Author: David Parry

Deal Toys Tombstones: Ten Years of Celebrating Achievements
Deal tombstones are necessarily time-bound; they commemorate the closing of a given deal, and celebrate, as well, all the time and effort that went into achieving that closing.
But what about the rest of the story? What happens in the weeks, months, and years following the closing?
We’ve filled in below the subsequent chapters for three 2005 deals.
This 2005 deal tombstonee commemorates Liz Claiborne’s $34.4 million purchase of prAna, a marketer of yoga and lifestyle apparel. What happened after that?
In 2008, the firm’s original founders bought the company back (with financing provided by private equity firm Steelpoint Capital Partners) for $36.5 million. Having achieved a compound annual growth rate of over 30% between 2010-2013, they sold the company to Columbia Sportswear in 2014. The sale price was $190 million.
Prana is the Sanskrit word for “life force”.

In the 2005 deal recognized here, Spectrum acquired Classic Media, owner of an extensive library of animated series including “Rocky and Bullwinkle”, “Casper the Friendly Ghost”, and “George of the Jungle”—all originally created by the legendary Jay Ward.
Classic Media was purchased by DreamWorks Animation in 2012.
Jay Ward, who also created “Dudley Do-Right”, was a graduate of Harvard Business School.

This deal tombstone marked the 2005 acquisition of the Paris-based Le Meridien hotel brand, by Starwood. Originally created by Air France in 1972, Le Meridien’s portfolio consisted of 137 4 and 5-star hotel properties primarily in Europe, but also in North America, Africa, and South America.
In June, 2015, a new ad campaign was launched celebrating Le Meridien’s 10 years as part of Starwood.
This must have been a very satisfying deal toy to have finally received: at the time of the original deal, Barry Sternlicht, the founder of Starwood (and still its CEO) described it as requiring “two years of complex negotiations”.
September 15, 2015
Check It Out: Iconic New York Deal Toys… from MSG to Manischewitz
No, we’re not talking about New York souvenirs.
Foam Statue of Liberty crowns. Big Apple shot glasses. Ceramic yellow taxi banks. Subway token ornaments…
If you’re truly interested in these, there’s a guy selling all this and more right outside our building… and most likely outside yours as well—and, knowing New York, he’s probably the same guy.
We’re talking instead about New York deal toys—those that reflect the quintessential elements of the City: its distinctive buildings, foods, brands, industries, institutions, and, of course, deals. Deals involving Tiffany’s, Manischewitz, the Waldorf Astoria, Tory Burch, the Harlem Globetrotters, —to name just a few.
Fictional New York ad firm Sterling Cooper and Partners famously booted the pitch for real-life kosher food and wine brand (and NYC fixture) Manischewitz during season 6 of “Mad Men”.
Non-basketball players selected in the Globetrotters’ annual “draft” have included Lionel Messi, Mariano Rivera, Johnny Manziel, and Landon Donovan.
The Utimate New York City Bagel Glossary highlights two largely overlooked facts: 1) there’s a restaurant within Barneys department store, and 2) its petite bagels are among the city’s best.
A 2004 New York Times profile of Tory Burch described her first store as a “plush outpost on aggressively hip Elizabeth Street”.
The current venue, billed as the “World’s Most Famous Arena”, is actually the 4th building since 1879 to be called Madison Square Garden.
On a 1968 visit to New York, British band The Who was thrown out of two hotels—– within a 24-hour period. They were banished from the Waldorf when drummer Keith Moon blew off the door to his room with a cherry bomb.
Tiffany’s robin’s egg blue—technically No. 1837 in the standardized Pantone Matching System color chart—-is both commercially unavailable and trademarked.
Though its exact origins are disputed, the nickname “Big Apple” was officially adopted by the New York Convention & Visitors Bureau in the 1970’s.
August 20, 2015
The Facebook IPO Deal Toy Marks an Anniversary
Facebook’s landmark IPO also generated an iconic deal toy.
