Cutter & Buck Performance Double Compartment Compu-Bag

Now this is a sweet bag for the high profile executive or traveler. The Cutter & Buck Performance Double Compartment Compu-Attache Bag has every bell and whistle and sports all these goodies with timeless style. I especially dig the striped fabric which lines the pockets. It is very high quality leather and is not cheap. However, the prices were just lowered and it now starts with an imprint at $221 and the price goes down in higher quantities.

Heavy Duty Pouch w/ Clip

I've seen a lot of small pouches and bags which are great for small first aid kits, emergency use, boating and even for packaging samples or small electronics. This tough little pouch is a cut above because it is crafted from heavyweight, thick water resistant and puncture resistant 600 denier cloth and features a full swivel loop and a belt loop. The bright primary colors are sharp and attractive. It of course includes a custom imprint.

Ash City North End Techno Lite Reversible Vest

Here is a great lightweight Ash City North End vest at a great price. This is the Men's Techno Lite Reversible Vest. It reverses from Techno Lite water resistant Taslan fabric to lightweight fleece. This vest is a great choice for a fall hike, a spring round of golf or for layering in the colder months of the year. It has the EZEM embroidery system to hide the embroidery backing when it is embroidered. And it comes in eight great colors. We sell it at a discount of course.

Case Logic Front Seat Mobile Office

This is a perfect way to keep road warriors, couriers, and even busy moms organized while in the car. Give this Case Logic Front Seat Mobile Office organizer a spin. It features a zippered compartment for personal items, a padded pocket for a 15" laptop and file and folder sleeves.

Tracking ROI with t-shirts?

Well this is interesting. I found a company, thanks to ASI, which runs an Apparel Media Group which runs the Apparel Ad Network. They will help provide and offset the cost of apparel for your team or event with sponsored apparel which displays the logo of one of their signed sponsors. Creatively, they package the apparel with brand samples and interactive calls to action.

They have developed a system which they call Interactive Apparel Advertising, which is a fully managed system which actually tracks the ROIs from the calls to action specified in the campaign. Apparel Ad Network differentiates their products from "swag," because they state the products can be designed and purchased by the consumer. They focus on college students and homemakers. Websites and calls to action are discreetly placed right on the apparel.

My biggest complaint with their website was the inaccessibility of the their product offering. I was on the site for almost 20 minutes before I found a media kit PDF which better explains what they sell and how they sell it.

H2Go Stainless Steel Balance

This H2Go Stainless Steel Balance shapely stainless steel water bottle with a large 24 oz capacity. It has a very durable and chunky molded lid which can be key chains, carabiners or straps. It is available in classic stainless steel as well as eight great metallic glossy colors. It is BPA free and would be a very appreciated employee gift or premium with membership.

If your looking for a quality stainless steel water bottle, give the H2Go Balance a try.

The Billboard Family

Now here is a modern version of a family working together. The Human Billboard Family is a cute family of four with a baby on the way. They offer a unique and simple business proposition: for the whole family to wear matching custom printed t-shirts, a different sponsored t-shirt each day of the week. They will then create a blog post for their advertising customer and spread the message across the usual social media platforms Facebook, Youtube, Flikr and Twitter.

The Billboard family's website is located here and their Facebook page is here.

Time Magazine even covered them here. However, in the usual Time Magazine fashion, the article author sounds snooty, arrogant and maybe even a little jealous of their potential. It always amazes me (and chaps me a bit) when an intelligent educated individual like a magazine writer condescends enterprising people especially in the era of 9.8% unemployment (more like 17% if you look at the BLS U-6 and the more credible ShadowStats would place it even higher).

Although, I don't know many who would be willing to do this for a living, I'm inspired by the entrepreneurial outside-the-box thinking of this family, and the way they are using social media to offer a package deal for their customers. Good on them.

For a great deal on a fantastic looking shirt, try American Promotions District Threads Pigment Dyed T-shirt. I like the soft feel of these shirts and the pigment dyed colors.

Christmas Craft Fairs

My wife is hosting a little Christmas Craft Fair for children this Friday at our home. It is on the small side for justifying custom promotional items. However a larger Christmas Craft Fair hosted by a school, community center, club or some other organization would benefit from an economical budget tote with a Christmas theme print. This light cheap bright red cotton tote would fit the bill perfectly.

Brass Christmas Tree Ornament

Here is a pretty little brass christmas tree ornament which can be imprinted with your company logo.
You can find our full line of promotional Christmas Ornaments here.

Mmmm . . . . Turkey!

Given it is two days after Thanksgiving and I'm still warmly remembering our scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner, I thought it would be appropriate to post a quick Thanksgiving promotional item - a Turkey stressball and a fun Roasted Turkey Pen. If your company gives away a turkey or a Thanksgiving theme Turkey Gift Certificate, this is the perfect little companion promotion to accompany your gift and get a little branding mileage at the same time. I think a grocery store which is running a loyalty program could obtain goodwill with one of these promotions as well.

And I give you . . .. drumroll . . . the Roasted Turkey Pen

Motorcycles . . . . someday

Motorcycles are one of the things about which I daydream. However, as a father of six, they really aren't practical right now. Money flows into house payments, gas for the van, high food bills and all other kinds of priorities. However, every few months I find myself on the Harley Davidson or Indian Motorcycle or Victory Motorcycles websites drooling over these bejeweled, chrome machines. My wife of course also believes when you ride a motorcycle it isn't if you will have an accident, but when.

There are dozens of motorcycle themed promotional products. However, here are just a couple of ideas.

