At Levenger, the Holiday Gift Guide Takes On a New Dimension: Human

Levenger ramps up the role of the customer this holiday season, turning six of the company's high-profile customers into gift recommenders for its Web and catalog shoppers. The six weigh in with why their gift ideas work well for this holiday season.

Delray Beach, Florida (PR WEB) November 12, 2008 -- Click onto the Levenger website, Levenger (http://www.levenger.com) , for gift ideas, and you'll find a Gift Guide section of helpful suggestions. They range from a bookbag filled with reading goodies to a bookend inspired by E.B. White's dachshund.

But this year, you can also check out what six hand-picked customers have homed in on for their Christmas gift ideas.

"Peer recommendation is a powerful thing," says CEO Steve Leveen, the co-founder with his wife, Lori Granger Leveen, of Levenger. "We value the feedback that our customers give us in their product reviews, so we decided to take that idea to the next level--gift recommendations--and ask a few customers to be our 2008 Gift Recommenders."

Tom Kelley, Nancy Pearl, Joseph Finder, Andrew Carroll, Paul Saffo and Jodi R. R. Smith did the honors, cruising the Levenger website for their give-and-get lists of Holiday gift ideas.

"This season in particular, customers will be discerning in what they buy," says Leveen. "Knowing that our products have helped these six busy and demanding professionals is another way we can show shoppers that our products are meant to be used, and are designed to last. And they look great, too."

Highlights of what the six recommend, and why:

-- Circa notebooks, says Tom Kelley. The general manager of IDEO, a leading international design and innovation firm, Kelley wrote his book, The Ten Faces of Innovation, using Levenger's award-winning Circa system. "Being left-handed, I find the binding on some notebooks a bit uncomfortable, but Circa works really well," he says.

-- Levenger pens, says Joseph Finder. The prodigious author of such bestsellers as Power Play and High Crimes, he admits to being a "pen snob" and favors the Levenger True Writer. "I really love the smooth way it writes."

-- Leather bags, large and small, says Jodi R.R. Smith. The head of Mannersmith, an etiquette consulting firm, Smith frequently presents at seminars and clients' offices. "Even if I've just gotten off the plane, I have to look professional and polished," she says.

She gives high marks to the company's larger bags, such as its Livingstone Laptop Traveler, because they can handle both work and personal items. That means no luggage to check.

Smaller pieces, such as the St. Tropez Leather Pouch, can tuck inside a briefcase and be the go-to bag for essentials during day-long presentations.

-- Good-quality note paper, says Paul Saffo. A Silicon Valley futurist who specializes in technology forecasting, Saffo confesses he's also a pushover for good paper. He routinely carries a supply of Levenger 3 x 5 cards. "Life as I know it would end if I didn't have these index cards," he says. "Just because it's a note card and is used only briefly doesn't mean it can't be on good paper."

-- Desk organizers, says Nancy Pearl. The former head of the Seattle Public Library, Pearl is also the author of the bestselling Book Lust series and Book Crush for teens. Both books have well-organized reading lists, but Pearl says her desk is not so well put together. She has her eye on some of the leather pieces in Levenger's Morgan Collection.

-- Levenger Press books, says Andrew Carroll. The founder of the Legacy Project and editor of the bestselling War Letters and Behind the Lines, Carroll literally travels the country and the world. "The word 'travel' is based on the French word for hardship, and heaven knows travel has become more exasperating in recent months," he says. "I always keep a book handy for those long waits in airports." He likes the books that Levenger publishes because they're not the usual airport fare; they're exclusive to Levenger.

About Levenger:

Privately held since its founding in 1987, Levenger was the first company in America to offer products specifically with readers in mind. The company has since evolved into a designer of high-value products that enhance reading, writing and productive thinking. Because the product line is proprietary, gifts from Levenger are not found anywhere else. Levenger products are available on its website, through its catalog of "Tools for Serious Readers" and in its stores. The company also provides Professional & Corporate services. Headquartered in Delray Beach, Florida, Levenger maintains all customer services domestically, at its fulfillment center in Tennessee.

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