Author: David Parry

Ringing the Bell: IPO Deal Toys and Deal Gifts
Along with mergers & acquisitions, initial public offerings provide some of the most common occasions for deal toys and deal gifts. And 2021 was an especially busy year for the IPO market. The number of annual public offerings exceeded the 1,000 mark for the first time in history.
Prominent stock offerings during 2021 included electric-vehicle provider Rivian, dating app Bumble, and brokerage Robinhood. The IPO pipeline for 2022 also appears encouraging, with over 900 private companies globally with reported valuations of 1$ billion or more.
Over the course of 40 years, we at The Corporate Presence have been privileged to have helped commemorate some of the highest-profile IPO’s in history. Among the IPO deal toys we’ve designed were ones marking such landmark offerings as Google, Facebook, Twitter, KKR, and DreamWorks. Over the last year, we’ve certainly kept pace with the global demand for traditional IPO deal toys.
But what we’ve also been seeing increasingly is demand for a subcategory of IPO deal gifts—namely those tied to bell-ringing ceremonies and other exchange commemorations. (The gallery below provides a selection of commemoratives from listing-related events and observances from exchanges internationally).

Over the years, these commemorations have involved an unlikely medley of personalities, ranging from CEOs to Snoop Dog, to cartoon characters, N.F.L. draft picks, pro golfers, and the cast of “Billions”.
Exactly what kind of exchange events are companies celebrating, and how are they being commemorated?
We provide some insights and examples, along with some background history, below.
The Rise of The Exchange Bell Ringing Ceremony
Bell-ringing ceremonies have taken on a life of their own, and are now themselves worthy of being commemorated.
Which isn’t as strange as it might initially appear.
After all, as the Wall Street Journal observed in 2021, the initial public offering is itself already, arguably, the ultimate corporate marketing event.
It’s only natural that bell-ringing ceremonies, conspicuously staged for cameras and news crews and often featuring celebrities, have taken their place as one of its essential components.
Coverage of bell-ringing events has also been heightened through social media, most prominently through the use of hashtags like #nysebell for photos and videos posted by both participants and spectators.
A Short History of Exchange Bell-Ringing Ceremonies
The twice-daily ringing of a bell, signifying the beginning and end of the trading day, began at the New York Stock Exchange.
For much of the 19th century, a gavel was the preferred signaling device on the NYSE; that was changed to a brass bell in 1903.
The current bell, which dates back to the 1980s, is actually activated by a button, which must be pressed for a full 10 seconds at the exchange’s opening and 15 seconds at its close. (Even this requires some finesse, as Sean Combs discovered when he bailed on the task prematurely in 2016, drawing boos from traders denied precious extra seconds to wrap up transactions).
The bell-ringing ceremony itself, once a relatively staid exercise performed in a space not open to the public, has been steadily opened up in a democratizing—and demystifying—trend on Wall Street that also is generally dated to the ’80s.
Other Financial Exchange Ceremonies
Two relatively recent developments should be noted about exchange events like bell-ringing ceremonies.
First, though they tend to be associated with New York-based exchanges like the NYSE or Nasdaq, these ceremonies are, in fact, held globally.
The tradition of an opening and closing bell has been taken up over the years by a number of exchanges internationally, including those of Tokyo, Dubai, Toronto, Hong Kong, and London.
Also worth noting is that these ceremonies aren’t just limited to initial public offerings.
This custom Lucite commemorative is an example of one not tied to a recent IPO.
Both of these developments are evident in the current pitch being made, for instance, by the Frankfurt exchange.
The Frankfurter Wertpapierörse beckons corporations to step “on the trading floor and in the media limelight”; and not just for initial public offerings: “Whether you are celebrating your IPO anniversary, a change of segment, the inclusion into a selection index, or any other exchange-related occasion, you can present your company by ringing the opening bell and welcome your guests to our event and meeting space.”
This custom Lucite commemorative is an example of one not tied to a recent IPO. As you can see, this piece commemorates a ceremony celebrating the 20th anniversary of a new issue.
Bell-ringing ceremonies have, for some time, also been purely promotional, and unrelated to a listing.
The CEO of Dine Equity (now Dine Brands), which operates restaurant chains IHOP and Applebee’s, once rang the NYSE opening bell to herald the beginning of Free Pancake Day.
Other non-financial bell-ringing occasions include the beginning of the N.F.L. season and any of a number of new product launches.
IPO Deal Toys and Bell-Ringing Gifts at The Corporate Presence
Whether you’re looking for IPO deal toys, commemoratives for an exchange ceremony, or something that celebrates both, The Corporate Presence has both the experience and expertise to guide you to a memorable. Contact us and get the creative process started.
January 19, 2022
5 Groundbreaking Commemorative Gifts Beyond Shovels and Hardhats
If you’re looking for groundbreaking commemorative gifts, you shouldn’t have much of a problem.