The Facebook IPO deal toy—along with those we designed to recognize the IPO’s for Google and Twitter—is arguably the deal toy we’re most often asked about. At meetings and presentations, it’s also one of the pieces clients most often request to see.
With next Monday marking the third anniversary of the IPO, we wanted to repost a feature on the Facebook deal toy that originally appeared in The New Republic. Those familiar the century-old publication might find this an extremely odd choice in subject matter—but it does make sense. TNR’s majority owner, Chris Hughes, is not only a Facebook alum, but was also one of Mark Zuckerberg’s Harvard roommates.
May 14, 2015
Blackstone’s Most Profitable Deal and the Lucite That Commemorates It
Blackstone’s $23 billion purchase of GE’s real estate assets recalled another, earlier landmark deal
Blackstone began April already the largest private sector landlord in the United States.
With its acquisition of GE’s real estate portfolio last week—a $23 billion deal in which the firm partnered with Wells Fargo—the firm then conclusively demonstrated, in the words of Morningstar analyst Stephen Ellis, that its “scale in the real-estate space is unmatched”.
The GE deal also inevitably prompted recaps of the real estate deals that have amassed Blackstone an estimated $100 billion in property and holdings. The Corporate Presence was fortunate enough to have been chosen to commemorate one of those deals, as we noted last September:
Blackstone’s $26 billion buyout of Hilton Hotels in 2007, a deal just pronounced the most profitable in history by Bloomberg Businessweek, actually went south pretty early on.
“As the financial crisis hit and the economy tanked”, the cover story notes, “it appeared that Blackstone and its partners had paid too much, used too much debt, and couldn’t have picked a worse moment to close the deal”.
Add to that the 2008 demise of deal participants Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, the resulting involvement of the New York Fed, as well as litigation involving a rival hotel chain, and the inevitable “Heartbreak Hotel”, “Not So ‘Suite’ Deal” headlines must have seemed apt.
But Blackstone persisted in its strategy; and in doing so, managed to upend private-equity clichés by combining shrewd debt restructuring with sound operational management. In the aftermath of Hilton’s December 2013 IPO, the firm is now looking at a paper profit on the deal of approximately $12 billion.
We were honored to have been chosen to commemorate this landmark deal—and would be equally honored to handle your next deal toy or award project. Give us a call today.
Related:
Twitter Adds Another Deal Toy to its Timeline
Featured Deal Toy: The Facebook IPO
The Google IPO Deal Toy: Celebrating the 10-Year Anniversary

April 20, 2015
Top Product Replicas for Unique Deal Toy Ideas
As the gallery below illustrates, product replicas, almost by definition, can provide unique deal toy ideas—as well as those for valued custom corporate awards and gifts.
Mention “product replica” and most people start to wince.
After all, the term can bring to mind the forced hoopla of your last street fair or trade show—with human arms protruding from a 10-foot can of some obscure energy drink, positioned next to, say, a flapping, Yeti-sized inflatable French fry.
But at The Corporate Presence we’ve come to view product replicas somewhat differently. In fact, they’ve long formed the basis for some inspired deal toy ideas—as well as those for highly successful custom corporate awards and gifts.
Deal Toy Ideas That Resonate—and Not Just for Packaged Goods
A quick look at the gallery will show that there’s a range of replica types represented here: some replicate the product packaging, some the product itself—and even here you’ll notice that this can furnish deal toy ideas not only for packaged goods but for everything from mobile devices (for instance, the Prodata piece below) to power drills (the Stanley Black & Decker Lucite).
One clever variation of this deal toy idea involves the incorporation of the actual product in the design—something that has been done seamlessly with, for instance, the inclusion of a windshield wiper in the Trico piece designed for Sawaya Segalas.
Choosing the Right Material
The obvious requirement in these designs is the duplication of the details of the particular product, or its packaging etc. The scale may vary slightly, but the details have to be recognizable—and most certainly if the gift is expected to pass muster with the recipients at the relevant company (who undoubtedly are the very ones most familiar with those details).
