Buzz Worthy
Posts tagged Promotional Items
ASI Orlando: Low-Cost Ways to Grow Your Business
020 days
by Brandon
in Brand Strategy
Couldn’t make it out to Orlando, Florida for the 2012 Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) Show? Not to worry — the folks at ASI continue to regularly post content on the organization’s YouTube page! Today, ASI’s Chris Ruvo interviewed Mark Graham from Rightsleeve, a promotional design agency, following his ASI Show educational seminar. The topic? Low-cost (or free) ways to build your business.
Graham’s got three tips for how to keep costs low while growing your business:
1. Facebook
Most within the promotional items industry already have a Facebook page, but are you using it correctly? “People who mine that social graph are really able to get huge rewards,” said Graham. It’s a powerful business tool.
2. End user shows
An end-user show, at which end users are invited in to view new and upcoming lines, can be hosted for free. Hold a show in your office; not only does everybody get a sneak-peek at the new items, but it’s also a great networking opportunity!
3. Make people smile
Simply put, people buy from people they like. Showcase your company’s personality and culture, and give people a reason to smile, and it will go a long, long way.
Check out the entire video below:
New ASI Study: Are You Delivering the Products They Really Want?
087 days
On Tuesday, the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) released a study documenting how buyers and end-users of promotional items really feel about what’s being delivered. It’s being hailed as a “landmark study;” it is the first of its kind.
ASI’s report, entitled “Defining the Disconnect: An Analysis of Channel Beliefs vs. Customer Needs in the Advertising Specialty Industry,” is a detailed analysis that reiterates the importance of delivering what your customers want and need.
Here are some of the study’s most significant findings:
1. Customers expect high quality
According to ASI, “Distributors understate the importance of high-quality shirts to males.” The report even asserts that men have higher expectations about the quality of their promotional products.
2. Brand isn’t everything
ASI reports that 75% of distributors and suppliers thought branded items were a priority for customers. However, only a third of end-users agreed. This shows a major disconnect.
3. End-user participation
If you’re not interacting with your customers, you’ve got to make a change. According to ASI, end-users would like to take surveys, visit trade show booths, and communicate via social media platforms in order to receive giveaways.
For a full look at ASI’s report, click here. Are the findings surprising to you? Share your thoughts!
Promotional Trends: Kitchen Promotional Items
0649 days
A PPAI 2010 web-video revealed the most promotional item friendly room in the house. After a recent study, the promotional product leaders found that the top promotional items were found inside of the kitchen.
Family in kitchen
They say food is the key to man’s heart and to be honest, I think it may be the key to woman’s hearts too. That might be the reason why 91% of all people surveyed said they keep a promotional item in their kitchen. Even better, 82% of people had more than 1 promotional item chillin’ on the refrigerator, lounging on the counter and relaxing in drawers.
So what does this mean for the promotional products industry?
You had better spruce up that line of kitchen promotional items today because the survey shows that 50% of people spend 3-5 hours in the kitchen each day. So I hope you’re hungry for the best promotional kitchen items the web has to offer. Here are my picks from some of the top promotional companies.
- Custom Printed Jumbo House Jar Opener
For a low cost, and tons of visibility, choose promotional jar openers. Motivators offers a variety of shapes and sizes so that every industry can capitilize on these fun and functional items. They’re lightweight, durable and useful. Recipients can keep them in the kitchen but they can be used around the whole house. Any hard to open jar, knob or handle will turn easily when you use a handy jar opener.
Custom Round Corner Business Card Magnet
Another kitchen favorite are these promotional magnets from Promo Punch. A refridgerator is to your kitchen what your back bumper is to your car. Dress it up and display your personality. Some magnets will be imprinted with fun slogans or cool images that will spruce up your kitchen. Even business card magnets are perfect for in the kitchen because they’ll keep you connected with customer. You can lighten up the kitchen with these magnets in no time. Use them to hold up your children’s art work, fun photographs and important shopping lists.
