Trophies2Go Blog

Check out our video interview with Nik Meller

Imagery.  That's the inspiration for Nik Meller's line of designer Crystal Awards.  Whether the deep blue waters of the ocean, the clear blue sky above the Alps, a bee's honeycomb, or a spider's intricate web, Nik uses nature's architecture as the foundation of his designs. An international furniture designer and artist, Nik has lived around the world and uses his experience to inspire his creativity.  His work is infused with artisty that comes from a global perspective yet appreciation for the world's beauty.

See Nik's collection of crystal sculptures here.

Click here for our video interview with Chien.

Fashion.  That's the inspiration for Chien J. Wang's collection.  Chien's story begins in Taipei, Taiwan, where his father worked for a textile mill.  Young Chien saw all of the latest fashions before they went to market, and he dreamed of one day becoming  a fashion designer.

After immigrating to the US at 11 years old, Chien worked hard , studied business at USC, and opened his first awards company at age 22.  Not until age 40 did he begin designing crystal awards.  The market had gone stale and lacked originality.  Using his fashion design aesthetic, he began creating awards that elicit an emotional connection; you either love them or not.  His designs appeal to a more sophisticated customer, interested in awards that make a design statement.

See Chien's Collection of fashion forward designs here.

We are proud to offer such beautiful and artistic awards to our customers!

Cheers,
Jessica

Awards Can Bring Tears to Your Eyes

At Trophies2Go, our goal is to provide meaningful recognition and to have our awards bring tears of happiness.   We want the person who receives your award to be absolutely thrilled in the moment, overcome with joy to be honored by YOU. 

Speechless, they are so touched that they tear up, and have to dab the corners of their eyes as they figure out what to say. They clutch their award for the rest of the event, get their picture taken with it, and find a very special place of honor to display it proudly.  Each time they see their award for weeks, months, and even years to come, they are transported back to that very special moment.  Our awards stand the test of time.

So how do we choose awards that will last, keeping the memory of that accomplishment alive?    At Trophies2Go, we don't actually manufacture the awards we sell.  We buy them or their award parts from our suppliers.  Many awards come in pieces that we must build.  Once the trophy is assembled, we carefully engrave a custom message on each one.  We go through a very specific process of choosing our products from our premium suppliers.

For the next few weeks, I will be focused on 4 of our suppliers  - what makes their products unique, why we do business with them, and why you should care.  We've also created short videos where we interview our suppliers about what makes them special, and you'll get a chance to see them soon.

Just like you, we honor excellence.  Each December we choose a 'Supplier of the Year' and a 'Product of the Year' to recognize those suppliers and products that go 'above and beyond' to make a difference in our customers' lives.  We are so honored to do the work we do - to make special moments even more meaningful!

Cheers, Jessica

The Almost Dead Last Team is awarded the Golden Throne!

Our customer, Clean-World Maintenance, Inc. has been ordering golf tournament awards from us for 10 years! Owner, Derek Grieson, says his grandfather taught him, 'If it's not broke, don't fix it.'  So Derek continues to order his awards from us because he says he likes our service.

Every June, Clean-World Maintenance hosts the CWM Classic golf tournament for its customers, suppliers, employees and sub-contractors.  They award gold and silver resin trophies for 1st and 2nd place teams, longest drives and closest to the pin awards like many tournaments do.

But they have a great sense of humor. They also award the Dead Last Toilet Resin trophy to the last place team and the Golden Throne Golfing Resin to the Almost Dead Last team.  To add a little class to the outing, they award a Rosewood Wine Bottle Display Box with their logo engraved on it to special winners during the tournament.

The Wine Bottle Box with a logo on it makes a great gift.

Clean-World Maintenance, Inc. offers cleaning services all over the Pacific Northwest.  These services include:

Drapery & Upholstery

Pressure Washing

Water Damage Clean Up

Windows

Janitorial Services

You can check out their website at http://www.cwminc.com/.  Or you can reach Derek Grieson at 360-256-9250 or [email protected].  You can also request an estimate on their website or by calling 800-643-5850.

We’re happy to spread the word about a great customer.  You can bet that if they appreciate great customer service, they know how to give it too.

Blessing, Anne

The Issaquah Schools Foundation has been chosen as the Issaquah Trophy & Awards 2nd quarter Awards for a Cause recipient.  The Issaquah Schools Foundation is a huge part of our local community.  Many of our children have attended or still do attend an Issaquah School.  We personally see and feel the work that they do and want to help them with fundraising to keep up the good work!

ISF drives resources to help all students achieve the promise of their academic potential. They do this by bridging the gap between funds the state provides for basic education and the dollars our schools need to prepare students for success in the school and life.

On Thursday, May 9^th, ISF will host its 15^th annual Nourish Every Mind Benefit Luncheon. Over 1,000 parents and civic and business leaders pack the luncheon to hear about how ISF has changed student lives, about future projects, and donate to make it all happen. Learn more about what the Issaquah Schools Foundation does by visiting their website or Facebook page.

Issaquah Trophy & Awards will make a donation to the Issaquah Schools Foundation based on selected product purchases.

Blessings, Anne

We are members of a great organization called Recognition Professionals International. I recently read these FAQs on their site regarding budgeting for a recognition program.  I think you’ll find them helpful.

 Q. What is an average budget for a Recognition Program?

What is the goal of your Recognition Program?

This varies by company.  I would recommend benchmarking what other companies in your industry or other companies of your size are doing. Any award program vendor should be able to provide benchmarking data like this.
Greg Boswell, O.C. Tanner, Inc.

This varies on what each company is establishing as its ultimate goal of the recognition program, the size of the company and its demographics, that is the beauty of recognition it can start small and grow with time and measurements of success!
Sandie Hodel, United Airlines, Inc

Very hard to answer. Ours is approx. $100 per person per year, but this includes funds for an annual recognition conference that only 500 attend each year.
Steve Richardson, Royal Bank of Canada

According to the benchmarking research I've seen, this figure can vary wildly. Some companies invest up to 2% of their payroll, others feel that .05 of 1% is sufficient. Some invest very little. One of the goals of RPI is to help establish some guidelines or standards but that data will have to be gathered over a period of time. A confidential format for sharing this information may make it easier to obtain.
Dee Hansford, Dee Hansford Consulting

Q. What factor is the basis for most Recognition Program budgets?

It really depends on your program objectives. Once again, consider what you'd like the program to accomplish and then work towards that goal.
Greg Boswell, O.C. Tanner, Inc.

Per capita.
Steve Richardson, Royal Bank of Canada

Smart companies are investing in recognition that drives performance and behaviors that further the mission and goals of the organization. Consequently, they are seeing bottom line results. I can tell you that while at Disney during the 25th Anniversary celebration, we saw a 15% increase in the Cast's satisfaction with day-to-day recognition by their immediate supervisors; an overall improvement of 32.6%. We saw correlating Guest satisfaction scores that were very high and showed a strong intent to return, which directly impacted the bottom line. After working with CalPERS for two years, we have seen their recognition scores improve 19%; productivity is increasing, as are customer satisfaction scores.
Dee Hansford, Dee Hansford Consulting