ASI: What Promo Products Buyers Want

The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) has recently published a report after surveying end-buyers to find out what they like, what they’re buying and how they’re using promo products.

This survey featured a variety of questions about clients buying behaviour, product choice and factors they consider when choosing a product.

One of the first questions on the survey asked end clients if they often shop using commodity price as their reason for buying/not buying a product. Over half of all respondents replied as somewhat or strongly agreeing that price is the main buying factor.

With this in mind, it's important for promotional products and campaigns to factor in price and to offer customers a product that is value for money and more desirable.

T-Shirts, stationary, bags and drink ware unsurprisingly came in as the top promo products. With significant branding power due to their usefulness, cheaper price and re-usable factors they are products which people most likely need.

Furthermore, ensuring better quality product design is key. With 68% of end-clients agreeing that good quality logo's are more valuable and more likely to be paid more for, investing that little bit extra in how your product looks could go that much further for your brand.

With society changing their environmental views and its importance holding greater significance. Promotional products that favour this are undoubtedly more favoured. End-clients also agree for this, with a whopping 60% agreeing to buy, over non environmental products.

Being given gifts in general goes a long way, and are often regarded with more value. With 74% of clients liking to show appreciation, receiving and giving promo gifts is important.

The marketing mix is critical for trying to understand customer needs. Promotional products are key to increasing sales, brand recognition and spreads brand advertisement. With 68% of end-clients agreeing on its importance within the business, it can be critical in setting your brand ahead of the competition.

Advertising Speciality Institute® (ASI)  is the promotional product industry's largest membership organization offering media, technology, marketing and education to help cultivate success and community. To find out more please follow the link above to ASI Contact Page.

Manchester is TOPS

Following the success of two London-based TOPS shows, Outstanding Branding held their first ever regional end-user show in Manchester.

Having delivered such well received shows in the South, the pressure was really on to provide a top quality show with high visitor numbers and a good number of leads for the 32 suppliers who supported the show. 

With over 60 professional marketeers attending over the three sessions on the day, and over 150 leads generated for the suppliers, Sales Director Andy Thorne feels he has delivered on his objectives. 

'Putting on a show to match the success of the previous TOPS shows at the Tower of London was always going to be a challenge, particularly in a region we don't currently have the same level of exposure as we do in the South. However, with the support of the suppliers, our great team, a fantastic venue in MediaCity, and three great guest speakers, we achieved the number of quality visitors and leads we wanted.'

The guest speakers were very well received by the audience – BPMA’s Gordon Glenister, talk on making the most of promotional merchandise was well attended and several visitors requested copies of the presentation to share with colleagues.

Justin Blackhurst, Global CEO of Digital Next delivered a hugely popular talk on the subject of How to Get to the Top of Google and Stay There - which was obviously of great interest to an audience of marketers.

Finally, David Ross and Mike Herbert of Brickhouse Productions gave a taste of the future in his talk on 360 video, with several visitors staying all day to make sure they caught the talk first hand. 

All the presentations were streamed via Facebook Live, with the talks also now uploaded to YouTube for anyone who couldn't attend to watch. 

Suppliers and visitors alike were quick to give their positive feedback with several suppliers calling it the best end user show they've attended. Clients commented on the great venue, and how exciting it was to be able to touch and feel a whole range of products whilst getting information and ideas from the expert suppliers. One visitor described it as 'hugely inspirational' - another objective of the show achieved.

‘As always, we have to thank our fabulous supply chain for their professionalism and support on the day’, commented Sarah Penn, Managing Director of Outstanding Branding.  ‘We hope they all enjoyed The Outstanding Supplier Supper (TOSS) that we held for them at Café Football the night before the show – I’m constantly amazed at how hard our industry can party and still put on a great show in the morning!’.

TOPS will return to London in 2017.

We would like to thank Outstanding Branding for another insight into the success of their company. For more information on their promotional merchandise and the complete range of products, please follow the link.

Father's Day Promotions: Black Sheep Brewery offer Free Gift with Purchase Glass

With Father's Day only yesterday for many it's time to get your gifts ready if haven't for his special day. Black Sheep Brewery, based in Masham, North Yorkshire, well known for their loved cask, keg and bottled beers are offering a gift any father can't resist.

Whenever you purchase a 'Flock Box' containing 6 of their much loved new bottled beers, including their Black Sheep Ale, you will receive a free flock sheep branded pint glass to enjoy drinking them with. All you have to do is buy this gift box online, or in shop. 

What We Like About This Free Glass for Father's Day Promotion:

• Branding – With the culmination of brewing expertise spanning six family generations and with an exciting array of past and current experimental flavours, this promotional glassware with the Black Sheep logo holds great value to all beer and ale lovers (fathers).

