Promotional Products & Cash Rebates for First Movers.

Just got off the phone with a marketing agency and they had some serious issues with their big clients.   With a production deadline looming none of the different departments of the multinational wanted to be first to press the button and go to order.   General inertia was making manufacturing side pull their hair out.   How can you help and encourage your clients to move faster?

You must be sure reward first movers, innovators & risk takers.   Early orders cannot benefit from the lowest costs, because of design, testing, mould & set up costs - all these need to be absorbed into the first part of any order. However, if there is a chance that other departments will later jump on board, then you should seriously consider cash rebates to reward those first movers.

A standard pricing would see unit costs decreasing as order qty. rises, penalising the early adopters and rewarding those who drag their feet.  The logic of this and rewarding the slowest moving departments makes no sense at all.   How can you structure this in a better way?

Promotional Products - Cash Rebates

Todays concept - A Cash Rebate
Discuss this up front with your clients.   Make sure that you are transparent in your operations and offer potential customers the chance to be in a position to benefit from this style of program.

The way you send the rebate is important.  You should title the Accounting Documents properly as Efficiency Award / Innovator Rebate or other strong title.   Maybe include a framed certificate along with the award.   This way the multinationals and the first movers who work with you will be seen to be rightly rewarded and to be ahead of the curve.

Rebates are part of our business.  Lets reward those who deserve to be rewarded most.

This Blog is written as a top tip for pushing clients to order early.  What are your tips?
Looking to our Promotional Products Industry Experts for more comments and hints.

Promo Gift Trade Fair

In the promotional products game we are constantly visiting shows and going to network events.  We would love to hear your top tips for making the shows more fun.

Alan Heighway from Results Sales Promotion in Australia told us...  "The game I like to play is to tag my name badge with the name of the event, so when I receive emails or letters from completely unknown sources in the months that generally follow a trade show, I have a smug satisfaction in knowing where they got my name & contact details from!  Obviously, my name is not Alan Heigh Wan Chai, but they enter my “Trade Show name" name without a question."

What other ways do you prepare for trade shows.  Increasingly we are seeing visitors to trade shows stamp their business cards in books and not just giving out business cards.  Some visitors will even set up new catch all e-mails for trade shows.

What's in your bag and what tricks do you use?

Chilli Promotions Hot Demand for Co-brand

Australia’s Chilli Promotions has taken out the gold award for below the line consumer programs at the PPAI (Promotional Product Association International)

Toyota Australia enlisted the help of Chilli Promotions to design a premium merchandise offering to complement their 86 merchandise range, it was completely different to anything they had done before. “Chilli stepped up to the plate and took the idea of customization and high-end to a new level. Not only did the range need to be a reflection of the premium quality and designs of the 86 product, but by partnering with well recognized and complimentary brands they were able to elevate the merchandise to well and truly deliver their quality message.

The premium merchandise range that resulted combined the Toyota branding with products from Nike, Stormtech, Morrissey and Oakley to name a few. The collective quality offering gave the range a very high-end look and feel and was very well received by customers and the industry alike. 

Not only did Chilli Promotions hit the brief, but their industry leading carbon neutral merchandise delivered a measured and auditable solution to Toyota Australia. It performed so well in fact, that it turned its green solutions gold winning multiple awards including gold at the Australasian Promotional Awards (APPA). It continued its success by collecting a golden pyramid award (PPAI) in Vegas.

Chilli has quickly become a leading green promotional agency in Australia and take pride in ensuring that every client has a solution that reflects their intended purpose as well as providing collateral that are individual assessed on their end to end impact and offset through Chilli’s leading carbon offset program.

What is SGR from ASI Central?

We went to an industry cocktail over the course of the HKTDC Gift Fair this week.   It was organised by ASI to promote SGR and we met with a whole bunch of Industry leaders.

The Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry.    My view was that they were very USA focussed but this was blown out of the water when I met all their staff.   Rapidly expanding with a big team in Asia, there is a strong membership growth through the SGR (Supplier Global Resource) division.   We're going to ask for a Guest Post from ASI to learn more about this programme, but first let me tell you about the event and what we love best....  the Promo Gifts at the party.

SGR puts Asian suppliers directly in contact with USA based companies - the USA market is very segmented so you only get access to those who import and stock I believe.   Learn all about Distributers and Suppliers and their distinctions over coming weeks.

Having lived in Hong Kong for close on 20 years, and having attended countless parties, I must say that this is a record. I left the party with 6 USB sticks and 3 Emergency Mobile Phone chargers.   Have been a bit tired of USB keys for some time, but delighted to get more Emergency Chargers.   By the time the next Smart Phone hits the market I am expecting such amazing features that battery life will be cut to 3 hours.

The credit Card dimension one is excellent, but of course it is much thicker than the similar USB ones.  Have not had time to check the strength yet, but I guess that since you need to carry around the wires, that this level of compactness is not really required anyway.   The one in center of this picture has suction cups to create a phone stand for watching movies.   Battery life is high, and what excellent branding possibilities with this light up backing !!

Next in the bag of tricks, we got a pencil case with all the trimmings.   We made lots of Customised Measuring tapes before and the branding opportunities here are excellent.   The 3M wallet sticks to the back of your mobile phone.   Excellent long term branding, but not seen many on the market yet - have you ?    

Name card holders are an excellent gift - we recommend that if you do this item you should make it in real leather or not at all though.   Such an important first impression should not be made in PU.

I do not think I have a client for the Earth wearing a mask.   Anti pollution or building safety...  Anyway, we love stress balls and sure it will be thrown around the office some time soon.

Lastly the bags.   Non Woven shopping bags and bags in general are such an important promotional product category.   There was also a Woven shopping bag and a drawstring bag all packed into this gift pack.

SGR from ASI Central