticker. Make your custom product labels appeal both to children as well as adults. Remember that you have two different customer bases when it comes to a toy purchase.

Getting Attention With Company Holiday Cards

It seems like every company sends out a holiday card these days. The holidays are the ideal time to reconnect with old clients and to send good wishes to your current clients. It’s competitive when you sell office supplies – as customers have lots of options. That friendly “Happy Holidays” can serve as a good reminder so they know who to call when they need office supplies, gardening services or other business needs met.

But with so many holiday cards in the mail at the same time, it’s hard to make sure that yours gets as much attention as it deserves. We’ve tried personalized cards with our name on them – and it seems like every other company is doing that too. That’s when we discovered Embossed & Foil Stickers. These Labels come in many colors and you can easily customize these to truly stand out and make an impact.

Adding a Foil or Embossed Label to the back of our Holiday Card worked just like Santa’s sleigh!  From the very moment our customers received our holiday card, they knew it was from us. Best of all, that Foil or Embossed Label showed we were making a special effort for them. Not everyone goes the extra mile for their customer. We all know that when you show someone you are willing to do the little things, they know they can trust you with the bigger things as well. Our office supply business started getting orders, even before we could take our own holiday break.

A holiday card may seem like such a simple thing, but you would be surprised at how important the simple things are. Connecting with your customers is critical, especially when you run a small business like ours. When you sell office supplies, you need to get to know your customers. Celebrating the holidays and wishing them “Happy Holidays” with a festive Foil Label is the ideal choice for our business. Our customers look for our card – and it really stands out from the others.

But I haven’t told you the best part yet. We’ve had plenty of labels so we have used them for other things. Adding them on top of outgoing packages to customers during the holiday season has certainly gotten their attention. We’ve gotten a number of calls asking us about “these new labels.” Several customers called me asking where I got the labels. They shimmer and shine and come in many colors. We ordered ours in red and green and blue and white.

Best of all, we started hearing from our old customers – the ones who hadn’t ordered from us in months or years! Just by sending them a simple Holiday card with a show-stopping label, we got our customers’ attention right back where it belonged: on our business. Between the orders from old and current customers, our order department has been as busy as Santa’s workshop!

So if you are looking for a way to connect with your customers this holiday season, look no further. Pick out your favorite Foil or Embossed Label style and get your holiday cards ready. Then get ready for the phone to ring!

Mark Trumper

If you have a contracting company, I bet you’d like to know one of the easiest ways to advertise it. I’ll give you a hint: they’re walking around in front of you all day.

Give up? Okay, we’ll let you in on the secret….add Hardhat Stickers to your hardhats. This is an excellent way to make every employee on the job at your sites remind people that Grafton’s Lumber or Smithton’s Contracting is hard at work. And if people like what they see – then they know who to call.

A Hardhat Decal is not merely an advertising method, it’s also a top-notch way of protecting your job site. We all know that your typical job site is a busy place with trucks, other vehicles and people coming in and out all day. If everyone on your job site wears one of your hardhats with a Hardhat Decal, it’s an easy way to scout out someone who doesn’t belong or just plain looks funny there. And in today’s day and age you sure do need to protect your business.

A Hardhat Decal can easily tell people about your company without your needing to say a word. Put your phone number and website on the decal. Add your company logo. Include the months or years you’ve been accident-free on the job. Each of these are great ways to promote your company.

Remember that many of your construction workers will carry their Hardhats with them in their off-hours. This is easy advertising for you even when they are not on a job site. Remind them to mind their manners and that they represent the company as they carry your Hardhat. A polite interaction could lead to a new customer or business relationship for you. Why, it’s like each of these Hardhats becomes silent salespeople for you!

So don’t do things the hard way when you can choose an easier method. Look into Hardhat decals to promote and protect your construction business.

Contact Maverick Label if you are interested in purchasing hardhat stickers or any labels for your business. They are pros in the business. Call 1-800-537-8816, Toll Free from USA & Canada  (425) 771-6500 (Elsewhere)

Who doesn’t like a bottle of wine as a gift? A bottle of wine is the perfect gift for so many occasions. From the dinner party to celebrating a special event, your bottle of wine will be enjoyed and the thoughtfulness you share will be remembered with every delicious sip.

But most of us long to give gifts that get noticed, truly stand out a little bit. Especially when you attend a big dinner party and the hostess receives ten gifts all at once – how will yours really stand out from the crowd? When three other people are bringing wine, somehow it just doesn’t seem like you stand a chance.

