Not to be insensitive here, but I just want to preempt anyone who has a wisecrack to make about Carnival Cruise Lines. The actions of one irresponsible individual (Captain) do not make for the actions and dedication of an entire organization – additionally people lost their lives so let’s keep it all in perspective.

We had the fortunate opportunity to do some fun brand merchandising work for Carnival. Here’s the low-down:

prepared for: Carnival Cruise Lines

project: Great Flip-Flop & Cruise Giveaway

idea design & development: The flip-flop contest is part of an innovative campaign called Live the Carnival Breeze Life, designed to help consumers learn more about the tropical-infused “Fun Ship” while celebrating the island mindset and incorporating the Caribbean spirit into their everyday lives.

produce & deliver: At Carnival’s Facebook fan page, 65,000 Carnival “fun-atics” entered a chance to win the coveted Golden Flip-Flops and the grand prize cruise for two. 1,000 randomly selected contestants received a pair of special, limited-edition Carnival Breeze Flip-Flops for their participation. SwervePoint provided merchandising services, kitting, fulfillment, distribution, and data analytics.

We are fully operational and open for business in The Golden State of California.

Week before last we had the opportunity to participate in a vendor event at Studio City which was really cool. We’d like to thank our friends at CBS for organizing a first class event. Nobody does it like you!!

While in LA we had some time to visit with clients, prospects, and do some merchandising in a number of the local boutiques. Fresh style abounds out here, so do Boston Bruins fans. Go B’s!

Our office is in Redondo Beach and we use LAX as our jumping off point to cover the Bay Area and Silicon Valley on a regular basis. Our merchandising and operations teams are quickly establishing supply chain and fulfillment resources in the region. Our Western Region Fulfillment Center is up and running and located in Henderson, NV.

For more information about SwervePoint’s products, services, and capabilities in the Western Region please contact Kristie McKnight at kristie.mcknight@swervepoint.com

With Fall Season premieres right around the corner for our client CBS Entertainment, we thought you could draw some inspiration from this fun show promotion!

Local CBS TV Philadelphia station The CW Philly 57 wanted to promote the new addition of Seinfeld to their show schedule. They had picked up Seinfeld to air in two time slots on weekdays, 7:30pm and 11:00pm.

To get the word out, Junior Mints with the CW Philly logo were handed out at various station events around town such as street festivals and movie screenings they were hosting. Mugs and Seinfeld hand fans were used in conjunction with a prize wheel. The environmentally responsible mugs are made in the USA from a high quality reusable/recyclable break resistant plastic, a safe offering for on-the-go promotions and good for any age. The multi-purpose hand fans will also be used during an outdoor concert series the station sponsors over the summer.

Word on the street was that the Seinfeld promotion was a big hit! To brainstorm creative ideas for your next campaign, give us a shout.

Alright so we got all dressed up and went to the big city and didn't bring home the bacon…mind you, we did have fun. Ernst & Young does a great job with this event and of course we were proud to be a finalist but frankly losing sucks. We're not really good at it either. We're gracious but not good at it. So maybe we'll take a run at it again next year or maybe not. We lost to Harpoon Brewery if you're curious. Congratulations to them, we drink Samuel Adams. See what I mean about not being good at losing? Harpoon does make great beer though. I even bought some kickin' patent leather Chuck Taylor's for the soiree. We finished off the night watching the Bruins hoist the cup while we hoisted some tequila.

CBS Radio Tampa Bay has been using some fun t-shirt designs to promote their newest station, Play 98.7 – Tampa’s newest home for adult hit music, designed for office listening.

The station promising "today's best hits, without the rap" plays music by artists such as Katy Perry, John Mayer, and Maroon 5 to name a few, which inspired the imprints featured on these cotton tees.

Using eco-friendly ink, each t-shirt was digitally screenprinted with one of three front chest imprints, as well as the Play 98.7 station logo on the lower back hip. The three front designs highlight phrases from songs by Pink, Ke$ha, and Katy Perry – paired with playful graphics intended to attract their target recipients for these shirts: female listeners in Tampa Bay.

The significance of the digital screenprint process is that water-based ink is used (eco-friendly) which is absorbed into the fabric to maintain the nice soft feel of the District Threads brand cotton shirt.

These have been a huge hit for the station! Give us a call to brainstorm creative merchandise ideas for your next promotion or event. Let us know if you have a success story to share and inspire others.

We found out the other day that we're finalists in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year awards. If Randy Jackson from American Idol was one of the judges he'd say,  "Ryan, Ryan, SwervePoint is in it to win it!"

It's definitely an honor to be recognized in this fashion and to have all three SwervePoint founders included in the award is a testament to the strength of teamwork and demonstrates that it takes more than one person to grow a great company. We have great clients, great employees, and great vendors. The formula works so we're going to just keep trying to improve it. 

According to Ernst & Young LLP, the awards program recognizes entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Award winners will be announced at a special gala event on 15 June 2011 at the Boston Renaissance Waterfront Hotel.

SwervePoint is excited to be exhibiting at the 96^th International Supply Management (ISM) Conference and Educational Exhibit this weekend in Orlando, Florida. The Exhibit Hall grand opening is at 5:00pm on Sunday, May 15^th. We will be setup in Booth 107 next to our WBENC friends.

If you are attending ISM at the Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, stop by and visit to see what fresh merchandise we will have in store. The Exhibit Hall closes at 3:00pm on Tuesday, May 17^th. Hope to see you there.

We're opening up in California in the Fall of 2011.

This is going to sound familiar

We'll have more details to share when the time comes but this is gonna be epic. California allows us to have a strategic presence on the West Coast to serve major markets and existing client operations throughout the region.

We currently support many Northeast clients' meetings and special events at swanky properties up and down the West Coast and this will give us boots (flip flops, sandals, birkenstocks) on the ground.

For more info contact Juli at juli.sinnett@swervepoint.com.

We're opening up in Florida in April. Yuh think we could have figured out how to do this in December or January?

We'll have more details to share when the time comes but this is gonna be epic. Florida allows us to have a strategic presence in the Southeast region to serve major markets and existing client operations throughout the region.

We currently support many Northeast clients' meetings and special events at swanky properties throughout the Southeast and this will give us boots (flip flops) on the ground.

For more info contact Juli at juli.sinnett@swervepoint.com.

We recently gathered for a day of education during our annual Jamboree. The day is jam packed and features departmental presentations, team and account presentations, and the past year’s financial performance.

This year one of our special presentations focused on how to become a Customer Service Star.

A few weeks back we were fortunate enough to have been invited by our client Ernst & Young to participate in a customer service training program at their offices in New York City. Our team came away completely energized by the experience. It was exactly the type of material and program we had been looking for. We’ve done the typical contrived sales training in the past but what we really wanted was an authentic and genuine platform to build the best customer experience we could.

We’ve now adopted the moniker BOOM! +1 to refer to our customer experience approach and random acts of it.

We’ll keep you updated with our progress on this front.