Promo, Brand & Marketing News

Seventy-one percent of all Americans own a grill, and 74 percent use their grill at least once a week, according to the 2012 Weber GrillWatch Survey. Are they using custom BBQ gifts featuring your company’s logo? They should be.

With the summer season upon us, you can bet grill masters will be out in full force, flipping those burgers and juicing up that chicken.

Come Memorial Day, an estimated 71 percent of grill owners will fire up their backyard grill for some flame-kissed fare, a 10-percent jump from last year.

“We continue to see a rise in the number of people grilling for nearly all major holidays, including Memorial Day, the Fourth of July (90 percent), Father’s Day (53 percent) and even birthdays (76 percent),” Brooke Jones, director of marketing for Weber-Stephen Products LLC, the world’s leading manufacturer of outdoor gas and charcoal grills and grilling accessories, said in a press release.

In honor of it being National BBQ Month, we polled our fans at www.facebook.com/epromos to find out your favorite grub for grilling. The results are in:

• 50% love burgers
• 29% choose steak
• 14% prefer fish
• 7% enjoy hot dogs

If you love grilling out, chances are your customers do, too. Equip them with promotional BBQ tools to enhance their grilling experience and to get your brand, logo and message out there.

Promo know-how tip: Now’s the time to give custom BBQ gifts—don’t wait until the end of summer. We have a full lineup of promotional BBQ accessories, from logoed aprons to custom grilling gift sets.

Somebody once said, “A father is someone who carries pictures in his wallet where his money used to be.”

We think that’s a pretty accurate statement. So when June 17 (a.k.a. Father’s Day) rolls around, it’s only fair that dads get a little payback—perhaps with a really cool logoed gift.

Custom promotional products, from logoed leather wallets to promotional cooler bags for beer, are a great way to show appreciation to dads while still promoting your brand.

Consider this: There are an estimated 67.8 million fathers across the nation. Father’s Day is your opportunity to roll out the red carpet for dads, and present them with a meaningful promotional gift.

We’ve pinpointed some top picks for Pop that are sure to brighten his day while keeping your logo front and center.

• For golfers… A logoed golf gift set is perfect for tee time. This one includes custom coordinated Pro-Flite® logoed golf balls, five tees, two ball markers and a divot repair tool. Imprint each item with your logo.
• For grill masters… A custom barbecue set lets Dad prove he’s king of the grill. Twelve essential barbecue tools are tucked inside a stylish aluminum case boasting your logo on the lid.
• For sports enthusiasts… This promotional chair is a game-day must-have, featuring an adjustable foot rest and two cup holders. Dads can also take it tailgating.
• For the style savvy… Dads are well-dressed in this custom Nike polo shirt. Engineered with Dri-FIT technology, it keeps dads cool whether they’re on the green or running errands with the kids.
• For foodies… A logoed food gift is something all dads crave. This custom gift box gets the party started with a feast of promo snacks including cheddar cheese, summer sausage, chocolate-covered almonds and more.
• For handy-man types… Jaws will drop when dads see this promotional tool kit. It’s packed with 196 tools perfect for tackling any repair or household project. Your logo gets prime exposure on the front of the case.

Promo know-how tip: In addition to custom Father’s Day gifts, consider hosting an in-store Father’s Day bash or offering dad-exclusive specials. These are great ways to celebrate the occasion, and you’ll be seen as a brand that cares.

For 48 days, New York Knicks fans with with Time Warner Cable were left in the dark. Due to to a contract dispute between the cable company and MSG  - the network that airs most Knicks games – fans found themselves missing out on one of the most exciting and talked-about team story lines in years.

The dispute was 37 days old when Jeremy Lin suddenly came out of obscurity to become the Knicks’ starting point guard, a fairy-tale rise to stardom that sparked a global phenomenon, a six-game win streak, and soaring ratings. The sudden fascination with Lin and his story put added pressure on MSG and Time Warner to find a resolution to their conflict – fast.

