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

Vintage Giveaway with New Appeal

I love nice matches.  I found this article in the NY Times last week and smiled. I'm definitely not alone.  Custom matches are inexpensive, useful, and allow a company a good imprint area to be creative with a lot of color.  Or you know what?  Even simple design can be great. Personalized matches used to be the party favor for weddings.

Box matches, book matches, tent box matches, cylinder matches...have you seen the pillow matches?  The matches are in a little envelope held within a little customized pouch style box. Girls love these.

You can pick colorful tips, go with super long matches, 12 matches, 20 matches ~ you design what you want for your budget.  You can imprint on the inside cover too.  Looks like these were used for some goodwill on the dating scene.

I still have a book of matches that I picked up in a cigar shop in Paris over 8 years ago.  I just love them so much and have never seen anything like them. They make the most sense especially as cigar matches.  Each match is about three inches long and made from a very thin piece of wood.  They are wider than a standard match stick though, each one about a quarter of an inch wide.  They burn slow with a nice size flame, perfect to light your cigar.  As you can see, I have about 9 matches left in the book.  They live in my desk drawer.  Love 'em and too scared to use anymore of them until I find another pack.  Gotta get back to Paris. 

I think customized matches may be a good giveaway for a trade show.  Could also be clever for the right company as a business card too.

Well designed matches are about the same price as an inexpensive pen.  Just thoughts....

New promotional Ideas that follow trends

I got my first pair of fingerless gloves in New York City at a flea market about two years ago.  They're fun, they're striped... I love 'em 

 

I have a new pair for this winter, thanks to Louis from the Rosebud Casino in Nebraska.  Louis wanted to do a giveaway for the bikers attending the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in 2009. He did customized fingerless gloves. They came out great and he took the time to send me a few photos and a nice note.  That's Louis on the right.

 

"The gloves look great.  I'm fighting off our staff with a stick so that we can make sure we have enough for our promotion.  Great work.

The gloves are a hit, our promo ends this week.  The Rally ended the 9th, but we started a week before and are ending a week after because most of the traveling is done in that period. 

 

This was the first time we had done something like this.  And it was a success.   

The good deal is that we know they are wearing them when they leave.  A few us ride motorcycles (myself included) and we've spotted the gloves on the interstate and at gas stations. 

Good work. "

This is the part of my job that I get high on.  Producing a cool product that enhances a Brand. Promotional items don't have to be stick pens and white 11 oz coffee mugs.   

I have a motorcycle.  When I started riding, I found out there is like a secret motorcycle hand shake.  I'm not sure how to describe it, kind of like a low hand wave.  Whenever you're cruising up the road on your bike and you come upon a fellow biker you both give each other a slow, low sweeping hand to acknowledge each other. It's cool.  I remember the first time I got one.  I felt like I was part of a secret club.  Makes me smile to think of the Rosebud Casino custom fingerless gloves.  It makes them doubly cool.  So now with the wave, they're not only fellow bikers but they shared a rockin good time at Sturgis at the Rosebud Casino.  Memorable. 

See you next year at the Rosebud, thanks Louis.

  

Nest your Brand

 

You all know the bobble head dolls, created from resin plastic in the likeness of popular sport players, political players, television stars, singers, etc...    I didn't know this, but these are believed to date back to 1842.  Around 1950 the first modern bobble heads started to appear in the United States.  The process was a bit limited though.  The dolls all came out with the same faces and body style.  It kicked up a bit in 1960 with them being produced for some of the players in the World Series.  They were the first player-specific baseball bobble heads.  

 Things sure have evolved.  

Here is a new style figure we can "corporate" customize.  Nesting Figures or Nesting dolls ~ like the Russian Matryoshka doll.  Nescafe did the one below to introduce a new line of products. 

 

As you can see, non-traditional shapes can be done. I think they would be a big hit. Again, here I go with the value of giving away the unexpected.  Check out the traditional shape with a not so traditional look.

Promotional buying is down.  I don't care what anybody says, they can paint all the happy pictures they want...every body is still cutting back.  They have to. 

Who would think a McDonald's commercial could make me so happy?  I smiled last night to see a commercial by McDonald's featuring a new Coca Cola collector's glass.

