May 11, 2008

Making Promos that Match

I just wanted to highlight this photo of a promotional notebook and promotional paper clips done for Google, because they looks go great together. Google has a somewhat challenging logo to begin with. Although it's simple, it has five colors, which means to match items you need to find ones that can be printed in five colors (or full-color). Beyond that, it's important to find items that look good together and make sure and make sure your logo size is proportionate both to the items and to the other items. One hint: if you're doing multiple items of similar size, make all the logos the same size, even if it could be a little bigger on one of the items.

Posted by Mark at 10:09 AM. Permalink: Making Promos that Match | Comments (0)

May 10, 2008

Gym Promotes with Exercise Device

Here's a pretty unusual promotional product, created for a gym in China. It was sent to members, with the message "don't give up halfway." Using promotional fitness products is increasingly popular in the US, and not just amongst fitness clubs. Promotional pedometers, water bottles and all types of sports and fitness equipment are used by all types of companies to encourage healthy activity. Even classics, like the jump rope are coming back in style.

Posted by Mark at 09:55 AM. Permalink: Gym Promotes with Exercise Device | Comments (0)

May 09, 2008

Apple Fans: Hairvertising and Crochetvertising

I know we've discussed headvertising before, a couple times in fact. But that, like wristvertising, involved brand tattooing. Hairvertising just involves the hair, which turns out to be a fairly versatile promotional tool itself.

Of course, some people prefer working with animal hair, spun into yarn. For those who tend to be more crafty, do-it-yourself types, particularly knitters and the like, handmade logo gear may be more your style.

Posted by Mark at 09:40 AM. Permalink: Apple Fans: Hairvertising and Crochetvertising | Comments (0)

May 07, 2008

Logo Know-how: Design for Promos

Below is a sample corporate identity design I found on flickr, probably done for inclusion in a designer's portfolio. What I really like about it is that the logo is presented on a variety of promotional items in addition to the typical letterhead, envelope and business card. My guess is - even though snail mail is probably declining as a part of business communications and promotional product use is increasing - many companies and agencies neglect to take this into account when designing a corporate identity. In our experience, it is not uncommon to find large, sophisticated companies that have detailed branding guidelines for print and web that don't have something similar for logo merchandise.

Because of some of the unique challenges of using various imprinting methods (e.g., pad printing, laser engraving, embroidery), on a wide variety of items of different colors, shapes and sizes, this can be a big oversight and lead to inconsistent branding. Knowing what logo you will use when you only have a small printing area (like on a pen), or can only print in one color or what thread colors most closely match the PMS values of the colors in your logo are all great things to know ahead of time. Actually designing with these in mind will help you get the best results wherever you decide to put your logo.

Posted by Mark at 09:02 AM. Permalink: Logo Know-how: Design for Promos | Comments (0)

May 06, 2008

Rangers Rally Towel

The rally towel is an interesting promo. Apparently, it dates back to a Vancouver Canucks hockey game. After what he thought was an unfair call, Coach Roger Neilson tied a towel to a spare hockey stick and began waving it as a sarcastic surrender statement. Neilson was fined, but the towels were a hit and a local businessman printed up and several thousand with proceeds going to charity. It's been with us ever since. Here is a surprisingly mustard-free, Sabrett-sponsored New York Rangers rally towel. It makes a great keepsake after the game, you can keep it with your Nathan's stadium cup and your Hebrew National clappers.

Posted by Mark at 09:04 AM. Permalink: Rangers Rally Towel | Comments (0)

May 04, 2008

Ten Cent Real Estate Promotion

Here's a cool ten-cent direct mail promotion that our CEO received. A Prudential Homes realtor sent out ten one cent stamps when the postage rates changed, along with a letter reminding past clients that if they know anyone looking for a new home in the area, she's always happy to get referrals. This is a great promotion because it's inexpensive, yet thoughtful. Plus, since most people don't buy new homes too often, it focuses on capturing referral opportunities, which is an effective way to utilize your customer base in real estate.

