Confectionery, drinks, girly gifts and Valentine’s day products

The industry gurus tell us that in order to survive in the current climate, suppliers must take every opportunity to keep in touch with their customers … and not just when an order is in the offing! The same is true of human relationships; a bottle of bubbly and a box of chocs are great gifts for Valentine's Day, but they are just as welcome (and more of a surprise) at other times of the year.

So, here's a selection of gifts that could be used for keeping in touch with customers staff and, with Valentine's day on the horizon, loved ones too. Of course, they can also be used for Valentine's promotions to support brands and products, if not this year, then maybe next.

SWEET IDEAS
You don't want anything too slushy for customers, but a little something that just might oil the wheels of industry for workers at the coal face (those tireless individuals that actually process your order within your client company) are these 'Love Hearts' from Buyking.

Inexpensive and inoffensive, Love Hearts come in a presentation box (four packs to a box), complete with a full-colour printed lid, for just £1.50 each (minimum quantity 100 units).

This offer ends on Valentine's day, but Buyking also supplies a wide range of promotional confectionary, chocolates, mints and bottled water, which provide other inexpensive and acceptable ways of keeping in touch all your round. Buyking

Staying with the hearts theme, Oldeani Ltd (a promotional product supplier with a 21 year pedigree) offers these heart-shaped chocs in a box that can contain three or 15 solid chocolate hearts – perfect for the Cupid season.

Minimum quantity for a personalised box is 250 pieces.

For other times of the year, Oldeani offers a range of filled chocolates or chocolates made in bespoke shapes. Oldeani also has a full range of desktop items, electronic products and watches and has vast experience in branding, fulfilment, distribution and other procedures surrounding promotional products. Oldeani

You can send a kiss in the form of chocolate lips in a net, personalised with your message on an optional swing ticket.

Sweet Temptations offers short a lead-time of only seven days and a low minimum order quantity of just 100. Furthermore there is a Fairtrade chocolate option and the company offers a whole range of sweets and chocolates with many and various branding options. Sweet Temptations

OK, so now we are on a lips theme … and if you want to keep human lips soft and kissable, Pod Packaging has just the thing. As recently reported in the national media, lip balm is the one cosmetic item that women cannot do without and has been described as invaluable despite its low price. It's therefore not hard to see why Pod Packaging's stylish lip balms make for the ultimate in 'girly' promotional items and from as little as just £1 for a four colour branded 10 gram pot, could very well be described as 'invaluable' to your promotional activities in 2009.

100% natural and presented in a recyclable brushed aluminium pot, a Pod lip balm fits perfectly in a pocket or bag, getting your brand or message on every girls lips – and we all know how powerful that can be when you get it right!

Pod also offers a new, mouth watering Valentine Corked Pod made from recyclable, brushed aluminium and jammed full of themed candy, embossed with statements of love for the recipient. They can also feature a wealth of other sweet treats like jelly beans. Pod Packaging

LIQUID GIFTS
Aside from sweets and chocolates, two other ways to a loved one's heart are drinks and fragrances and the promotional cupboard has these in store too.

Delight your Valentine with this 75cl bottle of Grande Rosé Champagne by J de Telmont, presented with luxury Champagne Truffles in a burgundy card gift box.
All Nextday Champagne gifts are expertly gift-wrapped and finished with a hand tied ribbon. Price is £45.99 including vat and next working day delivery (Saturday delivery available).

If you are looking for something special for your Valentine, the company also has an extremely limited quantity of Perrier Jouët Champagne. A 75cl bottle of Perrier Jouët Belle Époque Rosé (Vintage 2002), beautifully presented in a delightful gift box can be delivered complete with your personal message professionally printed on a matching gift card. £109.99 including vat and next working-day delivery (Saturday delivery available). Nextday Champagne

For a truly personalised perfume for your Valentine, add your photo to a 65 ml bottle of eau de parfum from fragrance for you.

Minimum order quantity is just one (of course! Who has multiple Valentine's? Don't answer that!). Cost is £34.00 including postage with delivery in just two days. If your Valentine's pressie works and you move onto the wedding stage …. fragrance for you can create a bespoke fragrance for use as wedding favours. The latest idea to make your wedding day even more memorable! fragrance for you

WITH MEN IN MIND
Mitreprize has something for the men on Valentine's Day to show them they are special without all the hearts and flowers stuff.

Go the extra mile with a stylish designer money clip from Cerruti 1881 or, for the men on the move, a rather different 1GB USB memory stick and keyring from Charles Jourdan. If you have a bigger budget and really want to make them feel good, how about a beautifully presented pen and wallet set, or a watch and pen set from Jean-Louis Scherrer. All these products look fantastic and have a high-perceived value and Mitreprize can supply them at surprisingly cost-effective prices. Mitreprize

CUPID'S ARROW

You can leave a meaningful message inside one of Prezzybox's secret arrows ready for Cupid to strike. Print your message, remove the head of the arrow, roll up your scroll and pop it into the arrow.

Or why not send a message of love across the ocean with the company's message in a bottle. Prezzybox has an extensive range of personalised gifts that are bound to impress your loved one. Prezzybox

Pretty Practical
Valentine's gifts can also be practical, like this heart-shaped umbrella from Tomato Source Ltd.

It has an aluminium shaft with a matching colour, rubber finish handle. It provides UV protection and is available in many stock colours – to suit your mood. Perfect for ladies in love!

Although Tomato Source Ltd can provide a range of off the shelf products, the company's real forte is gaining an insight into the brand, the campaign and the recipient and then creating or sourcing a truly relevant product and taking care of all the day-to-day processes of sampling, testing, quality control, shipping, storage and distribution. Tomato Source

NOT FORGETTING THE KIDDIES
Over the years (est 1984) Co Prom has supplied many items for Valentine's and Mother's Day promotional products, including thousands of bags, brushes and mirrors for Lancôme in Harrods, John Lewis, Selfridges and Boots.

Now they tend to do more for book and magazine publishers. They produced the 'heart of the ocean' necklaces for the cover of a children's history book about The Titanic and produce various hair accessories, bracelets (see pic) and phone charms that have a high-perceived value, but the cost is low on high volumes. Co Prom

I hope you'll agree, we have been very PC in covering gifts for men, women and children (I did think cats and dogs was going too far!). But if you've got or have seen a product that you think the industry should know about, let me know and I'll put it on the news section where 60,000 unique visitors a month can see it! The news is also e-mailed monthly to 21,000 subscribers.

Next month, our feature will highlight the Promotional Marketing Exhibition, Horticultural Halls, London, 24 – 26 March. If you have an interesting business story about visiting or exhibiting at a trade show, then I want to know!

Carole Bull
Editor

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