Wear it Well!

The words ‘promotional merchandise’ often conjure up mental pictures of desktop accessories: mugs, pens, calculators, mouse mats, clocks, photo frames, all of which are vital pieces of equipment and excellent for promoting your brand. This month we are looking at promotional merchandise that can be worn: casual and business clothing, badges, lanyards, keyrings etc., and also sporting promotional goods such as sports bottles, all of which are transported to various locations as part of the wearers/users everyday life, which means the branding travels with them, offering excellent visibility.

We start with some excellent examples of promotional goods from Event Merchandising. Always in the limelight, producing merchandise to sell at live events and in online shops (often as part of licensing agreements) Event Merchandising has been busy creating product for the 2010 series of X Factor (see key ring left) and hooded tops for the latest Robin Hood movie starring Russell Crowe (pic below).

Not only does the company deal with famous brands, they also have advice from famous people. With regard to these hooded tops, Jeremy Goldsmith of Event Merchandising told us, “Sir Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe were both instrumental in the design. The garment had to have a specific weight and feel, and the embroidery was very intricate.” Event Merchandising

Not quite so high profile, but just as enthusiastic in their endeavours are the Young Sports Stars team from Coventry and Warwickshire, who have been ‘dressed to impress’ thanks to Recognition Express Coventry, to celebrate their CAP Bursary Scheme awards. 

Recognition Express Coventry is a leading supplier of corporate gifts, promotional products and branded clothing, and owner Alex Newman (pictured centre, front row wearing suit), said, “We are really enthusiastic about supporting these young sportsmen and women.  With the Olympics only two years away it’s exciting to think that some of them may be selected to represent the country, and we hope the hoodies help to enhance their sense of being a part of something really special.”

CAP (County Athletes Programme), now in its third year, is a bursary scheme that provides support to talented athletes from across the sub-region. The bursaries are funded by Warwickshire County Council, Coventry City Council, the Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership for the 2012 Games, the are also supported by CSW Sport. Recognition Express

Moving from casual to more formal promotional clothing, ShirtsMyWay.com allows business customers to design their own company shirts. It is a fully customised service and each shirt can be different in size and design. Embroidered company logos are also available. The shirts can be made according to specific body measurements to give a great fit for each person wearing them. They are ideal for wearing on stands at exhibitions and at other corporate events. 

The company offers 65 fabrics as well as different cuffs, collars, buttons and more. Worldwide delivery is included in the price, which starts from USD75 per shirt.  

Badges & Key Rings

If you need a badge for identification of personnel as well as branding, then the Zoogee ‘Write on Badge’ is excellent. It’s perfect for high turnover locations looking to reduce their name badge program cost but still have a quality product. The badge can be produced in any shape and size, without any setup or die charges, and has a professional photo quality domed imprint, a super strength magnetic attachment and can be personalised with a dry erase marker, therefore making it fast and easy to wipe off and write in names, daily slogans or specials. 

Coventry Silvercraft manufactures bespoke badges as well as keyrings in all metals and finishes to suit clients’ own designs and budget requirements. Buyers can choose from a wide variety of metals including plated brass, stainless steel, hallmarked silver and gold.  Either die stamped or cast, most shapes are possible.  Colour can be added to your badges and key rings with the use of traditional enamelling techniques with hard and soft enamels to match your pantone reference or printed and resin coated finishes.

A wide variety of plated finishes are available, including, gold, silver, nickel and copper, plus various antique finishes. As well as giving visibility to the brand, key rings and badges are ideal for award schemes for long service and motivation. The company also offers a wide choice of both key ring and badge fittings to enable a company to develop matching ranges to further promote their brand both as gifts and souvenirs. 

Traditional leather fobs are also available in a wide choice of colours, shapes and grades of leather plus personalised boxes and pouches to further enhance the presentation. 

Lanyards, Wristbands and Sweatbands

Penworld is offering free origination on lanyards, wristbands and sweatbands for the months of May and June. The company can also still source World Cup promotional products for that last minute requirement of lanyards, wristbands and sweatbands. 