Custom Printed Wine Labels created from your own artwork can easily be added to any wine bottle. What a perfect way to say “From The Johnsons with Love” or “Happy Holidays” or your own special greeting. Not only can your share your greeting, but an image to go along with it that shares your happiness and goodwill. Try a cozy family photo for the wine bottles you give as hostess gifts. Or to celebrate the new baby in your family, add a picture of that bouncing boy or girl’s photo to the wine label and announce their arrival in the world. There are so many ways you can make your Custom Printed Wine Labels unique.

Wine is a classic gift because it is popular with many people. There are different types of wine to give ideal for special occasions. Try bottles of champagne to celebrate that wedding engagement or start of your new company. Or a 25 year old bottle of scotch to celebrate a law school graduation or retirement party.

The Custom Printed Wine Labels are ideal also for corporate gift giving purposes. Add your company logo to give wine for a company event. Or add a photo of your latest product to give wine to clients and employees to celebrate a new product launch. Custom Printed Wine Labels can be ordered in a low 250 minimum quantity – so it is easy to do a small batch.

There are so many creative ideas for your custom artwork – sometimes it is hard to narrow it down to one. Photographs are quite popular as they depict people the recipient knows and show who we are toasting with our bottle of wine. Company logos are another popular choice for corporate gifts – remember every time your logo is seen it is a gesture of goodwill in your community. Giving a bottle of wine to someone can easily be seen by another dozen people, not just that one recipient of that bottle.

Now it is easy to make your personal or corporate gift stand out – with Custom Printed Wine Labels. As they uncork that bottle and take a sip of that wonderful vintage, they’ll remember your friendship, goodwill and generosity.

Company I.D.s don’t sound like the most interesting topic. But let’s talk about this for a moment. You really should know exactly who is entering (and exiting) your building. Without company I.D.’s it is easy for literally anyone to slip in undetected.

You may think that your security staff is top-notch, that company I.D.’s are unnecessary and a waste of money. We’re not going to dispute your security team’s talents. Having company I.D.’s however can often make their jobs quite a bit easier.

Company I.D.’s can quickly be noticed on people’s cars before entering your company’s headquarters. One glance can tell your security staff is that person is authorized to be in your buildings. A company I.D. as a weatherproof label on their car is an easy protection system to have in place for your business.

A company I.D. should have your company name, an expiration date and some way to identify the employee. First initial and last name can be a quick way to do this. Or you can use a numerical system. Choose something that works well for your security staff. Most important is to have your label well-organized so it is easy to read and quick to scan. Many of your employees will be rushing into work, not thinking about the security staff trying to read their company I.D. weatherproof label. Make things easier on your security staff so when a problem arises, they can focus their full attention of this – instead of minute details.

Don’t think that company I.D.’s can be done “once” and then forgotten about, the trick is constantly monitoring them. Put someone in Human Resources in charge of maintaining records and keep them in close contact with your security staff. This simple precaution can keep a disgruntled former employee (or soon-to-be former employee) from stealing priceless company secrets and taking them to the competition. This monitoring system can also keep a former employee from giving their weatherproof label to someone else to enter your company headquarters.

In today’s day and age security is critical for every type of company. Fortunately putting security measures into place is often easier and more practical than many companies think it will be. Most employees adjust quickly to security measures – and quite often they appreciate the company that keeps its corporate location safe and secure. This also means the employees’ personal safety is protected as well.

With company I.D.’s on cars always use Weatherproof labels. No matter your climate, this will encourage the labels to have great durability and be long-lasting. It also means the Weatherproof label will stand up to that ice storm, hurricane or hot summer days you are facing.

Written by ID My Stuff.

Looking for an edge over the competition? Now that’s an obvious question! Who wouldn’t like some tips to reach a bit farther than your closest competition is right now? We are telling you to go 3D. Go 3D all the way with Dome Labels and Stickers!

Dome Labels and Stickers have got not just the eye-appeal but a unique texture that makes your potential customer want to reach out and touch them. They’re simply irresistible! The Dome Labels and Stickers have a thick, yet crystal-clear polyurethane dome laid over the label or sticker, giving it a unique appearance. These aren’t your Dad’s stickers anymore: they’ve totally gone 3-D in the wildest way. Look to the Domed stickers for that product or service you want to get attention. With these labels, you’ll easily have the advantage.

So if you’ve got a new software program, coffee bean, virus scanner or anything else people will want to buy – this is something you’ll want to pay attention to. It’s this easy: people like things that go “pop” “wham” and especially – “WOW!” when they look at them. The Dome Labels totally say “WOW!” to your customers – even before first names are exchanged.

