US Post Office and 1st Marketing Campaign

The first marketing campaign is just about ready to go out. It is a series of five letters, the purpose of which is to tell retail store owners about Innovatium and The Settlers Organizer.

This marketing campaign has afforded me the opportunity of working with some really great folks. In order to run a cost efficient campaign (OK, read "cheap"), I decided that I would take advantage of Bulk Mail Rates and post office automation. I mean, I like technology, so why not use it? The difference would be that mail pieces could be as little as $0.219 per piece as opposed to $0.37. Add the difference up over a few thousand pieces and we're talking some real money.

On one hand, committing to a Bulk Rate permit, an Indicia Permit (so I can do all the printing myself) and also a Business Reply permit (so that all you fine folks can return your comments), also means committing myself to performing the mailings in order to not loose money, but the mailings would be done anyway. They are still one of the best ways to reach out.

Back to the point. I had an opportunity to work with the folks in the Mailing Requirements department in Boston, MA. Carolyn, Donna, and John helped me to get my permits, understand how to use them and ensured that the artwork (business reply card layout and envelope layout) met requirements. They were patient, very helpful and made getting my mailing out to my potential retail customers possible. I am very grateful to them.

Retail Package and Retail Customers

Progress and more progress.

The sample retail carton should be ready for review today or tomorrow. Product labels quotations are in and a choice shall soon be made.

We will be testing our custom Settlers of Catan scenario this week in preparations for including it with the first orders to our retailers.

Everything is coming together.

The real question remains: is this product compelling to you, our customer? We hope so and we believe that it will be. My friends and I have played with the hand-made ur-prototype for quite some time now and we really enjoy it. Of course, my friends might not be the best sample consumer group. ;^)

That's OK. Because folks at the ConGames '05 convention in Tampa Bay, Florida like it. And the folks at GenCon Indy '05 liked it. Some folks really liked it -- which just makes sense!

OK, back to the phone, time to connect to people!

First Post

It seems time to enter this fascinating world of recording thoughts, activities, successes and disappointments. Why? Well, in the first place, this seems like an excellent vehicle to reach out to my customers and to provide a forum in which to establish some dialog. But what exactly am I talking about?

OK, let's step back for a moment. I supposed an introduction is in order.

My name is Peter and I am the father of four and the very lucky husband of a wonderful woman. My background is in the performing arts -- ballet, choreography, lighting design, etc. My profession had been in high-tech until fairly recently. Software development, project management, engineering management, consulting and contracting. After some upheavals, I found myself looking for something that would really satisfy me and decided to start my own company in order to bring some product ideas to market.

My company is Innovatium (www.InnovatiumInc.com) and my first product is The Settlers Organizer, which is a card organizer for the Settlers of Catan series of board games.

I enjoy getting my fledgling company started and bringing my first product to market. It is one of the most satisfying things that I have done in quite some time.

This blog is a vehicle for stepping out of my own little world, to put myself on the line, to reach out to my customers, friends and strangers in order to open some dialog and to make connections.

Thanks for reading.