Second Annual UNIVATOR Awards Now Underway

ONLINE APPLICATION NOW AVAILABLE.

Entries are now being accepted for the second annual UNIVATOR Awards, a UniformMarket competition that showcases the best industry ideas and achievements of 2005. If you’ve launched a new and successful line, implemented marketing or sales strategies that have bolstered your company’s profits, creatively used technology to enhance your business or produced a public relations campaign with positive results, we want to hear from you!

Unlike other programs, the UNIVATOR awards honors you -- the manufacturers and distributors of uniforms, and your best products and ideas from 2005. It’s your chance to tell the world about your company’s greatest achievements for the year.

Can your business win the top UNIVATOR prize? Before entering, consider the following. Did you or your company…

• Launch a new product or line of products?
• Find an innovative way to sell product?
• Generate interest with some smart marketing?
• Recently bring new technology to the market?

Then let UniformMarket know. You just might win a UNIVATOR award! The UNIVATOR awards will appear in the UniformMarket News Magazine’s January issue, as well as Made To Measure’s Spring & Summer 2006 edition. And all winners will receive award plaques that can be displayed at company headquarters.

Market Results

But the coverage of UNIVATOR and the potential exposure for winners doesn’t end with us. Last year’s winners, Aramark, Barco Uniforms, Cintas, Creative Uniforms and Gorgonz, used their win as a marketing tool, touting the news in sales brochures and websites. Denise Nahman, founder of the San Diego-Based Creative Uniforms, produced a flyer that she includes in all presentations with new and established customers. “I’m a small business owner, and winning this award gives me more credibility. It gives my customers extra confidence in my abilities and my business,” says Nahman.

The results also helped her cultivate prospective leads. “This award has certainly helped the sales side of my business,” Nahman adds. “The more exposure, the better, because everyone gets to know me, and with so much competition in this industry, that’s important. Like everyone else, I’m trying to get an edge. The UNIVATOR Awards is one way of doing that.”

Uniforms Are Newsworthy

There’s no doubt that uniforms and stories about the industry are popular with mainstream media. Stories on last year’s UNIVATOR’s winners appeared in several publications, and uniform-related topics continue to make good stories. For proof, consider last month’s coverage of McDonald’s and its desire to promote a younger, hipper image through its uniform program. The story that the world’s largest youth employer was turning to the likes of Russell Simmons, P. Diddy and Tommy Hilfiger to perform a miracle makeover first appeared in AdAge, and was quickly picked up by newspapers across the country. It wasn’t just the print media that was interested in the potential $80 million redesign of McDonald’s uniforms. Fox News, MSNBC and even the late night talk shows all featured segments on the restaurant chain and its quest to “make our uniforms more appealing, more desirable," as McDonald's chief marketing officer Bill Lamar Jr. told Ad Age magazine.

When looking for reliable sources or new ideas, the media often turn to Halper Publishing, founder of Made to Measure and UniformMarket. Indeed, in July, the Chicago Daily Herald interviewed publisher Rick Levine for a piece in its business section that underscored the trend of uniforming workers. “Just take a look around you someday and you won’t believe how many people are wearing uniforms,” Levine was quoted as saying. Levine also noted that nearly one in four U.S. workers wear some sort of uniform, and although not growing fast as a percentage of the work force, the number of uniformed workers continues to expand with the work force ranks. An established authority, Halper Publishing is often the first contacted when reporters are looking for innovative concepts to write about.

No Fuss, No Muss

We know you’re busy, so we’ve made entering UNIVATOR easy. Simply provide a paragraph statement on why you believe your company, product or idea should be awarded a UNIVATOR, along with the supporting materials of your choosing. .

Categories we will be looking at include:

• Apparel and component style and construction
• Uniform product and business marketing and promotion
• Uniform and business technology
• Outstanding sales results and techniques

Our staff will review each submission and contact you in November or December if additional info rmation is required.

So if you’re looking for a little extra exposure for your product, drop us a line. We’d love to help you tell the world about your innovations.

Remember, it doesn’t take much time to enter this year’s UNIVATOR award. Just send your ideas, pictures, press releases, product news, links, etc. to:

• Email: univator@uniformmarket.com.
• Mail: UNIVATOR, UniformMarket, 830 Moseley Rd , Highland Park , IL 60035

ONLINE APPLICATION NOW AVAILABLE.

Deadline for Entries: December 2, 2005