HBC helps Cowichan Knitters — better late than never.

I wrote a post a few weeks ago about the new HBC Olympic Wear and I (mistakenly) made reference to the “Cowichan” sweaters that I thought were so nice.  Turns out they weren’t actual sweaters sourced from Cowichan Knitters.  Too bad.  That post got the most reads ever in one day for my little blog (80) and some interesting comments.

Dianne Hinkley shows off a genuine Cowichan Tribes sweater. (CBC)

The HBC verison of Cowichan Sweater

In the comments section I offered this advice: If I had been HBC I definetely would have ensured real Cowichan Sweaters were available in store as well as the less expensive, more readily available knock-off version.  Thankfully the brains at HBC/VANOC were thinking along the same lines and now VANOC has announced that a license has been granted to Cowichan knitters and that exclusive product will be available through HBC and presumably some other retail locations.  Well done. Do they come in 2XL? For a fuller story on the Cowichan Olympic license see the Vancouver Sun coverage here.

Hollywood North Goes Green with 100 Mile Swag

As a major cultural and business force in California, Toronto and Vancouver, Hollywood has long been committed to Greening its business practices.  Kudos to them.  It’s hard to miss Ed Begley Jr. or Discovery Channel’s commitment to covering Hollywood green issues.  As a small business here in Vancouver I’ve helped as much as possible to make the Crew Gifts practice (celebrating and thanking TV & Movie crews post-production) as Green as possible.

One of the easiest practices is to source 100-Mile Swag — products made, warehoused, decorated and/or delivered within a 100 Mile radius of the TV or Movie production.  I spoke briefly about it in an August 2009 Post in this blog. But as today is Blog Action Day 2009 I felt it was time to say it again.

Producers on such films as Percy Jackson and the Olympians and the A-Team (remake of venerable 1980s TV series) continue to ask for Metal Water bottles so they can reduce waste on set.  We’ve shipped over 5,000 of these bottles to different productions in the past 18 months.  All the bottles are warehoused and decorated in Vancouver, total shipping distance less than 20 miles.

Another great example is that we were contacted by one of the biggest movies in the world (sorry can’t name it at this point, still in production).  They had found in our online catalogue a great Umbrella they wanted 700 units of.  The warehouse was in Montreal requiring a 2300 Mile shipment.  With a little digging I found the EXACT same model at Vancouver Umbrella and the producer was very happy to use a local source.  Total shipment: 10 miles.

At Patterson Brands we will continue to work with Hollywood North and our clients to make the swag sourcing practice as green as possible.  Ask us if you’d like help on 100-Mile swag.  To see more Hollywood productions we’ve worked with see this post from 2009.

Disclosure: so many consumer and b-2-b products are made overseas currently so true 100-Mile sourcing is difficult.  Many of the products discussed here did originate in Asian factories and are warehoused in North America.  In this global economic context we are committed to working as green as possible.

Ogio Brainbucket Safety for yer Laptop | 12seconds.tv (beta)

Do you have a favorite travel bag, or duffel bag or even large briefcase that isn’t setup to carry a laptop? Then add a simple laptop sleeve and presto you have safety for your baby (laptop). And right now I have access to over 500 of these amazing Ogio Brainbucket laptop protectors. I can offer this amazing bag for $18 blank and $22 with your logo embroidered. 12 units minimum order (with logo) 6 units min order blank. We accept Visa, MC and Cheque. Here’s a quick video demo:

more about “Ogio Brainbucket Safety for yer Lapto…“, posted with vodpod

HBC Launches Awesome Canadian Olympic Uniforms — Finally!

Just about four years ago I got a letter from the Vancouver Organizating Committee for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games (VANOC) advising that Roots Canada (my former employer) was not the successful proponent in a competition to outfit Team Canada from 2006 thru 2012.  It was not to be.  The Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) had won the rights to outfit Canada.

