Absolute Promotions Ecofriendly Promotional Products, Corporate Gifts, Printed Logo Items

Bike to Work Day 2013

Bring out Ye' Bikes - It's that time again, I can smell it in the air. May is Bike Month and Bike to Work day is going to be on Thursday, May 17th this year.  

Cities, employers, organizations across the US and Canada get involved, goes back to 1956. 

Have you ever heard of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition?  They're a force. They're amazing at using this event to promote awareness and safe bicycling, helping people understand that bicycling can be a way of life.  They have organized workshops throughout the year with titles like: How to Bike Anywhere and Fix a Flat, Urban Cycling, even tips on how to fold pants on the crease then roll them tightly in your bag to avoid wrinkles when you get to work. Ha,I never thought of that, good to know.

I'm going to try my hand at trail riding this year once the snow clears.  I'm looking forward to it.  I've been noticing more and more funky shaped/interesting bike themed promo giveaways. These Customized helmet covers are cute.  Especially if they're designed right.  They'll help you to be seen by drivers.

Here are a few new style safety LED bike lights that you can brand too:

 

 

This is like the deluxe  logo bike flasher. It has 7 functions, with red and yellow lights and built in belt clip.  It comes with the bike attachment you see too.

A customized bikers saddle bag or you've heard that fanny packs are making a come back, right?  It's true.

Jerseys of course

 

The day of the event there are "Energizer Stations" set up all over most cities.  Maps are offered to show the locations and best bike routes.  Snacks, beverages, water bottles, seat covers and bike bags are some of the Bike to Work Day swag given out, donated by area businesses.

 

I had a little experience urban bicycling recently in Philadelphia.  On a weekend getaway we stayed at the lovely Kimpton Palomar,  They let us borrow their bikes, including helmets and locks to hit the streets. It was our first time in Phillie and I was feeling a bit nervous, but they gave us a nice jogging/bike map to find our way around.(Great Branding tool I thought)

We followed the route which took us along the really nice Schuylkill River path.  I took this photo before descending the steps to the path. Isn't it pretty?  It was a great morning.

Our ride was one of the best ways to get the feel for an area of the city. The route looped around the Philadelphia Museum of Art (The Rocky Museum) and then through the heart of the city back to our hotel.  The air was fresh, the weather crisp and the city was beautiful.  Bikes really are so much fun.

 

 

Modern comes to the desk

Location, Location, Location - The desk.  8 hours a day, 5 days a week. It's where decisions are made. Calls take place, ideas are born, companies are built. It's where you want your brand to be if you could. Right in the center of it all, being useful.  Making your client happy, helping to make their life easier. Giving off all warm and fuzzy positive Brand feelings.  

Here is a cute new tech giveaway that I've been using. It's a smartphone/tablet holder that acts as my screen cleaner too.

One side can be completely branded, four color process and the other side has a protective smart cloth that's treated with an antimicrobial shield.  Smartphone holder and screen cleaner that helps to keep screens smudge free.

 My tech tool to keep my iPhone easy to get at and allows me to quickly recognize incoming calls.

Branded Water Bottles are Breaking Out!

A lot of new product designs were launched at this year’s international promotional show.  Just in the water bottle category, we had some true branding rogues.  Promotional water bottles that are refusing to play by the rules!   They are demanding our attention with new colors, smart design and unexpected details..  What say you?  They will not be created from cheap plastic!  They will bunk the worn pull-up top path and blaze new promotional trails.  Twist-off cap?  Screw that they say– we’re going flip!  We demand you look at us.

 

Standing out, differentiating, choosing their audiences, these are some of the challenges for branding.  In a crowded event with so many yelling at the masses finding a promotional product that can get some attention doesn't have to be so hard.

Every event, every brand calls for unique circumstances. It’s great to see the promotional water bottle world catching up.  How about this for SXSW swag? Where it's a water bottle and a speaker for the iPhone.

At the TED Conference this year they had these great water refill stations.  All who attended were given a branded water bottle in with their swag, eliminating the need for plastic containers. Everyone felt good about helping to cut down on waste and got to take the good brand feeling home with them.

The styling is cleaner, easier to carry, more attractive to hydrate hydrate hydrate - love the vertical imprint capability too.  Sleeker look with more room for Branding. Unexpected helps to stand out.

