Be It Everso Humble … Low Cost Promotional Merchandise Still Packs a Punch!

Low cost merchandise certainly does not mean low impact. Mugs and pens are often cited as being the entry point for promotional merchandise, but they are also among the most popular of items, because you get plenty of ‘bang for your bucks’, as the saying goes. Sean McDonagh of BPMA-accredited promotional products distributor, Yellow Pig Promotions, has some statistics to back this up.

He says, “I am a great fan of promotional mugs; I believe them to be one of the most powerful marketing tools available, especially in today’s coffee-culture times. The average mug is used up to four times per day, which is approx 1,040 times per year. This means that if you brand and distribute 1,000 mugs, your brand or message will be seen in excess of 1 million times per year! If you promote your company brand or message by delivering promotional mugs to vetted and qualified prospects, then you are maximising your reach and brand repetition for what is a very minimal investment.” 

Yellow Pig Promotions works with large corporates and SME companies in the UK and EU. Working from three offices worldwide, Yellow Pig Promotions is fast becoming a recognised brand for the company’s pre and post sales service! 

Yellow Pig’s White Sparta Earthenware Mug is pictured here. A package of 1,000 branded mugs starts from just £1,200 + VAT. Yellow Pig Promotions 

Anything Promotional has just the very eye-catching promotional item to sit your branded mug upon. It’s an unusual coaster made from split Welsh slate. Mined from a depth of 1,500 feet and proved to be approximately 500 million years old, these hand made, hand split, Welsh slate coasters are a cost effective and extremely long- lasting product. Following the eco trend, they are made entirely from leftovers of unused slate in the roofing industry. They can be screen-printed or sandblasted and are available in many different sizes, shapes and finishes. 

Anything Promotional, a trading name of Mitreprize Ltd, was set up in 2008 to provide customers with a definitive sourcing facility to meet the progressively demanding need to find different, innovative and suitable business gifts and promotional giveaways on-line.

Hi-Tech Trends 

If you want slightly more hi-tech merchandise, then it’s worth noting that Dischromatics has a new range of USB flash memory drives available in various colours, capacities, shapes and sizes, which can be personalised to customer requirements with on-body printing or labels.

Dischromatics has been in the media management business since 1989 and is an established CD, DVD and Blu-ray producer, also providing USB Flash Drive Duplication. The company is accredited to Quality Standard ISO 9001:2008 and Environmental Standard ISO 1400:2004. 

Managing Director, Gareth Spencer, says, “The uses for these devices are endless; they can be used as a tool for storing files, sent to clients as gifts at certain times of the year, they can even have catalogues or other data permanently copied onto them, but with space left for more use. They can be easily distributed at trade shows, during conferences and seminars. Logos and any other copy or visuals can be printed permanently onto the body, plus the data written to the flash drives can be copy-protected to prevent mistakenly deleting valuable data.

“The convenience and uses of these USB flash memory drives will help reduce costs of distribution of expensive and cumbersome documentation like catalogues, which invariably end up in the bin, and therefore they can even contribute to reducing waste.”

Winning Trends for ID&C 

Back in October ID&C won the ‘Innovation Award’ at West Kent Business Excellence Awards 2010. The essence of this award category was that the innovation must have enhanced and improved the commercial prospects and performance of the company. 

The company’s entry submission focused on its three key wristband innovations: 

• Fabric Festival Wristbands with patented Smartlock® self-locking closure incorporating a tamper-evidence device for security, serial numbers for crowd entrance count, security holograms and bar coding.

• Personalised Data Vinyl Wristbands which can feature 1 and 2D barcodes, serialisation, full-colour photographs, full colour logos and unlimited variable data such as name, date of birth, etc.  This is particularly advantageous to event organisers with a large database of delegates of event goers or for use at stadiums and arenas.

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) wristbands – contactless technology that works like London’s Oyster Card system, opening the way for secure access control and cashless payments for large events, especially outdoor festivals. ID&C

Textile Trends 

Hatton Textiles have been designing and producing towels and textiles for the world’s leading brands and labels since 1984. Its range of bar towels is hugely popular as these items seem to outlast other textile promotional products. Hatton’s towels adorn bars the world over with big names, such as Vladivar, Whyte & Mackay, Hoegaarden, Carlsberg and Coca Cola, forming just part of the company’s client portfolio. 

The company has recently announced an exclusive UK distribution deal with German digital printer MOVE and can now provide high quality, digitally printed, full-colour bar towels with minimum orders as low as 100 pieces.

2010 Trends 

Eco Incentives has just announced which of the company’s extensive range of branded promotional products proved popular during 2010.

Matt Franks of Eco Incentives tells us, “As the year draws to a close and the cold nights set it, we're wrapping up the last 12 months with our range of best selling eco friendly promotional products. Items including bags, pens, USB memory sticks and mouse mats have all made the cut for this year’s best of the best.” 

Matt has also promised to send us his predictions for the most popular promo items for 2011, so don’t forget to look out for that in our January 2011 feature.

Window Sticker Trends

Outstanding Branding has announced that a breakthrough in window stickers has recently occurred with the introduction of an environmentally friendly version. Andy Thorne, Sales Director, said, “In the past this hasn’t been possible due to the nature of PVC, as it generates toxic HCL fumes when produced and cannot be recycled.  It also contains a whole host of nasty plasticizers. However, now we are using polyolefine, which is eco friendly, we are able to produce a self-cling window sticker that doesn’t generate HCL fumes during production, and a product that can be recycled once used. Best of all, it contains no plasticizers.” 

Outstanding Branding supplies a range of low cost corporate giveaways. The company also offers advice and can produce a range of merchandise to suit your budget. 

Plastic Trends 

High Profile continues to set the trend for standard and bespoke plastic promotional products with the launch of a number of new and interesting products.

I just love the Spork. This handy utensil combines a spoon, fork and knife making it ideal for use in the office, at a picnic or even at home.  Moulded in tough resilient ABS the Spork is available in a wide range of standard colours and can be printed in up to four spot colours. 

Also recently launched as a Waste Bin Desk Tidy – a cute replica of the standard kerbside collection bin which is perfect for the office or home as a vessel for collecting and storing waste or simply as a desk tidy. Made from recycled polypropylene, the product is available in black, blue and green and can be printed in up to four spot colours on four faces and or the lid.

Pen Trends

We started this feature on mugs, so we’ll finish with pens, those two being among the most popular promotional products, but this is a pen with a difference. Vela offers a classically-designed, quality, adhesive-backed Memo Clip with Pen manufactured in ABS material. It’s available in black or white. 

Call the ‘Alfeld’ it’s an excellent product for point of sale – be it at the reception desk, or at a petrol station or bank ....... and the list could go on... and on....

That concludes our round up of low cost branded merchandise. In January, we will looking forward and predicting the most popular promotional products for 2011 …with your help that is! 

If you ware a supplier, then tell us what you think will be your most successful product. If you are a buyer, then why not tell us what your dream product would be?

Deadline is Friday 14 January.

Carole Bull, Editor

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