Obviously it so easy to be an armchair quarterback BUT as I watched what HBC did through the Games of 2006 and 2008 I was worried. I saw in-store promotions at HBC that lacked the excitement and energy I thought they deserved. And, the Canadian uniforms for both 2006 and 2008 Beijing Games seemed to be an acquired taste.

It was with extreme interest that I was watching for the launch today of the 2010 Canadian Team Uniforms.  I got a teaser last night on CBC Dragon’s Den – HBC bought some 30 second spots and they were excellent.  The tone, music, historical imagery and finally the quick teaser of the apparel – terrific! My favorite was the Cowichan Sweater which kudos to HBC is a mainstay of Canadian winter wear.  You can see the 30 second spot here (I tried to embed the YouTube link but it no workie) http://vancouver2010.hbc.com/

Now with the official launch of the uniforms this morning at HBC’s downtown Vancouver store (I did not attend) and their online store going live http://store.hbc.com/ I have had a chance to look at a broader range of the product.  Beautiful! Well done.  Congratulations to the Canadian Olympic Committee, the Athletes and HBC.  I’ll proudly wear this product at the 2010 Games.

Who’s Thanking Your Customers?

The other night I was leaving Me ‘N Eds Pizza (http://www.me-n-eds.ca/) with a takeout pizza pie and I passed one of their delivery delivery drivers getting out of his car.  “Thanks for being our customer,” he said as we walked by.

It was such a rare occurance in this modern world that I was dumbfounded for a second.  As a customer you will often be acknowledged by front line customer service representative (if you’re lucky) but as for other employees within an organization – good luck!

But here was a driver, someone who didn’t even have to acknowledge me, thanking me for being a customer. He obviously “gets it.”  He understands that while I may not be directly putting a tip into his pocket, my patronage means that in some small way his organization can operate for another day.

Too many businesses have forgotten this.  They outsource or downsource their customer service to a specific department (its even called Customer Service Dept.) but fail to remember that EVERY team member is responsible for generating customer service on a minute to minute basis.

There is a huge sector of government and non-profit organizations that NEVER thank their customers.  One department here in Canada has the paradoxical title “Service Canada” http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/home.shtml

Guess what?  Without our tax dollars, questions, forms filled out, requests and objections you don’t have a job.  Why don’t you try thanking customers instead of ignoring them, abusing them and general indifference.

When was the last time you thanked your customers?  How do you do it?  Who thanks them? What levels of the organization give thanks?

That’s one amazing aspect of the current economy, I’ve never had so many “Presidents” of this and that company personally calling me to thank me for my business.  To the President, Manager, receptionist and driver:  You all are welcome.

If you need help saying thanks to your customers, ask us how.

The Power of Chocolate

I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising: the power of chocolate. I mean they made a whole movie about it where a lovely single mother falls for a vagabond Johnny Depp, so there must be something powerful about Chocolat.

I saw this power firsthand last week (and the power of Canada Post). I made this chocolates for my own promotion and am happy to report they fall into the 100-Mile Swag category having been made in Blaine WA, and shipped by ground to me in Vancouver. Cheap and easy.

On Thursday I wrote a personal card to a prospect and attached a chocolate bar. I popped it in the mail Thursday at about 4pm so I guess it was picked up by Canada Post on their regular route at 5pm. At 10am the NEXT DAY I got an email from the prospect thanking me for the beautiful chocolate and asking for a quote on 200 Hooded Sweatshirts for their staff gift. A possible contract worth more than $6K. Great news and another testament to the power of SWAG.

Awesome Ogio Bags go on Sale

I’ve loved seeing customers enjoy these Ogio bags for the past 4 years.  There is nothing finer than a well made bag with proper zippers, strong construction and cool designs.  All of these bags can be customized with a company or personal logo.Check these out and don’t hesitate to call or write for more info (rich at pattersonbrands.com or 604-737-7483)

Hollywood North threatened by ON Tax programme

We love working with major motion picture and television productions and Vancouver is a great place to do it.  B.C. has a reputation for producing great major features, television pilots, movies of the week and regular television shows.