Posted by Mark at 09:37 AM. Permalink: Ten Cent Real Estate Promotion | Comments (0)

April 29, 2008

Sausage Calendar

If there's one thing I really like, it's a pork-based promotional product. From the hamerang to the porknament, nothing says good taste in promos like pig. So it is with great pleasure that I bring you this delicious sausage calendar, a delightful yuletide promotion from German meat and sausage producer Koenecke. It differs from a normal promotional calendar in many ways. For starters, it's made out of sausage, and most calendars are not. Also, the sausage wrapper is marked with 24 lines so you can slice off a little bit each day in December until Christmas...if you have the patience. (via Direct Daily)

Posted by Mark at 05:13 PM. Permalink: Sausage Calendar | Comments (0)

April 28, 2008

Fancy Schmancy Apple Calculator

What kind of promos do you do when you're selling some of the best designed products in the world? Well, they'd better be pretty cool and at least somewhat stylish. It's also best if they match your current design aesthetic fairly closely, like these Apple lunch boxes. This Apple promotional calculator does a pretty good job. It's also delightfully thin, as you can see below.

Posted by Mark at 06:11 PM. Permalink: Fancy Schmancy Apple Calculator | Comments (0)

Branding Blocks

What better promo for an architecture firm than LEGO-style building blocks? (Well, chia card for landscape architects, but that's a different story.) Anyhow, the building block as architecture promo does a couple things. Obviously, it conjures up the idea of construction or building, which is relevant to any architect. Perhaps slightly less obviously it evokes the idea of creativity, which is probably something that most architects want to evoke. Lastly, it conveys a sense of fun and whimsy, which is great if that's what your firm is all about, but is probably the least universal of the three feelings.

Posted by Mark at 04:21 PM. Permalink: Branding Blocks | Comments (0)

April 26, 2008

Iconic Envelope Makes for Catchy T-shirt

Promotional t-shirts: practically every business, school and organization in the world has done them, but how many are really cool or really clever? This shirt, created for a FedEx campaign, makes it look like the wearer is carrying a FedEx envelope around. It actually reminds me of the vintage Nike t-shirt that looked like you had a pair of Air Jordans slung over your shoulder. Anyhow, I like it.

Posted by Mark at 03:35 PM. Permalink: Iconic Envelope Makes for Catchy T-shirt | Comments (0)

April 24, 2008

Soapvertising

Google has done tons of cool promos in the past, but this one is pretty unique. Soapvertising comes in many forms, such as putting lots and lots of stuff on your soap label, but this Russian promotion for Gmail was targeted at students and used actual soap to promote their advanced spam protection. Part of the concept was that the spam filtering "cleans" the email, but also, the Russian words for soap and email also sound the same.

Posted by Mark at 12:22 PM. Permalink: Soapvertising | Comments (0)

April 15, 2008

Bear Market: Zagat Guide

Customizing a Zagat guide with your logo is a great idea that is probably underrepresented outside our financial clients. This is a particularly great product if you're based in a city that has a guide and your are visited regularly by clients or business partners from other places. If that isn't true for your company, there are also some great national guides to restaurants, hotels, golf courses and more. And I just did a whole post without poking fun at Bear Stearns.

Posted by Mark at 09:56 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Zagat Guide | Comments (0)

April 14, 2008

Bear Market: Market Caps

If there's one promotional product that any business or organization can use, it's a promotional cap. Or a whole bunch of them in different colors and styles. One thing that I think is worth noticing, is that despite the range of colors, materials and styles, they all represent the brand consistently (with the exception of the YYY hat that promotes a specific fund).

Posted by Mark at 10:58 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Market Caps | Comments (0)

April 13, 2008

Bear Market: Clock Man Says...

Clock man says it's time to be bought for pennies on the dollar!

Posted by Mark at 09:43 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Clock Man Says... | Comments (0)

April 12, 2008

Bear Market: Novelty Football Helmet

So, the hard hat didn't really do such a great job protecting the firm or its investors and I guess the promotional mini football helmet didn't either. I guess it's time to switch teams!

Posted by Mark at 09:39 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Novelty Football Helmet | Comments (0)

April 10, 2008

Bear Market: Ace's Anniversary

More Bear Stearns memorabilia, this time it's a special promotional kit to celebrate Ace Greenberg's 50th anniversary at the firm. The seller goes into considerably more detail:

Mr. Alan "Ace" Greenberg started as a clerk at Bear Stearns in 1949 and by 1978 was the CEO of Wall Streets Titan Bear Stearns. He was known as a master card player gamester and magician hence the playing cards and Yo-Yo, Ace was well known for his famous bow ties and non-conventional (yet success proving) ways around the office and the financial world.

