Promos in Japan Part 2

It is important to always consider your target demographic when choosing which promo you should be giving away.   If you have ever read my blog before, I'm sure that you already know this - and you're probably sick of hearing me say it-.  Here at United Print Group, we love listening to our clients.  It is how we are able work together to figure out the best way to increase brand awareness, and boost sales.

On my recent trip to Japan, naturally I grabbed all of the promos that I could.  Specifically whilst strolling through the city of Nagoya in the shopping district of Sakae, I picked up a couple of items:

These are packets of tissues.  Clearly, they are a useful item.  But what are these packs of tissues even telling me?

This one seems to be for a pachinko  arcade.  Arcades in Japan are ridiculously awesome, by the way)  This piece was simply a small packet of tissues with a full color insert.  Not the highest quality.  Its bright and cull of cute characters (it is from Japan, after all), but the poor print quality is mildly unsettling.

 But what the heck is this pack of tissues promoting?  The branding is printed directly onto the plastic tissue container.  and the quality is way better than the paper insert.

There is printing on the front and back.  There is plenty of room for info on this promo piece, but who would take the time to read it all?  Not me (not like I could read it if I wanted to, anyway).






So what is the point of all of this?  It is really easy to give out a promo that you know works because 'everyone else is doing it'.  When you work with United Print Group, it's about more than just an effective promotional product.  It's about connecting with your audience in a specific way.  Not just
catering to anyone with the sniffles who might need a tissue.

3 Reasons to Avoid Buying Your Promos Fom The Internet

I have recently been inspired by a slew of horror stories that people have shared with me about shopping online for Promotional Products.  Here are 3 of the most common troubles that I've heard about when people order online, and most importantly, the solutions.

- Buyer Beware

There are tens of thousands of promotional products.  If you ever try searching for a pen on one of these websites, you can get up to 80 pages of search results, no fun.  The beware part comes in when your order arrives and the pen that shows up does not look at all like the pen that was on your screen.  The pen may have looked like mahogany, but you found out the hard way that it was a cheap plastic imitation, and it doesn't even write well.

The solution: A conversation.  When we talk with our clients, we always ask them who their target market is.  You can feel comfortable knowing that if you want to impress people with your awesome pen, you will end up with an awesome pen, not a plastic imitation.

-It Was the Cheapest Option...  At First
Many online promo stores will boast that they have the lowest prices.  And that can seem to be true, until the bill arrives.  I recently heard tale of a lady who went online because the prices seemed to be better.  Little did she know that the special price that she saw advertised was for the red pen, not the blue one of the same style that she needed.  And by the time she paid extra for the laser engraving in 2 locations, she ended up spending way more than the advertised price.  That is just downright deceptive.

The Solution: Once again, a conversation with one of our specialists here at United would have cleared all of this up in an instant.  Do we claim to have the lowest prices?  No, we don't.  But we are competitive.  And most importantly, our client's invoices don't surprise them.

-A Day Late, and [many] Dollars Lost:
I cannot keep track of the number of times that someone has come to me days before an important event because their on-line store could not accommodate their time constraints.  Yes, you were able to save twelve cents per pen for your trade show giveaway, but what does it matter if the items show up even one day late.  Even after just one day, you have already lost out on potential revenue.

The Solution:  You guessed it, call United and talk to us about your time constraints.  We will go over a list of items with you that we know that we can produce in time for your event.  We wouldn't sell you something that you cannot use.

The Best Part About Politics is the Promotional Products.

Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are having a rally in Washington DC this weekend called "Rally to Restore Sanity" slash "The March to Keep Fear Alive".  Thousands of people are currently en route to the National Mall to show their support for the Comedy Central duo.  And even more, in the hundreds of thousands, have shown their support on facebook and twitter.  Don't miss the CNN article, and live streaming of the event.


ASI (Advertising Specialties Institute) just came out with a study of the effectiveness of promotional products in the political arena.  What excellent timing.  If Colbert and Stewart are the cutting edge of politics, I would love to see what kind of Swag they are giving out.  Then I will compare and contrast with the ASI study.  Let's  see who is the better swag expert (swaxpert?, swagspert?).

If you happen to be down there this weekend, send me some pictures of the swag you get!  I'll send you a prize!