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February 27, 2007No AppleTV Yet, but Apple Lunch Boxes Are Here
I was a little disappointed to find out that my AppleTV is not going to ship for a few more weeks, but I did find this photo of some Apple lunch boxes on flickr. While promotional lunch boxes are a fairly popular item, the Apple brand itself may be even more powerful. As one commenter put it, "I kind of want one, but have absolutely no use for it."
Posted by mark at 1:21 PM. Permalink: No AppleTV Yet, but Apple Lunch Boxes Are Here | Comments (0)
February 26, 2007Steal This Pen
The Ft. Greene neighborhood in Brooklyn has gotten exponentially less dangerous than it was fifteen years ago, but one local eatery is encouraging crime. Crimes of promotion, the most delicious of all crimes. I stole this pen last time I ate at Chez Oskar because I wanted to feature it on this blog. If you're running a restaurant, promotional pens are a real no-brainer. First, you want to have lots of pens around so your waitstaff aren't wasting time looking for one. Second, most of your business comes from local, repeat patrons, so getting your pen in their hands is a great way to encourage them to come back, or recommend your restaurant to their friends. In this case crime does pay, so steal the pen and take a bite out of dinner.
Posted by mark at 12:25 PM. Permalink: Steal This Pen | Comments (0)
February 23, 2007Citigroup Sells Its Umbrella
| As Citigroup streamlines its corporate brand, it has decided to sell off its umbrella logo to Travelers insurance. Apparently, current negotiations may even involve the sale of what is surely the largest promotional umbrella in the world, the 5,300 pound umbrella statue that is currently in front of Citigroups investment banking offices in downtown New York. The statue could end up in front of the Travelers office in Hartford, CT. |  |
Posted by mark at 2:52 PM. Permalink: Citigroup Sells Its Umbrella | Comments (0)
February 22, 2007Leica Gummy Bears: Hidden Relevance
| What looks like an attractive, if ordinary, promotional tin of gummy bears for Leica actually has a couple subtle features that make it particularly relevant to the venerable camera manufacturer. One is that the circular tin mirrors the shape of a camera lense, which Leica happens to be famous for (along with their outstanding viewfinders). The second reason is that Leica is a German manufacturer, and gummy bears (or should I say Gummib舐?) were invented and first became popular in Germany. |  |
Posted by mark at 10:58 AM. Permalink: Leica Gummy Bears: Hidden Relevance | Comments (0)
February 21, 2007New York Looks to Revamp "I (heart) NY" Campaign
According to the NY Daily News, New York state officials have requested creative input from leading marketing and advertising agencies in a campaign to "re-energize" the 30-year-old I Love New York brand. Probably the most successful and well-known city brands in the world, it will be interesting to see how today's top brand strategists can update and improve it. Of course, the familiar I (heart) NY logo isn't about to disappear any time soon.
Posted by mark at 10:37 AM. Permalink: New York Looks to Revamp "I (heart) NY" Campaign | Comments (0)
February 20, 2007Direct Mail That Cuts Through the Clutter
Here's a great direct mail promo sent by a real estate firm. If you think about the economics of real estate sales, it makes a lot of sense to invest in maintaining a relationship with your former clients. Based on the average value of a real estate commission and the average frequency with which your clients move, it's easy to calculate the appropriate budget to spend on maintaining a relationship with them. With lots of real estate promotional items to choose from, you may also increase the likelihood of getting referrals as well. Combining a letter and a promotional gift allows you to get your message across today and stay on their mind in the future.
Posted by mark at 10:45 AM. Permalink: Direct Mail That Cuts Through the Clutter | Comments (0)
February 19, 2007Free Stuff Rocks, and You Don't Need a Big Budget to Get Creative
My better half prefers a toilet seat lid with retro decoupage, and when we ordered one, it came with this promo pack. True to the DIY ethos of the woman who creates the toilet seat lids, it's clearly hand assembled, but that's part of what makes it appropriate. The items, a spider-woman toy, a pink imprinted pen, and a cd of some of her favorite music from the era (I haven't listened, but my guess is rockabilly) all reinforce the brand she is building. Even though the packaging is just a ziplock with a hand-cut sticker on the front, it still creates a better experience for the recipient. It's suddenly not just a cd and a pen, but a whole bag of free stuff. And, as noted, "Free Stuff Rocks!" Basically, this is everything that makes a great promo, done well on a budget. Can even the smallest companies build brands that resonate with consumers? Of course. If you want to buy a custom toilet seat, head for Bucktooth Mama.
