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CCA&B, LLC, Atlanta, GA USA

Gold Stevie Award Winner 2012, Click to Enter The 2014 American Business Awards

Company: CCA&B, LLC, Atlanta, GA USA
Company Description:At CCA and B, we focus on what matters most to us: bringing family moments to life. From the company’s inception, families, children, connectivity and innovation have been top of mind.
Nomination Category:Product & Service Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category:Best New Product or Service of the Year - Consumer Products

Nomination Title: Elf Pets®: A Reindeer Tradition

Describe for the judges the nominated product or service, including its features, functions, benefits, and performance to date (up to 525 words). Include in this section the date since the beginning of July last year on which the product or service was introduced to the marketplace:

For fans of The Elf on the Shelf®, 2014 marked “The Year of the Reindeer.” That winter an exciting moment for the brand and its loyal followers dawned: the unveiling of Elf Pets®: A Reindeer Tradition, an imaginative book that marked The Elf on the Shelf®’s first literary brand extension.

Since the creation of Creatively Classic Activities and Books in 2005, the women-run publishing house had focused primarily on expanding its line of family-friendly books and products, which revolved around the company’s best-selling scout elves who were introduced in The Elf on the Shelf®: A Christmas Tradition. Similar to that book, which came with a storybook and scout elf helper, Elf Pets®: A Reindeer Tradition comes with its own reindeer pet that children can play with and include in their family’s holiday celebrations.

The book Elf Pets®: A Reindeer Tradition tells the enchanting story of Santa’s Elf Pets® Reindeer, which are called upon to help the sleigh fly on Christmas Eve. Children and their families are invited to help, too, by adopting a reindeer pet and generating faith, hope and love at the holidays. Not only does the book place children in a position to help Santa on one of the most exciting and imaginative days of the year, it inspires them to help Santa by performing kind deeds and showing love to their Elf Pets Reindeer. In this way, children are taking the story they’ve read and putting the positive things they’ve learned into action, building not just a love for literacy, but strong character, too.

One of the inspirations for the story was author Chanda Bell’s desire as a child to actually catch a glimpse of Santa’s sleigh flying over the moon on Christmas Eve. While she never got the chance to see that iconic image, she used that memory to capture the wonderment of Christmas Eve within the pages of the book. The end product is a beautifully-illustrated story that inspires magic and wonder in children through the use of literature.

In its first season on shelves, Elf Pets® was met with acclaim from more than 250,000 fans and children all over the world who welcomed these new magical pets into their homes and hearts. Once again, with Elf Pets®: A Reindeer Tradition, The Elf on the Shelf®’s publishing company was helping to change the way that families came together to celebrate at the holidays. In addition to inspiring family moments in homes around the world, the book inspired an app in which children could adopt and care for a virtual reindeer pet. The app garnered thousands of downloads and accolades from notable names in the children’s book and toy arena, solidifying the popularity of the Elf Pets® Reindeer character.

The book is expected to soar into the hearts of thousands more families this Christmas season, and we hope it is also worthy of the honor of being named one of the Stevie Awards’ Best New Products of the Year.

Provide a brief biography of the person or persons who lead the team that developed the nominated new product or service (up to 125 words):

Chanda Bell is the co-author of the acclaimed Elf on the Shelf® series and the co-CEO of the books’ publishing company, Creatively Classic Activities and Books (CCA and B, LLC). Bell also penned the company’s most recent title, Elf Pets®: A Reindeer Tradition. As the company’s creative force, Bell is credited with expanding the company’s line by four titles in the past year and overseeing its successful growth outside of the literary arena as well. Bell’s determination and masterful marketing efforts helped The Elf on the Shelf® become a household name that has garnered the praises of national media and landed atop the best-seller lists of major publications.