How cool I thought, two of the world's brightest brand icons get it.  Desirable logo giveaways will get people in the door, will make them feel good, will help relay good long-lasting feelings toward your brand. Coke did a great job with the glass design and offering a different color a week, making them a collector's item.  Really smart. 

I remember going to mickey dees when I was little.  The first time my Mom let me graduate from the cheeseburger to the Big Mac.  I was so happy. McDonald's and coke have been doing their thing since 1955, know what's really sad? I think there was a time that McDonald's glasses were the only glasses we had in the house. 

I'm going to McDonald's tomorrow, get my glass and do a little silent toast to promotional marketing at it's finest.

Slap your logo on the blanket with arms

You must've seen those commercials for the Snuggie, the blanket with arms?  Here it is, if you missed it.

When the ads come on at home, we always snicker.   Well the Snuggie people are the ones snickering now, over 4 million have been sold.  I've read a few articles about them this month and also viewed the slide show based on NYT's Allen Salken's article. It was pretty funny.

They have Snuggie parties, it is a trend on Facebook, cult following on Youtube, Snuggie spottings are being Twittered... 

Yes and now you too can do a blanket with arms as a corporate giveaway! Seriously. You know it's going to crack people up when they open their customized version of this poly fleece piece. They're going to know your company understands the importance of fun at the workplace, plus it will keep them toasty.  We can even individually mail them with a gift card and pop corn, if you like.

This style has pockets and is offered in royal blue, red, taupe, white, black, sky, lilac. 

Would be good for colleges, remember the toga parties of the past?  

Let's get the party started.  Brand on, cheers to a smooth week everyone. 

A Wave of Gratefulness

Can you feel it?  The positive change taking place in business today.  Gratefulness.  It is spreading, hopefully quicker and more powerfully than the negative waves.  I know companies we choose to work with are going out of their way to say thank you.  I am feeling sincere appreciation from manufacturers for every order we place.  There are awful things happening to companies and families every day, but business still must go on. 

As we are completely thankful for the business that is coming in to AbsolutePromo.com, we are letting our clients know it too.  We try to relay our gratefulness through the experience of working with our company in every aspect of business: The way we speak, our creative ideas, providing consistent over the top customer service, quality branded products that Wow, giving a sincere thank you.  It's nice to know the manufacturers are grateful too.  In the past we'd be lucky to get a pre-printed post card thanking us for our business or a stamp "Thank you" on an invoice.  It is getting more and more common to receive a phone call or a personal email.  The politeness factor on telephone calls with reps has gone up easily 50%. Thank you ~ coming right back at ya.

While some big dogs are duking it out in Congressional hearings, the rest of us only have ourselves to look to for survival.  We have to be better, smarter, quicker, anticipate what our clients will need, market wisely and most of all ~ be nice.  Everybody has a choice who they work with.  It feels good to be recognized for our business.  I know we're kicking butt to make our clients happy, and it's nice to have our vendors kick butt to make us happy too.  We're all going to have to stick together on this one. 

Here is wishing you every success.  Brand on friends.

Le` Branding

Blogging from Montreal Canada this week.  Mixing a little work with a little holiday always does a Brander good. 

I thought I‘d work off Saturday night's dinner with a Sunday morning stroll through Old Montreal.  It was early, it was cold and it was pretty deserted, but it didn‘t take away from any of the area's charm.  I’m Into buildings, not sure when it happened, but all types of architecture interest me.  I loved the old style roofs, poking around in the hidden courtyards and walking down the narrow windy cobblestone streets .  It was easy to admire the preserved touches on the stone buildings from the carvings, to the scrolled iron work, great lighting pieces and all of this resting along the shores of the St. Lawrence.  What a beautiful peaceful way to spend a morning.

As some past marketing interns would say this was "pretty random".  Here I am walking around in a fantastically preserved historic district,  felt like I had stepped back some 350 years. Out of nowhere appears this logo stenciled on a window. (Wonder how the historic society let this one get by.)  As an employee, it must be a great space to get the daily creative juices flowing. I see from their website they've won many awards.  As a person touring, it hit me as a Brand a bit out of place.
 

