As of November 1st, Candid Color Systems will not be offering the Wheaties box.
On short notice, we were notified by the manufacturer of the Wheaties box, that they were discontinuing this product. We have a very limited supply left and unfortunately will not be able to fulfill any future orders received after Friday October 31, 2008. Please remove this product from your sports product offerings in QP2, CORE and Quicpost.
If a new vendor becomes available for this product, we may be able to reintroduce it in the future. We apologize for any inconvenience that this may cause.
Please contact Customer Support for any assistance or questions.
Attitude Panos: They’re Not Just For Sports!
by Brian Speers
Typically, when CCS introduces a new product we’re always amazed at the resourcefulness of customers as they create new uses for the product other than the original use for which product was intended. A case in point is the new Attitude Panos that were created earlier this year for the sports market, but have been hijacked, in a manner of speaking, to perform in markets other than sports.
Longtime CCS customer Scott Christenson of Champaign, IL has taken the lead in this arena with two of his most recent pano projects. One is a university marching band and the other is, of all things, a wedding party.
The Eastern Illinois University band was photographed with each of the 120 band members being photographed individually for their sectional pano shots, in addition to being photographed for a composite and a group band shot. Though sales figures for the EIU band are unavailable at this time I can tell you, personally, that the FUN element involved with this shoot—both for band members and photographer—was tangible. The band members were willing participants trying to outdo each other for the best pose, constantly creating new uses and poses for their instruments. Click images to enlarge.
The wedding party pano came about when Scott opened a CCS-shipped package in the company of a bride that was in his office to go over the final arrangements for her wedding photography. When Scott showed her his newest product, “she just had to have one for her wedding”, said Scott. The result speaks for itself as you can see. Another innovative way to expand the uses of an idea!
Other customers have suggested fire departments; family portraits; dance schools (you could even photograph the same dance school subject in many different outfits on the same print); Senior portraits (again; many different images of the same person on the same pano); and teams you wouldn’t necessarily relate to sports like the debate team and the chess team.
So challenge yourself. How many different and profitable uses can YOU come up with for our Attitude Panos? As the nuns used to say to me in grade school, “put on your thinking caps” and seriously create other uses for this different product that will, literally, open doors for you and new business.
Proof Order Forms Available in the Sports and Grad Markets!
by Blake Johnson
Candid Color Systems offers Proof Order Forms! Now you can order paper proofs to present to your customers, encouraging them to place orders. These templates are offered in the sports and Grad markets in CandidNet. Once logged onto CandidNet, go to the “software training” tab on the left hand side of the screen. Then select the “Core” icon and find the link to “Templates – Printing.” This will bring up options to load the templates in a Microsoft word format. These templates may be altered to some extent, to suite the photographers needs.
Once you have set up the template and chosen the proofs, you can order the order forms to give to your customers. The prices of these proof sheets run for $0.12 for an 8.5X11; and $0.17 for a standard legal size print per sheet (one sided only!). We do offer two sided order forms which costs $0.24 for an 8.5X11; and $0.34 for the standard legal size per sheet.
For more information you can contact Customer Development at 1-800-336-4550.
The holiday’s are just around the corner which means, it’s almost time for all the corporate parties, charity events, awards banquets and private holiday parties. These events are an excellent source of income, they last three to five hours and produce medium to high profits.
To maximize sales, staff one photographer per two hundred fifty in attendance. Charge a photography fee per hour to the party host. To aid in sales for the event, negotiate a deal with the host. Offer them the option to purchase a gift certificate for one party pic per person. This can be given as a party favor and in return, it sends people to your website to view the images. They will most likely purchase more than one image if they come to the website. In addition, convince the company to allow you to set up a formal backdrop especially if the party is formal, this will help your sales tremendously.
Below are statistics from 3 events taken during the 2007 holiday season:
2007 Trucking Company Holiday Party
2 Photographers
2.5 Hours
462 Images
Photo Fee $120.00
Party Pic® Sales: $1132.26
Total including photographer fee: $1,252.26
2007 Oklahoma City Charity Event
Party Pics Only
1,200 in Attendance
3 Photographers
5 Hours Shooting
1,187 Images
TOTAL SALES: $2,628.17
Total Profit: $1,909.32
(This event has been re-booked for this year. The photographer is adding formal portraits on a backdrop and increasing the number of photographers to six.)
Radio Station 2008 New Year’s Party
2 Photographers
1,120 images
$120.00 photography fee
Party Pic® Sales: $1113.48
Total including photographer fee: $1,233.48
Don’t Forget to Market the 2008 Holiday Cards!
by
Morgan Fenn
It’s not too late to market the 2008 Holiday Cards to your current and past customers! The 2008 4x8 and 5x7 styles are available in QP2, CORE and Quicpost. 4x8 holiday cards are available in sets of 12 ($5.40) and 20 ($9.00) and include envelopes. The Folded 5x7 Holiday Cards are sold in sets of 12 for a lab cost from CCS of $16.20. The folded cards are printed on high gloss coated 10 pt paper and each set is packaged with box-flap envelopes, in a black box secured with a silver tie. If more than seven sets are ordered of the same image at the same time, then the price per set is $12.15 (25% discount.)
CCS has posted HTML code for the holiday cards on candidnet.candid.com under Marketing>Business Development>sample images>greeting cards html.
Don’t forget about the Holiday Card Marketing Emails that we introduced in previous newsletters. For your convenience, we have posted the HTML, that can be used in CORE, Quicpost and QEMS, for the Holiday Card emails on candidnet under Marketing/Business development> Marketing Materials> Holiday Card Emails. The HTML emails include, one for marketing 4x8 photo cards, one for marketing 5x7 folded holiday cards and one for marketing both 4x8 and 5x7 cards.
Don’t forget to:
• Replace the logo placeholder with your own logo
• Use samples in the email representing the styles you will offer online
• Link the product names or an image to your event URL
• Enter a price for your holiday cards
• Enter a date or statement of time to create urgency.
• TEST your email before sending it to customers!
Please contact customer support for assistance in altering the HTML to meet your needs.
Lab Service Times for 10/19/2008 - 10/25/2008 by Bo Lewis
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