Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Your sales can "crash through the heavens"

You may recognize the art on the promotion I'm going to be talking about today. I'm a huge fan of this particular Japanese show. It makes me a giant nerd, I know. But because I'm such a fan, I am really drawn to this particular promotion. And with good reason.











You see, this drawstring backpack came with my friend's DVD box set. They folded it just right to fit in the box without ruining the integrity of the embroidered logo. Not a bad gift for buying a DVD. This really simple promotion becomes a value add. Its not just schwag any more, now it's SCHwagg (capital SCH and an extra 'g'). Because when your serving a niche, your fans clamor for branded material with their favorite show, or character on it. This very affordable branded backpack now has immense value. I should know. I don't have this box set yet, but now, I am definitely going to buy it.

The backpack itself is actually very nice. It's got a zippered pocket on the inside for an mp3 player with a small hole on the outside for the headphone jack for easy listening (of the show's soundtrack no doubt). The embroidery is well done, although it's a little off center. That little quirk is not easily noticed. Since the art is subtle enough not to tell the world that I am a giant nerd, this is the type of back pack that is perfect for gym usage, and everyday errands. Well done Bandai, perfect use of a common promotional product.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

NY Jets Score Big With Promotions

I went to the NY Jets football game a couple of weeks ago when they played against the Buffalo Bills. If you saw that game, you know that they won based 100% on luck. I was leaving the stadium thinking that if they constantly relied on luck, they would never win another football game. Just then, I ran into a little bit of luck myself. On the way out of the stadium, they were giving away JETS promotional bracelets.



Not such a bad score, I've got mine hanging on one of my cube walls. If football-watching, beer drinking fanboy ruffians ever decide to wear a bracelet, I think it would be this one.

You can see more pics of the bracelet here.

Friday, December 19, 2008

Happy Holiday feedback!

Do you remember the 5th part of my holiday gift series? The one with the leather, personalized portfolio? Well, a friend of mine got a bunch of them monogrammed for her clients. I want to share with you what she shared with me:

Tom, your gift suggestion for our top clients was a real hit! Here is just some of the feedback we got on the personalized padfolios -


“Thank you so much for the lovely gift. It was really thoughtful and generous. And monogrammed? I feel like such a professional!”



“What a sweet present I just found in my mailbox. Thank you so much!!”



“What a wonderful surprise! The leather folio is tres classy and elegant (just like me!). Seriously, I love it because it is beautiful and useful and not fattening.”



“…thank you for the very thoughtful gift. It was a nice surprise.”



And we can't thank you enough for helping us let our clients know just how much they're valued!



Not bad, huh? Happy Holidays!

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Corona Promotional Follow Up

I was rummaging through my drawer of stuff in preparation for a 1950's high-society whodunnit themed party this weekend. Specifically, I was looking for a monocle as the Pièce de résistance of my costume. I already had the top-hat and the cane.

I came across a promotion that I had received in college some years back. A Bottle Opener from Corona. This time when I looked at it, I could not help but to pick it up and examine it more closely. I swear I've had this thing for years, but I noticed quirks about it this time that I've never seen before.

For one, there was this 'huge', unsightly air bubble in the middle. How strange, the construction seems pretty solid except for this. And two, the piece of metal that has opened many bottle of beer. You know, the only 'working part' of the bottle opener, was set all crooked.

Other than this, I know for a fact that the opener works, I spent the rest of the night testing it out. And it is a pretty cool looking promotion, kudos Corona, I take back all the mean things I said about your promotions in my other post.

You can see more pics of the corona bottle here.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Promotional Items Just got Awesomer

I know awesomer isn't a real word, but it should be... Anyway, Tim's Blog just posted some info that relates to my previous post about CPI or Cost Per Impression. Actually, you can find all kinds of nice tidbits of information about promotional Products in these articles. There is one from Adweek, one from B2B online, one from Brandweek, one from Mediaweek, one from Newsday, and one from PROMO magazine.

If you want to view the complete study, you can find it here.

Here is a hint... The answer to my trivia question from the CPI post I mentioned above can easily be found in the above links. ...

Friday, December 5, 2008

Green Promotions (not just Pantone 354)

Lots of people are talking about getting "green" Promotional Products. At United, we offer a slew of recycled promotional items, many re-usable bags and shopping totes, and of course the recycled pen and blotter (you might remember them from our holiday showcase). These are the typical 'green' promotions, and everyone of them is great.

Recently, we were asked to do another 'green' promotion for a large company. This company wanted to get people excited about their green-initiative. Instead of giving a shirt made from recycled and organic materials, we suggested that they encourage their end users to be pro-active about being green too. So now, they've decided to give out something like this:


Why not provide a home for some birds? Create some clean air and help prevent erosion? Along with the promoting the company's green initiative, this uber-green (I just coined that) promotional product encourages the end users to share their enthusiasm about being green with the advertiser.

Keep yours eyes peeled, New York, because in about 10 years, you might be seeing a bunch of Douglas Fir saplings all over the place.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Cost Per Impression (Plus Trivia!)

I was fortunate enough this week to have one of my fans come up with a great topic for me to write about. It is based on his own life experience. He likes my blog so much that his daily life is consumed by it! I think the rest of you should be just as devoted!

I'll share his email with you:

"I went to a ski movie premier last night in Portsmouth. corona was
there amongst other vendors giving away free things and like all the
college aged kids, adults were scurrying around snatching up swag. I
was astonished when I returned home and dumped my trickortreat bag out
onto the floor. I got lots of cool ski stuff and was not
disappointed, but take a look at what I found.
(Bottle openers!)
What do you think people will think about corona when they compare
their bottle opener to the thick, snowboard shaped one of
significantly smaller company Putnam Sports. Seriously, it's
ridiculous. I think it's to their advantage that the print on the
corona opener is so small you can't really tell what it says.

Aren't you impressed THAT is what I was thinking when I first saw those?!
Yay UPG!"


He attached this picture.

In this example, my buddy has touched upon a couple of very important factors.

1. Promotional products are just one aspect of a marketing campaign. Putnam Sports knows, and demonstrated this by appealing to winter-sportists with an item shaped like a snowboard.

2. The Cost per impression for promotional products is one of the lowest possible. In other words, if you divide the total cost of something by the number of people who see your name/logo/message, the cost will drop to below 1 cent per impression. But if the item is trumped by a better marketing campaign, you can loose a lot of of impressions. My fan's point was that; with so little effort demonstrated by Corona, it gave him a bad impression of the company.



Here is a Question, answer in the comment section or send me an email and you will be featured on the blog and we will send you a gift!

According to ASI, what is the average cost per impression for Promotional products?