"Sunshine State" my...

Intrigued by an observation made by our own Adam Thornton today regarding the drizzly weather in Orlando, we decided to dig a little deeper to see just how sunny "The Sunshine State" really is.

Turns out...The National Weather Service ranks Florida the 5th Sunniest in the US! Anyone want to take a gander as to which state is first?

a. Nevada
b. Texas
c. California
d. Arizona
e. New Mexico

That's right...it's Arizona, with Yuma, AZ, getting 242 days of sunshine per year.

Florida is considered to have "more days where between 20-70% of the sun is blocked by clouds than anywhere else in the continental United Sates".

Think it's time to pass some new legislature to rename Florida's nickname to a more accurate "The Cloudy & Humid as (fill in the blank) State".

For more interesting info, see the article below:

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/2004-06-21-fla-sunshine_x.htm

Here's to a reasonably sunny weekend! Match-Up out.

P.S. It is currently snowing in Minneapolis, MN...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Tomorrow marks the kick-off of the official holiday season. Millions of people will travel untold miles to visit family and friends, making it the busiest travel day of the year. Stores' insane specials across the country the following day make it the biggest shopping day of the year. Between running around to visit the family, eating enough turkey to knock you out the rest of the day...only to arise at 3 am the following day to get all the best deals for the next big holiday, it's easy to forget what it's all about.

While we won't go into an oration about over-commercialization, below are a couple of links from History.com that we thought would be a fun way to reflect about what tomorrow is all about-- being thankful for what we have and grateful for the people in our lives. For instance, Jess just learned that New Hampshire was the state that initially requested a Thanksgiving holiday back in 1782-- another reason to be proud of her home state! Or that Americans consumed approximately 690 million pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving in 2007!

Whatever your plans may be for the holiday, from all of us at Match-Up-- Happy Thanksgiving!

Do you know why Thanksgiving is the 4th Thursday every year? Check out the quiz to find out why!
Thanksgiving Quiz from History.com:
www.history.com/content/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-quiz

Want to know which state produces the most turkeys each year? Go to the fun facts link below!
Thanksgiving Fun Facts from History.com:
www.history.com/content/thanksgiving/thanksgiving-facts

word of the day: gratuity

Yesterday an article came up on Yahoo that told the plight of a young couple who was arrested in Philadelphia for not leaving a tip on their $16 bill.

The gist of the story was that there was a group of people that went to the bar, waited over an hour for their food, had to get their own utensils, and also had to get up to get their drinks refilled because their waitress was nowhere to be seen.

At the end of the meal, they refused to leave a tip. They explained it to the bartender, who took their money, and then called the police! They were then placed in hand cuffs and charged them with theft because the gratuity was part of the bill. *phew* Sounds like a great date night.

Now, the staff at Match-Up have illustrious backgrounds with a wide range of past occupations-- Disney staff, cruise line staff, campaign staff, etc. Half of us here have indeed been wait staff at one time or another. From our recollection...a tip is called gratuity for a reason-- it is a reflection of how well you took care of your customer. True, there is a sliding scale for what to give, and the common mentality is to leave the standard 15% no matter what, but there certainly is no law against not tipping or a right of entitlement on the part of the wait staff.

Dictionary.com defines gratuity as "something given without claim or demand". Hopefully the couple prints that off before their hearing next month!

So the lesson for the day, kids: tip no matter what! Even if it's the worst service you've ever had, you get food poisoning, everything goes wrong, etc., etc. Forget about trying to get the meal comped...because you might just wind up in handcuffs if you don't leave a tip...

Happy Friday!

To read the complete story: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local-beat/Time-In-Prison--70426052.html

food for thought

While none of us feign to be doctors, each of us at Match-Up certainly have our own opinions about health.

An interesting article appeared earlier this week on MSN: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32762148/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/


Our staff is graced with an assortment of allergies-- thus far Jess is allergic to cockroaches (no wonder she moved to Minneapolis), Kristen says she's allergic to Mondays (who isn't these days, right?), Michelle is allergic to suntan lotion (not so conducive to Florida living), Nikole originally said that she was allergic to red things then recanted-- but she does have a strong aversion to leather and dry hands. Listing Adam's "can't eat" items would take all day-- let's just say he isn't too pleased that several of his favorite foods are listed on there (not Diet Mt. Dew, thankfully).

Anyways, hopefully the article will enlighten everyone about the difference between a food allergy and food intolerance. Happy Friday the 13th!

Happy Monday!

