The Redbows Promotional Gifts Blog

Marketing In A Competitive NHS takes place this November (13-14) at The Royal Horticultural Halls. I guess that the conference itself highlights the fact that marketing is a pervasive art and science that crosses all boundaries. We are all marketers in one way or another having to promote ourselves and get others to ‘buy-in’ to our message. The NHS faces stiff competition and serious strategic issues in terms of financial insecurities, organisational uncertainty and competition from local and foreign health service providers. I am sure that this area of the promotional gifts market will become an expanding one for companies like Redbows and we have already done work with several hospitals and health service organisations. The typical products supplied include mugs and pens off course and I just wonder, as NHS marketing managers become more creative, what other gifts will come into their horizons.

I was happy to read this morning in The Marketer about the results of a new pay survey by Croner Rewards (remuneration experts) on behalf of CIM. This showed that the pay gap between male and female marketers had closed to 8.6% over the past year. As in most specialist areas, the gap is widest at the top with 10% being a common difference. This (off course) narrows substantially as one moves down the food chain to marketing managers and executives. Whilst these surveys can provide some useful insights, I just wonder if gender comparison is the right way to assess pay scales in this day and age. I would prefer to see performance-to-pay measurements based on something other than gender - perhaps comparing effectiveness in terms of success and impact on their organisations over the last five years.

Oh - the coins - well these are Feng Shui  I Ching Coins. Tied with a red ribbon they symbolise money flowing into your life and have been used for thousand of years as amulets of good fortune. In return for passing them as a gift to others you in return receive good fortune back. So what goes around, comes around - perhaps ?!

Preparing for a family fun-filled evening this week and having sorted out the kids Halloween costumes I was searching around the net for other party ideas. I came across the BigFatBalloons website which provides a great service - helium filled balloons for any occasion.

I think that balloons are one of the most under rated promotional gifts you can get. They are simply fantastic for a range of events from corporate launches to sales conferences - and off course childrens parties. You see they provide high impact. Tens or hundreds of balloons all with your gift marketing message and logo, concentrated into one area or around an event. They are very visible, like branded carrier bags at an exhibition. No wonder we have clients who come back just for these items alone.

I have seen quite a few promotional gifts companies now offering environmentally friendly gifts and jumping on the ECO gifts trail. My question is just how ECO friendly are these companies and their suppliers and what carbon-footprints do these items leave as they move from place of manufacture to final usage? Any gifts made off-shore to their point of use will lose their ECO benefit thanks shipment via sea freight or cargo plane. So if you are really interested in purchasing ECO labelled promotional items, start by asking where are the goods manufactured, how and from what. See if the manufacturer has an ISO14001 or equivalent Environmental Management System or at least an environmental policy. Check out their green credentials and don’t just be taken in by the ECO tag on supplying websites and brochures.

Expect to pay a little more or the same for your ECO gifts if you want quality items. Popular items of the moment include: coasters made from recycled rubber tyres, cups from old plastic and pens from corn maize. I am sure that this segment of the gifts market will grow in importance and that standards will be set for what can carry an Environmentally Friendly label but until then it is a case of let the buyer beware.

I love this time of year when we are in full swing helping companies deliver their promotional marketing plans for Christmas. Sometimes the volumes of gifts we distribute is so immense that occasionally it makes a real change to go off sourcing individual gadgets for clients. There are plenty of suppliers of these in the market place and the time of year allows you to take a more ’tongue in cheek’ approach (but be careful to ensure it does not backfire). This USB powered Homer Simpson over at Gadgets.co.uk caught my eye the other day as well as their desktop missile launchers and office helicopters. How much longevity do these gifts have ? Well some recent research identified that people tend to value and remember items that are useful within their working environment (they tend to keep them on or near their desks) or so personal and prized that they take them home.

Fun gadgets on the other hand may only be appropriate for those few festive days, a bit like a flashing tie or Father Christmas hat - you would wear one if you really had to but wonder just how your professional image will be enhanced. So my advice for a one off gift for Christmas is to opt for something special from a giftware and collectable supplier - for example a pair of fine cut crystal glasses or small Nao or Circles of Love figurines. Price wise they can work out the same as a motorised dinosaur but guess which one is remembered and on view 12 months down the line. 

