Per Annum Company Blog | The Forward Thinker

And the Winner Is...

The votes have been tallied and if anything, our SPRING AWAKENING photo contest has proven one thing:  Cute baby photos will triumph over animals and gorgeous nature shots every time!  The winner, as you may have guessed, is AMANDA W., whose adorable photo of a baby, red tulips and a spring-tastic sunbeam dominated the competition with an overwhelming 93% of the vote!  Congratulations, Amanda -- your Per Annum Prize Pack will be on its way ASAP!

Congrats, also, to Michael C. and Tony S. for making the final three, and thanks again to all who partcipated and voted in this month's contest.  Be sure to check back soon to find out what our next contest theme will be -- and don't forget to tell your friends!

Swing. Slam. Save.

The weather is getting warmer, the sun is shining brighter and our smiles are getting wider. Yes, it is spring -- which means it is also time to get your golf and tennis equipment out!

Remember to get the right gear for your "A" game, which includes eyewear.  The sun is great, but not when your eyes aren’t protected from its rays. Nannini Flat Specs and Sport Specs are just right for any day under the sun.

Because we are ready to go golfing and play tennis, we wanted to lift your spirits and let you blog readers join in on the fun with a 10% coupon code on all Flat Specs and Sport Specs for Tennis and Golf.  Use coupon code GTB10 at checkout.

Check out what you could get below:

Flat Specs Golf Glasses

 
Sport Specs Golf Glasses

 
Sport Specs Tennis Glasses

Spring Awakening Photo Contest Finalists

I think this latest photo contest has struck a chord not only with our readers, but with Mother Nature herself, as the weather is absolutely picture-perfect here in NYC today!  So what better time to announce our SPRING AWAKENING finalists!  We received a slew of great entries and have narrowed them down to our fave three -- and without further ado, here they are:

 
Baby and a Sunbeam
by Amanda W.


Go Get It, Boy!
by Tony S.

 
Springtime in Alaska
by Michael C.

Good stuff, right?  Makes you want to shut off the computer and go outside -- but before you do that, please use the application below to place your votes by midnight this coming Monday, April 27th.  Feel free to share your comments and thoughts on your favorites, as well!  (Also, be sure to use coupon code BLOG to take 10% off your next order at www.PerAnnum.com with our compliments!)

Online Surveys & Market Research

Good luck to all our finalists!

Photo Contest Reminder

Don't forget, there's still time to enter our SPRING AWAKENING Photo Contest!  We want to know what you associate with Spring -- whether it's a photo of a blooming flower, an April shower, a bright, sunny day, or a baby at play.  Or maybe a ballgame, or a happy squirrel, or playing frisbee in the park -- whatever floats your boat and says, "Springtime is here!" to you.  The best photo will receive a Per Annum Prize Pack, valued at $50 or more.

The deadline ends at midnight TOMORROW.  Send all submissions to lisa@perannum.com.  Go through those pics (or go outside and take some new ones) and show us what you've got!

Spring Awakening

Even though it's technically been Spring for almost a month, the weather here in New York City has not been very Spring-like, with cold temperatures and even snow -- so imagine my surprise to wake up today and find a nice, bright, sunny Spring day!  And tomorrow is supposed to be even nicer -- which gives me an idea for our April photo contest....

To celebrate the long-awaited arrival of Spring, we want to see your favorite SPRING AWAKENING photos -- anything that you think captures the essence of the season, whether it's a pretty shot of flowers blooming, a child frolicking in the park, or a yummy picnic basket.  Send us your most Spring-tastic pics, and the winner will get a special Per Annum Prize Pack!

Here are a few examples to get you started:

 

Submission deadline: April 23rd
We’ll pick our “fave 3” then our readers will get to vote for the best.
Voting: April 24th through 27th
Winners announced: April 28th

Please send all submissions to lisa@perannum.com.  Happy Spring, at last!

Welcome, Kaji & Essex

A couple of weeks ago, we introduced two new products on our website, courtesy of our friends at Kolo, which we think are among their finest creations yet -- and I just wanted to take a moment to remind everyone that they are now on sale and available for pre-order!

First, there's the Kaji, a new post-bound, top-loading scrapbook that is as elegant as it is easy to use.  Simply slide your 12" x 12" photos, artwork, documents, etc., into the top-loading sturdy, top-loading, archival pages, and you're done!  Perfect for oversized photos, pre-made scrapbook layouts, or someone looking for a quick, colorful & easy way to store their memories.  Plus, the Kaji's screw-post binding is compatible with Kolo's classic Newport Luxury Scrapbook pages, so you can mix-and-match to your heart's content!

