A Record Year for Giving

H2D Productions Presents: a Record Year for Giving

As an ongoing tradition, at the end of each year we send our clients a combined gift: a donation in their name to a given charity, paired with an inspired promotional piece that we create to enjoy all year round. This year clients received not just one but a series of mailpieces in six bimonthly installments: a lovingly-produced, super-realistic faux 45-rpm record which doubles as a calendar, complete with the yellow center adapter for easy wall hanging. The first mailing was January (Side A) and February (Side B), and so on. We selected charities for each record/calendar to parallel the story being told by our song choice.

Each record label design was inspired by the artists and songs we selected and each has a level of historical accuracy. It was important for us to represent different genres in the series to tell our story. Regarding the tactile realism of the execution: because we produce for ourselves what we are selling to our clients, we felt it mandatory to push the aesthetic to the highest level. The resulting pieces were so authentic and realistic that — we kid you not — more than one person contacted us with an issue of the record not playing properly when they had put it on their turntable and dropped the needle on it. We took that as the highest praise to all involved in creating a successful, dimensional experience!

*** Click the thumbnails below to see the collection and read the individual charity pairings ***

“How2Design proudly welcomes you to the first installment of our Record Calendar Series: a unique six-part mailing that brings you a collection of music-inspired design, for use and enjoyment all year round. Each piece has a flipside, so it stays in rotation for two months, then you can look forward to new hits to come… But with H2D, there’s always more! As accompaniment for each piece in the set, we are continuing our agency’s important tradition of goodwill by making donations in your name to six different charitable causes throughout the year. This year, we chose multiple causes to illustrate the strength and impact of long-term planning — just as you should consider H2D for your immediate and ongoing communication needs. Hang your calendar with joy, and we look forward to hearing from you soon!”

Mohawk Fine Papers, the company that manufactures the sheet used on the promotion, caught news of our mailing and decided to cover the story for their national, consumer-facing blog Felt&Wire. Pam Williams of Felt&Wire sat down with Principal and Creative Director Noemi Zelanski Kearns of Ink&Pixel (formerly How2Design) and they had the following to say about the piece…

F&W: Noemi, you’ve always done great promotions for How2Design. One of my favorite was your clock, which still hangs in my office. Tell everyone about your important tradition of giving back.
NZK: I feel very fortunate to be able to do what I do, and to work with the people I work with. I try to appreciate that each day. At the close of each year, we reflect on all that we have been able to accomplish and feel it is time to recognize the clients who make that possible … and to help those less fortunate through charitable giving.
F&W: Clocks, basketball hoops, t-shirts, mirrors. Doesn’t this get rather expensive?
NZK: It’s an investment in the business. In terms of marketing budgets we are able to maximize the ROI, just like we do for our clients. What you produce reflects your corporate brand and image. We produce what we are selling to our clients. And that isn’t the cheap “down-and-dirty” “just get it out there” solutions.
F&W: This year, your six-part mailing is rather unique. Recipients have received the first of six installments.
Please tell us about it.
NZK: In the past, we’ve created a single gift for our clients. In terms of marketing it was an extremely soft sell. We felt strongly this year we needed a solution that was also a more apparent marketing piece. Originally our plan was to send the entire year at one time and have the recipients receive the entire “collection.” Strategically we realized if would have more impact if we were to reach our audience multiple times throughout the year.
F&W: You’ve done so many dimensional mailings over the year ... why the shift to 2-D?
NZK: We don’t consider this 2-D. It’s a flat mailing, but it certainly has dimension. That is the magic of print technique.
F&W: I opened the first record, and I found myself humming “Gotta get you into my life.”
Why did you start off with the Beatles on Side A?
NZK: I grew up listening to Beatles albums. We wanted to start with something iconic. A song people would respond to — that would get a reaction even if you never played a 45. For the young guns the Beatles had just been introduced on iTunes. We felt it was a timeless choice. We wanted to begin the year with a push; the song selection is our sell.
F&W: Didn’t the Beatles record for Capitol? Was that intentional? Is your design an authentic reproduction?
NZK: It is always very important for us to do our homework. If we were going to create 45s we wanted to honor the medium. We did a lot of research into the history of records, record labels and artists. It was challenging to narrow down. Each label design is influenced by the actual label and every artist was on the label (at some point in their career) they are shown on. We wanted different genres, but for a marketing piece it was mandatory to tell a story with the song selection. For those who are looking there is always a reward.
F&W: OK, fess up. How’d you get the solid black, dull edge on the side of the record? That is absolute perfection, Noemi!
NZK: Thank you. For us it wasn’t a choice, it was mandatory. You can’t go part way on a job like this. What was going to pull it off was the finishing. Cannelli hand-painted the edges with black calligraphy ink.
F&W: Was this project tough to proof? The fine line embossing looks like it was a challenge.
NZK: It was a challenge. But we love challenges. And we knew that Cannelli could pull it off. We knew that once we put down the Aqueous Coating there was no turning back. There was a lot of back and forth preflight on amount of grooves, space in between the grooves and line weight, and that was before we even released the job, then we played with pressure and how the sheet and ink responded.
F&W: Anything you learned during the production process?
NZK: Double the amount of time in the schedule for the unknown.
F&W: On the sleeve of the calendar, you say that the paper was made from “sustainably managed forests ... “ How important is it for you to not only specify sustainable papers, but to communicate that you are doing so as well?
NZK: We want to lead by example. You can’t expect other people to make changes you aren’t making yourself. I want our clients to know that we are not just selling Mohawk and their sustainable platform to them, but we are making these choices whenever possible on all of our own work as well.
F&W: Do you expect to get new business as a result of this? Or more new projects like this one?
NZK: It is always our intention to grow the business. The reason we created a gift with a heavier sell this year was to illustrate to our clients that marketing and communications can be fun and unexpected and still sell. Sell better in my opinion. In a time when people are pulling back, creating more communications electronically or through social media, the power of paper is even greater. To create something for your audience to respond to, to touch, and turn-over and react to in a way that can only be through a tactile experience is very special. And powerful.