Guest Interview: Andre Noordwijk of BeGlobal Promotions

We recently had the pleasure of interviewing Andre Noordwijk of BeGlobal Promotions and finding out his extensive experiences in the promotional products sector.

PGB: Please tell us a little about BeGlobal and it's origins.
AN: BeGlobal Promotions was founded in 2002 by Myself and Marco Horneman. In that time we were still students and the original plan was to start an import company for promotional glassware. Soon after this we got some other request and started to widen our scope. In the years after we evolved in to a general supplier of promotional items. We received some awards for best Promotional Product for the BikiniAppel (2006) and EspressGo (2014) and were awarded as Promotional Company of the Year of the Netherlands in 2012 and 2013. You can find some more info about our strategy here.

PGB: Facebook, Twitter, Company Blog - Where are you spending most time?
AN: We use a software tool to manage Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. We publish a new innovational product everyday.

PGB: What were some of your hottest selling items last summer?
AN: We noticed an increase in our sales from trading facility. We offer direct sales from China for e.a. USB sticks and Lanyards.

PGB: Any predictions for top selling Christmas Gifts for 2014?
AN: The Dutch tradition is that companies give traditional Christmass hampers to their employees. This market has been shrinking, but it still creates a lot of work at the end of the year. Further more we now really see an increasing demand for powerbanks and smartphone related items
A creative and interesting promotional items by your company...
For this I prefer the three new products we feature on the homepage of our website: http://www.beglobalpromotions.com/. The Promotional frying pans, EsspresGo and Office Blocks.

PGB:Where do you find most of your enquiries are coming from? Referral, Web, cold call, tradeshow.
AN: We try to combine both traditional and new marketing methods. This means that we work on our brand through trade shows and printed advertising. But off course we mainly use promotional products we send to prospects and customers to create awareness. We use our website and social media to give a good overview on our products. We always post new products through social media.

PGB: What trade shows will you visit this year and which are best?
AN: We have already visited the PSI, PPAI (Las Vegas), Hong Kong Gift and Premiums, Hong Kong Megashow and locally the "Leveranciersdagen" this year. For us the PSI is the most attractive trade show, because almost all suppliers are based close to our market and the trade show is large enough to explore new products and suppliers every year.