It's Been a Whirwind!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog, but it was a busy fall and 2008 has started with time just flying by! So much has happened since we took off for NYC for the Photo Plus show and it’s all been great! We had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people at the show and see lots of old friends, too. One of my main objectives at the show was to meet with several potential new partners. As many of you know by now, we’ve just published the 2008 Albums Inc. catalog. At 374 pages, it is chock full of new and useful products. Each of our existing vendors has added new products, both custom and ready made, with today’s needs in mind for the professional photographer. Lots of colors, new materials, sizes and designs are all there within the pages. And yes, 374 pages are overwhelming, but that is what our staff is here to do – MAKE IT EASY FOR YOU! So please call us to let us know how we can help you!

We’ve also included all of our custom products in the catalog this year for the first time ever. Although we were one of the first companies to have custom products, many of our clients did not realize how broad our custom offering is. We have wonderful lines from Renaissance, Jorgensen, Maxima, Tap, LAD, and a brand new line, Album Epoca.

Album Epoca is the single most exciting addition to our line for 2008. We met with the principles from this Italian company for the first time at the Photo Plus show. After our initial meeting at the show, my father and I were off to Italy to finalize our exclusive partnership. Album Epoca combines the very best of photographic quality (silver Halide) and press printed albums to create a complete product line that will meet the demands of today’s brides. This uniquely packaged line creates a concept allowing you, the professional photographer, to deliver everything your client is looking for in customizable packages. And it’s affordable, too! Knowing how your clients are looking for the most that they can afford, Album Epoca can offer them the very best, while still allowing you to be profitable.

The line includes bridal and parents albums, along with a full line of accessories, such as friend’s albums, calendars and more! And to top it all off, Album Epoca offers its own album design software and it’s FREE! Andrea Manietti, one of the company owners, and Emiliano Liverani, the brand manager, came to Cleveland to train our entire staff. Everyone had a blast learning the software and, no kidding, were designing albums within 30 minutes. We held a design contest among the staff and needless to say, the competition was heated! We felt it was important for all the staff to have hands on experience designing with Album Epoca software just to show them how easy it is to use. The end result of the contest? Everybody loves both the software and the line! Later in the week, we hosted a sneak peak open house for about 40 photographers in the area and had a wonderful evening with resounding praise for the software and the product.

The official launch of the Album Epoca product line will be at WPPI in Las Vegas. We will be hosting a special launch party there for Album Epoca entitled “La Dolce Vita”, so please RSVP if you are interested in attending. The event is by invitation only, as we have space for only 100 advanced RSVP guests (only 2 guests per invite please) at the Diamond Lounge at Bally’s, so please RSVP to one of the following no later than March 1, 2008.

RSVP TO...

• Miche Cardello at mcardello@albumsinc.com or 440-343-3281.
• Brenda Harper at bharper@albumsinc.com or 714-465-6582
• Kathy Biegel at kferra8437@aol.com or 631-834-4919

It will be a fantastic event with lots of surprises in store! Plus, don’t miss our new platform program with Thomas and Doug at WPPI!!! They have been hard at work on their debut program. For more information, click here.

Please contact your Albums Inc. representative for more information on Album Epoca or any of our new products for 2008. And don’t miss the new issue of Albums Inc. 360, out now!

Ciao,
Miche