Posted by mark at 9:56 AM. Permalink: Free Stuff Rocks, and You Don't Need a Big Budget to Get Creative | Comments (0)
February 16, 2007Guess What Someone Handed Steven Colbert on His Way to Work...
...a NYC condom, of course! And, of course, he was outraged. Outraged enough to give the NYC condom campaign national TV air time on his show, The Colbert Report. While Colbert may feel strongly that he should be the only C train in his bedroom, these subway-themed condoms are probably driving one of the most successful public health awareness campaigns in recent memory. (Previously: NYC condom generates huge press reaction, coverage of the Valentine's Day launch and an international feature on the contest to design the condoms)
Posted by mark at 9:44 AM. Permalink: Guess What Someone Handed Steven Colbert on His Way to Work... | Comments (0)
February 15, 2007NYC Makes Valentine's Day Safer with Condom Giveaway
| If you're looking for a great case study in how a successful promotional giveaway can have powerful positive effects, you'll want to know about the safe sex promotion done by New York City. They started getting PR for their promotional condom giveaway program by sponsoring a contest for the package design. According to NYC Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden, "Brands work, and people use branded items more than they use unbranded items, whether it's a cola or even a medicine
Brands add value and increase use."
Next, they did a massive giveaway campaign on Valentine's Day, distributing 150,000 them around the city (New York distributes about 18 million condoms annually). Today, the subway-themed condoms appeared on the front page of AM New York a free daily paper distributed at many of the same places where the city was distributing condoms yesterday. It also got featured on the home page of the New York Times web site and countless other places. That's a huge amount of free promotion for their program, just for branding the same condoms they have already been giving away for years. For more information, visit their web site at nyccondom.org. |  |
Posted by mark at 9:29 AM. Permalink: NYC Makes Valentine's Day Safer with Condom Giveaway | Comments (0)
February 13, 2007Japan's Top Promotional Giveaway, Part 2
As promised in an earlier post about Japanese promotional tissues here are some photos of some of the tissue packets I got while I was in Japan. While the general concept is the same, the tissue packets do differ a bit, including different sizes and printed inserts versus 4-color process printing on the plastic packaging itself. Promotional tissues are used by a wide variety of companies, from real estate to bars and restaurants. Since they're primarily distributed near high-traffic train or subway station exits, promoting businesses or real estate in the neighborhood people are entering makes a lot of sense. And, yes, in Tokyo pretty much all train stations are high-traffic.
Posted by mark at 10:13 AM. Permalink: Japan's Top Promotional Giveaway, Part 2 | Comments (0)
February 12, 2007Surf Trunks and Surf Guitar
I got some new swim trunks for Christmas made by Reef, a brand that does lots of surfing apparel and accessories. Instead of a regular cardboard tag, they came with this cool plastic tag with a guitar pick built into it. While not every surfer is a guitarist, this is still a great way to turn something that would be thrown out into a cool promo that basically cost them nothing. The moral of the story: if you have the opportunity to take a piece of throwaway packaging and turn it into a promo that is relevant to your audience, take it. Although my sample size is one, I play guitar a lot more than I swim, so the guitar pick is probably going to remind me of their brand even more than the actual swim trunks.
Posted by mark at 11:26 AM. Permalink: Surf Trunks and Surf Guitar | Comments (0)
February 8, 2007Unusual Promos Make Smiles
Here's an unusual promotional product, along the same lines as the Children's Tylenol doctor's office promos I featured a few days ago. While promotional toothbrushes are a great product for dentists because they remind patients of their dentist's name between visits, these promotional masks actually make a visit to the dentist a little more fun. For Colgate, who made these promos, it's a great way to get their brand across to their actual customers for a few reasons: 1) it's fun and memorable 2) they benefit from the tacit recommendation being made by the dentist and 3) the branding targets children and youth who influence their parents' spending choices and are also choosing some brands (like toothpaste) that they may favor for the rest of their lives. (via Marketing Alternatif)
Posted by mark at 9:50 AM. Permalink: Unusual Promos Make Smiles | Comments (0)
February 7, 2007Promo Tips from the Non-profit Sector: PETA
Love them or hate them, PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has had great success getting their message to people across a wide variety of media, from television and print to online and guerrilla campaigns. In a recent interview with MarketingProfs, PETA's Marketing Manager discussed some of their techniques and how they are applicable to organizations of all types. Here are a few ideas from Jack Shepard that could help you get more out of your promos:
Getting people to interact with your brand online:
I think that the success of MySpace has taught us all a number of lessons, such as that people like to create things. And they like to show off what they care about, especially when it's made easy for them. If you let people participate in your brand, they will become brand warriors.