I came upon this store on the way back to my hotel, an eyewear bar. I like the way these optometrists think. I would never associate eye glasses with sexy cocktails. To take the ordinary experience of getting glasses and comparing it to a night out, pretty clever.  They also tied it into their personalities with signature drinks.  From a draft beer style optometrist ~  to the martini drinker style  ~ to the fine wine style. The Meyer's Brigg personality of bar preferences for eye wear. 

An over all feeling I have in Montreal, is the low key Branding.  When I was in New York City last month, everything was branded and branded big.  I couldn't turn my head without being hit hard by a logo.  It is more subtle here, not so in your face.  I'll have more to share tomorrow.  Branding on...

Put your Brand in action

I love this idea as a 2009 promotional marketing strategy.  It's a branded flip book.  They are not as expensive as you think (Around $3.69 each), you don't have to order 10,000 pieces (Only 2500 is the minimum) and they don't take 8 weeks to create (3 weeks after art approval).

You can do different styles depending on your company.  Do you need a video style or graphic image style?  You can do both in one project really, since you get a double shot.  Your clients flip through 32 pages with one message that you created then they can"flip it over" and go through your second message.  

I know I have trade show on the brain, but it could be a great new way to introduce a new product.  Mail the flip book out as a teaser: See you at the show to receive the new _ _ _ _ _ , test the _ _ _,  meet the new _ _ _, stop by to say hi .  An architecture firm could show the building process from start to finish from one of their newest projects. 

To create the custom flip book, you can submit video, photos or sketches.  We work with you from start to finish too, so it can be very easy. There are 32 frames that are broken down per side for the flip animation.

You know what would be good too, since videos are so hot ~ how about this branded flip book for a college promotional piece that guidance counselors could hand out to prospective students?  Or maybe for a band, a live performance of them rocking out in concert?  The flip side could be the crowd, or the video related to the song.  

(Made me smile when I first previewed this Blog. I thought readers might think these videos were of me personally flipping through the books. I remembered the Jerry Seinfeld   Bizarro episode with the girl he dated had man hands.)

Modern Collection for Brand Wearables

Fashion week isn't limited to Milan.  There are a ton of new options that have just been introduced to funk up your brand.  Here are a few that caught my eye.  100% pima cotton extra long cardigan. Great piece to keep the chill off at the office.

I've been wanting a vest and like the easy style of this one.  Really cashz, just throw it on over a T and good to go with a little extra ooomph.

It's great that we now have the chance to follow fashion trends with corporate branding.  I know so many of my female clients love when clothing has a men's style AND a women's style.  They're not stuck in that boxy cut polo that hangs to their knees, that they can't possibly tuck in.  One of my favorite clients (Now friend), Melissa also said "Dude, it's not just about the trade show.  I want to look good at the party after the show too.  C'mon...it's Vegas!"  I never thought about it like that.  Makes total sense and made me smile. I mean really think about it, so smart to offer your people quality branded clothing that is stylish and gives them confidence when they are out representing your company.

Even tights are offered that can be customized with your logo. Maybe a little strategically placed branding down by the ankle?  Great logo products for the high school/college market that's so hard to hit.

Again, it's all about who you want to turn on.  A company with a young spirit that wants to relate their energy and forward thinking, would do their market a favor to offer cool stuff customized. 

Branding has become emotional.  Styling is now based on individuality.  Products are connected emotionally.  Branding contemporary style clothing can be an easy way to reach your clients hearts.

It's not risky, it's just smart. 

Promotions with Style

I think more manufacturers in our industry are catching on!  I'm seeing a lot of new promo products popping up that offer some style even before we Brand.  Check out these new mugs with funk built right in, they're calling them the designer series:

 

There are multi color designs on a bunch of different style mugs.  As you can see in the few shown here, swirls, stripes, color combos... there are a lot more to choose from.

This idea reminds me of the guest designers that are featured in retail chains.  Target has Isaac Mizrahi, Madonna did a line for H&M, Vera Wang with Kohls.  Here are some designer series promotional pieces. 

If you've purchased promo products, you probably know that the more colors you use to customize pieces, the more cost it can add to your project. Sometimes it's the number of colors in your imprint that can put you over budget.  You want the logo giveaway to POP, but manufacturers set-up fees and run charges can add up.  Here is a little way to sneak around it.  Take advantage of one of the new standard designs and utilize it to the best of your Brand.