After all, without much effort, you can find a variety of groundbreaking gift ideas, including miniature shovels, life-sized shovels, plastic shovels, chocolate shovels, shovel letter openers, shovel-themed business card holders, and shovel paperweights, to name just a few.
If you’re looking for more imaginative alternatives, why not consider a hardhat-inspired gift? Among others, you can choose from miniature hard hats, gold-plated hard hats, silver hard hats, hard hat desk magnets, hardhat keychains, and many, many more.
The great thing about these hardhat and shovel gifts is that they represent a broad range in price points; some are only a couple of dollars; some, on the other hand, are offered for almost $200 per piece.
The not-so-great thing about these hard hat and shovel ideas is just how repetitious they’ve become and how uninspired they can seem. Just how many times exactly do you think the intended recipient of your groundbreaking gift has already received a shovel or hard hat item?
Will your shovel or hard hat gift have true perceived value in the weeks, months, maybe even minutes after the groundbreaking ceremony is over?
And, more importantly, what does a cliched, unimaginative gift say about your opinion of the efforts of the stakeholders being recognized: all the hard work, persistence, imagination, and expertise that led up to the groundbreaking ceremony in the first place?
Before you opt for some standard, off-the-shelf, uninspired groundbreaking gift, consider one of these five ideas. They may not work for all occasions, but they can offer a refreshing break from the predictable medley of groundbreaking gift items.
1. A Groundbreaking Commemorative Gift That Plays off the Project’s Actual Purpose
Perhaps the clearest departure from a generic hardhat or shovel piece is a commemorative that plays off the actual specifics of your actual project. A design that is fully customized for a single project tends to have considerably higher perceived value than one that could be handed out for virtually any and all groundbreaking. The custom crystal piece is shown here, marking the breaking of ground on a levee project in Foster City, California, cleverly combines two elements unique to this specific project.
An image depicts the project, and that depiction appears on a crystal piece in the shape of a map of Foster City. Again, this kind of distinctive design tends to resonate with stakeholders and recipients precisely because it’s not one that will be lost in a group of lookalike mementos in an office or display case shelf.
2. Groundbreaking Commemorative Gifts Incorporating Building Replicas
Custom three-dimensional replicas of the planned building or facility are an obvious source of gifts, and may even be something you’ve either given out or received in the past.
But what may surprise you, on the other hand, is the variety and sophistication of some of these designs.
Over the years at The Corporate Presence, we have designed and produced a number of building replica commemoratives, including ones made of Lucite, crystal, pewter, resin, and even wood.
Here is an example of a replica, giving you an idea of the detail that can be reproduced.
3. Crystal Commemoratives Incorporating 3-D Etching
One technique that can be used to dramatic effect in groundbreaking commemoratives involves internal, three-dimensional laser etching in crystal.
This technique is far more effectively shown rather than described, and the example below will provide you with a feel for the degree of detail that can be captured in a rendering of a building or facility design.
This technique, which again can be utilized only with crystal, offers a styling alternative to a more traditional three-dimensional rendering of a building.
4. Groundbreaking Mementos Incorporating Photos
You’ve undoubtedly seen a wall plaque commemorating a groundbreaking that incorporates an image or photo—usually one of the planned projects or of the groundbreaking ceremony itself.
Here again, this is also something your intended recipient probably already has on his or her wall; adding yet another plaque is not the surest way to keep your organization—or project—top of mind.
That’s unfortunate because an image of the finished project or a photograph of the key stakeholders participating in a groundbreaking ceremony is quintessentially unique.
Crystal and Lucite provide a number of creative of furthering those unique elements. Both materials provide a range of design possibilities and price points: commemoratives can relatively simple and understated, or they can more elaborate and eye-catching.
5. Lucite Embedments Incorporating Something Unique to The Site

Over the years we have again helped celebrate many either initiated or completed projects with Lucite commemoratives incorporating some tangible item unique to the site.
These commemoratives commonly make use of soil or sand from the actual site, but they can also incorporate many other items, such as remnants of the facility or building being replaced or renovated.
Bring a New Dimension to Groundbreaking Commemorative Gifts
Yes, the standard, default gifts typically provided to commemorate groundbreakings have become that way for a reason: hardhats and shovels are two things that people tend to associate with groundbreakings.
But the more pressing issue for you should be whether they’re really the only gifts you should consider—let alone whether they’re the only ones your stakeholders want to receive.
The Corporate Presence can help you explore some alternatives that will be both distinctive and memorable.

January 13, 2022
Displaying Your Mission Statement: Lessons from a Music Producer
Is Displaying Your Mission Statement Worth It?
