AC TALK

Unique Promotional Solutions for the World’s Most Important Business . . . YOURS!

producing the “stair-step” edges you will see in pixel-based (raster) images. Vector art adapts to the resolution of any output device and is consid-ered to be resolution independent. This art is pro-duced by programs like Illustrator®, FreeHand® and CorelDRAW®.

Raster Artwork: Artwork and images that are defined by a checkerboard pattern, similar to viewing mosaic tiles. Raster images are limited by the number of pixels and can’t be enlarged without producing noticeably jagged, stair-stepped edges. They’re produced by digital cameras and scanners, and can also be created by programs like PhotoShop® and PHOTO-PAINT (among others).

Spot Color: Solid, generally flat fields of color. Used for silk-screening where a printer can lay down several solid areas of color to produce multi-colored artwork; also used to identify additional colors in a four-color process file or print job.

Color Space: Refers to the use of color in an imprint or graphic file. This is defined for our purposes as spot color, no color, RGB or CMYK.

RGB: Colors defined as a combination of three colors – red, green and blue – to produce millions of other colors; often referred to as four-color process.

Resolution: The measurement of quality (pix-el-per-inch in file or dots-per-inch in output). Low-resolution images may be as low as 72 dpi (or less). High-resolution images may be as high as 600 dpi (or more).

- Deborah Clark

Vol. 115 No. 36 September 3, 2010

Artwork and imprint methods have greatly evolved over the past decade. Detailed logos and full-color graphics have replaced the straight-line type and simple fonts used on promotional products for years. Knowing some of the common artwork terms and definitions will help you guide and edu-cate clients when preparing artwork to be used on products they’re purchasing. Getting good qual-ity artwork up front helps eliminate questions or delays and allows for the best imprint possible. Remember, too, the Bankers Art Department is available to help with creative ideas and layouts.

Useful Terms

Vector Artwork: Artwork that stores math-ematical information about shapes and lines is called vector. This can be scaled easily without

Understanding art terminology

CHRISTINE HANKE

MARTHA HOOK

TOP VOLUME

SHARON DENNIS

DARRELL SINCLAIR

TIM CHAMBERLIN

FRED BARNES

GAYLORD MAURER

ANN PARKER, CAS

DIANNA WHITCOMB

HELEN ROELLE

SHARON GUYETTE, MAS

DANIEL PELPHREY

BRUCE SHAY &BECKIE LUTZENKIRCHEN

GLENDA STORMES-BICE, MAS

NUMBER OF ORDERS

BRUCE SHAY &BECKIE LUTZENKIRCHEN 40

TIM CHAMBERLIN 26

SHARON DENNIS 23

DARRELL SINCLAIR 20

FRED BARNES 13

GLENDA STORMES-BICE, MAS 12

DIANNA WHITCOMB 12

NICK CILEK 11

PHYLLIS HODGES 11

BILL SMITH 10

GAYLORD MAURER 9

CAMELLIA TOBIN 9

MARK JOHNSON met with a bank client to finalize details of the firm’s calendar requirements for five locations. A total of 2,800 Good Value “Landscapes of America” Calendars will be drop-shipped to the branches. In addition, 100 imprinted Numo Bank Bags will be produced to replenish this bank customer’s supply.

DARWIN JOHNSON is supplying a service club with 500 of the Hit #727 Small Discus for an event coming up in September. And a law office reordered BAC #1840 American Portraits Desk Calendars to maintain prominent advertising space on the desks of their key clients. DARWIN met with his buyer at an irrigation systems service to help her select gifts for the firm’s customers. Among the items chosen were several featured at a recent Bankers Fall Gift meeting that DARWIN attended: 250 Bay State #K210 Double Duty Silicone Spatulas, 500 M-I Line #6121 Silicone Spatulas and 250 of the #1036 World’s Best Pizza Cutters.

BILL SMITH contacted four customers and collected 10 orders, all for fourth-quarter promotions or gifting. A credit union chose 250 of the Adva-Lite #5542 Blaze Flashlights for a main gift item and added 250 lip balms and 250 Evans Soda Capz to add to the gift packages. A bank liked Bill’s suggestion of Gold Bond #OFKR Oval Flashlight Key Rings and Beacon Magnum Clips, requesting 250 and 500, respectively. And BILL’S buyer has made the M-I Line #1036 Pizza Cutter a bank favorite, ordering another 500 units because customers keep asking for them. An abstract service loves the BAC #9711 Memo Books and ordered 500. For year-end gifting, the firm will be giving cheese slicer/servers. And the fourth client, a mutual insurance agency, will be giving 12 Maple Ridge Farms Beech Pencil Cup food gifts to key commercial clients and 40 Hit Fleece Blankets to residential customers to show appreciation for their continued loyalty.

- John Sunstrum

BAC/Tru sales surpass $1 millionBankers sales partners have collectively exceeded $1 million in sales of BAC/Tru Art products in 2010. The million-dollar mark was achieved in early August, a week earlier than the same level was reached in 2009.

A total of 117 Bankers representatives posted more than 600 orders to amass the dollar total, yielding one of the largest average order figures (nearly $1,700) in the industry – and the total included several smaller sales of the #9711 Memo Book.

Five sales people posted nearly half of the year-to-date total. Jack Griffith, Trent Poage and Charlie Kolkmeier each contributed numbers in excess of $100,000. Here are the top five contributors, each with sales of at least $38,000:

Jack Griffith Trent Poage Charlie Kolkmeier Nick Cilek Ann Parker

Each of them recognizes the tremendous income opportunity that comes from selling BAC/Tru Art products, plus they enjoy the Bankers Advantage bonuses.

