promotional electronics

Custom Electronics: Supercharge Your Brand

Custom Electronics: Supercharge Your Brand

Technology has become completely ingrained in our society, and most people would consider it a necessity in their everyday lives. Nowadays, it seems that we can barely fathom how we would even function without having access to all the gadgets and gizmos at our disposal.

As a business, building your brand is essentially about capturing the customer’s attention, and clearly communicating your value. So in this day and age, combining bold branding with technology will steer your business towards success. With promotional custom branded electronics, you’ll supercharge your brand–literally. Here are just a few ways in which you can connect with current and potential customers by lending them a helping hand with custom promotional electronics.

Help them unwind

No, we don’t mean offer free drinks to all your customers. When it comes to technology and electronics, it’s about wires. With everything from cell phone and computer chargers, to video game consoles, to earphones, people have a lot of cords and wires to keep track of, and it becomes a tangled mess very quickly. You can provide customers with certain custom promotional products to reduce the clutter, and at the same time, bring out the best in your brand.

For example, the Cord Wrap/Earphone Organizer is a neat way to keep earphones or other cords wrapped up in place. Even better, you can custom print your corporate logo directly on this handy organizer. Another unique item to help customers organize their electronic chaos is the 3-Port USB Hub with Sticky Flags, a 3-port hub with sticky flags in five neon colors. With your branding printed on the top, customers are constantly reminded of your business, and how it is impacting them on a daily basis.

Turn Up the Volume

Customers love their music, and can be very particular about enjoying the subtle nuances and true sound quality. Providing customers with attractive and quality bluetooth speakers will make that experience even better. Personalizing a useful item like a Bluetooth speaker by printing your branding across the front gives you the unique opportunity to directly appeal to customers’ sensibilities, as well as call-out to your brand. Customers don’t have to worry about lugging around a bulky item just to enjoy their music to its fullest. Something like the Jabba Bluetooth Speaker easily provides 2 hours of playback time on a single charge, and even recharges in 2.5 hours. It also has an optional custom wrap for the packaging. Or, another wonderful option is the Whammo Bluetooth Speaker, which makes listening on-the-go super easy.

Keep Everything in its Place

With all those electronics, things can get out of hand. For example, it’s very frustrating to have your cell phone one minute, and lose it the very next. For times like that, make your brand useful. A cool Jelly Sticky Pad® allows you to stick your digital devices, glasses, and/or any other small items that easily get lost to it, and it leaves no sticky residue. Having precious items sneakily slide away from you is no longer an issue. With plenty of room for large printing, this is an incredibly cost-effective and meaningful way to show customers appreciation and to put your brand at the top of their minds.


Utilizing custom branded electronics, and these deceptively simple ideas in your marketing strategy will establish a brand message that resonates with customers, and gives you effortless brand-building opportunities.

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Meet the iGeneration: The Youngest Users of Promotional Electronics

iphone
Creative Commons License photo credit: apdk

As I was browsing the racks in a local boutique several weeks ago, I couldn’t help but notice a mother and toddler on the other side of the shop. “Mommy and me“ shopping trips are nothing out of the ordinary, but the young child was seated in a stroller and engrossed in a game on what appeared to be an iPad!

Appropriately nicknamed the “iGeneration,” America’s youngsters are no strangers to portable technology and promotional electronics.

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Amazon Brands Kindle 3 with More than Just Promotional Media Storage Cases

Welcome to this week’s edition of “Trending Topic Tuesday,” where we share our take on what’s going on in the world and what promotional products would appropriately (or inappropriately) market the subject matter.

While you may have seen – or perhaps even own – promotional media storage cases for the Amazon Kindle that have been imprinted with a brand’s custom design, logo, or message, a recent announcement from Amazon proves that protective cases are not the only way brands can make an impression on Kindle owners. Amazon will soon offer a less expensive of the Wi-Fi only Kindle 3 with built-in advertisements.

At $114, buyers will save $25 off the current Wi-Fi only model, but will be faced with sponsored screensavers from retailers including Olay, Buick, and Visa when the device is idle, and will encounter occasional special offers nestled among the pages of their e-books. Purchasers are encouraged to vote on which “attractive” advertisements they want to see included on the new version of the Kindle 3, giving them nearly the same amount of agency they have when choosing from the array of promotional media storage cases available in stores and online, as well as in the form of giveaways and corporate incentives.

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Apple sues Amazon, AT & T and T-Mobile Merge, and other Promotional Electronics News

Welcome to this week’s edition of “Trending Topic Tuesday,” where we share our take on what’s going on in the world and what promotional products would appropriately (or inappropriately) market the subject matter.

Amazon.com’s new mobile app business is scheduled to launch today, but the fact that it’s not open doesn’t mean it hasn’t been attracting media attention. On Friday, Apple filed a lawsuit claiming that Amazon’s use of the “Appstore” name violates Apple’s “app store” trademark. Representatives from Amazon have not commented specifically on the lawsuit, but have been stressing the differences between their technology and Apple’s.

Although both build applications for promotional electronics, Apple focuses on the iPhone and iPad while Amazon provides apps for Android phones and tablets. Furthermore, using their vast e-commerce experience, Amazon’s Appstore will be able to recommend apps based on users’ past purchases. For example, if I bought a Chicago Bears jersey on Amazon, the platform may suggest that I purchase an app to provide me with NFL stats and scores.

