Sep 27, 2017

Tailgating Essentials for the Ultimate Pre-Game Party

As much as Americans love watching team sports like football, soccer, and baseball, we all know that the true action takes place off the field before the game begins. Tailgate parties have become a necessary experience whether you attend the game or not. It is what brings together fans, family, friends, and foes for food and fun.

According to the Advertising Specialty Institute, the average tailgater spends more than $500 per year on food alone and attends or hosts 6-10 tailgate parties per season. The parties last about 3-4 hours and include lots of food, drinks, and games. That’s a lot of money, time, and brand exposure!

To make sure your brand is the life of the tailgate party, offer these essential tailgating products to your employees and customers.

Game Set
Tailgate games are one of the main sources of entertainment during the party. A survey from Tailgate Institute shows that the favorite tailgate games are Beer Pong, Corn Hole, and Ring Toss. Add your logo or message to these game sets and you will be the center of attention.

Grilling Set
Perhaps more important than tailgate games is the food. Help out the cook with this 5-in-1 Folding BBQ Tool.

Cooler
Whether serving water, soft drinks or adult beverages, tailgaters will need something to keep their drinks cold. Give them some cool options from a Beverage Tub to a Table Top Cooler.

Drinkware
Having a cold drink is no good without something handy to put it in. Order custom cups, koozies, or tumblers that can be used for game days and beyond.

Folding Chair
Just because tailgating happens outside, doesn’t mean it can’t be comfortable. Hang out in this Cool Breeze Lounger.

What makes these products even better is that they can also be used for music concerts, outdoor festivals, block parties, and more. Check out our site for these items or contact The Icebox team to find out more ways to ensure your brand will not just be part of the crowd, but stand out too!

Sep 14, 2017

Inside The Icebox: Understanding Artwork Files Types

Hey there! Ping here. Today I want to cover some knowledge that many of us in the swag industry admittedly take for granted—artwork file types. We love taking our clients behind the scenes (remember “A T-shirt’s Story?), and today we’re sharing our insight into some graphic design 101.

Have you ever submitted your logo or artwork for printing—whether on paper, apparel, or promotional swag—and been told to send a specific file type? Most likely this file type would be *.Ai,*.eps., or another vector file format.

To those in marketing, event planning, or human resources, who don’t have a lot of experience with graphic design, “vector format” might sound like something out of a science fiction movie. But it’s really a special type of art file that is created using mathematical geometric planes, as opposed to pixel art, which is comprised of small colored squares.

If you have ever zoomed in on a photo and noticed it getting blurry or “pixelated,” then you have seen how pixels work like a mosaic to create the larger image. The more pixels per inch that comprise a piece of digital artwork, the higher its resolution. The higher the resolution, the larger you can print the image clearly. The most common file types for pixel images are *.jpeg, *.gif, and *.png.

The problem with pixel art is that its limitations can be finite. Higher resolutions mean larger file sizes, and even the most densely pixelated artwork has limits on how large it can be displayed clearly. Furthermore, resizing and resaving pixel art multiple times can decrease its resolution.

That’s why vector artwork is always the preferred file type for logos and typography. Vector files can be stretched and placed in any dimensions without losing clarity and sharpness. So when you send your logo for printing to a professional printer, you will be asked to provide vector images. Many printing companies will not even print your logo if it’s submitted in pixel format.

The challenge for many clients comes when they simply do not have vector files for their artwork. We will have customers send us *.jpeg files of their logos and explain to us that it’s all they have. For most printing companies, especially in the promotional swag industry, those clients would be told to send that logo to a graphic designer for tracing and converting to vector format. Most often, this results in the client giving up and not having their art printed at all.
This is where The Icebox distinguishes itself.

We have a full staff of creative professionals and graphic artists who can not only trace and convert your artwork when needed, but creatively apply your branding to depict your company story in a way you never thought possible. When you purchase promotional swag from The Icebox, you gain access to this creative team at no additional cost.

