Innovative. Imaginative. Inspired.
It’s not just our tagline. It’s our way of thinking at Polaris Direct. It’s the cornerstone of our culture.
In the spring of 2003, Polaris opened its doors with just five employees and a vision of creating a better lettershop. It is that same vision, that same spirit of innovation and forward-thinking that has driven much of the company’s success—not only as a lettershop, but also as a nationally acclaimed direct marketing services provider.
And as we celebrate our thirteenth anniversary, it only felt right to dedicate an article entirely to the theme of innovation—what it is, what it looks like, what it means—and in particular, innovation at Polaris.
So, what is innovation?
Remember back to your elementary school days, back when your teacher asked you put on your thinking cap and come up with a new invention. I’m sure you came up with an innovative idea or two, right?
But did you take it a step further? Did you try to turn that invention into something real, something tangible? Chances are, probably not.
The fact is, a good idea is useless if you don’t have the drive and passion for turning it into reality. True innovation requires a passion for sharing that idea with others. That’s innovation.
What does innovation look like?
In our industry—and in all industries—innovation demands a willingness to go above and beyond to find and create solutions for your clients’ most challenging situations. More often than not, that solution comes from a collaborative effort.
As our Director and CEO Judith Maloy puts it, “We are a community of innovative thinkers, always looking for ways to improve campaign outcomes and streamline our production processes.”
Case in point: when a long-time client came to us with a production challenge several years ago, our team immediately got to work coming up with a solution. And it truly took a team, made up of our best and brightest minds, to turn our innovative idea into an innovative solution.
Not only did our solution for a personalized, multi-ply, collated package design earn us a US patent, it also earned an Impact Award for Innovation, a testament to our willingness to think outside the box.
What does innovation mean for companies like Polaris?
We’re not in it for fame and glory, though the awards and recognition are a nice bonus. We love what we do, and our everyday goal is to deliver superior quality products to our clients, even when that means spending hours and hours on the production floor or around a conference table trying to get a new equipment configuration just right.
“We just have that entrepreneurial mindset,” said Maloy. “Part of our business model is to be sure to bring new technologies and strategies for integrated mail campaigns for our Fortune 500 customers on an ongoing basis.”
For the past 13 years, Polaris has approached every project with that mindset, constantly analyzing and scrutinizing our processes and procedures to find new, better ways—and we’ll continuing doing that for the next 13 years and beyond.
Let me end this with a bit of advice for others: never be satisfied with the status quo. Be bold in your thinking and bolder in your actions.
About the author: Melanie Gray is Creative Supervisor/Copywriter at Polaris Direct, a nationally acclaimed high-volume direct marketing services company in Hooksett, NH.
