The Art of Chocolate Part II

Well, with summer moving at such a rapid pace I would like to take a second to catch my breath and update everyone on the Product Development process.

Since that time I’m happy to announce that the final wrapper designs for the Anniversary, Halloween and Sweetest Day categories have been approved! They will be hitting the website for your viewing pleasure very soon! I think you’ll find that with over 40 NEW WRAPPER DESIGNS the Carson Design Team has created these wrappers to make your special event even that much sweeter!

In saying that, we would like to say thanks to you for your input and ideas, please keep them coming. Well, I hope you enjoy them, I know we all had a blast creating them. Hopefully the rest of the summer will be as fun as the first part. Don’t forget to stop and smell the flowers every once in a while either! Thanks again.

-Mike Reuter

Previous article - The Art of Chocolate Part I »

Camp Wicosuta

This year was my first year at summer camp. I went to a camp called Wicosuta, or Wico for short. I made really good friends from all over the country. One of my best friends Maddie is from Charlotte, NC. My other friends Jessica and Jessica are best friends from Stamford, CT.

I was in the play, The Aristocats. I played the part of Marie. 

On visiting day, which is also my birthday, my parents brought Hershey bars for me to give out to my friends. Camp is so fun! I have already signed up for next year and can’t wait to go back!

Wrapped Hershey’s, Camp & My Ipod

Alright, I want EVERYBODY reading this blog to go to THEHUSHSOUND.COM because we are talking about perhaps one of the greatest overlooked bands you could know. They’re on the same label as Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco (favorites of mine), and I discovered them through Wikipedia. The band consists of two lead singers, a girl (Greta, my new idol!), and a guy. They’re extremely creative and both have amazing voices and lyrics.  I’m spreading the Hush Love. My dad claims that all they do is say “SHHHHHHHHHHH.” No. Ha ha.

So, to add Carson-ness to this blog, at the end of summer camp, I gave out chocolate bars. They’re purtyful.

Camp was really fun. I’d talk about it, but this blog article would seem much too long. Which is kind of stupid for me because I like writing really short blog articles. Ha. I’m such a procrastinator. Well, I’ll go on about my friends. A list, perhaps.

Alex N.
Alex W.
Ali
Emma
Hannah G.
Hannah W.
Isabel
Lily
Madi
Rachel
Rachael
Raquel
Sophie

Alphabetical order. I’m so cool. :-D

REMEMBER THE HUSH SOUND!

xx<3Ellis.

Extreme Wrapper Design - Carson Style

At the beginning of this year, I was put in charge of creating all of the corporate and custom orders.  At first, I was very nervous because many of these orders are very large and I was afraid I would make a mistake.  Now, I look at it as a fun and sometimes challenging break from the everyday orders.

So far, it has been a very rewarding experience.  My favorite custom order by far has to be the one that I created for my own wedding.  I was able to use pieces from my invitation to create a unique wrapper that perfectly coordinated with the rest of my wedding.  I think it is cool that no one else has ever had that same design.

Sometimes it is a challenge to get the perfect wrapper.  Whether is it trying to get Carola, who emails the proofs to the customers, to agree with my design choices or if it is having to “jiggy” the design back and forth so it will cut correctly, we always get it right in the end.  I can’t think of anything better as a designer than knowing that there are people all over the world enjoying something that I have created.

- Laura Ash

Carsonites - Eighty Sixed

Eighty Sixed is one of the best local hardcore punk rock bands in Hamilton, Ohio.  Since the singer is my " husband-to-be " I am at every show. Of course, at work I talk about it all of the time, trying to get everyone to go with me..

The perfect moment approached......a Thursday night in June, Eighty Sixed was to play at The Third Street Tap and Grill, one of the cleaner bars in Hamilton. I used the old " Come on guys, it'll be fun! " routine.  And the stars must have aligned because finally, I talked some Carson coworkers into going to a show.  Well, I didn't lie, we had a BLAST! All the cold beer and hardcore punk rock one can image! Everyone had a great time. A few of us even went up front by the stage.