• Product – There can never be enough glasses in a kitchen. Whether it’s friends or family visiting glasses are an essential piece of kitchen ware. Because of this a branded glass offers all those in search of one as well as some beer, this promotion is the perfect combination – offering not only the much loved beer, but something to drink it with.

• Material – With it being a rather simply yet brand stating designed pint glass, this gives it a more traditional appearance than if it was, for example, custom shaped, keeping the classic public house touch of English drinking with this product purchase.

Promogift Blog would like to thank Black Sheep Brewery for an insight into another amazing promotion offered.

3 Top Promotional Products to Build Your Brand

Promotional products help you build awareness for your brand and create top-of-mind awareness for your customers so that you can nurture long-term relationships. Promotional products also represent an economical way to market your brand -- you just have to buy the product once, and it will continue to promote your brand every time it is used or seen by someone else.

3 Top Promotional Products to Build Your Brand

Choosing the right promotional products will help you make a greater impact and get a bigger return on your investment. If you are new to using promotional products, start with these top three choices to help you get the most bang for your buck right out of the gate:

Pens

Pens are one of the most useful promotional products you can buy, which means that people are more likely to hang on to them instead of chucking them in a drawer and forgetting about them or straight up throwing them away. Pens also have a tendency to travel -- just think about how many pens you've "lost" because someone asked to use it and then never gave it back. You give out a pen at a trade show and there's no telling how far it will go or how many people it will reach.

3 Top Promotional Products to Build Your Brand

Every time someone needs to jot down a note or pay a bill, they will see your name or logo staring back at them from the pen. That will help create top-of-mind awareness so that they are more likely to think of your brand when they need what you have to sell.

Finally, pens are very cheap, so you can make this investment even on a budget. You can easily get hundreds or thousands of pens, which will help you grow your reach.

Tote Bags

Tote bags are also very useful. Customers can use them as purses, reusable grocery bags, diaper bags, and more. Most people don't care about the design on the bag -- they just want something that will carry what they need.

3 Top Promotional Products to Build Your Brand

Like with pens, tote bags help to advertise your brand wherever they go. People who are walking by or shopping in the area will see the logo or the company name and may look up information about the products or services later.

Of course, the more attractive your bag's design, the more likely that people are to use it frequently and the more advertising you will get.

Water Bottles

Reusable water bottles are becoming more popular as people are becoming more environmentally conscious. You can take advantage of this opportunity to promote your brand by giving away an item that people actually want and that they will use frequently, getting you more exposure.

3 Top Promotional Products to Build Your Brand

Choose a water bottle that is in line with current demands, such as bottles that are BPA-free and that have an attractive design. Choose bottles that are easy to carry and convenient to use.

Smaller bottles are typically more popular. You can also explore options like travel mugs, straw tumblers or stadium cups if you think they would be more popular with your target demo.

Giving away promotional products can be a great way to nurture customer relationships while also generating lots of buzz for your brand. But you need to choose the products carefully so that you provide customers with something they actually want and so you get the most exposure. Try out these popular promotional products to start marketing your brand this year.

About The Author:

The Executive Advertising Offer Thousands of Promotional Products with No Setup Fees. They offer everything from Coffee Mugs to Executive Gift Sets to Advertising Magnets! TheExecutiveAdvertising.com, also known as TEAPromo.com, provides over 20,000 unique promotional items including logo apparel, trade show kits, event handouts, and business giveaways. They are a member of ASI and have an A+ BBB rating, to find out more check out there website!

ASI: Research Trends for Promotional Headwear By The Numbers

The summer sunshine has already arrived in many places across the globe, which means its time to get our hats and sunscreen at the ready and ASI have released a report showing the research trends for how headwear is searched for in ESP search data's most popular product categories.  

Out of all searches for promotional product categories its interesting to see that head-wear ranked in as 9th, beating its usual and previous month's rankings of 10th or 11th place. With their popularity growing each month and simmer coming, now is the time to start considering about what promotional head gear you yourself could offer for your events, giveaways and merchandise.

To further stress headgear popularity for the summer, monthly search results on ESP found that the months of March, May and June had the most search results for headgear. Indicating people are getting ready to start donning their hats. 

Also out of the top 10  headwear items, the classic baseball cap unsurprisingly came in as most popular, along with sports headbands and sun visors also following. These options would prove to be the most powerful hat styles to market; especially with summer and sports going hand in hand.

Headgear are powerful promotional items due to the their involvements with status, history, fashion, and religion for example. And being instantly visible when worn, they make fantastic items for the summer and for showing off your brand, what do you think?

Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI) is the promotional product industry’s largest membership organization offering media, technology, marketing and education to help cultivate success and community. To find out more please follow the link to ASI Contact Page.