After all, you may already have made the effort to put a mission or values statement in writing; and you may even already be promoting it, perhaps on your website or in some form in a reception or conference area. Shouldn’t that be enough?
Do you really need to go beyond that, to do what some organizations do and give individual employees their own desktop mission statement or table display?
There’s an especially telling moment in a recent documentary about legendary music producer, and Motown founder, Berry Gordy.
In Motown’s earliest days, Gordy apparently not only took the time to write a company song but also insisted that all employees, including his top recording artists, learn it by heart.
A succession of interviews makes clear that these employees not only remembered the song, they could also either sing or recite the lyrics—-word for word—roughly 60 years later.
So, should you immediately stake out the nearest babbling brook and start composing some heartfelt ode to your company or organization? Probably not.
But you might want to take to heart the lesson of the Motown song: a set of core beliefs, whether you call it a creed, a mission statement or a values statement or whatever, can make a significant contribution to your organization’s culture and ultimate success. The key is keeping that mission top of mind.
Mission statement displays can be a great way of keeping that statement of values and goals prominent, and uniting your employees and other stakeholders behind a shared purpose.
Mission Statements: A Key Branding Tool
First things first: do you already have a mission statement?
Do you have one, but it needs to be updated or revised?
It’s obviously necessary to have a mission or values statement before you can set about displaying it.
This is the point at which many organizations can get stymied.
Most people dread the prospect of any goal-setting exercise, especially one that can require some time and reflection, and seemingly doesn’t bring with it any immediate benefits.
Crafting a mission statement is beyond the scope of this particular post, and there’s plenty of expert guidance on the subject available online.
But there is one relevant insight here that might help you in either making an initial pass at writing or refining a mission statement—-or just thinking about how best to display an existing one.
Promoting a mission statement is essentially a branding opportunity. You could take that statement even further. You could argue that mission statements offer the ultimate branding opportunity since they should define the crucial characteristics and elements that set your organization apart.
Like your logo and corporate colors, a mission statement can be something that links all stakeholders, whether in the case of your organization that means not only employees but also donors or shareholders, investors, suppliers etc.
It’s not surprising, therefore, that many savvy organizations tend to make use of their branding in promoting and displaying their mission statements.
We’ve included some examples here.
The National Football League’s Mission Statement
The National Football League is one organization that probably doesn’t need a lot of guidance in the area of branding.
After all, the N.F.L. has long been recognized as not only a consummate marketer, but also an astute curator of its brand.
As you can see in the photos below, the designs chosen by the N.F.L. for its mission statement displays for individual employees incorporate a relatively subtle, though highly effective, branding element, its Shield.
In the case of the BlackArch Partners mission statement display, also shown here, the design plays off of the firm’s logo.
In both cases, the organizations have opted for a relatively simple, understated design for their mission statement display. That’s understandable, even advisable since the centerpiece should really be the content of their missions.
But, on the other hand, both organizations, in laying out their respective missions, have also taken advantage of the opportunity to promote and advance their brands.
The Corporate Presence and Your Mission Statement Display
At The Corporate Presence, we certainly can’t hold ourselves out as experts at distilling your organization’s mission.
But over the course of 40 years, we’ve gained a considerable amount of experience and expertise in helping clients make full use of traditional awards and commemoratives.
What exactly does that mean?
Yes, we provide clients with conventional awards and commemoratives, the kind you’ve probably already seen on a variety of websites (and the National Football League is just one organization for which we regularly provide not only highly customized pieces but also more traditional, elegant high-end recognition awards).
But our real area of expertise—-our particular mission—is providing our clients with design options that go beyond the same default, off-the-shelf, lookalike “employee recognition awards” and commemoratives.
Our goal is to use significant occasions in the life of any organization, times when far too many organizations just go online and select some random slab of crystal, acrylic, or marble, that’s actually distinctive to that organization.
There are any number of occasions that present themselves to an organization, whether it’s commemorating a new product, a strategic partnership, achieving some critical benchmark, or an endless array of other milestones.
Promoting a mission statement should be approached in the same way: as an opportunity to celebrate your company’s unique goals, but do so in a way that truly reflects its unique and distinctive character.
Contact us today to find out how The Corporate Presence can help you proudly display your organization’s mission statement.
December 2, 2021
Acrylic Paperweights: Are They Really What You Want?
The term “acrylic paperweight” is a common one, but it’s also something of a misnomer. In our 40 years of experience, most clients expressing interest in an acrylic paperweight, it often turns out, aren’t really looking for something made of acrylic.
They also, typically, aren’t looking for a paperweight. So just what are these customers looking for?
It’s pretty clear why we get these calls and inquiries.
Overwhelmingly, these clients are looking for something you may now be interested in: a way to recognize achievement within their organization, or to solidify a relationship important to that organization, whether it’s with a donor, business partner, or client.