And knowing which medium might be most appropriate for the precise execution of your particular deal toy idea—whether it’s Lucite, resin, wood, crystal, or some combination of these—is essential. Our unrivaled experience in these media, and the fact that we have unfettered access to the expertise and experience of personnel at our wholly-owned factory, give us a considerable edge in keeping these replicas faithful to the originals.
Unilever
We hope you enjoyed this gallery, and look forward to working with you on your next project—whatever the occasion or design. Give us a call today.
- Awards Ideas
April 7, 2015
9 Awards You Really Don’t Want To Win
Just as there are clichéd, unspeakably bad awards meant to recognize superior performance, there are also creative, imaginative awards recognizing unspeakably bad performance.
Yes, we’ve previously addressed the topic of bad awards (“7 Employee Awards That Should Make You Cringe”). But there the focus was on lousy awards— awards you, in all honesty, might actually be ashamed either to receive or distribute—but ones that were nevertheless intended to recognize superior or even superlative performance.
But what about the other side of that equation? How, exactly, do you recognize subpar, counterproductive, dishonest, or otherwise egregiously bad performers? Fortunately the awards below actually exist, and have served to fill yet another void left by the “Recognition Industry”.
The Darwin Award
The Darwin Award recognizes individuals whose deaths (or, more rarely, near deaths) were accomplished with such surpassing idiocy that they were deemed to have “self-selected” themselves for extinction. The epitome of online snark, this usually posthumous honor had been riddled with a number of bogus submissions since its inception in the 90’s. Now subjected to more rigorous fact-checking, successful recent nominees have included a mugger who sought refuge from police in a tiger cage.
The Golden Duke Award
Honoring its namesake, California congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham, The Golden Dukes recognize “the year’s best purveyors of public corruption, outlandish behavior, the Crazy and betrayals of the public trust”. Now in its 8th year, the awards encompass 7 categories with winners chosen by a celebrity panel of journalists and commentators. Cunningham, who was notorious for holding lavish parties on his 42-foot yacht, pleaded guilty to bribery in 2005. The yacht was named “Duke-Stir”.
The “Teddy”
Named in honor of a Canadian official canned for submitting expense reports that have been charitably termed “imaginative”, the “Teddy” Waste Award ceremonies are now in their 16th year. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation’s annual celebration of “waste and malfeasance at the national, provincial and local level” recently recognized a mayor who expensed, among other items, personalized barbecue aprons, and another official who submitted $45,000 in travel expenses—-as opposed to the $946.44 submitted by another attendee of the same event.
The Ernie Awards
For the past 22 years, 400 women have assembled at a gala dinner in Sydney to pay tribute to the most sexist remarks uttered by public officials during the previous year. The remark receiving the highest volume of boos wins, with protocol calling for a tie-breaking “boo-off” if necessary.
The Golden Raspberry Award
Now in their 35th year, the “Razzies” provide an annual counterpoint to the Academy Awards typically held the next day. Those recognized for “worst achievements in film” include, most recently, Kirk Cameron, whose “Saving Christmas” took home four Razzies, including Worst Picture. In 2015 organizers created the Razzie Redeemer Award to honor those who have risen above past Razzie-worthy performances. The inaugural winner: Ben Affleck.
BARFTA Award
Bestowed annually since 2013, the British Academy for Rubbish Films and Terrible Acting is the UK counterpart to the “Razzies”. The voting “academy” is comprised of British film and industry professionals who submit their selections anonymously. On the heels of what it described as a “vintage year for terrible films”, the 2015 ceremony honored, among others, Nicole Kidman (“Grace of Monaco”), and Russell Crowe (“A New York Winter’s Tale”).
The Bookseller/Diagram Prize
Originally conceived as a means of bringing comic relief to the annual Frankfurt Book Fair, the Diagram Prize for Oddest Book Title of the Year is now in its 37th year. The public can now cast its vote on a list of nominees, which in the past have included titles such as “Greek Rural Postmen and their Cancellation Numbers” and “Goblinproofing One’s Chicken Coop”, via a site maintained by Bookseller’s magazine.
