An Influx of Opportunities in Awards
It seems that after being socially distanced for over a year, a lot of people are ready to start getting out and participating in events again.
We have had a number of long-term event-based clients echoing the same message: Registrations and sales are up more than they expected. There always seems to be a bit of happiness and underlying stress in their eyes each time we hear this. Generally, the events and race industry use medals at their finish line to congratulate their athletes on the success of their race.
With the current market and supply issues, almost every customer has come to us stating that their medals were stuck in customs, on a boat, or just not able to come at all due to shutdowns. This is where our new opportunities come into play. Instead of just making their awards, we are now able to help them solve their medal issues and bring in multiple 400+ piece orders and turn these into reoccurring business opportunities. Race directors simply cannot have an event that doesn’t offer finisher medals, and if your business can save the day you will definitely become their hero!
The trick to making these finisher medals is being creative. Most of us do not have the ability to cast and enamel fill 400+ piece orders in-house, so we have to break the mold a bit and make something new that most of our customers haven’t seen.
Engraved acrylic with a neck ribbon is a simple, quick, and relatively easy solution that is very budget-friendly. JDS has a number of options for cost-effective neck ribbons and GS2 Awards has a large selection of acrylic sheets at low prices.
Layering materials is another great way to add more depth to the medals. If you use a ¼” thick wood backer and then layer 1/8″ wood or acrylic on top you will have a medal that has decent heft and an eye-catching depth. The top piece of material can be laser engraved or UV printed with the event logo creating the perfect event memorabilia.
The easiest way to mount the top piece of material is to add 3M 467MP adhesive transfer tape to the back of the sheet stock, then cut normally and you’ll have a top piece that is ready to adhere to the backer with no glue lines or messes. To help ensure placement, lightly scoring the outline of the top piece onto the backer helps to ensure proper placement.
Another great way to upsell the finisher medals is to turn them into awards too. Instead of having just the race logo, adding in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place helps to make the medals even more beneficial to your customer.
If you have events that are more intense or rugged, using a bottle opener designed as a finisher medal is a great way to have a functional medal. Using CerMark works well for decorating and some powder-coated options exist as well.
Utilizing your creativity and ability for quick turns will help ensure you can benefit from these great and new event-based sales opportunities!
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