But if these clients aren’t interested in acrylic paperweights, what is it that they’re really looking for?
Why (Most) People Don’t Want Acrylic Paperweights
Let’s start with “paperweights”.
Again, we’ve found over many years that most people inquiring about “paperweights” aren’t interested in what you probably have in mind when you hear that term. In other words, they’re not really looking for that item traditionally used to hold down papers. The whole concept of a paperweight, first of all, is becoming an outdated one.
In an increasingly digital age, most of us simply don’t have the same overwhelming accumulation of paper that could pose such a problem in the past.
Beyond that, most people aren’t really looking for any functionality here.
On closer inspection, what they tend to be saying when they specify “paperweight” is that they want something relatively small and compact; something that could easily and seamlessly fit on a desktop, where it will be regularly seen by the recipient.
And if it doesn’t have functionality, it does become clear that the piece should at least be decorative. It should be the type of item that most people would want to have on their desktop and regularly in their field of vision.
What is “Acrylic”….Really?
People also tend to mention “acrylic” initially as their material of choice but, here again, that often isn’t what they really want.
That’s entirely understandable; “acrylic” is a term you see applied to everything from nail polish to paint, and it’s not surprising that there tends to be some confusion.
Also, there’s also confusion about what acrylic is as opposed to a related term, “Lucite”.
Acrylic and Lucite are technically the same material: transparent plastic, or more specifically, thermoplastic.
The key difference between the two is that acrylic is a generic term; Lucite, as denoted by the capital “L” used here, is actually a brand name. Lucite is a kind of acrylic, therefore, but it is recognized as a higher-quality one, distinguished by its superior clarity and durability.
So, just to recap: all Lucite is acrylic, but not all acrylics are Lucite.
Why are Materials Relevant Here?
The choice of materials is obviously crucial to the perceived value of a gift, award, or recognition piece.
But it’s not always straightforward.
When clients ask for a “paperweight”, again, they’re not literally looking for something to secure piles of paper on someone’s desk; they’re looking for something small enough, and decorative enough, to be placed on a desktop.
The key here is usually durability. Clients want something that will be able to withstand some handling, something that might withstand being knocked over, or be subject to some wear and tear.
This is what makes Lucite such as great choice; it’s designed precisely to hold up to this kind of handling.
In terms of materials, many clients also opt for crystal for a desktop piece of this sort. Crystal obviously has high perceived value and can stand up to most handling; but it does break far more easily than Lucite and, also, can show that wear and tear—usually in the form of scratches—more easily. (Conversely, moving a crystal piece could conceivably cause damage to the desktop surface).
Don’t Lose Sight of the Overriding Goal
The main goal of a gift or award—whether it’s a “paperweight” or not—is to recognize achievement and/or express gratitude or appreciation.
That part is pretty obvious.
The more neglected part of the award or gift-giving equation involves branding—specifically your organization’s branding.
One of the obvious benefits of having the gift or award in a place where the recipient will see it regularly is that it also means they’ll be seeing your organization’s name regularly as well.
But this can be double-edged.
Imagine, for instance, recognizing an employee for their dedicated one or two or ten years of service with the organization—and discovering you did it with an acrylic piece that discolored and turned yellow after only about six months.
That can happen if you choose inferior acrylic materials; and just think of the message that would send to your devoted employee (or longstanding donor or client etc.).
So both aesthetics and materials are crucial here, not only to assure the piece has its intended effect, but that your branding is furthered as well.
So, Do You Really Want Acrylic Paperweights?
The Corporate Presence would be happy to provide you with acrylic paperweights.
But again, we have over 40 years of experience and expertise, and we recognize that a large part of our job is determining what you really want, and then bringing that experience and expertise to bear in designing the most effective and appropriate piece for you.
Contact us, we can also help you also determine which material would work best for you; in doing that we’ll keep in mind not only how to heighten the design’s perceived value with recipients, but, at the same time, how to preserve and further your brand as well.
November 22, 2021
Twitter Adds Another Deal Tombstone to its Timeline
This week marks the 8th anniversary of the initial public offering of Twitter, one of a number of landmark IPO deal toys, including those for Google and Facebook, that the Corporate Presence has designed over the years.
2021 also marks the 10th anniversary of what was actually the first Twitter deal toy we produced: the Lucite design, also shown below, commemorating an early investment in the social media platform.
In honor of both anniversaries, we’re republishing this post from 2014. Some of the metrics cited here may have changed (Twitter now has a global user base of about 396 million, and a market capitalization of approximately $43 billion), but what was written here 7 years ago, for the most part, still holds true.

Custom deal toy celebrates Twitter’s November, 2013 IPO

Just seven years separate these two tweets.