In 1999, Bear Stearns celebrated Ace Greenberg's 50th anniversary at the Firm with items that were given to certain staff members of Bear Stearns New York City 2 of which we are offering here: 1-unopened (sealed in celophane)set of playing cards in original box with ACE'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY MARCH 8, 1999 AND PHOTO OF HIS FAMOUS BOW TIE ON THE CARDS & 1-WOODEN YO-YO WITH ACE'S 50TH ANNIVERSARY EMBLAZENED IN BLACK ON IT. THANKS FOR LOOKING!!! AND VICTORIOUS BIDDING!!!

Posted by Mark at 09:17 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Ace's Anniversary | Comments (0)

April 09, 2008

Bear Market: Managing Risk the Old Fashioned Way

Another promo that was great in theory, an attention getting imprinted hard had. Of course in retrospect, the message seems to be less making risk safer and more thank goodness we have these hard hats while everything we've done comes falling down around us.

Posted by Mark at 08:51 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Managing Risk the Old Fashioned Way | Comments (0)

April 08, 2008

Bear Market: Subprime Lending Tool Kit

It either didn't work, or it worked too well. This Bear Stearns promotional tool kit, though compact, was apparently all it took to create an enormous bubble in housing prices. Now if that doesn't show the power of promotional products, I'm not sure what does.

Posted by Mark at 09:22 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Subprime Lending Tool Kit | Comments (0)

April 06, 2008

Bear Market: Capitalism Rushes in to Fill a Void

Inevitably, and perhaps appropriately, capitalism has driven folks to capitalize on the Bear Stearns collapse. Most prominently, are those who are auctioning their Bear Stearns promotional items on eBay (perhaps recapturing some lost investment value?). Of course, some enterprising folk have come up with some clever faux promotional t-shirts to poke fun at the situation.

Posted by Mark at 09:59 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Capitalism Rushes in to Fill a Void | Comments (0)

April 05, 2008

Bear Market: Silver Yo-yo Days

If we are indeed headed towards a serious recession, it will be the little things we remember. The promotional yo-yos, particularly the ones that were silver plated. The little things will remind us of the good times when life was fun and prosperous. Perhaps we'll call them the silver yo-yo days.

Posted by Mark at 09:55 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Silver Yo-yo Days | Comments (0)

April 04, 2008

Bear Market: Risk Managed?

Ah, the promotional umbrella. It's actually a great product in terms of usefulness and visibility. More importantly perhaps, it's an excellent way to convey feelings of security, coverage and safety. Of course, it also has the potential to become an artifact of painful irony.

Posted by Mark at 09:25 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Risk Managed? | Comments (0)

April 02, 2008

Bear Market: Bad News Bears

The fall of Bear Stearns has meant many things to many people. For the Federal Reserve, it's the first time ever bailing out an investment bank. For JP Morgan, it was a chance to buy the firm on the cheap. Employees lost jobs, investors lost money and markets lost more confidence. But, their losses are eBay's gain, as Bear Stearns promotional products began to flood into online auctions. From pens and briefcases to shirts and hats, all kinds of Bear Stearns promos have shown up online. But most of all, the bears! Promotional stuffed bears, from the banker bear to the aviator bear in many colors, sizes and styles. Here, we present The Bear Bears!

Posted by Mark at 10:44 AM. Permalink: Bear Market: Bad News Bears | Comments (0)

March 25, 2008

Aquent Beach Ball

Here's a cute promo done by Aquent, a custom beach ball to promote their pool of talent. Very clever guys! I actually used to work for them. I can also say that one thing they used to do and probably still do, is purchase promos centrally to ensure they meet brand guidelines. I think this was important as they were going from a niche staffing agency to an international company that's probably the largest of its type in the world.