As consumers await Amazon’s Appstore launch and the pending lawsuit, they are turning their attention to other news from the promotional electronics industry: the alleged AT & T Inc. and T-Mobile USA merger.

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Jam Along to this Year’s Grammy Winners on Your Promotional MP3 Player

If you watched the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards this weekend – or if you’ve been on the Internet at all since they’ve aired – you’ve probably gotten wind of the many surprises that characterized the show, from Best New Artist (Esperanza Spalding) to Album of the Year (indie band Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs). You may have seen a performance, watched a video, or listened to a song clip from a band or artist who you became interested in as a result of the Grammys, or even downloaded a new album onto your promotional MP3 player.

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The Evolution of Portable Music

The Evolution of Portable Music

While music itself has certainly evolved throughout the years, so has the way we listen to it, especially pre-recorded music. Once restricted to listening to the radio in your home or vehicle, it’s only in the past 40 or so years that music has become completely portable.

Here’s a look at the evolution of portable music!

The Early Years – Cassette is King

The first truly portable personal cassette player was the Sony Walkman. Introduced in July of 1979, the Walkman revolutionized the way people listen to music. They retailed for $150 dollars, which translates to nearly $500 in today’s economy. Originally created because Sony’s co-founder wanted a way to listen to music while traveling, the Walkman grew hugely popular in the 1980s, especially as cassettes took over in popularity. The word “Walkman” was even added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 1986. By 1989, over 100 million Walkmans had been sold. Sony retired the cassette Sony Walkman in 2010.

The CD Years

Sony’s portable CD player, the Discman, was introduced in 1984. It was later rebranded as the CD Walkman. In the early to mid 80s, however, people were still mostly listening to music on cassettes. CD players, both portable and non, were extremely expensive. The CD Walkman retailed for around $300, which is the equivalent of nearly $800 today. A CD player for the home was even more expensive, at around $1,000 dollars (nearly $3,000 today). However, by 1988, CDs sales overtook those of cassette players. By the late 1998, over 50 million CD Discmans had been sold.

The Rise of MP3s

Despite popular belief, mp3 players didn’t originate with the iPod. In fact, they were created four years earlier, in 1997. The first mp3 player was the MpmanF10, however the first to really gain commercial popularity was the Rio PMP300. The Rio PMP300 held about 60 minutes of music on its 32 MB of internal memory. Sony, ever evolving, came out with the Memory Stick Walkman in 1999. These were similar to other MP3 players, though they didn’t use the MP3 file format.

Apple Enters the Picture….and Changes Everything

The iPod was first introduced in October of 2001. Though the technology was similar to other MP3 players, one thing set it apart. The first iPod had 5 GB of storage, which meant it could hold somewhere around 1,000 songs. In that same year, Apple also launched iTunes, which made acquiring music (legally) much easier. No longer did you have to purchase a CD, convert the songs into MP3s, and load them back onto your mp3 player. Now you had the ability to purchase mp3s directly from your computer. 

The iPod went through many iterations throughout the years. We’ve seen the Classic, Nano, Shuffle, Mini, and iPod touch. 

Though Apple was the heavy hitter, other brands entered the market too. Top names like SanDisk and Samsung offered versions of MP3 players. Top brands began to take advantage of the trend toward digital music and gave away promotional mp3 players and other tech giveaways with their logo imprinted on them.

Smartphones and Music Subscription/Streaming Services

The first generation of iPhones was launched in 2007 and ran on the iOS operating system. The first Android phone, the Samsung Galaxy was released two years later, in 2009. According to the Pew Research Center, in May of 2011, about 35% of people owned smartphones. Ten years later, in 2021, that number has risen to 85%.

As smartphones started to become more and more popular, the need for a standalone MP3 player began to slowly decline. This especially became true with the introduction of music subscription streaming services like Pandora and Spotify. Instead of paying for a song, or an album, like you did on iTunes, these services allowed you to pay a monthly subscription fee to hear as much music as you’d like. Some, like Pandora, allowed you to pick a seed genre or band and would choose related music. Others, like Spotify, allowed you to pick the exact songs you wanted to listen to. The Classic iPod, once an industry leader in terms of new technology, began to age and was discontinued in 2014.

That brings us to the present day, where most portable music is streamed through a smartphone. While a promotional mp3 player may not be the utlimate swag item anymore, Pinnacle Promotions offers all sorts of tech giveaway products that are on trend. From custom earbuds to bluetooth speakers with your logo, we can help you find an accessory that allows you your clients listen to music wherever they are, whenever they want.

What comes next in the evolution? We’ll just have to wait and find out.


Sources:

Pendlebury, T. (2021, October 24). Apple’s iPod still on sale after 20 years, but who’s buying. Retrieved from https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/apples-ipod-still-on-sale-after-20-years-but-whos-buying/

Franzen, C. (2014, July 1). The History of the Walkman: 35 Years of Iconic Music Players. Retrieved from https://www.theverge.com/2014/7/1/5861062/sony-walkman-at-35

History.com Editors. (2021, June 29).The First Song Walkman goes on sale. Retrieved from https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-first-sony-walkman-goes-on-sale

Gebel, M. (2019, July 1) The Walkman just turned 40 – here’s how listening to music has changed over the years. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/history-listening-to-music-recorded-walkman-2019-6

Discman. (2021, December). In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discman

Walkman. (2022, January) In Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman

Costello, S. (2020, January 12) History of the iPod: from the First iPod to the iPod Classic. Retrieved from https://www.lifewire.com/history-ipod-classic-original-2000732

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