Since Jack Dorsey sent the inaugural tweet above on March 21, 2006, among other things, Twitter has, developed a global user base of over 230 million, achieved a market capitalization of approximately $35 billion, helped fuel political uprisings in several countries, given rise to both a Library of Congress archive and a sitcom, helped shape a presidential election—and, finally, produced two noteworthy deal toys.
At The Corporate Presence we’re happy to have designed both of those deal toys—each marking a significant growth step, not only in Twitter’s history, but in that of both global business and media.
The first deal toy (shown here) from 2011 commemorates the investment by JP Morgan Chase in a fund with a significant stake in Twitter.
Breaking into The All-Time IPO List
The more recent deal toy, also shown here, celebrates the initial public offering, the second largest internet IPO by an American company, surpassed only by that of Facebook (The Facebook IPO deal toy was also designed by The Corporate Presence, as was the Google IPO deal toy, marking the third-largest transaction on this list).
Underwriters for the issue included Goldman Sachs, in the lead role, as well as JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Deutsche Bank, Allen & Company, and CODE Advisors.
David Parry is the Director of Digital Strategy for the Corporate Presence and Prestige Custom Awards, which provides a variety of awards including ESPN’s Espy Awards, and The National Football League Commissioner’s Awards.

November 5, 2021
Lucite Mementos At TCP: Our Capabilities And Some Ideas
There’s a lot more to Lucite mementos than just rectangular slabs of sparkly acrylic. Not that those options aren’t great, but Lucite has way more to offer. Pretty much the only limit is your imagination!
But what Lucite designs have proved successful in the past? How can you come up with a custom deal toy design that’ll give your clients a Lucite memento they’ll treasure? Read on to learn more about what The Corporate Presence can create with Lucite!
Classic Designs for Lucite Mementos
Let’s start with the classics because they’re called classics for a reason. They’ve been popular with our clients for years and continue to be.
Classic shapes include circles, cubes, cylinders, pyramids, and prisms. We can make a stylish Lucite memento in any standard 3D shape. These are often customized with creative printing and wording that makes them specific to the deal.
Standard Lucite Memento Ideas
Let’s segue from standard shapes to popular ideas. Some industries don’t lend themselves as easily to creative ideas. That’s why your client’s logo may often become the inspiration for a deal toy design.
This can work well and The Corporate Presence has created thousands of creative deal toys over the years based on logos. The problem can be that the logo may not be that inspirational.
That’s when you can really benefit from our design experience and expertise. We can provide you with a range of other design possibilities.
We’ve been pushing boundaries and exceeding our customers’ expectations for over 40 years.
Designs That Push the Envelope
Lucite is an extremely adaptable material. It is super-strong and can be molded into endless shapes. This means that there are many possibilities for Lucite mementos beyond the obvious.
Project Name Designs
The best creative designs are those that mean something to the client and you. Design elements hint at inside jokes, project names, or code names for projects. This may leave outsiders in the dark, but it’s significant and meaningful to the intended audience.
Some examples include Lucite mementos created for a transaction with the code-name ‘Project Rex’. The client chose a design that included a 3D T-Rex.
Another example was a custom deal toy that featured a book on a stand. This took inspiration from the code name: Project Hemingway. Some ideas are obvious; some are more subtle. A subtle idea included an ancient boat design for a project codenamed ‘River’.
Shared Passions
During the course of the deal, you likely spent a lot of time together. Shared passions often emerge and form part of the glue that binds you.
These shared passions can become meaningful design elements in Lucite mementos. Whether it’s a passion for rock climbing, motorcycles, or baseball, they make perfect toy design ideas.
The best thing about this kind of personalization is that these deal toys stay on display. They’re the ones your client is happy to see day in day out and will pave the way for a strong relationship going forward.
Incorporate Local Designs
Sometimes a deal takes place across states or nations. This cooperation gives you a chance to draw inspiration from the origins of one side or the other.
Numerous Lucite mementos have been created in the shapes of states and countries over the years. Even this can be given an updated twist. Consider including the state motif as a background, a spinning element, or even for the base. This is a technique we used effectively at The Corporate Presence. Among numerous designs, we created a California-themed plinth for a teardrop-shaped tombstone design.
The state or country-shaped base can even be overlaid with a map of the country to seal the connection. Rather than shaping the entire Lucite block in the shape of a country, just one section can follow the shape of the territory involved. Creative printing or etching on the block can complete the effect. The E-CL piece did this, making creative use of the map of Chile.
Deal Type Designs
Financial terminology is full of creative language that we can take inspiration from.
For example, a play on the term accordion tranche led to the creation of an accordion-shaped deal toy. Bolt-on acquisitions, cinderella bonds, Dutch auctions. They’ve all inspired design elements for a custom deal toy.
Moving parts or spinning features are cool additions to deal toys that make them more memorable. Planning a spin-off? We’ve created spinning Lucite mementos for just this occasion in the past.