The companies feuded back-and-forth in print and television ads leading up to the blackout, each trying to shed the blame and win public support. When the blackout went into effect, MSG tried a new PR strategy: they hosted dozens of game parties in NY restaurants for the fans who were missing out. At one game viewing party at Nom Wah Tea Parlor in Chinatown, NY (where Lin-sanity was understandably at fever pitch – Lin is Chinese-American), MSG broke out the big guns: promotional t-shirts imprinted with pun-tastic slogans like “Time Warner Cable Is Keeping Fans In the Dark” and “Just Lin It”. All of the fans at the viewing event got a free custom t-shirt, bolstering consumer support for Team MSG and casting a negative light on Time Warner Cable.

Sure enough,  the standoff finally came to an end on February 17th after Governor Andrew Cuomo helped to arrange an agreement. We like to think it was the t-shirts.

Kudos to MSG for finding an easy and inexpensive way to serve customers while also pulling a smart chess move on your opponent.

New technologies like smart phones, QR codes, and social media are breathing new life into traditional promotional products, giving marketers exciting new ways to make their messages more memorable.

Last year, Starbucks broke new ground with custom coffee cups designed to interact with a special smart phone app they created. Using the app, users could view the cup through their phone’s screen and watch as the imprinted designs came to life.

The snowmen on Starbucks' holiday cup sing and dance when viewed through the Cup Magic smart phone app!

The app-cup interaction is made possible by a smart phone technology known as augmented reality. Augmented reality software can see what you’re phone is looking at, and then superimpose graphics, text, other information on your screen in real-time over whatever it is you are viewing.

Days ago, Starbucks updated their Cup Magic augmented reality app to support their newest promotional coffee cup – a Valentine’s Day design that features hearts and cute love-related phrases. The app even has the ability to interact with special store signage and some of the seasonal coffee bags for sale in Starbucks stores, adding even more appeal and potential for the campaign to go viral.

The recently debuted Valentine's Day coffee cup.

The Starbucks Cup Magic app is an awesome example of the creativity is possible when you combine emerging technologies with tried-and-true promotional items. We’re looking forward to the future and the tremendous opportunities it will bring for marketers that want new ways to engage and interact with their audiences!

Click below to watch the Starbucks Valentine’s Day cup come to life in their Cup Magic app:

On the brink of Super Bowl Sunday we bring you a smart campaign from one of the local retailers here in New York, where you can’t walk very far without hearing about the Giants.

How do you turn a newspaper advertisement into something that will last more than a day (if you’re lucky)? Make it collectible! Appliance and electronics retailer P.C. Richard & Son sponsored a “GO GIANTS!” full-page poster in the Daily News today. Fans get a free gift to hang on their walls, and P.C. Richard & Son gets a long-lasting advertisement. It’s a smart way to capitalize on a very time-sensitive opportunity, and it turns newspaper ads – usually not very memorable – into a tangible, impactful gift.

Luckily for anyone who uses promotional products, you don’t have to worry about the shelf life of your message. Promotional items have been shown in several studies to be much more memorable than traditional print advertising. So if you favor logo custom merchandise over newspaper and magazine ads, keep up the good work!

Go Giants!

I’m very happy to announce that ePromos won two awards this year at the annual PPAI Expo, which just concluded on January 6th at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. This brings our total PPAI award count to 12 since 1998, an achievement we very proud of!

This year we took home a bronze PPAI Pyramid Award for a creative solution we put together for our client Designer Shoe Warehouse (a pair of custom ballet flats for their NYC Fashion’s Night Out Event), as well as the gold prize in the Web Content/Functionality category of the PPAI Technology competition. This award recognizes companies that have user-friendly site navigation, quality content, and an intuitive display of important product and service information.

ePromos CEO and Founder Jason Robbins had this to say after winning the awards: “Being recognized for our achievements in these important categories is a testament to the quality of our creative work and our position as a leader in the promotional products industry. I am proud of our team and the partnership we have with our customers that allows us to create the type of web site we have built over the last 14 years, as well as the impactful promotions we produce for the benefit of our clients.”

You can read the full press release here!