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3rd April 2008

Private Label Drinking Water and Event Planning

Events are an important part of corporate life. A well planned event can forcefully convey a clear corporate message and engage participants in the respective corporate culture.

Most companies and organizations hold events for a number of reasons. Company picnics, holiday parties, new product introductions, sales and planning meetings and annual shareholder’s meetings are but a few of the occasions that mark milestones of the organization. These meetings require detailed planning and resources and many organizations elect to utilize specialists in managing events.

Event planning is a complex undertaking with the coordination of vendor delivery schedules and maintaining critical timeline requirements. In addition to the logistics involved in planning the meeting most planners develop a theme that captures the essence and intent of the meeting. The theme adds continuity and acts as a reminder of the event for the future.

The Value of the Theme

A common theme brings participants together and allows the event organizers to convey a strong message about the event. The theme is usually expressed in communication and promotional material and documents related to the event. Effective communication of the theme is critical to the success of the event. Since there are a variety of themes to choose from for any event, care must be taken to select the best theme for the occasion and to properly communicate the theme to the audience.

Promotional Items and Quality Communication

The theme is an important element of communications. A quality message, consistent with the overall theme message of the company, is required for effective communication. One aspect of communication is the use of personalized promotional items, effective banners and unique giveaways. These items can be designed to impart an effective message and the use of high quality personalized giveaways creates a lasting impression and reinforces the event theme.

Private Label Drinking Water as an Effective Promotional Item

Private label drinking water is an ideal and powerful way to promote an event theme. Essentially private labeling allows businesses to design and develop a label with a custom message and theme and attach that label to a bottle of healthy drinking water. A result of this process is the creation and promotion of a clear message that is tailored to the event

Because of the immediate and permanent nature of the bottled water product, consumable advertising is created that leaves a lasting message in the mind of the event participant.

Some of the benefits of private labeled water include:

A high-quality, effective and custom message.

Messages can be modified to reflect events like corporate meetings, new product introductions and promotions.

Individual users often carry the water with them and the event message is further extended and promoted.

Pure water is popular and universally accepted as contributing to good health. The message of the private label effectively reaches more prospects as use grows.

Effective cost is low and response to the event message is immediate.

Consumable, portable advertising creates a lasting message and impression.

What to Look for in a Private Label Water Supplier

There are a number of private label water suppliers but they vary widely in the quality of their product offerings. There are three areas to investigate when choosing a supplier:

1. Quality of Water

Events with a large number of participants require proper hydration with water of the highest quality. High quality water in terms of health and taste is also critical for the acceptance of the theme and event message. If the water is low quality or tastes bad then the message will fail. The best quality water on the market today is purified using a distillation/ filtration/ oxygenation process that removes all impurities, including all bacteria, and creates a light, refreshing taste. For more information on purified water visit http://www.ElementH2O.com

2. Quality of Label Design and Production

The label is the message part of the product and poor-quality labels send a poor-quality message. Production of a poor-quality label is a waste of money and adversely affects the message and theme.

It is very important to know that the vast majority (almost all) of the private label opportunities in this country come from water resellers (not bottlers) with desktop-model “thermal” (or “thermal wax”) printing devices with a quality level that cannot compare well to even consumer-grade inkjet printing devices widely available for less than $200 at your local electronics store. These label printers are very cheap in both quality and cost, typically ranging from $10-20k depending on configuration, and are widely used throughout the private label water industry because of their low cost.

In sharp contrast, a quality label, i.e., one that looks like a top-shelf brand that you might find in your local gourmet grocery store, needs to be produced with professional-quality equipment using professional-grade printing equipment. There are three types of printing equipment that can produce a high-quality label.

1. Rotary offset lithography;
2. Flexography; and
3. High-quality digital presses.

For most smaller runs (under about 10,000 units), digital equipment offered by Heidelberg or HP is the most cost effective solution, but instead of $10-20k, the minimum equipment costs for these professional solutions range from $750k to $1.25M per station.

These facts are very important to understand when choosing a private label bottler because those who sell low-quality labels would have you believe that nothing better is available because of the short runs required by private label customers. Nothing could be further from the truth.

In order to succeed, your label must be professionally designed and produced with high-quality materials using a printing process that renders a high-quality result. Waterproof lamination is also required for long lasting labels. This is easily achieved for an affordable unit cost using the right equipment for the job.

3. Quality of Customer Service

The design and production of private labeled drinking water is complex and requires intense interaction between the customer and supplier. Communication and a culture of customer service excellence is a prerequisite to the creation of an effective theme message and a successful event. Without a significant commitment to customer service on the part of the supplier, the impact of the theme message will fail.

Choose a quality supplier to help develop and communicate your message and to create success for the corporate event.

Jon M. Stout is the Chairman of the board for Element H2O, a bottler in Chantilly, Virginia offering only Ultra Pure bottled water products and private label opportunities for small and large businesses in all 50 states and Canada.

Element H2O’s clients include a wide array of businesses in the health and fitness and hospitality industries, including martial arts studios, fitness centers, gyms, private trainers, physical therapy clinics, sports medicine clinics, large and small hotels, day spas, restaurant chains, catering companies, and many others.