Special Deal Toys for Special Deals
Sometimes you need Lucite mementos to commemorate a deal or event that really out of the ordinary—because of its size, its timing, its newsworthiness, or just its special meaning to you or your client.
It could be an unexpected merger, a strategic acquisition, even a record-breaking deal. Ordinary toy design ideas aren’t going to cut it. You need to harness what’s special about the deal and make it the focal point.
Lucite gives you the flexibility to bring these ideas to life. Get a feel for what’s possible by checking out some of the landmark deal toys we’ve designed.
Extravagant Embedments
An excellent quality of Lucite is that you can embed just about anything in it – as long as it can stand the heat of the oven. This opens up a lot of opportunities for creativity.
Nothing’s obviously more unique to a company than its products. Many products–or some replica of the product–can be embedded to great effect. The goal is to find something that will touch them, something meaningful. Showcasing it in Lucite, with its outstanding transparency, is a great way to preserve it.
Choose The Corporate Presence for Your Lucite Mementos
Lucite mementos are so much more than a token or trinket. Get the design right and they can solidify business relationships. They are little monuments to momentous events. Get them right and they’ll treasure them for a lifetime.
We have over 40 years experience of delivering outstanding Lucite mementos for our clients. The Corporate Presence has both the design and production capabilities to bring almost any design to life.
Contact us today to get the design process started on your mementos!
September 24, 2021
5 Important Company Milestones And How To Celebrate Them
Celebrating company milestones is a great way to maintain morale at your organization. After all, who doesn’t love taking a moment to acknowledge their success?
Interestingly, many people are unaware of some of the most important corporate milestones, and they also may not know how to celebrate them.
The crucial point here is also that these milestones don’t just provide a chance to observe the immediate occasion.
They also provide an opportunity—one that’s often overlooked— for any organization, whatever its size, to celebrate and reassert its goals, achievements, history, and its very identity and purpose.
We’ve created a short guide that details everything you need to know to make the most of these events. Let’s get started.
1. Company Anniversary
This is one of the most obvious and commonly celebrated milestones for many organizations.
It also presents an ideal opportunity to do more than mark a “birthday”; it’s a chance to acknowledge a shared history, and can also be a time to celebrate a collective mission (or embrace a new, or slightly different one).
But anniversaries aren’t–and shouldn’t– just be significant for large organizations, or ones with long and storied histories.
For many people, starting a business is a completely life-changing experience. So it’s only natural that any and every anniversary for a startup is potentially a significant one.
And whatever their size, all organizations currently find themselves dealing with the pandemic-related challenges of an increasingly decentralized and remote workforce.
Celebrating both an organization’s heritage, as well as its future, is a great way to keep employees connected—wherever they’re working from.
2. Company Growth
Although company growth can be less objective than a company anniversary, but they’re still worth celebrating.
It’s also worth noting that growth benchmarks can take many forms. Significant benchmarks might include internal measures, for instance, like the number of employees or offices.
Or they make take the form of various external metrics, such as ones involving subscriber base or users.
As with company anniversaries, company growth celebrations can often substantial. While they offer an opportunity to recognize a collective achievement (see the discussion of team recognition below), they also provide a chance to single out key players that helped drive the overall growth of the business.
Attaining a particular benchmark or growth threshold might, for instance, be largely due to the work of a particular product development team, or line of business.
3. Work Anniversary
Celebrating the anniversaries of the people who work at your organization is also important. After all, making employees feel valued and recognized is one of the most efficient ways to maintain peak performance.
On average, work anniversaries are typically much smaller than other forms of celebration. This is particularly true for lower-level employees. Executive work anniversaries, however, tend to be more substantial due the impact of greater longevity and contribution.
Work anniversaries are often acknowledged through small gifts or privileges. For example, the company may pay to take the employee out to lunch that day in appreciation of another year of their continued performance.
This will, of course, depend on the size of the organization. For a company with thousands of employees, large celebrations are impractical. Still, going out of your way to reward workers can have notable benefits. This is true even if all you do is send out a congratulatory email.
Many organizations provide tiered custom awards for employee anniversaries. These pieces tend to have a more enduring impact and perceived value over time. They also provide these organizations with a unique branding opportunity.
4. Team Recognition
Many projects are only possible through the combined work of a team. In fact, the success of an organization overall often relies on its core teams to deliver results. Recognizing the success and dedication of a team, especially one that has been focused on a project for a considerable time, is not only beneficial to employees but also in the organization’s best interest.
In scenarios where a team went above and beyond, executives may hand-deliver a thank you note. Or, they may have a special meeting with them in order to discuss their performance and the impact they had on the organization.