The Dome Labels and Stickers seem to “float” a bit above their surface for a cool 3-D effect. That’s the polyurethane at work. Remembering that old adage about a potential customer needing to see your company name at least 20x before it sinking in – these labels pack a 1-2 punch, grabbing their attention and making it simply impossible to look away.

Let’s face it: there’s a lot of noise out there. So you’ve got to make some of your own. With stickers people can’t keep their paws off of, you’re making some noise people will pay attention to. Not every marketing gimmick is quite as appealing as these 3-D stickers as we are sure you would agree. When you choose a marketing tactic you want something that has easy popularity and is instantly appealing.

What’s the best thing about the dome labels? They are totally cool and collectible. Your company’s latest product easily can become viral when you give these Dome Labels and Stickers as give-aways to teens, college students or other passionate markets. They’ll stick your 3-D catchy, full-color labels in places where other people will see them, want to touch them and be curious about what you’re offering. Bet you anything they’re gonna want one too!

A hologram is created by capturing the light reflected from an object and reconstructing it so the subject appears to move relative to the position of the viewer of the hologram.  This is what makes a hologram appear 3-dimensional but in fact it is not, it is a 2-dimensional representation just as an ordinary photograph.

In 1947, Hungarian physicist, Gabor Denes (known as Dennis Gabor in English) was playing in his lab with the results of pioneering technological advances dealing with the development of the electron microscope.  Dennis Gabor was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery but he had to wait until 1971 to receive the recognition he deserved.

The discovery was made in England at the commercial lab of British Thomas-Houston who filed a patent back in 1947, however the holographic light/optical technique did not attain any commercial significance until the development of the laser in 1960.  With the invention of the laser, 3-dimensional objects were then able to be made and the technique was first discovered in 1962 by two sets of teams – one in Soviet Russia led by Yuri Denisyuk and in the US, led by Juris Upatnieks.

Article provided by MaverickLabel.com, offering quality hologram stickers.

The initial holograms required illumination using the polarized light provided by a laser which severely restricted the use of the hologram.  With the development of “Rainbow Transmission” holograms, ordinary white-light sources could be used to create the 3-dimensional replication and this opened the door to using holograms in everyday life.  The holograms you see on credit cards and as security tags on product packaging are of this type.  The rainbow transmission technique uses a surface print on a plastic film which is then backed by an aluminum mirror-coating to provide the backlight source of illumination – this is what creates the 3-dimensional image appear.

A refinement of the rainbow transmission hologram is the “reflection” or “Denisyuk” hologram.  Here a multi-color image is reproduced and a white-light source from the same side of the viewer is only needed – this removes the need for the backlight coating which increases the cost of producing the hologram.

While static 3-dimensional images can be reproduced on a 2-dimensional medium, the science fiction concept of a 3-dimensional image being projected into a space is not yet with us.  The ability to replicate a 3-dimensional image into a space holds a lot of attraction for television and film but while plenty of effort has been going into creating a 3-dimensional viewing experience, the reality is that this holographic development is still science fiction and not science fact.  The 2008 holographic projection of CNN reporter Jessica Yellin during the Presidential elections last year may have given the impression of a hologram projection into space but in fact there was a merging of a video feed from the reporter which was then combined with the video feed created in the studio.  In other words, it was a cheat, but still gave a good indication of the possibility of 3-d holographic movies and television may be able to bring to the movie theater or your living room within the next few years.

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Let’s face it: these days everyone wants attention for their company products and services. But if you’d like to have the advantage on your side – check out custom hologram stickers. You can easily add a hologram label to your product that customers won’t be able to look away from.

Not every product on the shelves has an attractive label – and many products just don’t have the up-to-the moment hologram label. Adding a hologram label gives your product a very “now” look that is perfect for the latest products, especially for youth-oriented products.

There’s a lot of competition out there on the shelves when a customer goes shopping. An attractive label makes a customer stop a few extra seconds to check your product out, see what it’s about. A hologram label is not something you see everyday – it’s unique and special because it is very of-the-moment.

Hologram labels can be customized to many sizes. Whether your product is large or small, a custom hologram label can be attractively designed to catch a customer’s eye and call attention to your product.

There’s nothing like a hologram label available today. The rainbow shimmers of the hologram label as it shines under the light. Customers love to roll your product back and forth, watching the label change color – as they learn more about your product and notice your cool label. “Hey, this product must be really cool if the label is this cool,” That’s what they’re thinking!