FLIERS and POSTERS 'HOLD FIRE' (Please!!)

[Alphabet]

This is my idea and NOT my instruction - Please read this and see if you agree with me!

Research ONE
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Staples Supports Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts
Staples Stores and Staples.com Collect Donations to Help Raise Relief Funds
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. - (Sept. 13, 2005) – In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Staples, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) has taken several steps to support the relief efforts for New Orleans and communities along the United States Gulf Coast. Staples stores nationwide and Staples.com are accepting donations to give to the Hurricane Katrina Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund. Donations can be made online at http://www.Staples.com. Donations will be accepted until October 29.

In addition, Staples is providing assistance at the local level. The company is working with organizations throughout the country to provide school supplies and educational materials for displaced students, and has established a fund to help Staples associates affected by the disaster. Staples is also providing truckloads of water, batteries, and paper goods to associates and the communities in Mobile, Alabama and Pascagoula, Mississippi.

These steps have already generated hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Hurricane Katrina relief efforts, and will continue in the coming weeks and months as affected communities work to recover from the devastation.


Research TWO
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Staples Contributes $150,000 to Support Tsunami Relief Efforts
Donation to CARE International to Help Disaster Victims in Affected Countries
Staples Stores Throughout Canada Will Collect Donations to Raise Additional Funds

Framingham, Mass., January 4, 2005 – In response to the devastation caused by the recent tsunami in South Asia, Staples, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS) is making a donation of $150,000 to CARE International. The donation will help support CARE's comprehensive, multi-country emergency response plan that includes food, water purification tablets, shelter materials and basic medical supplies for the hardest-hit areas of India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, as well as an international crisis team currently serving all four countries.

In addition to a monetary donation, Staples' 237 stores throughout Canada are conducting a campaign to collect funds to further support CARE International's disaster relief efforts. The program is currently underway and will continue through January 16, 2005.


Research THREE
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Staples has a news releases section of their website and each one (including the those above) contains the following 'about staples' info:

Staples, Inc. invented the office superstore concept in 1986 and today is the world's largest office products company. With 65,000 talented associates, the company is committed to making it easy to buy a wide range of office products, including supplies, technology, furniture, and business services. With 2004 sales of $14.4 billion, Staples serves consumers and businesses ranging from home-based businesses to Fortune 500 companies in 21
countries throughout North and South America, Europe and Asia. Headquartered outside of Boston, Staples operates approximately 1,716 office superstores and also serves its customers through mail order catalog, e-commerce and contract businesses. More information is available at www.staples.com.

Conclusion: This company has a history of charitable action and of publicising the same.
They have heart and want to let people know it - Good for them, and hopefully good for us TOO!

If we can get them to be a corporate sponsor to this effort then we will not only aid the flier/poster efforts but get the news of our endeavour to be repeated to all the media their media releases target too! This is worth trying for - I'm going to ask them to waive their profits by allowing us warehouse paper-cost price printing upto whatever upper limit they would like to set - that means they could be our sponsors for almost no cost to them whatsoever (only a couple of man and electricity hours to operate their equiptment for our needs) - of course, if they want to give us the paper free too then that's even better - but the real prize, is the publicity and the attention that this type of sponsor will bring.

SO Please hold fire on asking any local printer for free copy in return for publicity, as otherwise I will not be able to ask Staples for their help at all.

If you really can't wait an extra week before posters go up in your community then sure buy half a dozen posters and display them wisely in the highstreet with willing shop windows - that's truly all that is needed.

It will take me two days to prepare the letter and proposal and to gather the other information I need (like name(s) of who to send it to) and by that time we should be able to enclose a real copy of the book with our request. - who knows, they might even stock the book for us too... we'll find out, but only by asking.


AND YES!!! I'm an absolute idiot for not thinking of it sooner - not that we could have done much without them seeing the quality of the publicity we wish to circulate and the book it stands to promote.

 

[Lady K'Lyssia]

Great idea.

WHen you contact them - you should probably have a general list of names and locations so those stores know who to expect coming through their doors with copy requests.

For me

Carol Hightshoe
Colorado Springs
(preferrably the Powers Blvd location as it is the closest to me here.


Carol Hightshoe
www.carolhightshoe.com

 

[Alphabet]

Thanks, but I imagine that would be hard to organise w.r.t distribution of data from HO to branches. My idea is closer to either a code to use at certain key stores, whoever presents that code and maybe shows an understanding of what the code is for can etc etc... but possibly (most likely if they will give free paper too) this type of thing would be done en masse centrally and then delivered to different stores for collection or who actually knows? what I'm pretty sure of though is that a list of names won't be needed at this stage. Certainly not until they've said they want to help, anyway... if they do want to help they'll tell us exactly what they need from us, and may well invent something far better than we can imagine, after all, they know their own capabilities better than we do.

