The Redbows Promotional Gifts Blog

A recent study within the medical world has identified something within the promotional gifts industry that we have been citing for a long time. The New York Times article reported that medical school students offered pens and mugs promoting a particular drug had a more favourable attitude towards the item than did students from other schools where such gifts are banned. The actual research first appeared in The Archives of Internal Medicine and suggests that no gift is too small to have such an effect. Off course we have known this for many years within the promotional gifts industry but it is nice to see some actual scientific research in a non-marketing specific industry demonstrate this fact.

I would like to bet that paper usage has increased over the last 30 years exponentially and at a rate aligned to our adoption of computer systems and IT in general. Off course at Redbows our environmental policy is to reduce waste and recycle where ever possible and it is nice to think that perhaps some of our shredded paper finds its way into other promotional products. Such items could generally include all manner of promotional paper pads and block mates. The important point is that we are recycling and trying to make sure that our paper wastage is as small as possible. On the other side of the paper supply chain off course we also offer promotional pens and pencils with an ECO bent. Our environmentally friendly pens and pencils are made from a mixture of sustainable materials like FSC certified wood, vegetable matter or recycled plastics and other materials.

How do you choose promotional items when most suppliers offer several thousand alternatives? Here are our top marketing tops. Many companies use promotional gifts for a variety of reasons but the primary ones are to increase brand awareness and generate sales. So if you are thinking about investing in such marketing gifts as pens, mugs and even confectionery items here are five general selection guidelines:

1. Link the Promotional Items To Your Company – make sure you include your company name, contact numbers and logo on the product. After all a promotional product is like a company business card.

2. Relate the Promotional Items To Your Company – choose promotional items that in some way have a synergy with your company product or service. If you are an insurance company for example think about offering umbrellas. By associating a promotional item with a company product or service, the brand recognition and impact is far greater.

3. Choose Promotional Items With Enough Imprint Area – by this we mean make sure that your promotional items are big enough to carry your marketing message. This may seem obvious but to make sure your items are going to have the impact and legibility you want try printing out some artwork to the actual imprint area size. If you can read it then so should your clients.

4. Think Quality When Selecting Promotional Items – promotional gifts do vary in their quality and this is often reflected in the price. So if you are promoting a high value item do not use a low-cost giveaway and vice-versa. Sure maximise your marketing budget but ensure again that there is some synergy in terms of quality, reliability and general feel.

5. Continuous Testing – keep testing promotional gifts till you get a formula that produces results. Remember that investing in promotional gifts is like investing in any marketing communications and franchise opportunity. Brand building is the result of a cumulative effect and requires continuous investment.

Exercise and keep-fit are always high on the agenda when it comes to summer promotions and promotional products that suit this this time of the year are generally outdoor related. Take promotional frisbees and flyers for example. These items are always fun to give and offer plenty of promotional imprint area. What’s more they are available in a range of sizes and colours. Off course items like these also have what we call a ‘display factor’ in that we find customers reporting that their clients tend to keep these items in their offices and on display as a sort of fun item to remind them of the summer and warmer times and perhaps display the youthfulness of their ‘inner child’. For more fun ideas see our promotional toys collection. Off course such promotional items also appeal to a wide audience and cross-section of society including animal lovers (dogs) and parents, as well as schools, clubs and youth-related organisations.

So summer is upon us and I can hear shots being fired (literally) on the local driving range. Off course season is one of the busiest for promotional golf gifts. As with any range of promotional products you can see a wide choice and budget spread from golf tees and golf balls to golf clothing and even personalised awards for the after-tournament dinner. The best thing about these gifts is that they can easily be personalised and are available in a range of colours and materials – take golf tees which can be plastic or wooden and supplied loose or within branded packaging. Combine these items with something to last longer than the round such as gloves and a golfing polo-shirt and you investment should deliver results for some months to come in terms of brand awareness and general goodwill towards your organisation.

Promotion flashdrives or memory sticks continue to be one of the most popular promotional gadgets and gifts available. Their appeal has largely grown because the price of computer chip memory has fallen rapidly over the years to allow the purchase of relatively large sizes (1GB for example) for a reasonable price. Also USB flashdrives are available in a range of materials including wooden, leather, metal and plastic cases all of which can take a suitable imprint whether via screen printing, embossing or engraving. A really useful idea is to have your flashdrives delivered with pre-loaded data. Examples can include data sheets and company presentations. This make distribution of the material really easy at shows, exhibitions and seminars and means that your clients also get great digital content to use on their websites and databanks. Off course you can go a little further with memory sticks in terms of packing. Whilst the most economic packaging is off course ‘bulk packed’ in bubble wrap most promotional gifts suppliers can supply cases, tins or cardboard boxes containing the flashdrives, and perhaps a keychain toggle or lanyard, and other associated peripherals. So remember, if you are looking for a really useful promotional gadget that your clients will probably use every day then USB memory sticks could be just the gift for you.

Have you ever wondered what are the three most popular uses for business gifts? Well you might be surprised to know that they include: exhibitions and tradeshow giveaways, employee and client rewards, incentives and brand builders. Not that surprising really but then the promotional gifts industry is essentially based on the simple premise that people like to receive gifts, that corporate and business gifts in particular can help to engender receptive feelings and responses towards a supplier and develop their overall brand image. So what are the most popular business gifts? Well by far and away the prime movers are the lower cost items that can be found everyday within an office environment like mugs, keyrings, pens, rulers and coasters. Off course in these environmentally conscious times, ECO gifts are also rising fast in popularity but so to are more novel ideas as the growing range of gadgets, in particular USB flashdrive variations, shows.

When you think about business gifts do you see the gift or the brand? I ask this question because we have been spending a lot of time thinking about watch brands recently and their use of celebrety endorsements. A similar analogy can be applied to coffee. For example when we watch a coffee advert what we see is the coffee brand name and not the mug or cup that the person is drinking from. Now wouldn’t it be nice if we could see the promotional mugs names themselves catch on as brands in their own right. Some are well down this road – for example the Photo Mugs and Wow Mugs which have unique characteristics and print options and make ideal business gifts.

The other day we were asked what gifts we would put into a start-up gifts pack for new businesses. Off course the hardest part here is determining a gift selection that would fit most budgets. So we decided to start with a small spend of £250 and see just where this could take us. Now for this sum you really want to get to the highest possible volume of products whilst still trying to ensure that the items you give out have some longevity. When you look solving the problem from this point of view promotional pens are the one item that hits you head on. Whether you opt for plastic or frosted plastic pens makes little difference to the overall spend. Promotional pens are ideal for start up businesses who need to get their name, brand and contact details across. They offer a great print area – the barrel and in some instances the pen clip themselves. Off course another great attribute is that promotional pens also come in a range of colours and can generally take an imprint from one to four colours. So our recommendation for a start-up business would be to opt for plastic promotional pens – the perfect business start-up gifts.