Strut your stuff!

Trinkets, Do-Dads and Widgets...

Do your trinkets match your business?

Okay, so maybe I shouldn’t use the words ‘trinkets’.  I’m talking about the promotional items that your business or group hands out to help other people remember you. Come on - you know what I'm taking about.....do-dads and widgets.

Sure you have your name, logo and website printed on your widgets, but what is it about the item itself that stands out?  Is it something that will cause a person to remember you instantly without even looking at the printing?

Let me give you a couple of smart examples.

Take for instance our smart friend, Bob the Builder.  He passes out pens to potential clients. 

“Pens you say?  What does that have to do with construction?”

I’m so glad you asked!

Take a look at HIS pens!!

 
Now tell me these babies don’t stand out and match his profession!  People love them and they write very nicely!  The bonus?  He has paid for (several times over) the cost of his pens by the bookings he gained with calls from the peeps he gave the pens to!  Cool, huh?  (Oh yeah…Bob gets the T-Shirts for his employees through us too! Like I said…smart man)

Another smart client of ours is State Savings Bank.  Check out these mega-cool Piggy Banks.  Sure, theirs might be a bit more obvious, but it fits their business perfectly and the kids love them!  What a great way to encourage little people to start saving their quarters!

I'm telling you, we have something for every business, every group, every club and every body!!  Can’t think of anything?  Call me!  All of us here at Exceptional Specialty Products are great at coming up with ideas.  The are millions of ideas floating around in our heads!  Scary, huh? 

Give me a call….I’m Georgie (866-943-4377) and I’m excited to help you find just the right thing!

Follow us on Twitter @esp4all

ESP – We Know What You Want!

Showing Off...

Sometimes you just want to show off.  And if you do something quite well, why not?

We want to show off a couple of things…one the cool T-Shirts we did for a client and two…our very cool client!

Brett DeBruyn aka The Puppet Guy needed some nice T-Shirts made.  So….WHERE did he turn to?  Well Exceptional Specialty Products of course!! 

He already had a beautiful full colour logo, so we took that and turned it into beautiful shirt art! 

Brett is a professional puppeteer.  Not only does he perform, but he also creates new characters, then he actually makes the puppets!  He does shows all over Iowa as well as children’s parties!  I even heard a rumor that he and his cast of colourful characters will be at the Iowa State Fair this year too!

If you’re interested in hiring Brett or just to find out more, check his website, Big Bear Puppets or keep up with what is going on with him on his Facebook page!  You can also follow him on Twitter – he is @PuppetGuy! 

And of course we want you to give us, ESP a call whenever you need T-Shirts or ANY thing with your logo on it!  You can reach us at 866-943-4377.  AND...we're also on Twitter @ESP4All or you can 'Like' us on Facebook!

ESP....We Know What You Want!  (and we like to brag sometimes too!)

Riding High!

 
You probably already heard about it… you might have even been there yourself!The High Trestle Trail Ride!

The much anticipated, highly talked about day finally got here.  With cold temps and rain leading up to the morning of the ride, it was pretty iffy on what the attendance would be and if the ride would even be tolerable.  To everyone’s delight and amazement, the day couldn’t have been any better for the ride (hosting aprox 5000 people) that started in Ankeny and went all the way to Woodward.  The star of the show of course was The High Trestle Bridge, hovering thirteen stories high and stretching half a mile long, making it one of the worlds largest of its kind! (Click on any photo to make it larger)

The architects who designed the bridge's artwork definitely deserve an award!  With 41 giant, rusty beams framing the pathway, you’re given the feeling of riding your bike through the ‘tunnel’ of a coal mine shaft.  After riding it myself, I can attest to that fact! It was very cool!

I didn’t realize this, but that area used to be known for its coal mines.  The towers that stand sentry at both entrances of the bridge are a commanding 42 feet tall.  You’ll see the dark, charcoal grey veins running through them to represent the coal that was once mined in that area.

The 25 mile trail connects five communities and four counties, with the bridge being the centerpiece.  It was eight years in the making and is the newest addition to the 670 mile Central Iowa Trail System, which has many claiming Iowa as the Trail Capitol of the World.

Exceptional Specialty Products was fortunate enough to be able to be the makers of 1500 souvenir bandanas provided by Polk County Conservation, BikeIowa, Kyle’s Bikes and Bike Country.

Not only are we honored to be chosen by them, but we are so excited about the newest addition added to Iowa’s already beautiful landscape and trail system!

 

The moral of this story:  Iowa IS very cool!  You GOTTA get on your bike and ride the trails!  And if you need bandanas or ANYTHING else...you simply MUST call us... Exceptional Specialty Products 866-943-4377!!

Gosh!  I can't wait to ride it at night!!

Eating Humble Pie

I am humbled.

As fierce as the name, “The Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies” sounds; it just wasn’t enough to win us the championship at the Dog-Eat-Dog Trivia Night sponsored by The Pet Project Midwest this past Thursday night.  Not only did we not win….we did not even come close to winning.  And here I thought we had the brightest of the bright Duckies on our team. 

 

Not so.

