Flash drives are nothing new to the promotional products industry (you can find Pinnacle’s most popular USB flash drives online at The USB Drive Shop) Companies everywhere have been snagging up these little items imprinted with their business’ name and logo to give away to customers and to use internally for their own data storage and transfer needs. But it seems that a new wave of USB flash drives is emerging care of a Korean company (the website is all in Korean but it appears to be called EARLYSHOP) that hand makes little flash drives to appear as tiny replicas of different types of food. Yummy. Continue reading…
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Welcoming the spring with promotional products
As many of you know, I became a first time homeowner at the end of January. My husband and I had been house hunting for months and finally found our home last December, during the peak of the winter season. So while our new yard looked nice, we had no idea if the stick-like mounds in the island in the back yard would ever amount to anything more than kindling for a fire.
Where Have You Spotted John Deere Promotional Products?
Having been born and bred in Georgia, I am no stranger to the distinctive green and yellow logo featured on John Deere promotional products. Okay, so I grew up in the metro Atlanta area, where farmland is sparse and suburban residents have no need for heavy duty John Deere agricultural equipment to manicure their manageable front yards… Nevertheless, I had peers who would not leave home without their trademark John Deere trucker hats. I always knew that the brand had a longstanding, loyal following in the Southeast, but during my teen years, I viewed it as more of a trend- wearing John Deere paraphernalia made people my age appear “rugged” and “outdoorsy”. Looking back, I wonder if even half of the John Deere-clad teenagers I knew had ever stood within 3 feet of an actual tractor!
An article on BrandFreak.com discusses John Deere’s current campaign, called “What Will You Create.” It features actual customers who have accomplished amazing agricultural feats using John Deere equipment. For example, take Larry Carlson, a New Yorker who transformed a 5 acre potato field into a Tuscan-inspired panorama of gardens and mazes using tractors made by- you guessed it- John Deere. Keep reading…
My Quest to Become a Promotional Product Linchpin
I want to start out by saying I’m a huge Seth Godin fan! I was turned onto him about two years ago when a co-worker told me about his blog; I checked it out and signed up to receive his blog entries delivered to my inbox everyday. I didn’t give it much thought, but time and again I was shocked at how his blog related to the work I was doing. His blog really made me think about innovative business & marketing strategies and how to re-evaluate and fine tune what I was already doing.
That being said, when his new book, Linchpin came out I was thrilled that my co-worker, Kim ordered a copy and said I could borrow it when she was done. A few weeks later Kim ran into my office elated with a letter from Seth and another copy of his book, Linchpin. Continue reading
Get out the Spirit Accessories, It’s Time Again for the NCAA Basketball Tournament
With the preliminary round of the 2010 NCAA Championships only two days away, school allegiances and rivalries are at an all-time high. Will the Jayhawks stay at number one in the Midwest? Will they square off against Duke in the semi-finals? I sure hope so. Both teams, who enter the tournament holding the top spots in their conferences, proudly hold three championship titles. But that is nothing compared to the University of Kentucky Wildcats, a team with a very respectable seven wins under their belt.
I’ll be watching to see if the Wildcats come out on top again this year but even if you aren’t a basketball fan or your team just didn’t make it this year (Ohio State’s 69-68 victory last week over Michigan in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Big Ten Conference Tournament was heartbreaking to many in the Midwest), there are plenty of other reasons to tune into the NCAA basketball tournament. The tournament- more commonly referred to as the Final Four or March Madness- isn’t just about basketball.
Continue reading about advertisements, spirit accessories, and why you need to watch the Final Four
It’s a Woman’s World: So Make Sure Your Promotional Products Target Them Effectively
In case you were not aware, March is National Women’s Month. So in honor of Women’s Month and, well, women, I have decided to dedicate this blog post to the influence of women in today’s consumer market and emphasize the fact that if you are not already directing part of your marketing efforts and promotional products toward this demographic, you should. For instance, American women spend about $6 trillion annually – that’s a huge market.
Read on for some more statistics regarding women’s impact on today’s economy care of she-conomy.com.
The best promotional product I ever lost
Today I’m a little sad. One of the most useful promotional products that I own – strike that – owned has gone missing. My little lip balm sleeve has gone MIA. I don’t know how I lost it. But I have.
