Strategy

Customize Desk Pads for the Perfect Message

Whatever detail, message or design your client has in mind can be delivered when you work with the experienced designers and printers at ModernLine.

Desk pads and wall calendars are a long-time tradition that even today’s technology hasn’t replaced, particularly in schools, factories and distribution facilities. They’re a tradition that ModernLine and its parent company, Kurtz Bros., has carried on and perfected for 86 years. Today, this U.S. manufacturer and Union factory can customize desk pads to meet your clients’ every need.

It offers a large selection of desk pad calendars – 28 styles in all. “Some of our most popular are our long-time standard style 9012 and our new version, the 9014,” says Melissa Timko, advertising director at ModernLine. Both are a standard size of 22 inches x 17 inches, 12 sheets and run January through December. American and Canadian holidays are noted on the calendars. Styles include either a 13-month revolving reference calendar or a 12-month reference calendar. They’re printed on 70-lb. bright paper. “We offer options like leatherette or vinyl corners and vinyl headers that can be stamped,” Timko continues. “We also have a standard specialty Bid-Master® desk pad calendar (also available as a wall calendar) with unique working-day features for computing completion dates, which are great for the construction site office.”

You can customize any of these choices with special ink colors, additional information or special starting months. For instance, academic year desk pad calendars can run from August of the current year to July of the following year. You can completely design your own desk pad calendar or modify a standard desk pad calendar to fit your client’s needs. “Distributors often approach us with a first-time client who had their calendar printed in years past by another supplier,” Timko says. “Their client wants that exact layout and isn’t willing to consider a change to one of our standards. They can provide us with a physical sample but little, if any, of the digital artwork. Our customer service will work with that distributor to get the necessary information for our skilled and experienced art department. Our artists take that calendar and duplicate it to the best of their ability. Many hours of design and proofreading are involved before the first PDF proof is sent, resulting in the exact look the customer requires. Our art department and factory can deliver a high-quality product done to their customer’s specifics, which effectively creates a repeat customer for the distributor.”

Customize Desk Pads for the Perfect Message

You’ll also find many other compelling products that can be sold to your clients for office use or trade shows and conferences. “While we’re known for our desk pad and wall calendars, we also offer memo books and notebooks,” Timko says. “For several years now, our most popular item and biggest seller is our style SSMB – a saddle-stapled memo book. At 3 x 5 inches, it’s a great handout that can fit in a pocket, purse or bag. It’s 32 sheets/64 ruled pages with four-color printing on the outside front and back cover, all for a very low price. It’s a very economical and useful product.”

ModernLine supports distributors with a variety of services like free spec sketches and samples and a first free digital proof. There are 23 standard PMS colors to choose from, plus four-color printing is available. “We offer a large variety of dated and paper products, and we’re happy to work with a distributor to customize the product for their client,” Timko adds.

When you present these products to your clients, stress that they’re ideal for office use. Wall calendars are a traditional handout for banks and popular with many industries. Timko explains: “It’s hard to find an office, factory floor or home without a calendar hanging on the wall, a desk pad calendar under a keyboard or a pocket planner in the boss’s briefcase or purse. Our memo books and notebooks are still a necessity in schools and a great way to show your school pride. Date planners and pocket planners are a great handout for businesses like photographers and screen printers that deal directly with students, school sports and clubs. They can place their company’s information directly into the hands of those who need it.”

ModernLine’s newest specialty products, style SA900 stock themed planners and its new leatherette cover Mileage book (style EMB), target the medical and financial fields and provide a service for funeral homes and hospice care providers. The mileage book is practical for any clients with work that involves tracking their travels. To learn more visit, www.modernline.com.