The Redbows Promotional Gifts Blog

With Christmas approaching the promotional gifts industry typically sees a surge in activity – almost all of it related to Christmas. For promotional chocolates suppliers the rush is on the fill their promotional advent calendar product lines before around mid October. This is for the mass runs but other suppliers can produce smaller quantities and run even into November. Mass production runs typically produce several artwork versions in one go – the print technology allows this and achieves a very reasonable bulk print price. The thing about promotional advent calendars is off course that you really want to be distributing them around mid-November at the latest in order to be on people’s desks just before December 1st.  So ‘get your skates on’ as they say if you want to get an order in now for your promotional advent calendars. At Redbows we supply several versions including both part and fully personalised. The part personalised use standard templates with space for your imprint but with a fully personalised advent calendar you can go for a completely bespoke image. Another important aspect to consider is whether you want British or European chocolates inside your advent calendar. Both are of a very high quality – its just leadtimes and transportation charges that vary in reality. For other types of seasonal offers, see our Christmas chocolates collection.

In the office the other day I heard one of our promotional gifts consultants talking to clients about advent calendars but then it is ‘hot’ summer. Seriously though the autumn promotional season is not far away and now is the time to think about your autumn/winter campaigns. Other items that you need to get on your gifts radar are promotional calendars and diaries. We’ve heard that there could be a paper shortage towards the end of this year which could impact on the supply of promotional calendars and diaries. If you want to learn more about the Redbows Promotional Calendars and Diaries collection then let us know. As these tend to be slightly more expensive promotional gifts the selection process  can take slightly longer, than say promotional pens. So start to think about your calendars, diaries and wall planners now and book your order with Redbows early to get the best possible price and delivery.

I have been visiting clients over the last few weeks and carrying out my own survey of which promotional gifts I see most often in their offices. Now promotional pens and mugs were no surprise – they remain a firm favourite. However, what caught my eye was the large number of promotional calendars and wall planners in use. For example, in sales and service offices, desktop calendars (you know the A5 free standing type) seemed to be a real favourite. People were using them to mark specific dates or as a quick reference guide when booking visits and service jobs with clients. In office canteens and workshops wall planners, holiday planners and the like are quite widespread. Off course the great thing about these types of promotional gifts is that they do offer a very neat advertising opportunity and one with a long shelf-life. Here we may be talking longer than a year off course as your clients get used to their calendars and every year want a new one. In addition formats and images can be tailored to your client audience. So give promotional calendars and wall planners some thought this September and October and catch the best prices and print run opportunities for Christmas and the New Year.