PAUL AASENBILL ABBOTTLORI ALBERTS FRANKIE ALLENFRED BARNES *AL BROOKSJUDY CANTONITIM CHAMBERLIN *NICK CILEK *SHARON DENNIS *PAUL DUPUISASHLEY GERST

SHARON GUYETTE, MAS *CHRISTINE HANKEPHYLLIS HODGES MARTHA HOOKMARK JOHNSONGENE KENNEDYCHARLIE KOLKMEIER JOHN MANNIONGAYLORD MAURER *BOB McINTYREMARGEE MICHAELISANN PARKER, CAS

DANIEL PELPHREY *SCOTT PETTIS TRENT POAGE *HELEN ROELLE *DARREL SCHWEITZERBRUCE SHAY & BECKIE LUTZENKIRCHEN *DARRELL SINCLAIR *BILL SMITH *DEREK SMITH KIRBY SOFFER, MASGLENDA STORMES-BICE, MAS *

BRIAN STOTTLEMYERTERRY TAYLORCAMELLIA TOBIN *VIC VOIGTJANEY WALL SHIRLEY WENDLINGDIANNA WHITCOMB *VICKI WILKENSHOFFHENRY WISDOM *Real Grand

Norwood Writing (#88390): Please dis-continue sales of the Element Pen, #55210. Stock has been totally depleted and the Element won’t be available again until late

November. As a replacement, we suggest the Blair pen from Cedar Crest Line.

Molenaar is currently running low on items fea-tured in the Fall Gift Meeting booklet. Both the #6121 Silicone Spatula and #6122 Slotted Silicone Spatula are out of stock, and there are only 600 pieces of the #6120 Silicone spoon left. They do not anticipate getting more stock before December 1. Bankers recommends not selling these items without first contacting your sales manager.

The Bankers home office loves to applaud your orders! Here are the most recent “sales worth clapping for,” valued at $3,000 or more:

JACK ASBURY earned a round of applause for his sale of 864 caps from Hit, Otto Caps and Vitronic – all deco-rated at BAC Embroidery. The order was for a car dealership and totaled $4,140.

We pulled out the clapper for BARB DAVIS, who sold 500 of the #6103 Triumph Calendars from Norwood to a rental com-pany in a $3,500 deal.

DAN ZITELMAN earned applause for his $5,585 order from a speed shop for 350 custom banners from BAC Promotional Graphics.

We got excited over TRENT POAGE’s two recent “clappers.” TRENT sold six orders of 4,224 Sabina tumblers to an oil company, totaling $5,674 each! He also had us clapping for his $5,014 sale of paper-weights to a public utility company.

NICK CILEK sold 3,000 BIC Citation pens to a manufacturer to promote a new logo. The order totaled $5,500 and was heartily hailed when it reached the home office.

There was also noisy recognition for ANN PARKER, CAS and her $5,400 sale of 10,000 BIC Clic Stic pens to an alumni association. ANN got us cheering again with a $10,000 order of 1,500 t-shirts to a biotechnol-ogy research company.

We saluted LORI ALBERTS with applause when she sold 2,300 custom calendars from BAC Calendars

Sales worth clapping for! to a bank in a $4,900 transaction.

SCOTT PETTIS sent in several clap-per-sized orders recently. He sold $4,800 worth of umbrellas from Peerless Umbrella and $3,200 of Starline cooler bags to a hospital. We cheered again when SCOTT secured a $3,500 calen-dar order from a tire company.

GAYLORD MAURER warranted applause for a reorder of planners for $3,000 to a credit union.

We got the clappers shaking again for HELEN ROELLE following her large sales to an insurance company. HELEN sold 1,000 containers of seeded paper confetti, 500 Sweda journal books and 1,000 Gold Bond Varsity tumblers, booking more than $7,500 in total volume!

FRED BARNES received cheers for his clapper order of 1,440 Hit caps totaling $6,120 to a materi-als company.

AC TALK

Unique Promotional Solutions for the World’s Most Important Business . . . YOURS!

Don’t say BOO to Halloween sales• Note Worthy offers several stock design

bags plus an assortment of coloring books that make great non-candy treats to hand out.

• Pencils make great Halloween treats. There are many styles and colors to suggest, from suppliers Gold Bond, Norwood Writing, Shepenco and more. Don’t forget Lar Lu

has many stock shape erasers that could be added on to any order for pencils.

• Beechies Gum, Taylor & Grant, and Hospitality Mint all offer individually wrapped candies for buyers searching for sweet treats.

Your best clients are proven buy-ers for Halloween items. Banks, credit unions, auto dealers, day-care centers, medical facilities, res-taurants and retail stores are among

the top users of Halloween-themed promotional products.

Take advantage of the popularity of Halloween to increase sales. The “spooky” event offers every client the chance to intertwine their mar-keting with a large and popular community event. Don’t say “boo” to Halloween. Treat yourself to extra sales!

Halloween generates huge retail sales and ranks as the second biggest con-sumer holiday, behind only Christmas. Halloween is also the third largest party occasion after New Year’s and the Super Bowl. It is estimated that two-thirds

of grown-ups will participate in a Halloween party this year. More candy is sold for Halloween than Valentine’s Day, and over 40 million kids will trick or treat this year.

Are you selling promotional products in tune with Halloween? If not, perhaps NOW is the time to start.

Why this is important to you

The opportunity to help clients be involved in community events and promote safety helps them generate community good-will. You have many products to $ell! Here are just a few:

• The BAC Calendar line has one of the best items for getting long term exposure: the #9711 Memo Book is low cost and appreciated by all age groups.

• Ariel Premium offers several stress reliever shapes, including a skull, brain and three pumpkin styles, all perfect for a Halloween theme.

• Bag Makers has many stock Halloween designed bags.