Businesses, schools and other organizations often use medals and other awards to recognize people for hard work or for reaching a goal. This tradition has driven business for Medalcraft Mint Inc. since it was founded in 1948.

Businesses, schools and other organizations often use medals and other awards to recognize people for hard work or for reaching a goal. This tradition has driven business for Medalcraft Mint Inc. since it was founded in 1948. The company originally focused on scholastic medals, says Vice President of Sales Jim Elliot. Medalcraft’s first client was the Wisconsin Music Educators Association, and it soon worked with many similar groups in other states that recognized high school students in marching bands, concert bands and orchestras.

“That’s where it all started,” Elliot says. “The company expanded into other scholastic markets, such as sports and sciences, and began making stock medals to supply trophy stores throughout the country. That was the focus for the first 25 years of the business. In the mid-’70s, the company decided to cross over into the corporate end of the business.”

Elliot joined the company in the early ’80s as its first outside salesperson and began to pursue business in the promotional product industry with products such as lapel pins and key chains, in addition to its medal products. “Back in 1984, 75 to 80 percent of the business was in the scholastic market,” he explains. “Today, it’s less than 10 percent of our business. We’ll exceed $11 million in sales this year.”

He says the trophy dealer market and school budgets have shrunk, but the promotional product market has grown. The company now has to compete with imported products, but its quality sets it apart, he notes. “We have a reputation for quality,” Elliot says. “Our products are on the high end. People look to us and come to us for quality more than anything else. They keep on coming back to us because of our service. We provide a very personal level of service.

“We have five regional sales reps now who call on our distributors throughout the country,” he continues. “Our salespeople are passionate about what we sell – customers tend to know if you are. The product is one you get passionate about. It’s a hands-on product. When you pick it up and feel it, there’s a perception and value to it that’s unlike any other. If you hold up a struck medal that’s done three-dimensionally, it’s different than anything else in the industry that’s been embroidered, hot stamped or printed on a flat surface.”

Medalcraft now has 1,300 active customers on the promotional side of the business. The company focuses on developing personal relationships with its top 250 customers in this sector, Elliot says.

Elliot says this practice of recognizing achievements is nothing new. “Achievements have been recognized for hundreds of years, going back to the first Olympics,” he says. “It’s still a big part of corporations and organizations. Universities and hospitals recognize donors and Fortune 500 companies recognize clients and employees.”

Medals also continue to be a big part of the sports world, he notes. “When Michelle Kwan received the U.S. Figure Skating Association award on national TV, it was our award,” Elliot says. “That was a cool thing for our employees to witness. We do a lot with the NCAA and major collegiate sporting events.”

Perhaps the company’s most prestigious work was the official inaugural medals it crafted for the last two U.S. presidential elections. Elliot says Medalcraft’s unmatched quality has taken it to this level. “Any company has the capacity to make imprints on brass or fine silver, but if it doesn’t have the detail and look like the actual person or building, it’s not good enough,” he says. “We’ve done portraits of Ronald Reagan, Bob Hope, both Presidents Bush, Pope John Paul II, Elvis – you name it.

“These are all done by hand,” he continues. “The design is chiseled into a block of steel by the engraver. The CNC machine and other technology allows us to do things quicker, which is important because lead times have shrunk, but we have to improve things without losing quality. There are no robotics here.

Elliot says the key to a successful future for the company is to not only embrace change but anticipate it. “A lot of manufacturers have gone out of business because they didn’t anticipate China or having to diversify,” he says.

Recently, Medalcraft added crystal to its product line, he says, to expand its product selection.

The company also launched an OEM division to focus on customers that want to brand and authenticate their products with a die-struck emblem on the actual product. He says the company will continue to expand this division. Medalcraft makes medals for charity organizations, as well. It recently manufactured and donated medals for a 10K run in memoriam of a local soldier who was killed in action in Iraq.