Choosing Wrong Marketing Gifts

As a veteran of the Marketing Gift industry, this is one of my pet peeves.  Companies need to understand who their customers are and not offer them gifts that go direct to the bin.

AOL gave out these phone speakers at an event we recently attended.  They do not work with my phone since we are an android family.  Same thing, do not give out Samsung phone cases to iphone owners.

There are enough generic phone pouches out there, and enough adjustable phone amplifiers out there that companies should be making an effort not to alienate clients.

HSBC is another company which I hear people frequently complain about. They send car fuel vouchers to customers who do not drive, to let them know they value business.  If you do not understand your customer and send them gifts that they cannot use, then you alienate people.

The Promo Gift Blog feel that all Marketing Gift companies listed here could help companies understand their customers and propose better products for their campaigns.

The Promo Gift Blog is calling for more case studies from around the world.  What promotional products work and which do not?

Key Lesson:  Before Choosing Marketing gifts, get to know your customer.

Winning Website for Outstanding Branding

Outstanding Branding are thrilled to confirm that they have been honoured with the prestigious Website of the Year award at the BPMA’s annual Business Awards.

An independent judging panel of industry experts were reviewing all entries to find the strongest website, considering the key areas of Design; Content; and Technology.

The judges were looking for high quality, relevant websites with clear concise messages and corporate identity; engaging and relevant content presented and delivered in different ways; and innovative features and technology that enhance the visitor experience.

They also wanted to see images, social media, research & educational material, video material – not simply the number of products on display.

‘It’s great to have such a high profile recognition of the quality and relevance of our website,’ commented Andy Thorne, Sales Director of Outstanding Branding.  ‘We worked closely with our highly skilled digital marketing agency – combining their expertise and leading-edge knowledge of website design and build, with our experience of our industry and what our clients want, to come up with a website that delivers a great user experience.’

Outstanding Branding will continue to develop and improve their website, to ensure that they remain at the forefront of technology and trend in the years to come.

We would like to thank Outstanding Branding for this insight into their great achievement. For more information on their promotional merchandise and the complete range of products, please follow the link.

Estee Lauder and Harper's Bazaar Collaborate to Offer Beauty Gift Set with Purchase

Famous beauty brand, Estee Lauder along with leading fashion and beauty magazine, Harper's Bazaar have collaborated to offer this amazing gift with purchase promotion, the perfect gift for the ladies!

With any purchase of over $45.00 or more on any of Estee Lauder's collection, you will be eligible to receive a 7-piece gift set including some of Estee's best-selling make-up and skincare along with a Bazaar Archive printed bag featuring their iconic cover.

What's more, to make this beauty gift set better than it already is, you can even choose which of Estee Lauder products you wish to receive! Offering great value to any lady wanting to stock up and pamper herself.

Why brand collaboration is good for your brands marketing 

1. Estee Lauder and Harper's Bazaar are two big brands consumers are familiar with and are therefore increasingly more receptive to their marketing approach. Being well-established brands can help to increase overall sales for both, as well as reach a wider consumer base.


2. Offering a gift with purchase with high brand value from two brands will entice a positive brand experience from the consumer. This from then on will encourage better brand recall and customer retention.


3. With 2 branded products being offered this further expands to account for consumer tastes and to increase the value of the GWP but also to the markets being targeted.

Promogift Blog would like to thank Estee Lauder and Harper's Bazaar for an insight into another amazing promotion offered.

ASI: Red Cross Recruits Summer Donors with Promo Products

Summer is coming and American Red Cross have started with their social media marketing campaign to encourage people to donate blood.

From May 27th through to May 31st, people who donate blood during this Memorial Day weekend will receive a free branded t-shirt as part of the #ChooseYourDay campaign.  

American Red Cross according to spokesman, Kara Lusk Dudley, has seen a recent decline in the number of donors due to the summer and holiday season fast approaching. Also with around 20% of high school and college students currently out of class during this holiday season, blood donations from regular drives have also dropped. 

Branded Apparel, especially T-Shirts are an effective way to spread cause awareness in a bolder and eye-catching way. People no matter of their age or tastes will always wear t-shirts, and American Red Crosses custom T-Shirts will sure be proud to be worn as a thank you for donating.

And this isn't the first time that Red Cross have given out promotional products to spread such a good cause. In the past other products such as beach towels and baseballs caps have also been given away as part of their campaign to raise blood donation awareness. As well as this they will have further upcoming promotions for this year's Fourth of July weekend where Red Cross will plan on giving logoed coolers to attract donors, so be on the look and save a life!

We would like to thank ASI Central and American Red Cross for the provided information. If interesting in knowing more on this, please visit the Advertising Specialty Institute Website. The full report can be found here.