- Custom Executive Collection Cutlery
Lastly, if you’re looking to cut through the competition and make a lasting impression on clients, choose the executive collection cutlery from Leeds. It’s the perfect corporate gift! PPAI noted that 58% of recipients keep their items over a year, but with higher end items, you can expect years and years of branding.
Check out the cool and collective PPAI video put together to showcase their finding on promotional kitchen items.
Motivators Coolest App
0657 days
Apple said it best, “Your iPhone gets better with every new app.” And Motivators promotional products agrees.
Motivators New Application
As a breakthrough leader in their industry, the all things promotional company is turning heads with their innovative technology and strong grasp of social media. You can tweet them on twitter, like them on Facebook and now, you can browse their many promotional items right from your iPhone. Their new app http://www.motivators.com/ is now available to download from the iTunes store and promises to impress.
The web-based company designed this easy to navigate promotional items application with customer satisfaction and convenience in mind. Manager of the IT depanrtment, Khurram Khan said, “Users are looking for alternative ways to access the content they need and for many people, the first thing they look for is an app.”
Motivators App Auto Accessories
Popular iPhone Apps
Motivators is hoping that those who download the app will enjoy the easy to use interface where top selling items in a multitude of categories are displayed. CEO, Ken Laffer said, “We want our customers to have easy access to our products and services at all times. The Motivators mobile app puts promotional products at their fingertips, 24/7.”
This new mobile application is the promotional items buzz I’d like to see every day from the promotional items industry. I’m looking forward to tracking the success and seeing if any other company’s mirror Motivators new application.
Brand Using Social Media
0661 days
Looking to build your brand without stepping foot away from your computer? One promotional products company took advantage of a rare social media branding opportunity to gain logo exposure while in the comfort of their own office. How’d they do it? They paid this guy to wear their shirt. But it didn’t stop there.
As a part of the I Wear Your Shirt social branding package, companies receive 1 full day of PR. Friends, Jason and Evan run the show, with one guy on each coast. Included in their social media branding package
are 2 live web-casts, a blog and live tweets all day.
Promotional Picnic Promotions
Each day, the duo sports a company’s t-shirt to promote their products and services, but as a leader in the promo world, Motivators took advantage of this branding opportunity and sent Jason and a bundle of other imprinted items.
Scan Me: Branding With Social Media
With a vibrant fan base on twitter, @MotivatorsStaff and @IWearYourShirt kept things interesting all day long from a promotional products picnic to a cool live chat about the new Motivators cool scannable bar code.
Now that’s promotional items buzz!
Starbucks Going Green Promotion
0664 days
This Starbucks going green promotion is bringing on the good deeds.
Free stuff? Check.
Worthy cause? Check.
Brilliant branding? Check.
Starbucks Going Green Promotion
Grab a promotional travel mug and head to Starbucks on Thursday for a free coffee!
The Starbuck’s brand green project, “The Big Picture,” began in March as thousands gathered to build a huge forest image out of coffee cups on the streets of New York City. The Make the Difference Starbucks promotion maintains the tagline, “One person can save trees, together we can save forests.”
Starbucks Going Green Promotion
At the event In March, people were urged to avoid paper cups and instead embrace sustainable living through a Starbucks travel mug promotion. Now on Thursday, April 15th they invite everyone to bring a promotional travel mug to a local store, be it imprinted with the Starbuck’s logo or “The Hufstader’s 17th Family Reunion.” Bring the travel mug, and get a free fresh brewed cup of coffee.
Once again, brilliant branding job to you Twinklebills, I mean Starbucks. And this great eco-initiative is timed perfectly for the Earth Day 2010 celebration on April 24th.
Get out your travel mugs and go green with the Starbucks travel mug promotion.
Census Advertising: I Have 1 Question
0669 days
by Jenn
in Promotional Items
The United States Census has many questions for us. But hey there big shots, I’ve got a question for you. Who does your advertising? Because this years Census program was promoted with engaging commercials and fun, effective promotional items. But have they helped to encourage people to sign their census forms? It’s yet to be calculated.
After a period of time, Census representatives are directed to the addresses of those who have not yet filled out their forms. They’ll come around with a nice census water bottle and ask if you’d kindly submit your form. Seems pretty appealing to me. Depending on the promotional material I might just sign a deal with the Devil- if he were to show up at my front door with Hell promotional items of course.