In starting off the week on a light note, here are some fun facts to make you chuckle and wonder how in the heck they did the research:
- The Falkland Isles (pop. approx 2000) has over 700000 sheep (350 per person-- try counting that!)
- When the Titanic sunk there was 7,500 lbs. of ham on it (not sure how they left that out of the movie)
- The United States Treasury Department maintains a fund known as The Conscience Fund, which accepts money sent in anonymously by taxpayers who think they've cheated the government. The money is used for miscellaneous expenses. (oh, if only it were the other way around)
- The United States minted a 1787 copper coin with the motto "Mind Your Business"

And lastly:
- The creators of a new model of Chevys couldn't figure out why their car, the Nova, wasn't selling well in Hispanic countries...until someone pointed out that "Nova" means "no go" in Spanish.

From all of us at Match-Up, Happy Monday!

it's all relative

This is Jess here, blogging from Minneapolis. It's officially been a month since I packed everything up, said a tearful goodbye to sunshine, and courageously crossed the threshold that I swore I would never return to-- The Great White North.

On that early October day that I successfully made it to Minneapolis, the weather was a crisp 49 degrees. Considering it was around 80 when I left, it was a bit of a challenge. I remember complaining profusely of how cold and windy it was, and received rolled eyes as a response-- not a lot of sympathy here. The common response is "just wait until January". The following day it snowed 5 inches, much to my chagrin. Did I mention that I had discarded all winter clothing two years ago and only had sneakers for "proper footwear"?

Fast forward a month, and when one of my Florida friends this week commented how they were finally getting a break from the intense heat in Jacksonville, I responded by saying how it was 49 degrees and felt so nice! Today it is 62 degrees and sunny, and I'm going to spend every minute I can out there. With winter coming...you have to fully enjoy those "warm" days when they come! Like I said...it's all relative. So wherever you are, make sure you enjoy the sunshine when you get it!

Labor Day

Shouldn't it be called "Non-Labor Day"? Anyhow, Friday brings the end of a week that has seen a completed RFP, contract renegotiation, sponsorship summit, 4 new clients, Jess' trip to parts unknown in the Northeast, Heidi's trip to Atlanta (so she said), Michelle's trip to Memphis...yes, we know what you are thinking- "How many vacation days do people get at Match-Up?" Answer- WAY TOO MANY. From all of us here- we wish our clients, vendors, and staff a safe and happy holiday!

Countdown...

We are officially counting down to the start of college football season! We can't wait! We love college football around here and it's always fun when our rival schools play- always makes for a fun Friday the day before the game. 8 days to go... ;)

Have a great weekend from all of us at Match-Up!

"Linner" Correction

A linner is actually the time b/t lunch and dinner. Thanks to Heidi for quickly stopping work and catching the error in the previous blog. The source of Heidi's work-stopping information crusade- http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Linner

Match-Up "Linner"

T-Minus 49 minutes before the first official Match-Up "Linner" (a linner for you non-MatchUp folks is simply lunch+dinner...we know, our creativity knows no bounds). We are looking forward to the wonderful food and adequate company at Houstons. Clients- no worries...we have call forwarding and the Bat-signal programmed if any emergencies arise!

A little PR for this fine Friday

Standard Friday- just working while jamming to Coldplay and we hear from the fine folks at the Orlando Business Journal that we are a finalist for the Outstanding Small Business for 2009. Envision the slow motion clapping scenes in "Can't Buy Me Love", and "Lucas"...thanks to all of our employees, client and vendor partners and of course the OBJ!!

Gold Medal Award Winner

Who is the only Central Florida company to be named as an ASI Gold Medal Multi-Million Dollar Roundtable award winner? Well, since it is our blog that would be us!! Thanks to all of our clients, vendor partners, employees and producers who helped us achieve this prestigious designation for the 2nd consecutive year. Less than 1% of all distributors nationwide qualify for this status and we are proud to be included. We will be out on the town Aug 14th celebrating and the question around the office remains...who will be buying us drinks??

This Saturday

Just in case any of you are wondering what the fireworks and hoopla are all about this Saturday, it's due to the over $1,200,000 in sales we had this month. We purchased a bunch of Roman Candle fireworks on the down-low to celebrate...don't tell the man.

Where Have We Been?

RE: Match-Up as a whole? We've been twittering our blog and blogging our tweets...the Florida heat has us confused. As for Jaklyn and Nikole? Vacation. Yes, AGAIN

A Little Media Exposure Never Hurt...

This week, Match-Up was featured on WESH (Orlando) and later found ourselves mentioned in the Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale). Segments can be found at www.wesh.com/video/19653539/index.html and http://tinyurl.com/ocdbgx. We think a frosty after work beverage is in order...again.

Happy Hour Starts ??