Worst Band Award
Edging out stiff competition from acts such as Bastille, Blink-182, and One Direction, Australian quartet 5 Seconds of Summer was named Worst Band at the NME Awards held in London in February. In a move that would seem to belie the premise of this post, the group’s lead guitarist promptly tweeted their embrace of the “win”…which then received over 55,000 favorites.
Foot in Mouth Award
By its own account, the U.K.’s Plain English Campaign’s selection for most “baffling comment by a public figure” was straight-up, crystal clear. Among the 2014 quotes vying for Russell Brand’s personal best was this musing: “The internal mayhem I’m feeling is spilling out everywhere. I loved it, and felt very connected to activism—particularly activism that feels loaded with potential. Not the oppositional activism that seems like there’s a stasis around it—earnestly sincere, but a monolith equal to the establishment”. Hear, Hear.
March 27, 2015
Creative Lucite Embedments: Unique Designs for All Needs
Zippers, shrapnel, moose manure, regurgitated coins, cookies, umbilical cords, teeth—these are just a few of the things that have found their way into our Lucite embedments over the years.
“Commemorating Success Globally”.
That’s our stated mission here at The Corporate Presence.
And success, as we’ve all heard repeatedly, has many definitions, and can take many forms. Sometimes it may involve pulling off the most profitable deal in history; or hitting a 5-year work anniversary; or surviving a trainee program; or just ….surviving.
…and not just surviving in the figurative sense, but in the more elemental, near-death-experience, can’t-believe-I’m-still-intact kind of sense.
Like the soldier who’d had shrapnel surgically removed from the wound he’d narrowly survived—and now wanted us to embed the fragments in Lucite. Or the client who wanted to embed a corroded bolt—the one that had failed to support the metal plate that had then nearly impaled him.
Embedding the shrapnel worked; as shown here, the bolt came out pretty well too.
And then there’s the guy who wanted us to embed some moose manure…..
That was a slightly different story. That worked too—or, at least, the client seemed pleased.
The Weird Physics of Lucite Embedments: What Works, What Doesn’t
After 40 years of experience we could recite a seemingly random, stream-of-consciousness medley of objects, along with their various Lucite embedment prospects: teeth (work), bone (works), regurgitated coins (works) , glitter (works), lottery tickets (don’t work), umbilical cords (work), peanuts (works), almonds (don’t work),syringes (usually doesn’t work), rocks (usually don’t work), cookies (usually doesn’t work) etc.
The baking stage necessary to Lucite production is an exothermic process, in which objects not only take on heat but emit it as well. This explains how a cookie might conceivably survive the baking process unscathed while a rock doesn’t (a rock can absorb so much heat that it causes the Lucite itself to crack). The intensity of the heat also explains why the rubber wheels of that Hot Wheels car you’d intended to have embedded are sure to melt—and leave the paint job fried.
The Fascination with Lucite Embedments: It’s Not Weird if It’s Your Product
Why does any of this matter? After all, you may not have some oddment (strange or otherwise) that you’re looking to memorialize in Lucite. So why should you care?
Because the item in question—the one you might be considering embedding—might be your—or, more importantly, your client’s product—meaning your client’s cherished product. So knowing whether a piece of coal, or an aircraft engine component, or even a cookie, can successfully embed, and how it’s likely to look, can become very important. Two good examples are shown here— of a embedded spice pod, and of an embedded padlock, a product so closely associated with the client’s service that it was pivotal to the Lucite design.
When it comes to embedding objects, the only generalization that holds is that you frequently need to conduct a test. Because we own a Lucite factory this is something we can do quickly—and, by virtue of our unique access to factory personnel—with a considerable amount of experience and insight into whether, and how, a given embedment might work.
Regardless of what kind of success you’re commemorating, give us a call.
Click Here To Check Out More Lucite Embedments
David Parry is the Director of Digital Strategy at The Corporate Presence, which designs and manufactures deal toys, custom awards, and Lucite embedments.