Visit the ElementH2O web site at http://ElementH2O.com

You can reach Jon Stout at 1-866-4-PURITY, or by email at jon.stout@ElementH2O.com

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2nd April 2008

How to Save Money by Making Your Own Sign

In the sign industry we commonly refer to the material that the sign is made out of as the substrate. Examples include, wood, vinyl banners, aluminum, coroplast, etc. But what many customers do not realize is that they can purchase vinyl lettering or vinyl decals and apply them directly to typical substrates themselves. Translation - saving money by buying blank substrates inexpensively at local hardware stores such as Home Depot and Lowes and avoiding the prices sign companies need to charge to apply the material. Although you do pay tax by buying locally on the substrate, you can save tax on the vinyl by ordering over the internet.

What are vinyl letters and/or vinyl decals? They are letters (or images) that come prespaced according to customer specifications as words, phrases, or sentences on pre masking tape. The lettering is self adhesive and by removing the paper backing, they can be applied directly to almost any substrate, car, boat, truck, windows, snowmobiles, jet skis, vans, store fronts, etc. Make sure the surface is extremely clean and free of dust or lint. Once the lettering or decal has been aligned, simply rub over the masking covering the vinyl and then remove it. The result will be perfectly spaced lettering or a decal designed as ordered with a professional look. Most sign companies will allow you to purchase multiple lines of vinyl lettering with the spacing between the lines defined by you. You can also usually obtain a combination of vinyl lettering and images on one decal.

Another tack you may wish to consider is to have the entire sign printed on vinyl made to fit the substrate you prepurchased (with a small bleed of additional vinyl to wrap around the sides). We must caution you that this is a bit more tricky to apply than vinyl lettering, but problems can be overcome with care and some suggestions. When applying the vinyl to the substrate, remove the paper backing about two inches at a time, align, and then press or roll it on the surface. We recommend a roller for the application (roller applicator). Once the first part is properly aligned and applied, remove another two inches of the backing and proceed in this manner with the rest of the sign. Another trick is to moisten the substrate so you can move the vinyl if you accidentally align it improperly when first applied. The water prevents it from adhering permanently for a few seconds.

When you apply vinyl, it is inevitable that you will run into the “bubble” problem. Tiny bubbles of captured air will form under the vinyl. Usually these can be worked out with the roller but in some circumstances, they will remain. A blow dryer (not too hot) can be used to heat the vinyl up so that the air can be rolled out easier. Under some circumstances if the bubble is large, the vinyl can be heated and the bubble punctured with a pin (careful here - only a tiny hole is needed). Be careful not to heat the vinyl too much because it can permanently deform it.

Recently, a new product has been introduced which enables the vinyl to be adjusted if it is pressed on but incorrectly aligned. The adhesive does not seal permanently for a few hours after it is applied. The material is a bit more expensive but well worth it if you are inexperienced. Don’t feel bad. I know many sign companies that are now going to the easy stick vinyl to avoid large overhead costs caused by mistakes with the old permanent seal vinyl.

To learn more about Magnetic signs and other types of signs please visit http://designasign.blogspot.com/ To purchase Magnetis, Vinyl and just about every type of sign imaginable visit http://www.designasign.biz

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2nd April 2008

History and Usage of Tin

Tin is a chemical element located in the period table. The symbol for Tin is Sn which is derived from Tin’s Latin name, stannum. The atomic number for Tin is 50. Tin is a soft, malleable metal that resists corrosion well and can be found in a number of alloys.

History:

Tin is one of the earliest known metals, and has been used in the past as a component of bronze. As early as 3,500 BC, Tin was used in bronze implements because if its hardening effect on copper. The mining of Tin is believed to have begun around Classical times, in Cornwall and Devon. With the civilizations of the Mediterranean, a thriving Tin trade was allowed to develop. After 4000 years of Tin mining in Cornwall, the last Cornish Tin Mine was closed in 1998. Although the American Heritage Dictionary speculates that the word Tin was borrowed from a pre-Indo European language, no one is exactly sure where the word Tin originated.

The word Tin is often used improperly in modern times, as people often use it as a generic phrase for any sort of metal that is silver in color and available in thin sheets. Objects like tin foil and tin cans are actually made out of steel or aluminum, though there is a thin layer of tin in cans in an attempt to prevent rusting.

Usage:

Because Tin bonds easily, it has been used to coat lead, zinc and steel in order to prevent corrosion. Containers fashioned from steel plated with Tin are used widely for preserving food, which forms a large part of the metallic tin market. This is why cans are often called ‘Tin cans’, even when created from steel. There is always at least a small amount of tin incorporated into the metal.

Other important tin alloys include bronze, Babbitt metal, die casting alloy, phosphor bronze, pewter, soft solder, bell metal and White metal. Many of the metal pipes found in a pipe organ are created with a tin and lead alloy. Spotted metal, used in the pipes, is created when a 50%/50% alloy cools, and a mottled or spotted effect is created when the lead cools slightly faster than the Tin. The amount of tin present in organ pipes can define the pipe tone, as Tin is one of the most tonally resonant of all metal types.

Glass for windows is made using what is often called the Pilkington process, and entails floating molten hot glass atop molten hot tin, creating what is known as float glass, in order to create a perfectly flat surface. Tin is also commonly used in solders, especially in joining pipes, electric circuits, bearing alloys, glass making, and a wide variety of other applications.

Want to learn more about Tin Ceilings? Feel free to visit us at: http://www.about-tin.info/Articles/Tin_Can_Manufacturer.php

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