Don't just purchase promotional products on a whim.

Like any effective advertising, it is important to analyse goals.

What do you want to achieve?
Who are you trying to reach?
What are you trying to say about your company?

Any advertising purchase made without thought will produce less than stellar results. Let us help you make wise purchase decisions. With an almost unlimited product assortment, we can assist you to choose items that will effectively achieve results.

Why not consider something other than the traditional pen?
Have you ever considered a music cd?
Have you ever considered a flash light?

Give your clients something they will value. You value them as customers...take the time to give them something they will appreciate.

Take time to read these great ideas...

"By now you likely know that Amazon.com is selling much more than books on the Net. To reinforce this, the company included very realistic, two-dimensional pictures of an Olympus digital camera with all orders shipped. The eye-catching die-cut was printed with ad copy on the flipside, announcing that Amazon provides buying information, a wide selection of products, a 30-day return policy and more. It was even interactive to a degree; you could actually see through the cutout's viewfinder." The Promotional Idea Showcase - Winter 2000

Use promotional products in new and imaginative ways. You will be amazed at the power of truly effective advertising.

ANYTHING'S IMPRINTABLE ...
by Connie O'Kane
Do you really believe in promotional products? Sure, you use them to promote your company, but would you really like to be somewhere else in marketing? Do you dream of 60-second spots during the Super Bowl as you sign off on a promotional products order?

Shame on you. Promotional products are the most cost-effective make that most effective, period ad vehicle around. If you've been ignoring your counselor's advice to harness their power even further, here are reasons why you should wake up and smell the coffee (in a logoed mug, of course).

1. They're cool ! no, really
Many of the hottest trend-setters and savviest spin doctors use promotional products these days. That's because once consumers (read: your customers) are onto something special they want to let everyone know how hip they are. And those behind the trend or fad are happy to oblige.

Consider this: The Blair Witch Project, the most profitable film in the history of the world (on a costs vs. revenues scale) used logoed merchandise early and often.

Made for $30,000, Blair Witch's worldwide grosses topped $200million. As soon as it was obvious the young filmmakers had captured something special, film distributor Artisan Entertainment sent 100 college interns to local bookstores, hot clothing stores and coffee shops wearing Blair Witch T-shirts and passing out Blair Witch comic books.

Once things ignited at the box office, promoters kept the Blair Witch Web site humming. And the film's signature shot of actress Heather Donahue in extreme closeup is available on buttons, magnets and keytags. Elsewhere on the site are T-shirts, lighters, shot glasses and pins. "I've never seen a film marketed so well in my entire life," one film executive told USA Today.

2. Everybody's Doing It
There seem to be few entities that don't use logoed goods in some way. The Dismal Scientist's site of economic wonkery offers coffee mugs. The foul-mouthed kids on South Park have their own line of merchandise. Even Spam (the food, not the e-mail) has a 28-page catalog of promotional products.

For many firms in the arts and entertainment industry, these items can be a new, steady stream of revenue. NBC sells logoed merch-andise for Saturday Night Live. Disney-owned ABC recently mailed catalogs of merchandise tied to its shows. Outside the Brooklyn Museum of Art's controversial "Sensation" exhibit, the gift shop sold shark staplers and pillows, a reference to sculptor Damien Hirst.

Nor is the trend limited to big-bucks guys. Small towns - even neighborhoods - have their names on sweatshirts. Elementary schools have entire lines of logoed stuff. It doesn't take much critical mass before almost any company, organ-ization or group can support a full slate of promotional products.

3. They're Inexpensive
One of the greatest things about promotional products is that they're so incredibly affordable.

Counselor Greg Emmer uses the example of choosing between a local television commercial and a promotional products campaign. You might pay $3,000 for a package of six or seven 30-second commercials (including production costs), and you'll be lucky if more than one runs during a popular viewing slot. And while the TV station might say there'll be 5,000 viewers, how many of them will be visiting the facilities, grabbing a snack or channel surfing when your spot runs?

Now imagine you had a budget for 600 promotional products at $5 each. Think of the items you can get; specialties that would not only guarantee recipients won't be flushing a toilet when it makes its initial impression, but that those impressions will keep on coming as well.

Another thing: Promotional products are one of the few ad vehicles that can stand alone. Most advertising needs to be supported with more advertising. Have a Web site? You need to advertise to get people to click on. How about television? Networks use millions of dollars of precious airtime to direct viewers to programs shown at other times. But a promotional product usually has the target audience coming to it - and vice-versa.

4. It's The Medium That "Remains To be Seen"
Advertising types often measure the effectiveness of media in terms of number of impressions and cost-per-impression. Promotional products are one of the few media that defy these measurements. "Specialties are repeated impressions without repeated costs," Emmer says. Bill Peck, a counselor, uses the example of a $6,000 order of 700 sound cards used by a major publisher. "Over $8.57 per exposure?" says Peck. "No. Recipients are still calling the publisher placing ads, as they continue to play with the cards.

5. They Can Help You Hedge Your Bets
Almost every advertising trend that hits the market puts a side bet on promotional products. Think about it. When database marketing was new, didn't the most successful advertisers include a promotional product in their mailings? Or if they jumped on the demo/psychographics bandwagon, they did it with promotional products. When marketers tried things like stunt marketing - singing-dog contests at malls - you can bet they had a nearby booth stocked with logoed goods. Nostalgia marketing?

Give away a classic image on a specialty and people clamor for them. Even arguably the most important trend in '90s advertising, the Internet, makes extraordinary use of gifts.

6. They Constantly Re-Invent Themselves
There are well over 250,000 different promotional products currently available. Add to that the creavity your counselor brings, and you can make use of a new product, idea, twist to an old product, application, etc., nearly as often as you like.

7. They're The Ultimate Traffic-Builder
Many firms not only give logoed stuff away once you're at their Web site, they also do it to get you there in the first place. In fact, is there any new development better suited for promotional products than a Web address? You have a short series of letters and symbols that opens up a whole world for the recipient. Less is more on a promotional product. If the address is simple enough, logoed products can really be walking hyperlinks. Passers-by can scribble down the Web site and then rush to their computers.

8. It's The Only Form Of Advertising People Don't Mind
Not everybody hates all advertising. But let's face it; most of it is a drag to consumers. No one wants commercials interrupting their TV viewing (unless it's a really funny commercial or really bad show). No one likes icons blinking on the side of a Web site, even if the information center screen is free and valuable. "Advertising's designed to be intrusive," Emmer says.

In all cases but promotional products, that is. People want premiums and ad specialties. They pick them up in show booths, take them away from conferences, mail away coupons to get them and even make their workplace safer to earn them.

9. People Like To Get Free Stuff
A few years ago, the Philadelphia Inquirer asked readers for a list of things they always managed to get free. It found that while a pen aficionado might be willing to shell out big bucks for the latest turbo-charged ballpoint, he wouldn't think of paying for an office coffee mug. Many of us will go to our graves without ever buying another keytag or mousepad.

That means your firm has the chance to become that keytag, mug or mousepad. "Without promotional products, what would we put in our pockets?" asks promotional consultant Glen Holt. Wouldn't you love to have that kind of exposure?