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Awards & Trophies: Customized vs Personalized
People often think they want customized trophies, when in fact they actually want personalized trophies. The terms are confusing, so we're shedding some light on them to help you make good decisions. For the record, Eclipse Awards makes both customized and personalized awards, trophies and plaques. We personalize your order with either sandblasting, solar powered laser engraving, or full colour UV printing.
Personalized Awards, Trophies and Plaques
Ordering personalized awards and trophies means selecting from our online catalog of existing award plaques styles and then creating special artwork and text that will personalize them for your occasion. Advantages of ordering personalized trophies and award plaques include:
- confidence knowing you are using popular and proven award designs;
- faster lead times since we carry inventory on hand; and
- lower costs since the award styles have already been tested, developed, and produced in larger quantities.
80% of the orders we produce are personalized awards because it's great value. More of your dollars go towards the quality and craftsmanship of the award itself instead of going towards developing a new custom concept.
Customized Awards, Trophies and Plaques
When we talk about customized trophies and plaques, we mean that the shape, dimensions, and materials used are custom designed and specially manufactured for your project. Custom are usually personalized as well. Approximately 20% of the awards we produce are fully customized because the results can be spectacular. Custom awards projects can produce unique and amazing results, however they often take a bit longer to design and test, and usually cost more, particularly when produced in small quantities. There are a few other considerations as well, which we discuss below.
While both types of awards and trophies are prestigious and unique, there are some important things to consider before deciding to pursue a customized awards or trophy project:
Customized Awards - Opportunities
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Exclusivity: you can create a truly unique and exclusive trophy or award that represents your organization in a memorable way.
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Stature: custom awards and trophies can help increase the brand of your recognition program and organization.
Custom Awards - Considerations
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Cost: custom awards & trophies often cost more due to additional design and development costs, testing, and smaller production runs.
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Lead times: it’s wise to budget between 8-12 weeks for the design, development and production time of a custom awards project, more if prototypes are needed.
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Consistency: in some cases, it can be challenging to maintain consistency from year to year – particularly if the custom awards require unique materials, or materials from multiple sources. This may become a factor if you are planning to present your awards over several years.
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Limited Availability: with custom awards, it may not be possible to create extra or replacement pieces on short notice, unless extra pieces have already been produced as contingency.
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Presentation Boxes: custom awards & trophies often have unique shapes, which means they usually require customized, form-fitting presentation boxes. Depending on the size and shape of the awards, customized presentation boxes can add significantly to the total cost of the custom award.
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Recognizability: your custom awards may be recognized within your organization, but will they also be recognized as awards by friends and family and people outside of your industry? It may not matter, but it's worth considering.
Customized vs Personalized: Summary and Recommendations
Customized awards and trophies can be truly unique and effective when developed within realistic guidelines. However, it's often possible to achieve similar or even superior results more quickly and cost effectively by personalizing an existing award style for your organization and occasion. It really depends on your budget, timeline, and what you are trying to accomplish.
If you are interested in pursuing a custom awards project, we have the expertise and skills to realize your vision within the following guidelines:
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Your project has a minimum 8 week lead time available.
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You require a minimum of 10 custom awards produced at one time.
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You have a minimum budget of $200 per custom award.
All custom award orders require a 70% non-refundable deposit to begin, with the balance due upon delivery. Should you decide to order additional custom awards for future use, we will be happy to inventory these items for you for up to 3 years and deliver them as required. Note that all non-stock orders are also considered custom awards orders.
For custom awards and trophies, we specialize in crystal, glass, metal and wood, which are timeless and eco-friendly materials that people love to see, hold and feel. We work with clients in the US, Canada and beyond.
To start your custom awards project or to learn more, contact info (@) eclipseawards (dot) com or call us at 1-888-294-7121.