The next day at work everybody talked about how good of a time they had  and asked when the next show was going to be. Hopefully, the next time Scott and Sharon Frederick will go too! They were out of town... Bummer!!! Well, until my next blog post, see ya'll!                                                                                            - Tara

FYI: Eighty Sixed is now officially known as C.R.B. (City Rat Boys)

Wrapped Hershey's at the Beach?

While we can't all take off and head to the beach, we can bring a little bit of the beach to Carson and on Thursday, July 12 we did just that.  With non-alcoholic pina coladas, beach balls, island wear and our very own inflatable palm tree we nearly forgot we were in Fairfield, Ohio.  There were no occurances of sunburn.

Wrapped Hershey’s and NASA

On August 7, 2007 NASA’s Space Shuttle Endeavour will launch from Kennedy Space Center and personalized wrapped Hershey’s bars from Carson will be there to celebrate the day and send them off on a safe mission.

U.S. Navy Commander Scott J. Kelly will command the 7 person crew of STS-118, the 119th space shuttle flight.  Commander Kelly’s wife, Leslie, contacted Carson to assist her in creating special mementos for family member gift bags and favors for friends and service personnel.  We helped Leslie create 5oz and 1.55oz wrapper designs featuring official portraits of the crew, as well as Assorted Miniatures to be tossed to the expected crowd of on-lookers as the crew boards the shuttle.

Leslie said she ordered birth announcements from Carson for the birth of their last child and thought this would be a fun way to commemorate this special event.  We couldn’t agree more and are honored to be a part of the day.

Mission Information • Mission Overview

Reviewing Website Orders

We process approximately 3500 internet orders monthly and each order is reviewed carefully by a real human being!  We check orders for obvious typos and incomplete personalization and shipping information.  If we see an order for a 15 pound baby or a 50 year old with a birth date of 1956, we’re going to call and verify.  As mentioned by the customer below, we also review shipping selections and if you have selected Next Day Air shipping but are only 1 day time in transit from us by Ground, we are going to save you some money.  Whenever possible we want to exceed your expectations and this is just one way of doing so.

I just wanted to say thank you for making my grandmother's 90th birthday special.  The chocolate bar wrappers with her picture were beautifully done and a big hit.  I want to especially recognize Diane who noticed the date of the occasion and notified me to place a rush order so we would receive our items in time.  She also noticed that I was going to pay extra for rush shipping that wasn't necessary and saved me the extra $10.  That is what I call excellent service and attention to detail.  I will definitely recommend your service in the future.
Thanks again,
M Dressler

No Gutter Balls, Please

We are proud to announce Carson Bowl July 2007! That's right!  We're putting down the chocolate and heading to the bowling lanes on July 27th starting at 6:30pm. You and a guest are invited.  A sign up sheet will be passed around the week of July 16th. Names will be drawn from a hat to determine teams.  Good luck to all!  O-and remember even if you don't want to bowl, come on out to cheer on your team!  See you at the lanes..

Lots and Lots of Holiday Ideas

Our creative staff met Friday last week to discuss ideas for our new Holiday collections. The group discussed Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and New Year’s.   Over 300 ideas were generated in just 2 hours.  With that many creative thoughts floating around, you can bet that a fabulous new collection will be ready for the festive season.

Today, our office hosted a special Beach day (read more about that in Under the Wrapper) and it was fun to see the Hawaiian-shirt-wearing designers working on Snowflakes, Candy Canes and Santa Claus.  Rough drafts are due Monday.  I can’t wait…I want to pick out my Christmas cards early this year.

July in Carson Hershey’s Chocolate Land

We’ve got lots of exciting news this month…..

Help me in wishing a Happy Birthday to   
Matt Riley
July 9
Celebrating employment anniversaries:
Laura Ash
July 31
1 year

July 12 is Beach Theme Day!!!
July’s company meeting is going to be a splash.  Wear your Hawaiian shirts, Carson/beach hats and be ready for a couple beach themed events…..

Company Picnic!!!
Last year, Carson’s company picnic was held Parky’s Farm located in Winton Woods.  Everyone had such a good time that we want to go back. We have scheduled the picnic for September 30th.  A fun event is guaranteed for all.

More details to come about July’s Bowling night…