Product Review: Promotional Stuffed Animals, A Beaver

We got an order for 250 of these stuffed animal beavers. They're so soft and cute!

 Here is a picture of the beaver with the t-shirt. The logoed tiny t-shirts are on their way here from the printer, the one this beaver is wearing is blank. Both blank and logoed tiny t-shirts are available.

Stuffed animals are a growing promotional category. Probably because there are so many animals to choose from, all of them appealing, and animals advertise well---almost everyone loves them.

These beavers are for an organization that fights wildfires. They're going to give them away to their people.

American Promotions carries a large line of stuffed promotional animals. Go here to see a stuffed Bull for a financial company her for a stuffed Bear that was ordered for a bank, and here to see a stuffed promotional cow that was ordered for a pharmaceutical company.

What's your favorite animal? What company do you think should use a stuffed animal promotion?

AP Video: SS Classic Promotional Water Bottle

This American Promotions video displays the H2Go Stainless Steel Classic promotional water bottle.

The H2Go Stainless Steel Classic water bottles are made from 18/8 stainless steel and hold 24 oz. of cold liquids. Their screw-on black lids come with a hole for the add-on carabiners. They're manufactured in 7 colors. Imprint area is 5 1/4 x 3 inches, but be sure to ask us about the full wrap option (using color coordinated stock art to design a fully covered water bottle).

Go to our American Promotions webpage for product and ordering information of the H2Go SS Classic. 

To see similar stainless steel promotional water bottles, click on their names:

• The Stainless Steel H2Go Bolt promotional water bottle
• The Stainless Steel H2Go Athans promotional water bottle

For an aluminum version, the H2Go Aluminum Classic promotional water bottle, take a look at this video by clicking here.

For samples and answers to your questions feel free to contact us with a toll-free call at American Promotions 1-877-604-5646.

Do you prefer a water bottle made of stainless steel, or a different material?

Real Promotions: Mousepad

We had an order recently of full color mousepads. Mousepads are a classic promotional product because of their low cost and high logo visibility.They have a soft fabric top layer on top of a rubber circle, and come in different thicknesses.

I'm using one of these mousepads under my computer mouse at this very moment. It works great, even at the thinner size, which is key to a successful promotion. The product must work well! I think the colors on the mousepad make it a successful promotion as well. What isn't as successful, to me at least, are the five initials printed at the bottom of the pad. I assume it has something to do with the company, but it doesn't tell me what the company does or how to contact them. Including that information would take the promotion to a higher advertising level--even if the phone number or website were tiny on the pad. However, this company still gets high points for choosing long lasting mousepads and for the bright full color logo that catches the eye.

Thanks for your order, and best promoting wishes to you, WPAFB.

What's under your computer mouse? 

AP Video: H2Go Bolt Promotional Water Bottles

This American Promotions video shows the H2GO Stainless Steel Bolt promotional water bottle.

The H2Go Bolt water bottle is made from 18/8 stainless steel and holds 24 oz of cold liquid. Available blank or with your logo, the Bolt also offers a full wrap option that surrounds your logo with a stock art wrap custom colored to match. The stock art wraps are very attractive and give you water bottle a designer look.

The Bolt comes with a screw-on black lid that has a hole for an add-on carabiner and is textured to make screwing the lid on and off easy even with wet fingers. 

To see similar stainless steel promotional water bottles, click on their names:

• The Stainless Steel H2Go Classic promotional water bottle 
• The Stainless Steel H2Go Athans promotional water bottle

For an aluminum version, the H2Go Aluminum Classic, take a look at this video by clicking here.

Click here for more product and ordering information at the American Promotions website (live chat available). For samples and answers to your questions, contact us at American Promotions 1-877-604-5646 

Where do you use your water bottles? What's your favorite?

Product Review: Promotional Sweatshirt Blankets

My eldest daughter just entered high school. I'm rather in shock, because I can't believe she's old enough and I can't believe I'm old enough.

