We’re Mad About Marketing Kits

Posted on March 3, 2010

Marketing kits. They’re so old school and utilitarian, right? Wrong. When done well, marketing kits can set the tone for a new company and reinvigorate an existing brand.

Creating a kit with a “wow factor” takes only imagination and ingenuity. It’s a bit like completing a puzzle. You take a budget (of any size); add in logos, colors, key messages and copy; factor is how the pieces will be used, and explore paper and alternative materials. Then you take all of those components and look at them in new ways to make them fit perfectly. And, voila! A custom, innovative marketing kit.

Below are some of our favorite marketing kit projects.

City of Santa Ana – Economic Development Division

For the City of Santa Ana we rebranded the Economic Development Division. We paired a signature graphic – a hibiscus – with lightly shimmered textured paper to create a look unexpected of a city department.

This project comprised:

City of Long Beach – Economic Development Bureau

Long Beach’s Economic Development Bureau needed a marketing kit commensurate with the national developers and retailers it was trying to attract. The bureau also needed a solution to the sheafs of paper informing business owners about the myriad city resources available to them. To achieve a high-end look at a reasonable price, we used a texture paper and saturated it with a rich brown color. The effect was a folder that looked and felt like leather. To add a pop of color, we treated the city’s name with a slate blue foil emboss.

As for the data, we rewrote it and packaged it as a “Start Here: Doing Business in Long Beach” 5×7 brochure. Then we developed a custom folder with a die-cut sleeve for the inside left page and a 1/4-inch deep “box” with flap closure for the inside right panel. The folder showcased the “Start Here” brochure while also leaving room for city staff to include information flyers about other federal and state programs.

Encore Capital Group – Healthcare Division

Encore Capital Group of San Diego expanded its business by creating a healthcare division to provide debt management services to hospitals. The senior vice president needed a marketing kit that coordinated with Encore’s existing materials but gave the new division its own identity. We created a custom folder sized to handle legal-size contract, a brochure explaining the divisions services, and a stationery system. The color bar motif used Encore’s corporate colors (blue and red) and blended them to create a spectrum of colors, which afforded Encore the flexibility to color code all of its business divisions.