Census Promotional Items
So how exactly is the Census marketing? By getting out there with Census logo items and targeting audiences through their commercials. Minorities who have records of not sending in their forms have been specifically geared to in these census commercials in hopes to gain greater knowledge of the people in the United States.
Census Promotional Fan
What promotional items is the census using? Cute fans that read, “Be Counted In 2010.” Cool tumblers and jotters imprinted with the Census logo, to name a few.
My favorite Census spot so far has to be this ridiculous but radically effective “Luda On The Block,” census video. Check it out because Ludacris promotes 2010 Census in New Orleans only once.
However, great advertising comes at a great cost. One blog predicts that about One Billion dollars were spent on the promotional swag alone. Worth it? I guess we’ll know better once the forms are in and our political leaders make decisions based on the statistics.
Facebook Become a Fan
0675 days
by Jenn
in Promotional Items
Face Book Joke
Facebook has been at its www.facebook.com domain since 2005, making it 5 years in age. However, due to its vast popularity of over 400 million users and the major advancements in technology that make it easily accessible, like smart phones – to get Facebook’s real age a formula is needed.
5 years of existence X 2 many status updates to count + the 6 seconds it takes for the average smart phone user to open the Facebook application = 16 years old.
Facebook Mark Zuckerberg
Now I know Facebook’s creator, Mark Zuckerberg, is a male, but the gender data on Facebook shows that approximately 60% of users are female. Therefore Facebook is a 16 year old girl. And what does a 16 year old girl want most? To be liked.
16 Year Old Britney Spears: LIKE ME
I’m convinced that’s why Facebook is now abandoning its, “Become a Fan” button and replacing it with the current, “Like” button that’s available for clicking oh photos, statuses, video uploads and more. The “Become a Fan” button pertains to brand pages where users are invited to connect with companies and celebrities.
A spokesperson said, “We’ve found that ‘Like’ is more global, easy to understand, and users are already comfortable and familiar with it—making the process of connecting with a Page more consistent with how they already interact with things on Facebook.”
What does it really mean? Facebook (in its most sensitive teen years) just wants to be liked more. You can be a fan of the Yankees or a fan of deep sea fishing. But Facebook doesn’t need promotional products branded with its logo or fans screaming in the stands to give it confidence. Facebook needs the little tickle of self worth – and she gets it every time a user clicks, “Like.”
I’m just a bit turned off by this change. I like my mom’s penne a la vodka, but I don’t say I’m on “Team Penne A La Vodka.” I like chipmunks. But I’m not going to make a giant poster and hold it up at a National Park. I like pickles, I do. But no, I will not “Become a Fan,” of that pickle.
I guess it’s easier to like something than to say you’re a fan. Wow, Facebook you’re now a behavioral scientist too; and all at the tender age of 16. I mean 5.
So, “Become a Fan” of Promotional Items Buzz on Facebook while you still can, because sometime this April you’ll only be able to “Like” the Buzz Blog.
Significance of Going Green
0678 days
by Daniel
in Promotional Items
Guest Blog from Promo Direct
Living in a healthier and better environment is beneficial for all. It is important to take necessary actions to make the environment more sustainable as increasing global warming has become the most crucial environmental concern of the present time. Difficulty in tackling the hazards created by the diverse effects of global warming has put the planet at a greater risk than ever before. Going green is one of the best and effective ways to deal with this concern. Small actions lead to big changes, and thus, small efforts put by each person can help in creating a greener environment.
Go Green Ribbon
Different initiatives have been taken to prevent environmental damage. Conservation of water and energy are on the priority. Immense use of plastic must be prevented as it will help in reducing pollution in an effective way. Cultivation of plants and trees is a need of the time. Limited and efficient use of electricity and electronic products in daily life will be of a great help in making the environment look greener.
To become accustomed to a greener lifestyle is practical to a great extent as adapting green habits help you improve you health in a considerable manner. Hence, going green is easy and one of the easiest ways to go green is to use eco-friendly products.
