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CARE DROP: Creating a Remote Employee Appreciation Kit for Applied Underwriters
In 2020, the sudden shift to remote work changed more than where employees worked. For many, it also meant losing the everyday interactions, routines, and connections that came with being in the office.
Applied Underwriters wanted to bring a little of that connection back.
Their internal marketing team developed the Care Drop, a creative employee appreciation package filled with comfort items, games, activities, snacks, and work-from-home essentials. Andresen was tasked with taking that concept from artwork to reality—producing, sourcing, assembling, and ultimately shipping 500 individual Care Drops to employees throughout the greater Omaha, Nebraska area.
The result was the kind of uniquely creative, multifaceted project Andresen shines on: one that brought together printing, specialty finishing, product sourcing, custom packaging, kitting, and fulfillment.
Two Care Drops, One Campaign
Applied Underwriters developed two versions of the Care Drop, each designed to make working from home a little more enjoyable.
One focused on games and activities, incorporating items such as a custom magnetic chess game alongside card games, puzzles, a Spirograph, and other ways to take a break from the home-office routine.
The second took a more comfort-focused approach, with slippers, socks, coffee, snacks, and other stay-at-home essentials.
Managing two versions meant keeping track of different products and printed components while ensuring all 500 packages remained consistent with the overall Applied Underwriters Care Drop identity.
Bringing the Creative Concept to Print
Applied Underwriters' internal marketing team provided the creative direction and designs, while Andresen transformed the artwork into the physical pieces that tied the campaign together.
Custom printed components included door hangers, magnetic chessboards and game pieces, contents cards, product belly bands, branded inserts, and custom packing tape.
Production utilized Andresen's HP Indigo 10000 and HP Indigo 7900 digital presses, providing the print quality and color consistency needed across pieces of dramatically different sizes and formats.
The Zünd Plotter Cutter added another dimension to the project, precision cutting specialty pieces such as the door hangers and individual chess components. Together, the equipment allowed Andresen to move beyond conventional printed collateral and create functional branded pieces employees could actually use.
Turning a Stock Box Into Custom Packaging
The Care Drop also demonstrates that memorable branded packaging doesn't necessarily require a completely custom-manufactured box.
Andresen sourced kraft corrugated mailers and transformed them through a combination of hand-applied Care Drop stamps, custom printed packing tape, branded inserts, product wraps, and coordinated packaging materials.
The natural kraft box and crinkle fill gave the package a tactile, handcrafted quality, while Applied Underwriters' blue branding carried from the exterior tape and stamp through to the individual pieces inside.
Every detail helped turn a simple shipping carton into a cohesive employee experience.
Sourcing 500 Care Drops
Printing was only one part of the assignment.
Andresen was also responsible for sourcing the non-printed products included in both Care Drop configurations. That meant coordinating with multiple vendors to acquire the games, comfort products, snacks, and other specialty items needed to complete all 500 kits.
From initial production through sourcing and final fulfillment, the entire project unfolded over approximately 12 weeks.
Managing incoming products from different vendors alongside multiple printed components made careful organization essential. Every item needed to arrive, be accounted for, and ultimately make its way into the correct version of the finished package.
Kitting: Bringing All the Pieces Together
Once the printed and sourced components were ready, Andresen's fulfillment capabilities took center stage.
Each Care Drop was assembled by hand. Products were gathered according to the appropriate kit configuration, printed materials were added, merchandise received its branded belly bands where needed, boxes were filled with kraft packing material, and each finished package was sealed with custom Applied Underwriters tape.
The complete workflow brought numerous Andresen capabilities together under one roof:
Print → Cut → Source → Receive → Organize → Assemble → Kit → Address → Pack → Seal → Ship
Instead of Applied Underwriters coordinating separately with printers, product vendors, packaging companies, assembly teams, and fulfillment providers, Andresen managed the physical production process through completion.
From San Francisco to Greater Omaha
Andresen's involvement didn't stop once the boxes were packed.
The team handled the individual addressing and fulfillment of all 500 Care Drops, preparing the completed packages for shipment to recipients throughout the greater Omaha, Nebraska area.
That final step turned what could have been several separate production projects into one coordinated campaign—from a collection of digital artwork and product ideas to finished packages arriving directly at employees' homes.
When Print Becomes an Experience
The Applied Underwriters Care Drop is a great example of how commercial printing can become much more than ink on paper.
Within one project, Andresen brought together digital printing, precision cutting, branded packaging, product sourcing, project management, hand assembly, kitting, addressing, and direct fulfillment.
More importantly, all those capabilities served a single idea.
At a time when employees couldn't come together in the office, Applied Underwriters found a creative way to bring a little piece of the workplace directly to them. Andresen helped make sure all 500 pieces of that experience arrived ready to open.
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