Next, there's the Essex Travel Book, an innovative tool that combines aspects of a photo album, journal, agenda, notebook and more into one ultimate companion!  It is also fully customizable -- the book comes with photo sleeves & lined journal pages, but you can add a third insert, as well as swapping out and adding sections of your choice.  The Essex is available in small and medium sizes and is a must-have for anyone on the go.

Both the Kaji and Essex are currently on sale for 10% off -- plus, use coupon code BLOG for an additional 10% on top of that.  These are two great new products that we hope will become Kolo's next big hits!

Quick links:

Kaji Top-Load Scrapbook

Essex Travel Book  (Small)

Essex Travel Book  (Medium)

Top 10 Links We Can’t Live Without

Have you ever wondered what would happen if your everyday websites suddenly disappeared? A frightening thought indeed! I thought it would be fun to share our most essential links with each other to see what everyone is addicted to these days -- in a good way of course. You might surprise yourself as you narrow your favorites down and find out what others think!

My Review Fix:
http://www.yelp.com/nyc
http://newyork.citysearch.com/

My Sports News Fix:
http://espn.go.com/mlb/
http://www.fanhouse.com/

My Diet/Exercise Fix:
http://www.nutritiondata.com/
http://www.nysc.com/

My News/Events Fix:
http://www.nytimes.com/
http://www.villagevoice.com/

My Movie Fix:
http://www.moviefone.com/

My Search Fix:
www.google.com

Why not take a moment to jot these links down in your City Diary for safekeeping?  And feel free to comment with some sites that YOU can’t live without!

City Diaries vs. PDA's

One of the biggest challenges facing a diary company like Per Annum is constant competition from digital calendars, planners, PDA's, and countless other next-generation products & services.  With so many electronic options out there, you'd think that it would be nearly impossible for a paper diary to compete.  But over the years, as these products have become more prevalent, we've found that people are still drawn to good old fashioned pen-and-paper planners for a variety of reasons -- whether they feel more comfortable writing things down in ink, are afraid of power outages/failures, or they just plain like it better.

With that in mind, I'd like to present some comments we've received from customers who have continued to use their City Diaries, either alongside or instead of an electronic device:

A.B. from San Francisco, a longtime Metropolitan Diary user, says, "Even though I now use an iPhone & continue to use an Outlook calendar, I still prefer to have a physical calendar to track appointments.   I like having a physical record of appointmens for personal historical purposes."

Erin M. from Brooklyn agrees: "For personal items, I prefer the paper method."

Michelle from Brooklyn takes it a step further: "It gives me a record -- at my fingertips -- of what I've done every day and night for the past several years.  It doesn't beep, crash, or need to be recharged at night.  I also think there is something charming about using paper."

David Patrick from Coppell, TX, offers a practical (and timely) reason for sticking with his City Diary: "You have to have a calendar with the year printed on it for the IRS, so I was able to very simply keep track of my mileage for auditions and gigs as well as non-receipt expenses. If I ever get audited, all I have to do is confidently deliver that year's paperwork and Diary to the IRS."

Lastly, Edward H. from Montvale, NJ, points out that "If you don't lose the diary, it will be around for a hundred years.  Digital versions will not have the same longevity!"


Thanks to all our customers & fans for proving that the age of the written diary is not over yet!  We believe there can be room in a person's life for both a Diary and a PDA... but if you can only choose one, we say there's nothing quite like pen and paper!

Get Ready to Think... and Print!

From our revolutionary City Diaries to a vast array of photo albums & scrapbooks to the unique Nannini FlatSpecs and more, Per Annum has been changing the way people plan, work & play for the past 30 years.  And today, April 1, 2009, we are proud to present our boldest creation yet:

Per Annum's
First-Ever
THINK 'N PRINT
MIND-READING
SCRAPBOOK

For years, our scientists have been hard at work perfecting this technology, and at last, the impossible has been achieved!  The process is simple:  After having a standard USB port built into your temporal lobe (a painless outpatient procedure), you simply connect yourself to the Think 'N Print Scrapbook, envision what you'd like to see printed, and presto!  The image instantly materializes in full color on a specially-designed scrapbook page.  (The more vivid the image in your head, the higher the quality of the print -- so think hard!)

The Per Annum Think 'N Print Mind-Reading Scrapbook is available in 12x12 and 8x8 sizes, in a variety of colors.  Pages are post-bound and 100% archival.  Pre-order yours today -- it's the perfect scrapbook for sharing whatever is on your mind!

(Photos are unavailable at press time... but trust us... it works!)

P.S. - Happy April Fool's Day!