This year Nivea introduced new retail packaging for their body lotion bottles.  Contoured the bottle, domed the cap, textured the logo, and used less plastic, all great Branding ideas

 

 

Thinking of You Custom Giveaways

It's probably not the best way to come up with ideas for AbsolutePromo, but I find I tend to highlight products that I would want or that I think are useful.  I just moved into a new home and it's still a little scary in the dark, in the middle of the night.  I would love one of these safety night lights.  They can be so many things:  a customized emergency light - if the power goes out they will automatically turn on.  You can take them out of their little AC plugs and they become a flashlight, or simply rotate them to use as a nightlight.  

For giveaways, I was thinking a nice welcome to our bank gift!  Or welcome to the dorm! for new students, Enjoy the rental!  Safety First for a work promotion, Welcome to your new home! 

They each have a rechargeable lithium-ion battery which will last for 7 hours.  They can be considered  Eco too since they will never have to have their battery or LED's replaced.  They're always ready to go.

While I'm talking about lights, here is another new light that I thought was cool. I like the modern style.  They're made of rubberized ABS plastic.  The lights can shine from the top and from the side at the same time.  They're like a promotional flood light. On the side of each are 24 LED lights which gives you some good coverage.  They have four LED's on top that you can use as a traditional flash light.  They feel soft to the touch with a matte finish.  They each have little wrist bands and arrive gift boxed.

Texting gloves with a logo?

I remember last year how psyched I was when I learned there were gloves made that I could text with.  This year I was even more psyched to learn that I can customize them.  Check out the pair of touch screen gloves we just Branded. 
I did two location embroidery, so I could fit our little lizard guy on them.  They're made of acrylic and spandex with little PVC dots on the palms so you can grip things easier.  The tops of the first three fingers are tipped with conductive fibers.  They're not treated, they are woven in. 

These gloves have all my favorite promotional characteristics:  New - so they get the wow factor, Useful - they make the recipients life easier, Innovative - keeping up with trends, Quality - well you know what I mean here

They take embroidery well, nice clean lines. I can't wait to wear them. They give off that nice warm fuzzy Brand feeling.

These would rock at CES this year for a technology giveaway. Vegas in January is colder than people think. But the heck with Vegas, these gloves just plain rock.  Colleges? Sporting events?  Tailgating?  Volunteers? Tech companies? They come in black, brown, grey, navy, royal, and white.  They work with all touch screens, minimum is 72 pieces and they're about $10 each + set-up.

We have an extra pair of AbsolutePromo text gloves to share.  If you'd like a shot, send me an email or sign up in the upper left corner with your email address for updates.  We'll randomly select a winner next week.

Thanks for reading friends, hope you have a nice weekend.  Brand on

Transform Body Perspiration into a Promotion (Yup, you read right)

Smart phones, Smart cars, Smart T's?  Ooooh we have another good idea for unique Branding.  I know it sounds crazy but it's cool - especially for branding at the gym. 

Picture this, we customize a shirt where the fabric has the ability to offer double Branding by reacting to your body's temperature.   The shirt is branded twice.  One message will appear at all times.  When you're working out, as you intensify the burn, heating up your body, working up a sweat.... BANG... the t shirt speaks again and your second message pops out.    

You have the opportunity to motivate, inspire, educate, but most of all create a buzz about your business. It's like a sweat activated technology that's made in the USA.  You can transform body perspiration into a promotion.

Could have a lot of fun coming up with some snarky branding ideas for your Tribe at a Corporate Challenge.

Colleges would be good.  Have the University name as the full-time message and then when it heats up the mascot would appear. 

Or how about for a music promo?  Been to many a hot concert in my day -

 

Not into the sweat factor?  We have custom tech pullover rain jackets too.  We can decorate them so that your message reacts to the rainy weather rather than body temp.

 

It's Veteran's Day here in the United States.  I wanted to share this story, and to all our Soldiers and Veterans say  Thank you for your service, very much. 

Have you seen these new promotional mobile stands yet?

Different right?  Simple, functional and fun. 

 

Display stands for cell phones have come a long way.  Remember when one of our only options was this style for mobile phone accessories Branding?  It was new and worked for us at the time.

 

I like these new promotional stands.  I see them called the iStand.  (It seems people are putting an "i" in front of anything tech related these days, hoping to ride on the cool factor.)  This new little tech design suctions onto the back of your mobile device.  I know it would work better than my water bottle; balancing my iPhone when I'm trying to follow along with my ab video at the gym.

Minimum to customize is 250 pieces, including a one color imprint they run around $3.75 each. 

 

Here's another style that's fun, logo plunger cell phone holders.  Branding these will depend on your business, your sense of fun and your message.  They'll definitely get some smiles and discussions going.

You could get all high tech retro customizing this for your clients.  They can answer the phone and use their touch screen features at the same time.

Customized ideas for Monday - Brand on friends.