Promotional wristbands (like those pictured) are produced from soft plastics, or the new silicon material, which is really comfortable to wear for prolonged periods and highly colourful to gain attention. Promotional lanyards are screen printed in multiple colours with the customer’s message or logo. Your promotional lanyards can be screened in your corporate colours to make your staff look professional and stand out at important trade shows or sales conferences. Penworld supplies promotional woven lanyards, printed woven lanyards, printed lanyards, tubular lanyard neckstraps, id holders and security name badge holders for conventions, plus personalised promotional pens, pencils, USB flash drive pens, highlighters, engraved metal pens, sticky notes, key rings, mouse mats and printed mugs. 

Protea Enterprise Co Ltd of China produces tubular lanyards with inner flash LED lights. Made of tubular polyester and plastic the size is 1cm x 90cm and any colour is available. Mininum order quantity is 500 pieces with sample lead time 7 – 9days, and production lead time 9 –12 days.

Also from China, Hibin Promotional & Gifts Manufactory specialises in all kinds of lanyards including the promotional 2 in 1 lanyard, a hat and a lanyard in one. It’s reusable, made of 100% waterproof nylon and polyester and provides a large area for your logo printing. Great for events, the hat will prove useful in the rain or the sun. 

Sporting Themes 

Kick off your next sporting campaign with football strip shaped mobile screenwipes from the appropriately named, ScreenWipe. The minimum quantity is only 250 pieces and orders up to 3000 pieces are made in the UK. This handy mobile screen cleaner makes an ideal giveaway item for promotions this summer to coincide with the football World Cup. Once attached to a mobile phone, the ScreenWipe will be seen every time the phone is used – a great way to keep your brand in front of your customers. Other shapes are available. ScreenWipe 

High Profile is an established supplier of all types of standard and bespoke plastic promotional goods including sports bottles, champion football rattles and hand clappers and this mini kite. According to Richard, MD of High Profile, (who wrote this month’s Top 10 Tips on Creating a Brief), the mini kit is, “… a family favourite, and one of our most successful products, which allows the whole family to get involved and participate in ‘flying’.” 

This easy and convenient kite comes in a small zipped pouch containing all the necessary handles and cords ready to fly the kite and can be carried and used anywhere there’s a small outdoor space offering hours of family fun.

Richard concluded, “We are continuously updating and adding to our sports range to include the very latest products that can be used quickly and efficiently in a sporting environment. Whether that’s power walking in the local park, pounding the treadmill at the gym or having a fun family day out, we offer a range of products suitable for all sporting occasions.” 

And if you are using a sports bottle, what you need is a bottle holder, like this one from Celsur Plastics which is celebrating 50 years of successful manufacturing next month. The water bottle holder is die-cut out of 100% recyclable polypropylene and has a large double-sided branding area making this an ideal and very cost effective promotional gift. Ideal for those summer walks, festivals and concerts, it quite simply loops around your belt or bag strap and comfortably holds a 750ml bottle. When in use, the branding will be constantly on show providing very cost effective branding.

It will be hard to avoid all the hype of the Football World Cup in South Africa this year, especially with England qualifying. With this in mind Just Balls will be able to supply the trade with quality sports balls. Not just footballs; the company also supplies netballs, rugby balls, basketballs, volleyballs, plus roller banners, car flags and juggling balls to name just a few of our extensive range. 

Just Balls tells us that once the world cup is over we will be busy preparing for 10 years of big sporting events in the UK. 

2010 – Ryder Cup,  Wales World Lacrosse Championships, Women's Rugby World Cup,

2011 – World Short-Track Speed Skating Champs, Football Champions' League Final,  ATP Tennis World Tour finals,

2012 – Olympic & Paralympic Games,

2013 – Rugby League World Cup,

2014 – Commonwealth Games,

2015 – Rugby Union World Cup,

2019 – Cricket World Cup.

Then there’s the bidding for the American football's Super Bowl; Football World Cup 2018; Commonwealth Games 2018 (Cardiff, Sheffield or Liverpool). 

With all the above events in focus, the promotions industry will be on the lookout for new and innovative sports products and I’m sure that Just Balls and all the other manufacturers and suppliers mentioned here are already planning new and exciting ways to allow promoters to be able to use there logos on sporting goods to to gain maximum visibility for their brands around these events.

Carole Bull

Editor

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