If people aren't already creating ads for you, ask them to, and give them an incentive. Nobody says no to free stuff. You'd be amazed at how much we've gotten done just by giving away stickers!
Leveraging your biggest brand evangelists:
We also actively recruit well-connected users. By reading the most popular blogs on MySpace and scanning through the most popular people, we've been able to build relationships with a number of well-connected people on the site. These are people who can drive traffic and sales (if that's your bottom line).
We've also mailed free T-shirts to some of our more popular MySpace friends so that they can post pictures of themselves wearing them. We've used those photos in our bulletins to help drive sales. It's a level of naturalism that can't be faked.
To see examples of how PETA leverages its online presence offline and vice versa, visit the PETA web site or their blog.
Posted by mark at 12:42 PM. Permalink: Promo Tips from the Non-profit Sector: PETA | Comments (0)
February 6, 2007Where Do You Run Your Ads?
With many traditional ad media failing to reach viewers as broadly or effectively as they used to, new forms of advertising are increasingly important to any brand with a message to deliver. Promotional products are certainly one form of advertising that cuts through in an advertising-cluttered world, and so are clever environmental ads (meaning ads in our everyday environment, not ads about environmental issues). Here's a great combo using promotional stickers and clever environmental placement to promote Runner World magazine. (via Marketing Alternatif)
Posted by mark at 9:13 AM. Permalink: Where Do You Run Your Ads? | Comments (0)
February 3, 2007Turn Sales into Child's Play (and Vice Versa)
I could tell you how many billions of dollars in spending are influenced by children each year, or remind you that promotional products are advertising and we measure advertising by how many times it is seen, or claim that promotional products can be one of the most cost-effective forms of advertising available. Instead, though, I'm going to post some pictures of Sammy with a Cingular promotional balloon and ask her parents a couple questions. Here's what Steve and Dolly have to say:
Q: How long have you had this balloon in your house?
A: Three weeks.
Q: How often to you play with the balloon?
A: A lot. We like to bash it around.
Q: Who is your cell phone provider?
A: Cingular.
Q: Why do you think they give out the balloons?
A: The good thing about them is that if the kid is crying when you're in the Cingular store, the salesperson can give them the balloon so he can keep talking to you.
Posted by mark at 5:15 PM. Permalink: Turn Sales into Child's Play (and Vice Versa) | Comments (0)
February 2, 2007Anything Can Be Imprinted
Often when I am explaining what ePromos does I start by listing some of the common things we put logos on: pens, mugs, shirts and totes. Pretty much everyone is familiar with these things, but we offer thousands of different promotional items. I usually describe it as "everything that exists in the whole world, but with your logo on it," and that's pretty accurate. We imprint stuff that most people don't even think of as an item, much less as a marketing item. Case in point, a disposable pillowcase and sheet for a doctors office: a kid-friendly design and Children's Tylenol logo actually make the room a little cheerier and less threatening.
Posted by mark at 9:10 AM. Permalink: Anything Can Be Imprinted | Comments (0)
February 1, 2007Action Item One: Make Custom Action Figures
| You can get a long way with good product selection and a creative imprint, but sometimes you just gotta go all out and custom make your own perfect promo, like this truly awesome "super recruiter" action figure given out to promote Yahoo's Hot Jobs. When the stakes are high, like the competitive world of career placement, sometimes only the most unique promo you've ever seen will do, and the way to do that is to make a new product and pay attention to all the details down to the packaging and copy. You'll need to have someone help you custom manufacture it overseas, but the end result can be incredible. Or at least super. |  |
Posted by mark at 9:22 AM. Permalink: Action Item One: Make Custom Action Figures | Comments (0)
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