Nicholson is in the construction industry, where evidently there's an unwritten rule that calendars must be gifted during the holidays. So many calendars are sent and received that most of them never even see the light of day.

Determined to stand out among the crowd, the marketing team at Nicholson asked me to help them craft a unique holiday message that was anything but — you guessed it — a calendar. While I’m a human who loves knowing the day of the month, I love helping clients break boundaries even more. Let’s do it!

In a sea of flat holiday greetings, how could we create something with substance? After a fun brainstorming session, we had it. Nicholson’s logo was a circle. And the holidays can be stressful. We married those two ideas into wishes for a “stress-free” holiday, where a branded stress ball was strategically placed within the design to appear as an ornament hanging from a tree.

Nifty production finishes like a freestanding fold and spot-gloss glitter gave it presence, and the sales team contact info on the reverse side made it a practical resource. Whether it was assembled on a client’s desk throughout the holidays, or the “ornament” was helping to de-stress some clients, Nicholson’s brand was front and center.