March 16, 2015
Looking for Tech Deal Toy Ideas? Here’s a Great Place to Start
Our site now has three separate places for you to find a wider array of tech deal toy ideas–and more quickly and easily.
You’re no doubt aware of the converging trends currently heating up the tech sector—and therefore increasing the likelihood that you may be scouting around for tech-related deal toy ideas.
Thomson Reuters reports that 2015 Tech M&A activity already stands at $55.3 billion globally—up 9.5% over the same period in 2014. Beyond that, conditions continue to look favorable for the 2015 tech IPO pipeline.
As you also no doubt appreciate, “Tech” is a necessarily broad and sometimes imprecise term, one that can cover an array of companies, sub-industries, and verticals.
To help bring some additional focus and a little more efficiency to your search for deal toy ideas in the tech sector, we wanted to make you aware of some subdivisions we’ve made in the photo galleries on our website.
We now have three separate categories where you’ll be able to find some initial deal toys ideas for the tech sector: Data Storage & Security, Mobile Communications & Services, and Technology & Communications. Links for these three sections are provided here:
Data Storage & Security
Mobile Communications & Services
Technology & Communications
We will continue to update and refine our photo galleries in the tech sector—as we do with all our industry categories. In the meantime, these changes will help make your experience working with us more efficient and enjoyable.
As always, we’re available to help you guide you through the deal toy process— regardless of the sector.
March 4, 2015
Real Estate Deal Toys: Why They’re a Lot More Than “Closing Gifts”
Savvy commercial real estate firms are recognizing what investment banks have long known: the branding and marketing potential of “deal toys”
“Lining a windowsill in Anthony Orso’s office at Cantor Commercial Real Estate are dozens of statuettes—deal toys, he calls them—one for each of the $8 million to $580 million loans the commercial lender has done to date”.
So begins a profile in “The Real Deal” of Cantor Commercial Real Estate (CCRE) Co-CEO Anthony Orso. “One wouldn’t think the head of a successful firm would need to be surrounded by trinkets”, the article continues, “but these are reminders of hard- won victories”. In defense of his “trinkets”, Orso notes, “We do this to celebrate our small victories”. Beyond that, he emphasizes their entirely separate value as a branding tool—one that is especially significant in the legendarily competitive world of commercial real estate.
Custom Real Estate Deal Toys Resonate with Clients
Orso’s comments underscore a growing realization within commercial real estate that transactions, ranging from landmark deals to smaller, less trumpeted ones need to be commemorated—-and not merely to fulfill the traditional obligation of “closing gifts”.
Yes, clients undoubtedly value custom gifts: and, as well, clients tend to keep them much longer than the inevitably lost luxe pen, or some cookie-cutter, off-the-shelf memento. But they have even greater value regarding not only clients but prospects.
Custom commemoratives—-real estate “deal toys”—have an independent value, which Anthony Orso’s example convincingly demonstrates. The “trinkets” he lovingly keeps clustered on his office shelf are to him tangible reminders of achievement.
Beyond that, as any investment banker can tell you, they also have this kind of resonance with clients as well—precisely because they reflect the distinctive details, character, and challenges related to that specific deal. Clients hold on to them. They display them prominently in their office.
Clients see them—and not coincidentally your firm’s name emblazoned on them—constantly…Equally important, everyone else coming into that office sees them as well, maybe even prospects you didn’t know existed.
Cost-Effective, Enduring Desktop Advertising
With real estate deal toys this kind of resonance can be achieved in many designs—even if it just involves, say, a photo or photos of the property, as so many real estate commemoratives do.
Whatever their design, commercial real estate deal toys have value to a range of participants in a transaction. And unlike the traditional printed announcement of a deal, typically in a costly advertisement that is read, if at all, once and then discarded, their message is constant and enduring.
If you’d like to commemorate any kind of achievement, whether it’s a loan syndication, acquisition financing, successful seller or buyer representation, or a long-term lease—to name just a few examples—we’re always happy to provide custom design ideas.
January 9, 2015