With her in high school, I expect she'll want to go to outdoor football games (high school football is really big in our town). I remember my high school football days. The bright lights, the loud cheering, the chilly fall air...NO, I didn't actually play. But in my senior year I wore the school mascot suit, taking turns with my twin sister, riling up the crowd. It was a comet suit. Yes, most unusual mascot.

A popular school sport promotion is the sweatshirt blanket.

People use sweatshirt blankets to keep warm and show school spirit as spectators, like this woman in a Hunter green promotional sweatshirt blanket....

or like this sport participant wearing a red sweatshirt blanket, and, um, little else.

Imprinted sweatshirt blankets roll up small, making them slightly more portable than the also popular fleece promotional blankets or plush promotional blankets. 

For other school event promotional accessories, check out these fold-out stadium cushions, self-inflating stadium cushions, football shaped stadium cushions, as well as stadium noisemaker sticks (here's the AP video of those noisemakers).

What was the mascot of your school? Anyone else have a Comet for their mascot?

AP Video: H2Go Athans Promotional Water Bottle

We made this video over at American Promotions to display the H2go Athans promotional water bottle.

The H2Go Athans promotional water bottles are made from 18/8 stainless steel and hold 24 oz. of cold liquid. They come with a standard Screw-On Lid but have a Carabiner Lid or a Sport Pull Lid option. They're designed in six metallic colors and have an add-on carabiner available.

The H2Go Athans water bottles look very sleek and modern with their handsome metallic design. They slope in at the "waist" to make a comfortable hand hold when carrying or drinking.

To see similar stainless steel promotional water bottles, click on their names:

• The Stainless Steel H2Go Bolt promotional water bottle
• The Stainless Steel H2Go Classic promotional water bottle

For an aluminum version, the H2Go Aluminum Classic promotional water bottle, take a look at this video by clicking here.


Go here for product and ordering information (live chat available on the website), or for samples and answers to your questions, contact us at American Promotions 1-877-604-5646.

What kind of water bottle do you use?

Marketing Opinion: Courtesy Calls Aren't About Just Saying Hi

When I answer the phone and hear the words, "Hi, I'm [Jane] and I'm calling from [a business] and this is just a quick courtesy call...." I instantly know that it's NOT just a courtesy call. Jane isn't calling to just say Hi.

It's a sales call. And when callers come to the part in their script that asks, "Are you interested?" I say No. Most of the time. Because I'm not interested. And they're off to the next call. Because they have a certain amount of calls to make an hour so they can get paid. No one is really interested on either side of the telephone.

This pattern as a marketing plan doesn't seem to be working. Paying people to make calls that no one wants to hear? There has to be a better way to use the telephone to connect to prospective customers.

I think I know a better pattern. What if a company sent a gift to a prospective customer, and THEN made the follow up call? And the follow up call was to ask them what they thought of the gift. If they didn't like it, then find out why. If they did like it, then find out why. A conversation happens. A real conversation, not just a false courtesy call to see if someone is interested in listening to a sales pitch. The gift begins the conversation.

Here are some items that are:

• inexpensive, which is important for giveaways, 
• small, so they fit into a mailer,
• useful, so they don't get thrown away before the call,
• unique, so the gift will be remembered when the follow up call is made.

Here are FIVE mailer gift possibilities:

The Mint Pen. This is a pen shaped container that dispenses mints one at a time. Available in three flavors: peppermint, cinnamon and squint and sugar free. 

While I'm on the subject of mints, Check out these Slim Mints:

They're small so they fit in a wallet, pocket or mailer. And they have a large imprint space for the money, plus they get double the logo views when your recipient shares a mint! They are available in a sugar free version too.

That flat credit card shape is easy to mail and portable to carry, so take a look at these uniquely shaped Flatinum USB Flash Drives:

The last two mailer suggestions will be promotional pens. Pens are the most popular promotional item, because they are inexpensive and useful to everyone. But to go into a mail, the pen has to be unique, otherwise it won't get much notice.

