Create a Custom Deal Toy: 10 Things to Know Before You Start

Customize your own trophy to make sure that it reflects the size of your transaction. You want something unique and together, we can create it.

Looking for custom lucite deal toy ideas? Here are 10 things to know before you start! 

Coming up with deal toy lucite ideas after closing a deal should be the fun part, right? One would think; but if you’ve ever been tasked with creating the deal toys, you might think otherwise. Unless of course, you’ve done this a few times and have it down pat.  

For the first-timers, such as new analysts, the process can be extremely intimidating. You think to yourself: “There are too many options, terms, and ideas fluttering through my head. Where do I even start?” Creating a custom lucite deal toy should be easy! Although our sales representatives are just a call or email away, it’s still useful and can help to have a few facts decided before giving them a call.  

As you very well know, each project is different. So, we’ve mapped out a few details to check off your list to create your Altrum deal toys and make your ideas come to life.  

Here are the 10 most common facts you might not have known about acrylic financial tombstone and the customizing process:  

 1. What are they called?  

One of the most common confusions within the deal toy process is all the different terminology. Let’s shed some light on this topic:  

• Lucite – a term often used to refer to a deal toy but is actually a material. Lucite is the most common material used around the world of deal toys and awards. It’s lighter than crystal and can be molded in a significant amount of ways. Color can be incorporated as well. 
• Tombstone (or financial tombstone) – another word for deal toy. Not to be confused with what you see at a cemetery!  
• Deal cube – less common but another word that can also be a substitute for the term deal toy  
• Award – can also be used to refer to a deal toy but is a term we use for award ceremonies or recognitions rather than a financial closing.  
• Acrylic – another word for lucite. A material.  

2. Lucite deal toys come in all different sizes  

We can pretty much create anything. Our capabilities are unmatched when it comes to Altrum deal toys. If you would like a 2-foot-tall building replica, we can do it. If you would like a 3-inch cube, we have those too. Your deal ideas should not be compromised due to size.  

While most deal toys tend to sit on your desk or on a shelf, there are larger requests. For example, you’re looking to create a piece for your lobby. You’ll certainly want it to be taller than the average 7-inch deal toy.  

3. Crystal vs. Acrylic (Lucite)

Both are very different: crystal holds more weight, while acrylic is a less dense material. Acrylic has more molding capabilities than crystal. Not too much of a price difference, but weight can fluctuate your shipping costs.  

The possibilities don’t end there either. We have a number of different materials that we commonly work with. A very popular option that has been picking up in design trends, is using wood! Metal has been quite popular as well.  

4. Deal text  

The deal text might seem like the least important aspect of your project in the design stages. And to be completely honest, it usually is. But it does help.  

When it comes to deal text, your deal toy company would like to know just how much deal text they should be designing around. If you have it already, that’s great! Feel free to send over a press release and the team can usually write up your deal text that way. 

If you’re in the preliminary stages and are just looking for ideas, feel free to voice that as well. In this scenario, it could be useful to say you’ve got a recapitalization deal but it’s still under wraps right now. Your artist will more or less know how much space to leave and can fill it in with filler text to give you the full picture idea. 

5. Confidentiality  

Directly after deal text comes the “what to know about confidential deals” detail. There are a lot of different circumstances where this can come into play:  

• Some teams might be superstitious and would like to wait until closing  
• Numbers have not been finalized  
• Companies are not comfortable disclosing details to the public yet

These are no problem! If you have the deal information and think it is pertinent to the deal toy creation process, you can let our team of experts know this deal is confidential. What we will do with that is have our team check off a box in our system. This will watermark everything in your project designs with a large CONFIDENTIAL stamp.  

Whatever your reasoning is here, we will handle it. Once stated that this is a confidential deal, all your future designs will be watermarked to know that they cannot be shared with anyone that is not also at your firm. They will not be used in any marketing materials or socials either. You can rest assured, Altrum has you covered. 

6. Theme  

Probably the most important detail you can bring to the table when creating a custom acrylic deal toy is the theme. What should our artists be following here? We understand sometimes the deal might be confidential and you cannot share the specifics, but if you tell us to design around a pill, for example, we can certainly do that and fill in the deal specs later on in the process, once information has gone public. 

A few other details that are useful in terms of designs:  

• Client websites  
• Colors schemes or specific Pantone colors  
• Industry  
• Logos  
• Marketing materials 
• Offering Memorandums  

Anyone of these or, even better, a combination of the above can truly go a long way in helping our team come up with 3 ideas to start with.  

7. Your piece will always be custom

While it would be easy to go online and immediately hit checkout on 10 units, our process will always be customized for you. Sure, you might be looking for a classic rectangle on a base but believe it or not, there are several ways that the rectangle can, and most likely will, be customized for you and your deal:  

Your deal text 

• This was touched on above, but your deal text will always customize the design.

Your logos 

• The logo(s) won’t only be going within the deal text, their colors and designs can be used throughout the piece. 

Color options  

• If the logo is blue or you’re doing a water-themed deal toy, we can use the blue to represent the water on the base, or as a print on the back of the rectangle  
• If you’re working on a “Project Green” and you’d like the color green to be shown throughout the deal toy. We can print a color on the base or even as a border.  

8. Budget

Knowing where this will fall on the spending scale is very important. Although we have options available within all sorts of budgets, knowing it from the beginning can help us speed up the process. As a quick rule of thumb, let’s say you don’t know your budget exactly. Not a problem, we can always start at a lower range and see what you think of the designs. Think you can spend more? It’s always easier to add onto a design than to eliminate aspects from your deal toy ideas.  

In addition, there is another thing you should keep in mind: the term “all-in.” If you have a $200 budget per unit, does that mean all-in or simply per unit? “All in” signifies that the $200 per unit will spread across all facets of creating and delivering your deal toy: set up costs, production, shipping, and taxes. It’s always better to have an all-in price point than none. 

9. Units 

This might be one of the most popular questions a deal toy company receives and a question we get almost every day: “Is there an order too large?” or “is there an order too small?” 

The answer is NO. There are no orders too large or orders too small. If you need 500 pieces or would just like 1 to gift to someone, we have the tools to produce the piece(s).  

10. Importance 

Last but certainly not least: the importance behind your deal toy ideas. Whether you come prepared with a sketch and have it photoshopped along with a presentation and your marketing materials or you simply come with a logo, our team of experts is ready for the challenge and can walk you through our easy 4 step process.  

Let Altrum help you celebrate. 

While the above 10 important details to think about might not be all of the details you might discuss, they are certainly a good start. Also, if you do not have the answers to the above 10 points, do not fret! We’ve done a lot more done, with a lot less.  

Give us a call with whatever details you may have, and we’ll make sure to create the Altrum deal toy that you and your team deserve.