Presented by Big League Pins
By: Kirsten Goede and Angie Garbot
When the Chicago Cubs asked us to produce 11,000 custom enamel pins for them, we said YES. And then we did a little happy dance. Working with the Cubs is the greatest thing for the two of us…longtime Cubs fans! When they decided to use our pin for the Opening Day giveaway, our excitement doubled. Quite a feather in our baseball cap!
Big League Pins has been working with the Cubs for several years now, starting with designing pins for community events, and then for the Cubs ticket services department. Last August, we designed and produced 10,000 pins for a special game honoring the 30th anniversary of the hit movie “A League of Their Own.” And this season, we’re excited to handle two large pin orders, one for Opening Day and another for Season Ticket Holders. We’re on a roll!
This season’s custom Opening Day pins included:
- Coordinating with the Cubs design team to make sure the artwork was production-ready
- Configuring the right combination of metal and enamel
- Producing samples in 3 sizes to actually see how the pin presented when finished
- Designing and printing a clean, stylish custom backing card to elevate the fans’ experience of receiving the pin
- Assembling the pins onto the backing cards
Check us out as we delivered 22 boxes of 11,000 pins to the stadium. It was quite a production! The first 10,000 fans to enter the park on Opening Day were lucky enough to score one of these limited edition pins. There was a lot of fanfare and excitement around the whole day, and the pins in particular. Fans, executives, staff, and even Hall of Famers like Ryne Sandberg (we met him!) proudly wore our pins at the game. The Cubs promoted the giveaway, as well, and there was a lot of social media buzz. Our instagram story received 40,000 views! And a couple new clients approached us for custom pins. All of that, plus a Cubs WIN!
Big League Pins has been our passion project since 2016. We’ve worked with a lot of big time companies, non-profits and teams including: Ace Hardware, Meta/Facebook, Wounded Warrior Project, Missouri Orchestra Symphony, Chicago Magazine, Marquee Sports Network, DePaul University, PAWS Chicago, Jazz Institute of Chicago, Chicago Sky, Music Box Theatre, and Vienna Beef. We are a women-owned partnership and are proud Chicagoland Chamber members. (Maybe we’ve met at a Chamber event … we probably gave you a pin!) We’d love to help you engage your audience with a pin. Or 11,000 pins (or more!). Please reach out at hello@bigleaguepins.com
For more about us and our Opening Day fun, check out our interview with Tom Barnas from Stories from the 78.
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