Outcome: Milestone Celebration

Lawrence Technological University Engages Admitted Students (and Their Pets!) with Logo’d Tennis Balls

pet-inclusive admissions

Challenge Lawrence Technological University wanted a way to make admitted students feel welcomed and valued while engaging families in a fun, memorable, and inclusive way. The university explicitly asks applicants for information about their pets in their applications, and families respond positively when the university acknowledges their furry (or feathered!) family members. Recognizing that pets […]

Building Commitment and Reducing Melt: Drake University’s Bulldog Bonus Choice Store

reduce summer melt in higher education

In higher education admissions, the deposit stage marks a critical turning point. Excitement is high, but so is the risk of melt. At Drake University, the admissions team wanted not only to celebrate their new Bulldogs but also to find meaningful ways to strengthen commitment among deposited students. Inspired by a Magellan Promotions webinar featuring […]

Meaningful, Sustainable, and Student-Driven: GW’s Admitted Student Choice Store Experience

Sustainable admitted student welcome merch

Sustainable admitted student welcome merch George Washington University (GW) set out to build excitement and celebrate the major milestone of college acceptance by delivering a personalized and meaningful welcome to their admitted students. Their goal was to foster school spirit and create a lasting first impression before students set foot on campus, while remaining aligned […]

Grinnell College Deepens Alumni Engagement Through Intentional, Alumni-Driven Reunion Merch

Alumni reunion merchandise strategy

Challenge: Creating Meaningful Engagement Before Alumni Arrive on Campus Grinnell College faced a familiar challenge in higher education advancement: how to increase reunion participation while fostering genuine, meaningful engagement with alumni. Historically, reunion merch was ordered in bulk and given away onsite, often resulting in excess inventory, limited emotional connection, and items that alumni took […]

Augusta University Once Again Wows Committed Students and Families

reduce summer melt in higher education

Incoming student welcome boxes With the success of previous years’ welcome boxes, Augusta University again sent these to their incoming committed students to share their excitement. This year, Augusta wanted a smaller box to save money on packaging while still including the previous year’s popular branded merch, which included a sweatshirt, custom calendar with Augusta-specific […]

Pin Pride: Notre Dame’s Alumni Spirit

Notre Dame Branded Pins

At the University of Notre Dame, tradition and pride run as deep as the roots of its historic campus. In marking the monumental 100th Anniversary of the Universal Notre Dame (UND) Celebrations, the university wanted special branded merch to commemorate the occasion. The chosen lapel pins serve as a new, yet timeless symbol of enduring […]

Variable Data Best Practices

  • At the quoting stage of your project, please let us know how many fields of variable data your piece will have as this can affect pricing.
  • Data should be provided to us as an Excel spreadsheet with only the applicable data included.
  • Verbiage for variable data fields on artwork file should match up exactly with data fields on spreadsheet.
  • Spacing on artwork must allow for longest data entries. We recommend that your designer tests this in advance to confirm that the fields in the design can fit your longest pieces of data.

Postage Permits

We are happy to mail using a client’s USPS non-profit number. Here are a few best practices for this to go smoothly. Let our team know up front on the project so we can make sure to get the information we need right away. 

While our mail house does prefer to use their permit number for the mailing, we can use the client’s permit, If using their permit number, ensure there is enough postage to cover the mailing.

The information we need to in order to use a client’s nonprofit number includes the following:

  • CRID (customer registration ID)
  • Non-Profit Authorization Number (with USPS, not their nonprofit number for the university)
  • Non-profit indicia
  • Return address that is on file with USPS for the non-profit authorization number
  • Permit number

Formatting the Mailing List

Our account team will advise on specific requirements for your project’s mailing list.  We generally recommend these best practices to format the mailing list:
  • Send your data in a spreadsheet, saving it in the comma-separated values (CSV) format
  • International addresses must be separated from domestic addresses
  • Domestic addresses should at least contain data fields for “first name”, “last name”, “address 1”, “address 2”, “city”, “state” and “ZIP code”