Posted by Mark at 06:40 AM. Permalink: Aquent Beach Ball | Comments (0)

March 21, 2008

Barack Obama Doll

He's had a pretty extensive campaign store for some time, featuring everything from baby tees to ringtones. Now, Barack Obama is available in plush doll form for a mere $16.95. It's kind of a cute doll, but the site that sells them seems to deal mostly in tasteless political and celebrity action figures. (via A Socialite's Life)

Posted by Mark at 09:01 AM. Permalink: Barack Obama Doll | Comments (0)

March 19, 2008

Blogger Gloves from SXSW

South by Southwest used to be a big music conference, but now it's so big (and what with the Internet and all) they also have an interactive conference there. These promotional gloves from Blogger, the blogging software owned by Google, were one of the giveaways there. What's so cool about these gloves? Well, they're fingerless gloves, so you can blog even when it's really cold.

Posted by Mark at 09:12 AM. Permalink: Blogger Gloves from SXSW | Comments (0)

March 14, 2008

I Love the Smell of Promotion in the Morning: Cat Poo Pillow

You know what? We can't all sell flowers and gumdrops and fine art prints. There are plenty of companies out there selling things that are less glamorous, less aesthetically pleasing and less not poo-related, but enrich our lives nonetheless. For example, there are companies that make special crystals that make cat poo not smell so bad. These companies need promotion, too. In promotion, I think it's best to embrace what you do, and Catsan did just that. With a good sense of humor to boot. According to Commerical Archive, Catsan Crystals weren't one of the featured products at an Australian pet care trade conference, so they used these custom pillowcases to get some attention for their odor-stopping product. And that's just classic promotion: finding a clever way to get your target audience to think about the key benefits of your product.

Posted by Mark at 08:22 AM. Permalink: I Love the Smell of Promotion in the Morning: Cat Poo Pillow | Comments (0)

March 04, 2008

Big Day for Buttons: Democratic Primaries

Today - as Barack Obama hopes to deliver a knockout blow in the Democratic primaries and Hillary Clinton tries to spin them in a way that justifies soldiering on - is a great day to sell some campaign buttons. Both Democratic candidates raised record amounts of money in February, and have been spending record amounts on television advertising, particularly in Ohio and Texas. The campaigns have not released promotional button expenditure figures for the month, but one supplier of unofficial campaign merchandise claims to have sold over 2 million buttons so far this year.

Posted by Mark at 04:23 PM. Permalink: Big Day for Buttons: Democratic Primaries | Comments (0)

March 02, 2008

Hot Vintage Product: Pepsi Thermometer

There's just something cool about vintage promotional thermometers. Perhaps the vintage Tab thermometer was cooler than this Pepsi one, but it's close. Why don't companies do thermometer promos like this anymore? Or, if they do, they don't do them enough. Have weather websites killed the promotional thermometer?

Posted by Mark at 08:40 PM. Permalink: Hot Vintage Product: Pepsi Thermometer | Comments (0)

February 29, 2008

MacGyver Multi-tool

This is the awesomest promotional product ever! The ultimate multi-function tool, this product can do absolutely anything. It's lightweight and easy to carry, you can take it with you anwhere you go. It is truly the only tool you'll ever need. (MacGyver not included.)

Posted by Mark at 04:27 PM. Permalink: MacGyver Multi-tool | Comments (0)

February 27, 2008

The Bigger the Better: Giant Thong Planter

I'm familiar with custom flip-flops, promotional plants and giant stuff. Here, all three come together in a burst of magical, tropical harmony.

Posted by Mark at 08:37 AM. Permalink: The Bigger the Better: Giant Thong Planter | Comments (0)

February 26, 2008

The Bigger the Better: Giant Nescafe Mug

So, this is bigger than your average promotional mug. A lot bigger. And more dangerous. Someone could spill hot coffee all over that building!

Posted by Mark at 06:34 AM. Permalink: The Bigger the Better: Giant Nescafe Mug | Comments (0)

February 25, 2008

Election Promos 2008: Contact Lensvertising

And the winner for most striking, horrifying and strangely compelling promotion of the 2008 race so far is...this. More terrifying than Marylin Manson, this Ron Paul supporter thought these custom contact lenses would be a good way to generate attention for her candidate. It's enough to keep me up at night, but hey, that's promotion!