Here are two unique pens that will make a promotional mailer stand out:

These pens are the Retractable Pocket Telescope Ballpoint Pens.

The ribbed silver barrel telescopes into a full sized pen! The retracted size is smaller, which makes mailing easier.

These pens are the Shorty Sporty Pens. They're only 3 1/2 inches long, great for mailing, and they include a key chain attachment, which increases the usefulness to include portability as well as writing!

So next time you get a courtesy call, ask the caller to give you a courtesy gift first, and then you'll talk.

Does your company use the telephone for sales calls? Have you ever made a business call and got shot down by an uninterested listener? Do you like courtesy calls?

AP Video: Double Wall Plastic Tumbler

Sometimes it's helpful to see a cup in a video rather than in a photograph, so we've created this American Promotions video for the Double Wall Plastic Tumbler. The imprint for this product goes on the side.

With Fall and Winter weather right around the corner, it's time for hot drinks. Steaming coffee, hot chocolate and tea warm us up during the cold season. Then comes Spring and Summer with iced tea and cold sodas to keep us cool.  If you want promotional drinkware designed for cold AND hot liquids, then the 12 oz. Double Wall Plastic Tumbler is an excellent choice.

The 12 oz. Double Wall Plastic Tumbler is a promotional cup designed for keeping hot or cold liquids at temperature. Its dimensions fit most corporate coffee machines and it is BPA free. It comes in WHITE.

American Promotions carries a variety of tumblers made from plastic to stainless steel. For samples or more product information, contact us at American Promotions or at 1-877-604-5646.

What do you drink to keep cool in the Summer and warm up in the Winter?

Real Promotions: Office Break Room Promotional Imprinted Mugs

I wandered over to the Break Room of our office complex. I wanted to see what kind of promotional cups that people kept and used. I found five.

One was from a local radio station, one from an electric supply company, a local college, a local branch of Kiwanis Club, and People's Bank. All five of their imprints were in mint condition. These mugs are used a lot, so it's a real life example of how long logoed mugs last. 

Although these logos were in excellent condition, they could've used the ad space more completely.

Lots of  points goes to the college for including their contact information--they were the only one out of the five. 

Now, there are two camps about including contact information. One side says just use the logo, it will keep your business at the top of the customer's mind, and they'll use the phone book or the Internet to find contact information. That makes some sense, but I am of a different mind. I believe that contact information, even if very small, makes more use of the ad space and makes customer communication more easy. In my opinion, the easier it is for a customer to make contact, the more customers will do so. 

I've used promotional products to quickly access a phone number. I did it with a dentist's refrigerator magnet and a sign maker's pen. Both included their phone number and both of them received my business. 

That being said, sometimes all a company wants is name recognition. I think of the pharmaceutical industry. Since prescriptions are delivered through doctors and pharmacies, name recognition of their drug is all a pharmaceutical company wants. But they are an exception to the general rule. Another exception is promotions for large chains. 

The bank mug that I'm looking at right now is for a large chain. They probably ordered a big mug order through corporate and distributed it to the branches. They exchanged customer contact for a cheaper price on the mugs, and I think that can be justified, but they should've included their website at the very least, to encourage online banking.

The radio station should have included their radio station number! The Electric supply company should have included their phone number to make reorders easier! The Kiwanis should have included their meeting time, which is the same year round (for example: Meet with us the fourth Tuesday of every month). This would be a good reminder for their members and would take their mug's advertising potential up a notch.

Mugs are a classic promotional product because they are long lasting, visible, inexpensive and useful. American Promotions carries promotional Bistro mugs here and Diner Mugs here. If you're thinking about a mug promotion, consider taking it up a notch by pairing it with imprinted packets of hot chocolate or coffee like this:

What mugs are in your break room? Your kitchen cupboard?