A Customized Achievement
When Junior Achieve-ment hosted its 1999 annual golf tournament in sunny California, participants walked away with more than just a sunburn and a pleasant memory. Instead of the status quo (and often forgettable) t-shirts, key chains and mugs, personalized books were given as tee prizes to commemorate the event. The Golf Gods Are Laughing: The Confessions, Obsessions and Insights of a Golf Addict by Robert Bruce Woodcut was the chosen book, and De-Hart's Printing Services was the chosen maufacturer.
Woodcox's book was originally published by Seven Locks Press in Santa Ana, CA, a small publisher and distributor of approximately 38 titles a year. When the publisher asked DeHart's to knock off a short-run of 100 copies for publicity samples, the idea to customize the book was born.
"I thought the title was great, and I though it would be a unique item to personalize," says Don DeHart, president of DeHart's Printing Services. DeHart proposed the idea to the local Junior Achievement chapter, and the project got underway.
Before DeHart's could begin the customization project, they needed to obtain printing rights from both Seven Locks and Woodcox—a process that took a matter of minutes.
"We drew up a very short, one-page contract," recalls Jim Rior-dan, publisher, Seven Locks Press. "I called the author and got his okay. It was easy, and it was something I was happy to do for DeHart's. We've worked with them for a while. Whenever I've been in trouble and needed a few books fast, I've called on them, like when I needed a couple copies of a book for the Frankfort World Book Fair, DeHart's did the project for me in two days. I mean, you just don't do books in two days!"
Personal Treatment
The 160 books DeHart's produced for Junior Ach-ievement's event, all of which took a mere day to print, each featured a custom title page with the name, location and date of the golf event. Three pages contained the organization's mission statement, a list of its programs and a list of event sponsors.