Posted by Mark at 06:20 AM. Permalink: Election Promos 2008: Contact Lensvertising | Comments (0)

February 24, 2008

Election Promos 2008: Hats On

In addition to promotional buttons, one of the most effective promotional products a political campaign can employ are styrofoam hats that look like the straw hats that barbershop quartet members wear. Many have been surprised at Huckabee's performance in the primaries. I say it's those hats.

Posted by Mark at 08:15 AM. Permalink: Election Promos 2008: Hats On | Comments (0)

February 22, 2008

Election Promos 2008: Salute to Buttons

A quick salute to the quintessential campaign promo: the promotional button. All but required as a part of any campaign worth its salt, the button is so universal because it conveys a message in a very personal way, allowing wearers to identify themselves as supporters of their candidate.

Posted by Mark at 07:04 AM. Permalink: Election Promos 2008: Salute to Buttons | Comments (0)

February 21, 2008

Election Promos 2008: Mitt's Mitt

It didn't win him the nomination, but out of all the campaign promos in the 2008 election, it definitely stands out. Of course, most candidates didn't have a first name that could be so gracefully rendered in foam while being as quintessentially as American as baseball. I predict these will be making a comeback in 2008.

Posted by Mark at 08:57 AM. Permalink: Election Promos 2008: Mitt's Mitt | Comments (0)

February 19, 2008

Animating Climate Change

It's been shown time and time again that the best way to explain climate change is to show it happening. Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" worked because it came in movie-form rather than just an article or report. Of course, it's tricky to show something that is happening on a scale of decades or centuries. Instead, a product like this takes a shortcut to metaphorically show the change that we're expecting. This color-changing promotional mug created by the World Wildlife Federation shows the land masses of the world disappearing when filled with hot water, which is more or less what we're in for in real life. Previously we've featured other climate change awareness promos using games, stickers and even color-changing mugs.

Posted by Mark at 09:01 AM. Permalink: Animating Climate Change | Comments (0)

February 16, 2008

Onion Swagology: Kung Fu Panda Punching Bag

From The Onion:

Item: Punching bag

Promoting: Dreamworks' upcoming CGI film Kung Fu Panda

Relevance to product promoted: Presumably high. A punching bag no doubt figures prominently in a training montage or two. Like Bee Movie, the Jack Black-as-incongruous-animal-martial-artist laugher Kung Fu Panda has accomplished the formidable feat of being ridiculously overexposed months before its actual release.

Item quality: ? Who the hell knows? It would be hard to imagine a more unwieldy or time-intensive piece of promotional crap. The 10-step inflation-instruction manual makes the process sound more time- and labor-intensive than planning D-Day. Don't even think about blowing this thing up the old-fashioned way: "Inflate by small hand pump or electric inflater," the instructions prissily demand. Fuck, when is Dreamworks finally going to send us a promotional hand pump or electric inflater? It'd be the perfect tie-in for their upcoming slate of CGI cartoons about the madcap adventures of a group of anthropomorphic hand pumps and electric inflaters.

Posted by Mark at 03:00 PM. Permalink: Onion Swagology: Kung Fu Panda Punching Bag | Comments (0)

February 14, 2008

Onion Swagology: Resident Evil Sand Ball

The Onion passes judgment:

Item: An odd plastic ball full of glittery sand; when one side is up, the sand falls through to the other side to reveal a Vegas landscape and the words "This fall all bets are off." Turn the ball over again, and the sand falls back to the Vegas side, revealing the black words "Resident Evil Extinction."

Promoting: Take a wild guess.

Relevance to product promoted: Vegas is in a desert, right? Deserts have sand, right? Okay, we get it. Also, they totally got the name of the movie in there.

Item quality: 3. It's a useless tchotchke, so film-specific that we can't pawn it off on Great-Aunt Myrtle and pretend it was a thoughtfully chosen gift. But it is reasonably well-made, and the way the sand falls through the holes to slowly reveal the title, shining up from the remaining glittery sand, is kind of eerie. Wouldn't work too well on an item promoting, say, Winnie The Pooh: Wonderful Word Adventure, but as zombie-film promo merch goes, this is almost classy.

Posted by Mark at 03:40 PM. Permalink: Onion Swagology: Resident Evil Sand Ball | Comments (0)