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How we manufacture inspiration instead of cold calling

Cold calling is kind of like blind dating. You don’t know what you’re getting into and it might get a little awkward. If you are like us and many other companies, you probably think it’s a little bit old school, too. At Shield, we don’t believe in cold calling. Here’s how we manufacture inspiration instead of cold calling.

We’ve recently been working on a new project that we think provides a friendly (and fun) introduction to our company. During the planning process, we struggled a bit to come up with ideas that set us apart in ways that showcase what we’re all about. As we sat back and thought about how to do this, we kept coming back to our purpose: manufacturing inspiration.

So, we decided that we would set out on a mission to inspire the people who have inspired us: architects. Architects are influencing our culture and the world we live in. We want to influence the manufacturing world and change the expectations of the industry, living our purpose of manufacturing inspiration both literally and figuratively. More specifically, we want make the best product we can without sacrificing design intent and without charging a zillion dollars.

So, the question we asked ourselves was, “how do we go beyond saying who we are and what we do, and instead show why we do it?” 

The answer? The Week of Inspiration! (Notice how it ties to our purpose. Genius, eh?)

What is it? Well, we collectively thought about moments we’ve felt especially motivated: being the recipient of a random act of kindness, reading a unique success story, receiving a thoughtful gift, and etc.

We designed some inspirational experiences just for people we’d like to get to know, creatively transforming them into tangible stories and matching gifts. These are set to arrive at a chosen architect’s office every day for a week.  Each gift reveals a little bit more of our personality and our culture. Best of all, some of them are edible and look kinda like this:

And others are a little more useful and look something like this:

We at Shield Casework love the brand story of Moleskine – though we think the story contained in the New York Times article tucked inside of it is even better.

So, is it inspirational? We hope so. At a minimum, it’s pretty fun to put together, and I can certainly say that we have become experts in mailing.  🙂 We plan to continue using the Week of Inspiration on a national level to share that not only does Kansas City have great BBQ and winning sports teams (Go Royals), but also that Kansas City has has a startup who is trying to change the expectations of manufacturing in America. This is how we manufacture inspiration, and we hope you’re at least a little interested.

Ready for a little inspiration in your life? Let us know and we can get you signed up for your very own Week of Inspiration!