Being a first time team to compete in DED, we had our work cut out for us!  With twenty-eight teams of eight, there were a myriad of big-brained people there to compete with!  You can bet we will be studying diligently on our trivial, senseless facts for the next time.  Please note:  We scored very high in the ‘cartoon category’….that might tell you a little more about our mental state of mind.

The main thing is we had dog-gone great time!  We had a nice little meal, a couple of adult beverages, our ducky head gear, our ducky necklaces and our ducky light-up-power rings!  It was perfect!  I believe where we went wrong, was that we didn’t print some personalized lucky ducky T-Shirts – well that, and we couldn’t seem to answer any of the questions correctly.  Maybe we should hit the books next time? 

Put the next Dog-Eat-Dog event on your list as a must do! 

What a great way to help out a wonderful cause and have a ton of fun in the process!  I was pleased to find out that they raised $10,000 !  Way to go gang!  Visit their site often to see when and where all their events will be.  Please consider a donation of both your time and/or money.  It’s just the ducky thing to do!!  (You can soon see the winners and photos from the evening on their site too)

Hey, don’t forget, you can get your own cool team shirts from us!  Please give us, Exceptional Specialty Products, a call at 866-943-4377!  We’d love to help you with your crazy design!

Okay….gotta go study!! 

 

It's a Dog-Eat-Dog World

If you don’t like cute, cuddly animals and having fun for good causes, don’t read this.

Thursday night (April 14th) is Dog-Eat-Dog Trivia Night.  It’s a fund raiser for The Pet Project Mid-West.  Dog-Eat-Dog trivia nights are very popular and I’ve heard are an absolute hoot to go to.  I’ve not been to one before, but, being a lover of all things furry and feathered, I think it’s about time I showed up. 

So I gathered seven of my craziest (and hopefully smartest) ‘Exceptional Specialty Products’ co-workers & friends, came up with the fearsome team name of “Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies” (don’t ask), and are now ready to tackle the toughest of questions!

For those of you who do not know The Pet Project and what they do, allow me to explain.  As you know, times are tough.  Gas prices are soaring, utilities and food are all so expensive, it’s difficult enough just to keep our human family fed, let alone our furry family.

Some families are in the position of having to make a choice…keep the kids or the pets.  (It’s against the law to get rid of the kids) so, sadly, many times Fido has to go.  This is not a good thing.  No one wants to give up their beloved pet.  That’s where The Pet Project and their amazing Pet Pantry comes in!  They help feed families’ pets until they can get back on their feet.    

They are able to do this with your generous donations of money, kitty litter, dog, cat and bird food.  They’ll even accept some of your time if you’d like to volunteer for them from time to time! 

Another great tool the Pet Project has, is a missing pet alert system.  If you find, or if you have lost a pet, go immediately to Iowa Pet Alert and report it.  The message will instantly go out via several different social media venues, texts and emails. Many pets have been reunited via Iowa Pet Alert!

We at ESP just love The Pet Pantry.  Not only because they’re clients of ours, but because they’re doing good things in our community – they truly care for families and their pets and have a deep desire to keep them together.

So…just for kicks and giggles…grab a friend or two and head to Dog-Eat-Dog Thursday night (April 14th).  Food, friends and silly fun, all going to a most wonderful cause!  If you can’t go, please visit their site and find out other ways you can help!

Now where did I put my duck hat…?

 

Mom and Pop

March 29^th was National Mom and Pop Business Owner’s Day.  I was thinking about it…  what beautiful little jewels we have tucked here and there all around our city!  Mom and pop businesses have been around forever.  They are the backbone of our society.  Most big businesses started out small…very likely they started out as a ‘mom and pop’ business too.

What I love best about them?  I love the good feeling I get when I walk in the door.  I’m always greeted with a warm smile and a big ‘hello’!  And….they are always willing to go the extra mile to meet your needs - I know I'm going to be treated right.  Sometimes they’re a little more expensive than the huge box stores, but the personal service and quality I receive far out weigh a little extra cost. 

The other thing I love….they’re local.  It’s so important to shop local and keep our communities thriving.  Not just during the Downtown Farmer's Market, but all year and all types of local businesses!  No matter how you look at it, it’s a win/win situation all the way around! When we have such wonderful businesses, outdoor markets and restaurants right here in our own city, why would we ever want to go anywhere else?

So next time you’re in the market for some t-shirts, logoed apparel or any kind of promotional product, please consider giving us, Exceptional Specialty Products (ESP for short) a call at 866-943-4377.  We’re located in Urbandale – part of the Golden Circle of Des Moines, Iowa….and WE EVEN have a ‘Mom and Pop’ here!  (we avoid calling them ‘mom and pop’ though…just seems too weird – even for us)

ESP…We Know What You Want!

 

THE CLOSET! (insert horror music here)

I got an itch this past weekend to clean out a certain closet.  It’s that ‘special closet’ where you put things when you don’t really know where else to put them.  Come on…admit it…you have one of those closets too…and probably a drawer or two just like it.  Mine would make Fibber McGee and Molly’s closet look organized!

