The Redbows Promotional Gifts Blog

Yes this was a fascinating finding on the BBC website today – Hot Drinks Promote Warm Feelings. Now we have known this for years in the promitional industry and it is one reason why promotional mugs are such a big seller for Redbows – especially around the autumn period. What the research shows is that if you want someone to warm to you give them a warm drink. The great thing about a mug personalised with your logo is that the feelings the user has when the mug is cupped in their hands become associated with the brand itself over time i.e. refreshing, warmth, enjoyed, looked forward to, cannot live without, essential and a general all-round good feeling. So if you want to make the right impression and promote yourself this autumn go and stack up on your promotional mugs – and we would suggest go for a ceramic more than a plastic one as this adds a further level to the experience.

The Institute of Sales Promotions has just announced calls for entries to its 2009 awards. This made me think about how important sales and promotions are to the success of any organisation and why demand for promotional items continue to grow. We simply live in a far more competitive world with demands on our resources and time that are second to none. The real heroes of our generation are therefore what Coca-Cola used to call the Drummers – the guys and girls who every day go out on the road and drum up the business. But how effective would they be without a finely honed promotion that creates the environment for a sale to take place, or the carefully chosen promotional items that they can use as handouts and giveaways? Food for thought indeed.

The internet is proving to have another major effect and this is on the environment. As websites like the Promotional Gifts Store become more sophisticated they offer visitors an electronic catalogue which can be browsed anywhere in the world. Apart from great content all the website needs is superb navigation and search facilities – something we trust our Gifts website is becoming known for. The effect on the environment is massive in terms of CO2 emmissions and deforestation. So what will we do in 2009? Is the end of the paper-based Redbows Promotional Gifts Catalogue as we know it in sight? Probably is the simple answer. Another factor affecting the decision on when to end the catalogue is its ‘updateability’. With over 6,000 products to manage (and many more we could add) we probably update around 20% of our items on a regular rolling basis. No printed catalogue could expect to keep pace with such changes and removing them will help us all move towards becoming Carbon Neutral.