Everyone knows that B2B (Business To Business) exhibitions and trade shows are seeing a continuing fall off in numbers. I have been to three very different shows this month covering industrial, innovation and the latest in marketing strategies and have seen a whole range of approaches to getting people onto stands. Some companies did really well, with attractive stands, well laid out with brochures, themed gifts and press packs within easy reach. Others where just down right awful. There can be little excuse these days for not making your stand attractive and the layout something to draw you in. The worst experience was walking past one stand where the American sales person shouted ‘hey I know you want an iPhone !*?* Well no actually I am really happy with my Sony Ericsson PDA which works really well and is not overpriced.

More to the point though when you see shows like this it is easy to spot the companies approaching a tick-list to exhibiting. I am not saying that following a generic Tradeshows and Giveaways Gifts Guide is wrong, just that you need to tailor your approach so that what you present is matched to draw in your prospective clients and is attractive to them. If you take promotional gifts, don’t just pile them on a table for people to take like free cheap giveaways. Work some magic, position them attractively, ask visitors if they would like this really great pen or gadget, make people feel valued. Don’t just pile em high!

We recently went on a quad-biking day with some corporate clients and this got me thinking about how to make the memories of the day last longer. It reminded me of a golf tournament I played in several years ago. Often both types of events are relatively middle-off-the road priced. So if you have 10 to 20 clients what could you stretch your budget to? Well a really great way is to get a photographer for the day to take pictures of the key moments - such as the drive-off or start of a course. Then take more photos during the event and finally at the close down. With a little digital mastery and small printer in a local office these can then be superimposed onto a relevant magazine cover - image me on the cover of Golf Weekly or Quad Biking News and presented at an awards dinner or dropped off later as a personal thank you for attending. Other ideas include the supply of golf towls and balls, baseball caps and fleeces and other such items that are available in small quantities and can be easily customised for the day.

I am not saying that it rained on our parade last weekend but nothing really seemed to go right for us. The English rugby team did so well to reach the final but were just not good enough to beat the Springboks. So trying to get something positive out of this we quickly found this Pressure Kick game for some clients who just wanted to see an inter office rematch of the final. I loved the Saturday Daily Mail piece which compared members from the two rugby teams to cartoon characters. I also have to say that whilst it is brilliant to be up there in Formula One , I was left with this thought after the Brazilian Grand Prix: “Ferrari team, Maclaren drivers”, the clue is in the second word. If Hamilton had a co-driver/partner would he have made such a mess of that first corner? Oh well, at least we won the Conker championships this month and beat a Frenchman to boot.

What else could we wish for this weekend but a back-to-back win by the English rugby team in this year’s world cup. But who will be primed to take advantage of this next week with follow-up marketing if we beat the Springbok? It can happen - if the English pack dominates the field and keeps the ball tight. Fingers crossed for tonight then. Its a good job I brought home some rugby-shaped stress balls for the party we’re having at our house tonight.

Stress relievers are evolving into something of a fine art in the promotional gifts business. As tooling charges fall and volume manufacture moving to off-shore locations, the possibilities for customisation continue to increase. Leadtimes can be the only problem for large quantities that need to travel via container ship. However, if England win on Saturday I am sure we can print small runs in the UK for anyone interested in providing their customers with a little stress relief - after tonight we may need it.

You know they are there but very often we fail to recognise the needs of the less obvious groups within a company - yes I am talking the teams behind the sales and service activities - finance and operations. Why do I mention these now? Well consider a promotional gifts campaign aimed at increasing reseller sales of a particular product. Here the client may be focusing on purely the sales and service teams but more often than not we need to get buy-in from the company as a whole. Sure operations will process the purchase orders and finance raise the checks but these teams are staffed by humans not robots.

Accounts teams respond to a bit of stroking (PC interpretation required) and so remember to include them in your promotional campaign planning. How often do you have promotional gifts like a coaster or pen but fail to include them in the envelope when you send financial statements ? Anything you send into a finance department gets opened - so make them smile, make them remember you and above all include them in your promotional campaign.

I know a company that uses a lot of field service subcontractors. The one everyone loves the most (and the one who gets the most business) always gives each team a box of chocolates whenever he visits the company HQ - how inspiring. He realises that he needs everyone to buy-in and builds relationships with them all.