Since 1999 Patterson Brands has been fortunate to work with some of the best.  Here in picture format are some of our favorite movies and television productions we’ve worked with in the past 12 months (plus one really oldy but goodie) and the products they chose.

On a serious note, the B.C. Government has not yet matched extensive tax credit program that Ontario provides to the production industry.  This threatens our competitive level and may result in production companies choosing Ontario over B.C. (one already has moved their staff).  Beyond the Actors, producers, directors and crew, these productions provide valuable business to a host of building landlords, caterers, equipment renters and swag providers like me.  B.C. Government, please consider how you can keep our place as a go-to location strong.

To find out how to bring that Hollywood swag glamour to your organization please don’t hesitate to call or write rich [at] pattersonbrands.com or 604-737-7483

Have you been Waylan Wong’d today? Cust Serv in the age of denial.

In 1999 my wife and I moved from Toronto to Vancouver.  She had just graduated from Chiropractic College and I transitioned into an almost fully commissioned sales role. Hence we had NO money. We were living paycheque to paycheque and were blindsided at the bank when we tried to cash a commission cheque from one of Canada’s largest companies.

The teller said very plainly that the bank policy was to hold cheques for 14 days.  We didn’t have enough money to last 14 hours, let alone days!  I asked to see the Bank manager and was introduced quickly to a young man named Waylan Wong.  He looked at the cheque, asked a few simple questions then exclaimed, “We’ll put a note on your account for this and all future company cheques to be cleared immediately.”  Cool! No, “I’ll have to call head office,” or “that’s not our policy here.”  Just a simple decision made that made a huge impact on our lifestyle.=

Since then we have used with affinity Waylan’s name as a synonym for awesome service as in “I got Waylan Wong’d today at the Mall.”

I assert that there is not nearly enough simple, reasonable customer service delivered now.  Too many rules and layers of decision makers.  I hate having to threaten service delivery providers and get transferred all over a company just to get a simple decision.  Another bank totally screwed up an international transfer for me, kept me 1.25 hours for the simple transaction, caused me a $25 parking ticket AND still charged me the regular $45 transfer.  No one in the bank could approve a charge reversal.  I was told to contact the Bank Ombudsperson to file a complaint (which no one ever resolved, thanks BMO).

So, in summary.  Here’s a call for more Waylan Wong style service – our commitment at Patterson Brands to deliver Waylan Wong service all the time.  No questions, no hesitations.  Reasonable, fast, accurate customer service all the time.  Call or email us to get Waylan Wong’d yourself. (If anyone knows where Waylan is, pls forward this to him).

Shots ring out for Olympic Sponsors & Schwag

Olympic partners and sponsors just got a shot across the bow concerning the timelines required for them to order and receive schwag (uniforms, gifts, premiums) before the February 2010 Olympic Games.

We just passed the 6 month mark on the countdown clock for the Olympic Games and Olympic sponsors are running out of  time!  One Olympic licensee (apparel manufacturer) told me in a phone interview that the ability to order custom merchandise from overseas factories has PASSED.  Now that it is September they cannot deliver goods before the games.

Luckily for most sponsors there is Olympic Licensed merchandise in Canadian warehouses for them to draw from.  Or, I believe that more and more Olympic sponsors are turning to non-licensed merchandise.  The City of Vancouver recently awarded a contract to a Vancouver based swag company for 1,000 jackets and the City chose a jacket, not from Olympic licensees Elevate/Trimark or Sunice but from Burnaby based non-licensee Stormtech.  Seems odd to me, but I don’t write these rules.  I just try to play within them!

Patterson Brands is ready to help with your Olympic schwag. If you are an Olympic partner or sponsor we can source product for you.  If you are a non-Olympic partner or sponsor we can help.  We have dozens of official Olympic licensees we can draw from and many non-licensees with beautiful product too.  We complete orders from start to finish with decoration (embroidery, screenprinting, etc) although there are severe restrictions for logo useage so let’s discuss to manage expectations.  Please don’t hesitate to contact us, the sooner the better.