The first is a motorcycle stress ball. This would be great for a contest giveaway at a trade show booth where the contest winner is receiving an actual motorcycle. There are other tie-ins such as sales competitions where the theme is "riding."



Another is this Soft-Touch motorcycle shape key chain. This is perfect for a motorcycle repair shop or a motorcycle dealer, or perhaps a commercial motorcycle track. It is very durable and can be created in 15 different colors of vinyl.



These custom PVC luggage tags could also be customized in a motorcycle shape and would be a great addition to a piece of motorcycle luggage.

An Analysis of A Women's Conference

My wife does a great marketer's analysis of a conference she attended in Portland a couple of weeks ago.

I went to a Time Out For Women conference in Portland last weekend. As a marketer, I can’t attend as just an audience member; I must analyze their marketing and look for areas where they should’ve asked my advice [wink].

I actually was impressed with this conference. They did a lot of things right. Here are 4 great ideas the conference did right, their table covers, their use of printed stickers, their giveaway bag, and their use of special conference pricing, and 1 idea to shorten their long lunch lines, a typical conference problem.

Table Covers: Logo or No Logo?

They had nice table covers displaying their products. They hung well, which is a way you can tell they were on the nice side rather than the cheaply made side. These table covers weren’t logoed, but I didn’t think that was a mistake on their part. They had less than 10 tables full of product. They didn’t need their table to stand out among the crowd, which is when logoed table covers earn their keep, because there wasn’t a crowd of competing sellers. . . .

You can finish the article here

Bungee Rockets

One of the more surprising good sellers at American Promotions are these bungee rockets. I just wish they came in more colors.

We sell another style - the Venice Bungee Rocket here.

New Facebook Page

Last night, I put together a new graphic for our new American Promotions' Facebook page. I have yet to feature the Facebook page prominently on the front page of our website, so there are no fans yet besides myself. The old Facebook page was pretty pathetic, and I will be deleting it sometime next week. The new graphic and page will be a good hub for our YouTube videos and some of the other blog posts we are doing. I also want to eventually try some additional contests.

Take a gander at the new Facebook page, comment and let us know what you think.

Cotton At 140 Year High

Although not the inflation adjusted high, the Wall Street Journal is reporting raw cotton is at a 140 year high in nominal price since records began in 1870. I expect this will affect the price of imprintable t-shirts and other promotional appartel, although with demand low due to the recessionary environment, the manufacturers will try to absorb as much of the increase as they can.

Presently, a basic tee at bargain retailer Old Navy is running $8 online and there are on sale tess on their website for $3.99.

American Promotions is a great source for imprintable t-shirts, and we watch the trends and understand how to make your company look good on a t-shirt.

Try a nice lived-in style like the District Threads Pigment Dyed t-shirt, and give us a call for ideas for creating a nice tee for your company or organization.

Painting the House

The last month or so, we have used a lot of our extra time to work on painting the house as a family. It is a slow and fairly ineffective way to paint a house, especially with the ongoing life demands of a family of eight. However, I have enjoyed doing it, and we are making good progress. Here a paintbrush stress ball to mark the occasion.

"Mr. Tee"

This Threadless brand t-shirt titled "Mr. Tee" is wickedly clever.

New $100 Bill Won't "Foil" Inflationists

A Bloomberg piece describes the unveiling of the new euroesque US $100 bill to be rolled out in 2011. http://bit.ly/95gvxm. The bill is being introduced to fight counterfeiting - as if that is our major fiscal problem!

The article informed me several things I did not know. The $100 bill is now the largest bill printed by the U.S.. The $500 and $1000 bills are still in circulation, but are mostly being sopped up by collectors. The new $100 will feature a new 3-D security ribbon. I think I'll wait until the new bill comes out and use it to buy the DVD for Avatar - just to do it poetic justice. The new money will bear Timothy Geithner's signature - oh joy.

Disappointingly, I did not see in the article any mention that the money will foil the efforts of the inflationists who pervade our federal government. In fact, I suspect quite the opposite.

Custom Sandals

Summer is just a month or two from now and we have really beefed up our line of custom imprintable sandals. Perfect for promoting your company's next summer event or beach party, these would be a hit with almost anyone receiving them. They are also great for promoting resorts or for gifting to build anticipation for a company trip.

If you have a mid size team sales organization, and you are giving away a trip as a reward for top performance, you could pass out custom imprinted sandals with your logo or the name of the promotion to get the promotion kicked off. Wrap the sandals in a logo beach tote and throw in a surfboard key chain to complete the package.

My favorite style is the Classic - a simple promotional flip-flop which gets the job done and has numerous options to get the color and the look you want.

4-Port USB Hub is a Cool Toy

This little folding 4-Port USB Hub is great. Useful, memorable, and fun, this promotional USB Hub reminds me of another happy product - Legos. I can see the folding accordion body with a different message on every segment. A very effective promotion, I can see gifting this with a solid color USB drive with your company's presentation, message or video.

Cheese Board and Knives Set

This is a great promotional cheese cutting board and knifes set for the money. It features:

• Pie-scored natural oak cheeseboard with four stainless steel cheese knives.
• Soft cheese knife, universal blade knife, slicer and cleaver.
• A "swiss cheese" style knife which has the utility to keep the cheese from sticking.

This would make a nice company gift with your logo:

Cheese Board and Knives Set

ETS Express Coming Out With Great New Product

My favorite drinkware supplier, ETS Express is coming out with some very stylish new H2Go water bottles, and we are excited to get them into our line. Check them out.

H2Go Vornado
H2Go Stealth
H2Go Soho
H2Go Wide