 

[ChunkyC]

FYI: Jenna already contacted Staples and Kinko's earlier today and is waiting to hear back from them.

 

[Vanessa]

Alphabet, awesome research! Thanks. We'll wait to hear back on this.

 

[maestrowork]

Someone also brought us something to me... when Amazon and BN.com list the book, do you think they would feature it in their main sight? I am not sure if we talked about this or if someone already contacted them. Anyway, just a thought. I know we want people to order directly from Lulu to maximize profit; however, if Amazon is going to drive sales with feature listing..., I think it's worthwhile...

 

[biotales]

 

[September skies]

Way to go Alphabet. I'll wait till I hear back from you or Jenna.

 

[Alphabet]

Well, since Jenna is doing something about this and already initiated contact then I'm no longer involved in it... I'm not even sure, she may well have had her idea to do this independently of mine...

I only got mine after chatting to a staples employee just to better understand their pricing menu, and although I didn't bring myself to ask her for a cheap rate and such she was so helpful suggesting ideas how to do it cheaply once I'd explained what I was about (although this was still prohibitive in any scale for our particular situation in which we have to consider who the money is truly intended for with every penny) that after I left the store it sort of struck me --- and I scuttled off to the internet to check out the company in more detail, the rest you know.... Jenna could have had a similar epiphany while checking print prices in her neighbourhood.

Letter writing is my strong suit, and especially now I have a toddler in tow! Jenna may well be someone who is most effective by phone for this type of communication - I'm sure she is doing wonderfully!!!

I'm just glad the truck only hit the cable!!!

 

[JennaGlatzer]

Didn't do so hot with Staples:

Hi Ms. Glazer,

Thank you for your inquiry about a donation to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. Regretfully, Staples is unable to fulfill your request at this time. We haven taken several steps to support disaster relief efforts. The company has and will continue to support children and local education efforts throughout the next weeks and months of rebuilding. We are working with non-profit organizations and government entities throughout the country to provide school supplies and educational materials for displaced students.

While your project sounds like it will be a great community endeavor, we only provide donations to 501(c)3 non-profit organizations and since your group is not a non-profit, we won't be able to fulfill your request.

Our thoughts and best wishes are with our customers, associates and all people impacted by this tragedy. We appreciate your efforts to help people impacted by Hurricane Katrina and wish you the best of luck with your charitable endeavors.


Thanks,
Briana Haber
Community Relations Coordinator

Could be worth trying a follow-up. I also contacted Kinko's and am waiting on an answer. That's why I said I was working on a "group" solution, but everyone should still feel free to approach local stores to ask for help on a one-on-one basis.

 

[ChunkyC]

Well poo. They can't all pan out.

Fingers crossed for Kinkos. Meanwhile, like Jenna says, keep hitting on the local stores for their help. It doesn't have to be a copy shop either. Work at a bank or clothing store? As your boss if they'd like to help with fifty bucks or whatever they can spare to cover printing some posters etc. Anyone willing to foot the bill in this way deserves our thanks.

 

[Alphabet]

Jenna, they are talking about 'donation' but my idea was for 'waiving' rather than 'donating' - ie. we pay the cost price of the paper we use = they simply decline to profit from our charitable activity and act as a facilitator in letting us use their skill and electricity for free!!!!

That would allow us to stretch our promotional budget further, or do the same thing for less.

 

[Alphabet]

No.. I don't agree with the 'ask for fifty bucks or whatever' idea... that fifty bucks could have been donated directly to aid the charity. What we need to do is just eliminate as much of the profits from as many points of the chain as possible..

Don't ask the boss for fifty bucks... ask the boss if you can take your greyscale flier and load the papercopier sitting idly in the corner of the office with the ream of paper you bought from kinkos. THAT is free, and that doesn't take any money from the cause we are trying to support (bar the paper cost)... and IF you can get a paper warehouse to give you your paper at bulk prices even though it isn't a bulk quantity then all the better.

 

[ChunkyC]

Good ideas, Alphabet.

I still think it doesn't hurt to hit people up to pay for some printouts, though. We can't assume that the twenty or forty bucks a boss or coworker coughs up is money he was going to buy copies of the book with. He might have been planning on heading to a casino and blowing it on the slot machines for all we know, but now he's going to use that money to help us out instead.

My point is, asking someone to pay for printouts isn't very likely to have a negative impact on the amount of money we're going to bring in.

Remember too that high quality colour posters are far more likely to generate sales than lower quality greyscale desktop printer printouts or photocopies will. If that wasn't true, every label on every product in the world would be in black and white.