These closets of ours are full of stuff.  Stuff we haven’t seen or used in years.  In fact, truth be told, you probably couldn’t name five specific things that reside in them.  Well I couldn’t remember all the stuff that was in my closet either.  I figured if I couldn’t name what I had packed away in there, I must not need it very badly.  So…with boxes and trash sacks in hand, I opened the door….

I found all kinds of things I had forgotten about.  An ancient racquetball racquet that was beyond repair, a box of single socks (in hopes the mates would be found and reunited perhaps?), old puzzles that I’ll never put together again, half a granola bar (that explains the ants) and a myriad of other unusable odds and ends.

But you know what I found a BUNCH of?  T-Shirts.  Seems that every event I go to or participate in has t-shirts.  And most of them would fit a much larger person than me.  While we love to do t-shirts (of all sizes) we’d love for you to consider other giveaways as well. 

One thing you might consider are one of the many different types of bags and totes we have available.  Small duffles are great for the gym or to stick extra shoes in to take to the office.  We have smaller totes that are perfect for your lunch and a book, and we have other types of bags that would be good for papers, file folders and notebooks.  We have a bag for EVERY thing!  

You can’t really wear a shirt every day (eww!), but you can use a bag every day!  Bags are rarely thrown into “The Closet”.  And if bags aren’t your bag, then just call us at 866-943-4377…we’re Exceptional Specialty Products and we’ll show you all kinds of ideas! 

 

ESP….We Know What You Want!!

 

Who Cut the Cheese?

Who cut the cheese?  Well…WE did! *giggle* AND we’re not going to stop! 

Why would we want to?  Check out these great cheese boards and accessories from Exceptional Specialty Products!

With these beauties….YOU could be a professional cheese cutter too.  Practice around your friends and family.  They’ll love to be with you when you cut the cheese on one of our boards!  You can even put your logo on them…that way everyone will know that you enjoy cutting the cheese.  Give them as gifts.  Birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, special occasions or any occasion is good to cut the cheese!  The more cheese cutters - the merrier!

Who doesn’t enjoy the aroma of freshly cut cheese?  If you’re not able to cut the cheese, consider cheese flavored popcorn with your logo on it.  Relish the bouquet of freshly cut cheese as it wafts to your nose when you open the bag!  Ahhh….!

For our lactose intolerant friends who can’t handle cutting the cheese, you can still get in on the fun by having one of our Cheesie Squeezies in your possession!  You can have tons of fun squeezing the cheese! 

BEWARE:  Many people who like to squeeze the cheese often end up cutting the cheese! 

Don’t delay!  Give one of our professional cheese cutters a call today at 866-943-4377!  Cindy Taylor or Kelli Hemstock would love to help you cut the cheese with one of our fabulous logoed cheesy gifts! 

ESP….Where We Know What You Want and We Know How to Cut the Cheese!

A New Year and a New Pair of Bell Bottoms...

One more to go and the holidays will be over.  Whew!  What a whirlwind of parties, gifts and food!  We now have more stuff in our closets and more ‘waist’ around our middles.

Like most Americans, it’s the time of year to renew.  We clean out closets and vow to become more organized, and don’t forget the diet and exercise promises we make to ourselves.

Most people I know make a New Year resolution or two.  For instance, my fun twitter friend, @MrErv vows to wear bell bottoms every day this next year.  Ah…our dear MrErv…

Aside from the very important resolution of wearing bell bottoms for a year, what do you plan to do to improve yourself this year?  What will you change?  How will you go about it?  Do you have a plan? 

We know how  important it is to have a plan and be well organized in order to be successful.  Exceptional Specialty Products has many products that will help you and your business or group arrive at the finish line!

For instance we have these clever Non-Woven Storage Bins to help keep the clutter at bay.  We also have calendars to chart your accomplishments and plan your workouts.  Speaking of workouts….don’t forget the pedometer! 

It’s all about putting out a little extra effort each day.  After all, you want to look good in those bell bottoms don’t you?

Call ESP today at 866-943-4377, and ask for Cindy Taylor or Kelli Hemstock.  We’d love to help you with your New Year Resolution!

 

ESP….We Know What You Want!

  (Bell Bottoms!)

 

Tis the Season...

It’s that time of year again, a time of love and goodwill toward men….a time of laughter and merriment, gift giving and mistletoe.  The sweet smells of baking cookies and Christmas trees waft through the air…..mixed in with a bunch of germs and gooey nastiness.

 

You see it’s also the cold and flu season.  Ick.

 

Fortunately for us, hand sanitizer was invented, because unfortunately there are those out there who have not learned the fine art of sneezing into the crook of their elbow, they still choose to sneeze into their hand.  Then they open doors and use our pens and then they even want us to shake hands with them!  Eww!

 

So do your whole company or church a favor….order a bunch of personal sized bottles of hand sanitizer from us…. Exceptional Specialty Products.  We’ll even put your logo on them!  Call Cindy Taylor or Kelli Hemstock at 866-943-4377 and they'll get you fixed up!

 

It’ll help keep everyone healthier and much happier! 

 

ESP....We Know What You Want!