It also shouldn’t be a surprise that team recognition awards are one of the core ways in which organizations acknowledge team performance. Again, noteworthy team performances can take a wide variety of forms. They could be found in the efforts of a successful litigation group, or of those who’ve developed a drug from its inception to FDA approval. More traditionally, these commemoratives can express gratitude for the outstanding performance of key individuals, like sales recognition awards, for example.

5. Revenue Goals
Regarding celebrations, revenue goals are often prioritized. This is especially true if the previous revenue goal was exceeded by a large amount.
How involved the celebration is will be dictated by overall performance. For example, let’s assume your company needed to generate $50,000 in revenue during the previous quarter. If your employees managed to generate $100,000 in revenue, this calls for a large commemoration.
In cases like these, the company may even choose to publicize its milestone. This is achieved through various strategies, including:
- Promoting posts on social media
- Getting in touch with local news outlets
- Creating a celebration video and then sharing
- Emailing customers and clients
Under ideal conditions, this could greatly increase the notoriety of your brand. You may even attract investors who are looking to place money into promising organizations. Be sure to take this into consideration when moving forward. In many cases, celebrating financial achievements can benefit your business in the future.
Here again, custom awards provide both an opportunity to reward and recognize efforts and commemorate the organization’s growth and vitality.
Acknowledging Company Milestones Is Essential
Keep the above information about company milestones in mind so that you take full advantage of these opportunities when the time comes. This will allow you to create a much more positive atmosphere within your organization.
Want to learn more about what we have to offer our customers? Feel free to get in touch with us today and see how we can help.
September 20, 2021
Tombstone Investment Banking: A Complete Guide
Investment banking has always been challenging and demanding. Your team makes big sacrifices in pursuit of even bigger rewards. For over 50 years, the use of a tombstone in investment banking has been the perfect way to recognize this effort. A monument for the desk to mark a monumental effort.
But why are tombstones so iconic in investment banking? How did they come into existence? And why are they still the ultimate symbol of investment banking success? Read on for a complete guide to the tombstone in investment banking.
Origin Story: The Tombstone in Investment Banking
Search ‘What is a tombstone in banking?’ and you’ll get a couple of definitions.
The original, and still current, meaning is a written advertisement that sets our the basic details of an upcoming public offering. Its purpose is to advise investors about the offering and give specific details. These could include the type of securities on offer, when they’re available, and how to purchase them.
These tombstone notices form the origin of the decorative tombstones for investment banking that we know today. They started life over 50 years ago. Investment bankers took these newspaper tombstones and embedded them in blocks of Lucite.
They then used these as mementos or gifted them to parties who had worked on the deal. This tradition continues until this day. The main difference being that the Lucite tombstones have become a lot more creative!
Nowadays, they’re not limited to IPOs that would have gone in traditional tombstones in newspapers. They can be used for the closing of any deal deemed worthy of note by the company.
Next Steps: Classic Designs Take Shape
There are some classic tombstone designs that have stood the test of time. They are going nowhere, and can still look the part. These include:
- cylinder
- rectangle
- pyramid
- cube
- sphere
These designs can be upgraded. Embedments, edge-to-edge printing, and etching are just a few of the options that you can use to great effect. From the beginning, Lucite, a high-quality form of acrylic has been the material of choice.
Classic Lucite designs allow you many ways to display your company logo and include relevant text. Non-Lucite options available today include mixed materials, crystal, and pewter.
Designs Get More Creative
As well as widening the range of materials, Lucite tombstones also became more creative in terms of style. Lucite is an extremely versatile material. You can capture colors accurately (so you could, for instance, match exactly the colors of a given logo) and can be molded it into just about any design you can think of.
Financial tombstones can still follow the traditional, familiar geometric shapes. But conventional shapes allow a range of customization items to give a design additional cachet. There is also a range of more creative options. Those options could play off logos, products, or any number of potential touchstones for your client.
You can incorporate whimsical designs into a tombstone for investment banking. These include bells, embedded slices of apple pie, and tombstones in the shape of card readers. The only limits are your budget and imagination. But keep an eye on the future and think about how tasteful it will look in years to come.
When choosing a company to create your tombstones, consider their experience. Choose a company that is familiar with investment banking terms and banking tools. They will create something meaningful and bespoke.
The Benefits of Tombstones
Like many industries, investment banking relies heavily on client relationships. Building and fostering those relationships over time is crucial to repeat business. This is where tombstones have played a crucial role: because they commemorate important deals and milestones for clients—and do so in a distinctive way—those clients tend not only to keep them but display them prominently.
Tombstones can serve therefore serve as desktop advertising: a decorative and interesting reminder to your client of the hard work and expertise of your team in making that deal a reality.
Strengthen Relationships
In the finance world, financial tombstones are therefore a great, though often underrated business tool.
They provide an internal award for your staff for their hard work in putting a deal together; but they also remind your clients, on a daily basis, of your joint accomplishments too.
