5 Ways Companies Win with Custom Logo Stoneware

In the corporate world, it’s hard to go wrong with quality American-made coffee mugs. But, not every company simply sells their mugs to outside customers like a retail store would. The ways to use corporate mugs go far beyond that. Uncover how our corporate and professional customers use their custom logo mugs, beyond the sale.

 

1. Mugs as Team Swag

There’s no better way to show off team spirit than to set it in stone—literally. We frequently make mugs for different departments and teams within larger organizations so they can receive acknowledgment for their hard work. However, private businesses aren’t the only ones who do this.

 

We often see military units do this across all branches of the U.S. armed forces. As a morale booster, servicemen will order mugs with their unit insignia that the entire team can use for years. Each mug we make for our military units features their unique insignia, leading to some unusual designs that we can’t help but think are cool. Some of these mugs end up where the units are stationed, be it in Afghanistan, China or anywhere in between.

2. Foundation Fundraisers

 

Government organizations and nonprofits often have foundations to help their communities. These foundations do everything from promoting community safety to supporting the families of emergency responders. Many of these groups receive funding from paycheck deductions for their members. On the other hand, these groups often host their own fundraisers to meet local needs. That’s where Sunset Hill Stoneware steps in to help.

We’ve written about some of the fundraisers our mugs made possible before. These groups do another type of fundraiser, selling their mugs to interested members so the foundation has more funds to work with.

One group doing this is right up the road from us. Like many law enforcement bodies, the Appleton Police Department has its own Appleton Police Benevolent Association (APBA). The department uses stoneware coffee mugs—in a few of our blue shades, of course—as a fundraiser to provide this foundation with extra assets. Proceeds from their mug sales go toward helping members of the Appleton community when they most need it.

For example, the foundation often steps in during times of crisis. When tragedy struck Appleton in 2019 with the line-of-duty death of Appleton firefighter Mitch Lundgaard, the APBA was one of the many organizations who stepped up to financially support the Appleton Fire Department and Mr. Lundgaard’s family. Sunset Hill Stoneware is proud to support the APBA in initiatives like these.

3. Client and Customer Gifts

Giving mugs as customer gifts is a common practice for our customers in the real estate market. Whenever one of their clients closes on a new home, they provide a stoneware coffee mug as a housewarming present. However, there’s one mortgage company with whose story touched us recently with how they use their mugs.

Fluent Mortgage is an Oregon-based mortgage broker that specializes in getting veterans VA loans to buy a home. They’ve helped thousands of men and women who served and their families find their perfect home at accessible rates. Along the way, they take the confusion out of the process of getting a VA loan.

Fluent Mortgage gives their mugs as gifts to their clients as a thanks for working with them. From there, the American-made coffee mugs become lifelong keepsakes that they can use in their new home.

4. Commemorative Gifts for Company Events

Suppose you work for a huge company with 1,000 employees. If your business has a company-wide trip that gathers most (if not all) of those employees in one place, stoneware mugs with your logo make great gifts for the event. After all, even when everyone has gone back to the office, that mug is almost guaranteed use with every cup of coffee or tea they have as they start the day. A custom logo mug also tells them that you appreciate their work and care enough to give them a gift that has quality they can feel.

Although Sunset Hill Stoneware is far from the massive corporation we just described, we’ve done this for our own team. During our 20th anniversary  in 2018, we celebrated with a company picnic during the summer. As a thanks for their hard work, everyone on the team and their families received a red Potbelly mug with a special edition of the SHS logo.

We’re far from the only company who has done this, either. Sunset Hill Stoneware has created USA-made coffee mugs for businesses of all sizes as holiday and anniversary gifts, trade show swag and more. They’re a great way to close a sale, improve your employee retention and send a subtle but powerful branding message.

5. Rewards for the Team

Whether it’s as a thanks for hard work during a company initiative or if your team managed to increase their production over the course of the year, a branded coffee mug is a great way to say thanks.

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a department at Google made a set of mugs to do just that after their team’s seamless transition to the new reality of remote work. The mugs—an Executive Slim in Canyon Grey with a design that was both chic and funny—showed appreciation and turned heads for how relatable they were. Countless other organizations have done designs like these for their teams.

No matter what kind of organization yours is or how you plan to use them, American-made stoneware coffee mugs are a unique way to make a statement. These custom mugs show your team, your customers and your donors that you care about the details, all with a quality that’s built to last.