So while we believe it’s important to teach our customers about best practices around artwork submission for printing, we also know that it’s not always a customer’s job to know the difference between pixel and vector art. That’s why we’re here—to add real value to every client engagement, however we can.

If you are interested in working with the best art team in the swag business, reach out to the creative experts at The Icebox today.

Sep 1, 2017

Atlanta is Thriving

Hey there! Ping here. I am taking some time today to reflect on how lucky I am to have migrated to the city of Atlanta. I have been here more than 15 years now, serving The Icebox as the King of Cool. But aside from the friends I have made at the Georgia Aquarium, you don’t see very many penguins around these parts.

So why am I so excited to be an Atlanta local these days? Because Atlanta is absolutely thriving. Just this past weekend, I checked out an Atlanta United FC game and an Atlanta Falcons game at the brand-new, state-of-the-art Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The place is incredible. The halo board and the retracting roof are shining examples of the modern strides this city continues to make. And what’s more exciting is that Mercedes-Benz Stadium will host the College Football National Championship, the Super Bowl, the MLS All-Star Game, and the NCAA Men’s Final Four—all within the next three years.

We also just celebrated the grand opening of SunTrust Park—the new home of the Atlanta Braves. This gorgeous new stadium has transformed the entire area it inhibits in Cobb County. The Battery Atlanta, which shares real-estate with the new ballpark, is redefining the idea of a “live, work, play” destination.

If sports aren’t your thing—that’s cool. Atlanta is also a thriving spot for film and television right now. Call us the Hollywood of the East Coast. In fact, the state of Georgia is the number one filming location in the world. Many of your favorite shows and movies are filmed right here—including Marvel’s Avengers, The Walking Dead, and Stranger Things. Film and television generated $9.5 billion in revenue for the state of Georgia in fiscal 2017. Yeah—billion—with a “B”.

Sports and entertainment are certainly exciting and glamorous aspects of Atlanta’s ongoing renaissance, but you can’t talk about our thriving city without mentioning business and technology. Atlanta’s economy and job market are among the strongest in the country. The Atlanta Business Chronicle recently reported that Atlanta is ranked No. 6 among the “Best Cities for Job Seekers in 2017.” A lot of this economic strength comes from Atlanta’s booming financial and tech scenes. Many even refer to Atlanta as the “Silicon Valley of the South.” The Buckhead tech incubator Atlanta Tech Village has birthed some of the most exciting startups of the past few years, including Salesloft, Rigor, Calendly, and Namely.

But startups aren’t the only drivers of Atlanta’s booming business landscape. The city is home to some of the world’s most admired companies. Coca-Cola, Chick Fil’a, The Home Depot, and Delta Air Lines are just a few of the multi-billion dollar corporations that call Atlanta home. Even more exciting is the fact that some other huge names have recently decided to relocate to our great city. State Farm is building its new world headquarters near Perimeter Center, and Mercedes-Benz is relocating its North American headquarters to Sandy Springs. And let’s not forget about the coolest provider of promotional swag and apparel—The Icebox—with its headquarters located on the beautiful Atlanta Belt Line and its state-of-the-art distribution facility located near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (the busiest airport in the world, by the way).

With all these exciting reasons to feel grateful to be living in Atlanta right now, we can’t forget the heart and soul of the city—it’s rich and diverse culture and history. From its contributions to the civil rights movement to its hosting of the 1996 Olympic Games, our city has been a cornerstone of American history since its inception. It truly is a city with a vivid, beautiful, and complex story to tell, and we at The Icebox think that’s the city’s secret. The soul of Atlanta is what makes it so special, the reason it’s thriving now, and the reason it will continue to thrive for years to come.

For any ATL locals reading this who are not yet acquainted with The Icebox, we invite you to learn more about what we offer your fellow Atlantans. And if you’re as proud to be an Atlanta company as we are, then we’re a match made in swag heaven.

Until next time!
Ping