The Tray Way: Marketing Tips You Can Learn from the Final Four

After a grinding college basketball season and a tough NCAA Tournament, we are down to the Final Four basketball teams in the country: Kentucky, Louisville, Kansas and Ohio State. Four qualified teams that have had to work hard to be in the position they are in.

So the question becomes, “who will win this weekend?” Sure, your brackets were filled out weeks ago and the decision on which teams to pick were based on everything from field goal percentage to locations of the schools.

We decided to make our Final Four game predictions based on what we know best: Branding, specifically taking the most visual representation the four teams have – their jerseys - and analyzing their colors and font styles to determine which represents the key ingredients needed to be winners.

In general, "reds" (and other “warm” colors) are more aggressive, exciting, energetic, and dominant. In contrast, “blues” (and other cool colors) are masculine, calm and tranquil.

As for fonts, those that are “blocky” and san serif imply power and strength, while serifed fonts offer a more traditional and classic feel.

While all of these descriptions can be beneficial at one point or another on the basketball court, based on our research and marketing experience, if it were on branding alone, Louisville and Ohio State would be meeting in the Finals.

Now, obviously, the teams will need a lot more than jerseys to be successful, which brings us to our broader point, These teams will not be basing their strategy on one specific aspect. They will be integrating several strategies in order to make situations work to their advantage. The same has to be done in the business world for marketing. Using the experience that print marketers have to develop a visually appealing and impactful piece of collateral is important, but it has to be part of an overall integrated marketing strategy. Images, combined with messages, distribution, technology and other components give you the best chance to be victorious.

The Tray PML Way is the blog for Tray, experts in the printing, mailing, logistics and promotional products. You can learn more about our capabilities by visiting our website, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages. For information about the company and its successes, visit www.traypml.com

The Tray Way: Some Ink for Soy Ink

When it comes to environmentally-friendly practices in the business community, there are those that everyone knows about, and then there are those that are less famous, but can easily be used to differentiate those that are truly trying to make a difference and those that are simply paying lip service.

One example of this is soy ink.

Most don’t think about the actual ink on paper, but soy ink is beneficial for three reasons:

1. A soy-base is much more environmentally-friendly than what standard ink is made of: a petroleum-base. 
2. Using soy ink makes the paper it is used on more recyclable
3. Soy is more available in the United States, and therefore can be made here easier. 

Soy ink was the end-product of R&D done by, of all organizations, the Newspaper Association of America. In the late-1970’s, oil prices were skyrocketing and the NAA had the resources and expertise to conceptualize a more cost-efficient method for printing. It took nearly a decade, but the soy ink finally made its way to the consumer. Now, soy ink of all kinds exist, containing between 7% - 40% of the product. Approximately 25% of commercial printers use soy ink and it continues to grow as a commodity, so much so that on the National Soy Ink Information Center website – a site developed to popularize and educate the product – currently has this published on their website:

The National Soy Ink Information Center is now closed. Due to the success of the soy ink industry, we feel there is no longer a need to continue our work promoting soy ink and its acceptance through the National Soy Ink Information Center. In short, the soy ink industry is such a success that you don’t need us anymore!

The truth is that if you are using recycled paper, but are using standard-ink, you are only accomplishing a percentage of the green marketing capabilities you could be. Make sure the company you are using for all your print collateral has the knowledge and the experience to use the smartest strategy on your behalf. It is better for your company’s public perception, it is better for the country and better for the planet.

The Tray PML Way is the blog for Tray, experts in the printing, mailing, logistics and promotional products. You can learn more about our capabilities by visiting our website, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages.
information about the company and its successes, visit www.traypml.com