Because of their visibility to your client, tombstones can offer a great way of discreetly promoting your accomplishments, and those of your deal team, group, and firm, as well.
The choice of design will speak to your firm as well. It will naturally bear your logo, but the design will also send out a message, such as strength, efficiency, even whimsy.
Work closely with the deal toy company to chose a design that projects the right image. If you work with an experienced deal toy company, they can help you with this. They can also help you to avoid duplicating designs that your client already has.
Recognize in-House Achievements
Solidifying client relationships has historically been the prime rationale for tombstones; but their secondary benefit in meaningfully recognizing your internal deal team can be just as compelling.
Tombstones have traditionally been given at all levels of a deal team: from more senior managing directors, to vice presidents and associates, to the most junior members, the investment banking analysts, who often put in extraordinarily long hours in highly demanding and exacting work.
Not surprisingly, the results of this kind of internal recognition can be powerful.
Tombstone can foster a culture of recognition. When employees’ contributions are recognized, they feel more valued. Consequently, they are more productive, and loyal, which leads to higher retention.
How to Order Tombstones for Investment Banking
The process of ordering tombstones begins with the budget and the quantity needed. Once the company has an idea of your budget, they can begin to come up with appropriate designs.
You are free to submit your own ideas for designs. Alternatively, you can provide the company with details of the deal, and they can prepare suggested designs for you. Once you have an approved final design, you can place the order. Lucite tombstones typically take around 5 business days for production.
Especially given the additional complications brought on by the pandemic, it’s important to choose a vendor that has solid vendor relationships, and can handle shipping and logistical issues like split shipping.
For the reasons discussed above, tombstones can have a great deal of value to recipients; but if they don’t reach those recipients, intact and on time, that value can easily be put at risk.
Harness the Power of the Tombstone in Investment Banking
Tombstone in investment banking have come a long way. They started out as simple, functional slabs of Lucite containing only paper, but have matured into the intricate designs, in a variety of media, that are available today. Throughout, the tombstone remains a powerful tool for forging strong relationships between business partners.
At The Corporate Presence, we have been creating tombstones for financial firms internationally for over 40 years. We have created every conceivable design from Roman galleys to piggy banks. We have the experience and expertise to bring your tombstone ideas to life!
Click here to request a quote today!
September 17, 2021
Honoring the Guy Who Attacked You with a Four Iron
Over the years we’ve designed deal toys and custom awards in many media, including crystal, resin, and wood. This post from 2013 pays special tribute to our one of our favorite materials, Lucite, and to Halloween.
We’ve done our best to teach you about the many virtues of Lucite.
Its resiliency. Its permanence. Its versatility. Its durability. Lucite’s unique capacity to preserve, project, and further your organization’s brand. To keep your organization’s name—and, by extension, yours– in front of both clients and potential clients.
But what about its usefulness in, say, repelling thrown objects?
Or insulating you from the taunts of “surly drunks”?
Or dealing with that guy taking aim at you with a dozen golf balls and a four iron?
As it turns out, Lucite’s pretty helpful here too.
Especially if you were to find yourself alone in a 3’ X 7’ box, without food, suspended 30 feet above the River Thames. In 2003, that’s where, for 44 days, you would have found… David Blaine.

A Milestone in Lucite History
Almost 12 years ago to the day—October 19, 2003—New York-based illusionist David Blaine ended a stunt variously described as “either crazy, self-centered, or in typically American bad taste”, and emerged from his elevated Lucite box after 44 days.
Actually it technically wasn’t really Lucite. It was Perspex—another branded acrylic (check out our glossary if you’re unclear on any of this).
In any event, an integral part of this “piece of art”, explained Blaine’s earthbound partner and stunt designer, Tom Bramlett, would apparently be crowd reaction—in which case, both men surely got their money’s worth.
Among the the 44-day event’s estimated 250,000 spectators, both native Londoners and tourists, were a sizeable number of “Blaine Baiters”, whose antics included bombarding him with eggs and raw sausage, tantalizing him with a hamburger dangled from a remote-controlled helicopter, mounting at least one drunken attempt to sever his water supply, and targeting his box with the previously mentioned four iron.
Lucite and Success: Yet another Dramatic Example
So what does all this mean?
Having met his stated goal of surviving aloft for 44 days, an exhausted, emaciated David Blaine attempted to articulate this: “This was one of the most important experiences in my life. I’ve learned more in that little box than I have in years”.
Today, with the benefit of perspective gained over 12 intervening years, we can only now begin to fully appreciate Blaine’s stunt for what it truly was: yet another compelling example of the inextricable bond between Lucite and achievement.
So on this (almost) landmark anniversary be sure to honor David Blaine! Check out the many custom designs we feature here—all aimed at uniquely celebrating success in all its many forms.
October 28, 2020