While this inexpensive little gem may not seem like much. To a lip-balm-aholic like myself, keeping a tube in reach is a necessity for my sanity. You can ask just about anyone in my family. I have a tube on my desk, a few extras in a desk drawer, one next to my bed, one in the end table at my parent’s house – okay you get the picture.
So when I got this nifty caddy that I could secure to my keychain, I was one happy girl.
National Craft Month Ideas and Promotional Items
Did you know March is National Craft Month? Now before you scoff at the mention of arts and crafts, a term you may think you have long out-grown, reflect for a moment on the enjoyment you derived from art projects during your childhood. I’m not talking about the required assignments from art class that left you (well, maybe that was just me, because of my lack of artistic talent!) disappointed because of a poor grade. I’m talking about the popsicle stick log cabins and handprint turkeys that you worked on at home with friends and family. It would be impossible for me to ever relive the carefree hours I spent sitting at my kitchen table with watercolors and construction paper, but just writing this blog post is enough to make me add “coloring” to my list of things to do this weekend.
I think encouraging your business to participate in National Craft Month is a great way to help staff relieve stress and unleash their creativity. You could even combine arts and crafts with a favorite philanthropy, such as volunteering at the children’s ward of a local hospital. Whether you decide to drop off handmade cards or artwork to the kids or spend time creating masterpieces with them, the thoughtful sentiment and bright, happy colors of the pieces are sure to bring smiles. And although the driving force behind your volunteer work shouldn’t be the positive publicity, you could always leave the beneficiary’s of your kindness with art-related promotional products like promotional markers so that whenever they spend time coloring and drawing, the imprinted messages will remind them of their special relationship with your organization and the fun times they have shared with representatives of your brand.
In college, one of the clubs I was a part of used to make tissue paper flowers that we hand-delivered to a local children’s hospital:
Materials:
Colored tissue paper
Green pipecleaners (to use as stems)
Scissors
Ruler
Directions:
-Cut tissue paper into rectangles of desired size (the photo above features 5″x7″ rectangles).
-Stack around 15 pieces of tissue paper. Use the same color or different colors. The greater the number of pieces you use, the fuller your resulting flower.
-Accordion pleat the tissue paper working from the long side.
-Wind one end of the pipecleaner around the center of the accordion pleated tissue paper.
-Trim the ends of each side to shape the petals. Try some rounded petals and some pointed; bouquets comprised of both types look beautiful!
-Gently separate each layer pulling upwards toward the middle of the flower. Repeat on the second side.
And voila- in just a few minutes, you have lovely decorations to display or share!
How promotional products influence brand recognition
WNYC’s Radiolab — a fantastic podcast — had a fascinating short this week called “Do I Know You?” about people with a delusional disorder called Capgras.
A woman suffering from Capgras comes home to find a man sitting in her living room, wearing her husband’s clothes and containing all his physical features, but who, to her, simply is not her husband. In actuality, he is. But she can’t shake the feeling he’s an impostor.
Click to find out about how our brains manage recognition, and how promotional products enter in…
Promotional EarthSmart Products for Earth Day
There is only one circumstance in which we cannot offer our famous 24-hour Rocketship Service: when the item is out of stock. This is exactly why I am writing about Earth Day more than a month in advance; I do not want anyone to miss out on this great opportunity for functional and unique Eco-friendly promotional EarthSmart products!
It seems these days you can get a “green” variation on just about any product imaginable. Just thinking about some of the items I use on an everyday basis, I jot down notes on a recycled notebook with a biodegradable pen made from corn. When I go to the grocery store, I stash my purchases in a tote made from 100% recycled plastic bottles. Even when I need a caffeine fix, I sip from a biodegradable Evolve tumbler.
But the “green” trend has evolved much further than the standard popular items. In the office, you can feature your loved ones in photo albums made from bamboo and grow a plant at your desk. And if you need to leave your desk for a meeting, just hit the Computer Power Saver Button to effortlessly put your computer to sleep . When entertaining guests at home, you can yell at them to put their sweaty drinks on coasters that are 51% recycled . Even while you are traveling the world, you can safely keep your passport and other travel documents in a recycled passport wallet. Continue reading →