The Evolution of Greeting Cards
“Less talk, more monkey,” because, “life is about having fun,” says Lynne Nagy, entrepreneur and creator of the online company Zendot3D.com. The aforementioned ape-referencing phrase is the registered tagline of the Zendot3d company and accompanies the adorable monkey logo (also registered) which graces the t-shirts that you have probably seen around town.
Zendot3d.com is a website that allows people to send something a little more thoughtful and personalized—not to mention creative!—through the mail to whomever you choose. Send a Zendot3d grow your own brain to a long distance boyfriend and write, “Can’t stop thinking about you.” Or, send that brain to your newly graduated niece and write, “Don’t kill too many brain cells in college.” It’s up to you; just scroll through the website and browse the innumerable amount of inflatable, wind-up, or edible things to send a message with. A test tube full of gummy candy is way cooler to receive than a flat old piece of paper with a generic message printed inside.
Even businesses are getting smart and agreeing that this 3D snail mail is pretty cool- Lynne has everyone from the east coast to the west ordering from Zendot3d and has had some pretty cool requests.
Lakewood’s Optimal Wellness Center had Zendot3d send backscratchers to their new patients with the message, “We’ve got your back.” Other companies have sent canvas bags with their logo to promote recycling, and one customer even requested to have a cocktail shaker filled with limes to send to a friend recently diagnosed with Lyme’s disease. What a heart-warming and different way to add humor to a situation where laughter is a big help. “Get well soon” wouldn’t have done the trick there, that’s for sure.
Nagy started this company in 2005, when she incorporated the site and started her team-building business Ultramission.
She had already been sending fun things through the mail and thought that everybody needed to have an easy way to do so. Through the course of sending things like inflatable birthday cakes and giant ears, there was a lot of learning involved, and eventually a lot of meetings with the post office. The USPS employees, “think it’s fun and everyone gets pumped when they encounter a Zendot3d item on it’s journey,” Nagy says. “It is the evolution of greeting cards, a creative process. Zendot3d workers are just as passionate and want to have fun.”
There is nothing Zendot3d can’t do either. Some higher end products require molding to be sent, and while there are over 200 products listed on the site, there are still many other products available. Zendot3d encourages custom orders - anything can be sent anywhere.
The monkeygarb.com is another huge part of the business- the shirts, hats, stickers and et cetera that are adorned with the adorable monkey face, and of course, the “less talk, more monkey” tagline. The response to the t-shirts is the fastest growing part of the business so far, Nagy says, and the positive feedback just keeps growing. “People are so serious these days and really need some ‘less talk, more monkey’ fun. Plus it is easy to get your head around buying fun monkey garb to wear – Zendot3d is a little harder for people to grasp since it is such a new paradigm.” With the t-shirts taking off, Nagy thinks they could even rival, “Life Is Good.” With business skyrocketing, amusement now really is outside of the box. No box at all, just a stamp and whatever clever phrase you can think of. Lynne Nagy’s next idea is to put a web cam on one of the items and track the progress. Who’s to say it can’t happen? This is 2008 and you can send a Zendot3d patron saint of hangovers to whomever you please…