Eco-friendly products help in preventing environmental damages and are recyclable. Recyclable material is inexpensive and is available in sufficient quantities. Giving away these eco-friendly products as promotional items is a good idea to support the cause. Various kinds of eco-friendly business gifts or corporate gifts like wooden cases or bags made out of wooden fiber can serve the purpose. Giving away such promotional items helps is generating awareness and spreading the message of going green in a significant way. It also shows that you care about the environment and trying to make your contribution towards achieving well-being of the planet.
Brightest Day Promotion means Dark Days for Marvel
0707 days
by Jenn
in Promotional Items
The epic battle between Marvel Comics and DC Comics has ensued for years, but comic book lovers have rarely picked a side – until now. The competing comic companies have branded some of our favorite characters and inspired generations of readers to embrace the comic tradition. Tuesday new release anyone? However, as time goes on, the battles have become bloodier, and judging by Marvels latest promotion, you can see how.
Blackest Night Promotional Rings
In Novermber, 2009 DC Comics launched their Blackest Night promotion that gave comic book distributors free promotional rings with certain bulk orders of specified comics. The Comix Connection featured the Blackest Night rings in a blog with the sick photograph above. They saw a major boost in sales, dominating 8 of the top 10 spots for the top 25 grossing comics of November. Marvel comics made a presence on the list, filling 14 of its spots. While the Darkest Night promotion helped drew DC Comics to the top, Marvels standings still showed that comic fans were loyal to both DC and Marvel.
Comic books lovers have been embracing both Marvel and DC Comics since their existence, but after witnessing Marvels rebuttal to the Darkest Night promo, some are swearing off Marvel altogether.
In January a press release was sent from Marvel stating, “Retailers – for every 50 stripped covers of the following comics sent to Marvel, you will qualify to receive one FREE Siege #3 Deadpool Variant.” The “following comics” included:
Adventure Comics #4
Booster Gold #26
Doom Patrol #4
Justice League Of America #39
Outsiders #24
R.E.B.E.L.S #10
Siege #3 Deadpool Variant Cover
The first sentence of the press release engaged readers with a thoughtful incentive, “In an effort to provide assistance to comic retailers in 2010, Marvel is offering retailers an opportunity to turn unsold comics into an extremely rare Siege #3 Deadpool Variant!” However, considering that all of the listed comics were published by DC Comics (NOT Marvel), this “opportunity” came off as more of a backhanded scheme. In that way, it was an “opportunity” to help sabotage DC Comics.
This method of madness for boosting their own sales and destroying competing DC Comic products didn’t go unnoticed. Of the almost 200 comments on the Comic Book Resources blog post, most shared their disgust with Marvels cheap tricks. A parade of bad press followed the promotion throughout February, provoking Marvels newly promoted Vice President and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort to strike back. He didn’t hide behind a mask but he sure did whip his cape with furry in his Marvel Blog.
Marvel Vice President, Tom Brevoort's photograph of DC Comics covers used to promote their "Seige" #3 Deadpool Varient comic.
Brevoort even struck back at neigh-sayers with sarcasm on twitter. The tweet, “Turns out nobody has any extra copies of those ring books…” accompanied the above photograph of over 300 DC comic covers. While their ultimate success still hasn’t been calculated, the failure has been seen on blog comments everywhere. One commenter on Comic Book Resources wrote, “Marvel is SCUM!!! I am dropping all of my Marvel books and I am never buying another book published by Marvel. This includes my beloved X-Men.” While Marvel attempted to “help out” retailers, they lost the respect of many consumers. They lost respect of many fans.
The Marvel promotion is now over and soon we will see the results. In the meantime, DC Comics continues to toss out the promotions. Now with the purchase of The Flash #1 and Green Lantern #53 comics, customers will receive one of the two new Brightest Day promotional rings. Purchase the comics and enjoy the collectors Brightest Day rings by visiting here or visit a comic store near you after the April release date. These Brightest Day rings are an example of smart branding, something that Marvel may want to re-evaluate.
DC Comics versus Marvel Comics