Let's see.... The Magic are going to win Saturday and Adam is leaving for vacation this afternoon. Anybody remember the Eddie Murphy song "Party All The Time"?

Celebration Time

Let's see, in order of importance...we are celebrating the Magic's march to the Eastern Conference finals and then Nikole's birthday. How old is Nikole? A young looking 43 thank you very much.

What a Week

From welcoming new clients (Socius Insurance Services, MHR, Riverstone, Metro PCS) to prepping for a large presentation next week to pondering exactly what liquids will power a liquid powered calculator (the bet is will vodka work??), this week has been blissfully busy. Jeff even wore a tie one day...and yes, hell has officially frozen over.

Musings Re: Spinach Dip

We must confess that the spinach dip at Sam Snead's in Maitland, while thoroughly enjoyable, saps our energy. Here's hoping the gameday t-shirts we did for the Magic tonight helps lead them to a victory over the men in green.

Happy May Day

This first day of May has brought us a new producer (Lou), a new employee (Jahmel), and the respective client and vendor partners they bring to Match-Up. Welcome to all!! We're so thrilled we even gave Nikole the day off to fly back to Buffalo to hang with friends. For those of you thinking "what friends"?...hey, she's got one or two.

What a Week

Rays championship rings, Hornets Spirit Swirlers, Magic Playoff T-Shirts...and a Corporate 5k that has left at least one member of the Match-Up team in need of serious physical therapy. And stay tuned for a major expansion announcement expected next week!

Expanding

Match-Up is in double top secret expansion mode. And no, we are not talking about our post-Easter waistlines. Stay tuned!! Have a great holiday weekend from all of Match-Up!

What did you do this week?

Contest—let's see whose week was more fun. We spent our days doing our annual physical inventory count. 1,2,3,6981... The result—how about an inventory variance of less than 1%!!!

Who Was The Villain In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Our competition now knows the answer. Check them out @ http://twitpic.com/2aay8

Yes—we've been slacking

Please excuse our blog-writer for suffering extreme writer's block over the past few weeks. It seems that presenting so many wonderful promotional solutions to clients short-circuited his Hemingway-esque blog postings. On a more serious note—a great big hello to our newest client, the Ritz Carlton Club in Orlando. Look for them on USB drives near you in the immediate future!

Valentine's Day

What to give your sweetheart for Valentine's Day? Flowers...outdated. Candy...cmon. Dinner...you did that last week. How about some branded merchandise from Match-Up? Promotional products = love.

Why Should Your Company Buy Promotional Products?

Besides getting to deal with an awesome company like Match-Up? Really, you need another reason? Ok—check out here.

4 Things We've Learned

1. No matter the economic uncertainty, clients do and always will appreciate service. 2. Social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter etc are removing the boundaries between clients, providers, and prospects—how much would it have cost in 2005 to get your company connected to Dunkin Donuts or Jetblue? It's done every day now at no cost. 3. With advertising budgets being trimmed, we must precisely show how our services create more substantial value over other advertising mediums. 4. We really like Tijuana Flats.

Match-Up on Twitter

In our never ending quest to permeate every social networking medium—come find us on Twitter. Come follow us at www.twitter.com/matchuppromo.com

ROI and Promotional Products

Are promotional products effective ROI generators? Short answer—yes. See below for more specifics following a round of studies recently conducted. 1. Recipients of promotional products remember the advertiser's name. A study by Schreiber & Associates (Peoria, IL) showed that 39% of the people receiving a promotional product could recall the name of the advertiser as long as six months after they received it. 2. Promotional products are ideal for creating awareness among a selective audience. Southern Methodist University conducted a study to measure attendee awareness of product demonstrations in three university communities. They found that selective distribution of promotional products outpolled school newspaper advertising by two-to-one. 3. Promotional products can boost response rates by up to 75% when used as dimensionals in direct mail solicitations according to a study by Baylor University. 4. Customers reorder faster and more often when promotional products are used instead of coupons. In a study by Southern Methodist University, customers receiving promotional products reordered up to 18% sooner than those who received coupons and up to 13% sooner than those who received no promotion. Promotional products effectively reinforce employee sales contests, too. Contests reinforced by periodic distribution of promotional products were cost-effective and outperformed non-stimulated contests by up to 50 percent, according to a Baylor University study of month-long sales contests in retail establishments.

2008

As we clean out 2008 material (some of us are cleaning out 2005 material), we look forward to 2009 and all that it has to offer. In retrospect, 2008 was Match-Up's finest year and we have all of our employees, clients, and vendor partners to thank. From financial metrics through new client development to ongoing client service, we established new benchmarks to surpass. From a company that is very proud to associate with all of our partners, thank you for 2008 and we look forward to 2009.