A blog primarily about promotional products, branded apparel and advertising specialties, but also some of my simple joys, observations and thoughts about life, family and business.
Tuesday, September 04, 2012
I added a new drinkware video to our product review movie line up:
This video displays and explains the features of the Hampton Tumbler.
Why does American Promotions make these videos? Mainly because it's helpful to the buyer! It's helpful to get a peek at a product before buying it, and the videos explain the product too. After all, if we are going to spend money on a product, we want information before committing the funds.
Helping our customers is why we do product videos at American Promotions, and why we will continue to make them! Hope you find them helpful! Which are your favorites?
I am holding in my hand a glossy red heart pencil just like the picture to the left (except for the logo). The pencil is from a client that makes a heart pump which is saving lives all over the world. It's feels nice to have a small connection to a business doing amazing things world-wide.
It's also a good promotion! It's memorable, useful and exactly represents the company. I don't know if the pencils go to the patients who are on the pump, or if they go to doctors who install the pumps. But wherever that pencil travels, it will remind people everywhere of the heart pump company.
Do your promotions represent your business as well?
I crossed paths with my sister-in-law, and she was drinking out of a clear Spirit tumbler with a Costco logo. That same day, I ran into a shelf of these same acrylic tumblers at a local craft store.
Why do I love this cup? Could it be the straw??
They are EVERYWHERE. Since they are one of my favorite cups, I can understand why everyone wants one! So when the manufacturer makes these acrylic tumblers even better...well, I have to blog about it. The acrylic tumbler now has a version with a HUGE added feature: It keeps drinks as cold as ice does--without the ice!
The Chiller is Chillin'
This Sedici Cool Gear Chiller is a tumbler that acts like a cooler for your drink. After four hours in the freezer, this Cool Gear Chiller is ready to chill your drink. And it can re-freeze over and over. And it doesn't water down your drink like ice does (Note: make sure you don't freeze the lid and straw).
This is NEW and it is an improvement on my favorite tumbler and now I have one. Do you?
I use kitchen timers, do you? I time all kinds of things! I use a timer when a child is doing their reading homework or playing on the computer. I use a timer to clean the house (telling myself that I can accomplish a lot of cleaning in just 15 minutes). I carry a timer when I have something in the oven, because I can't hear the oven timer ring when I'm downstairs.
Kitchen timers make useful promotional products because they are used, carried, viewed daily and in a high traffic area of the home, the kitchen.
Now I mentioned kitchen timers in last week's blog post on kitchen products. In fact, that's what got me started on today's post. These kitchen timers are Too Cute! So I'm going to write a whole post on kitchen timers that can be custom imprinted.
These cuties come in Lemon, Potato, Pear, Red Pepper, Pumpkin, Red Apple, Corn,
Eggplant, Carrot, Cabbage, Green Pepper, Tomato, Egg, Rooster or Chicken! Each of these timers can be set up to an hour, and carried around handily.
But that is NOT all! This gleaming pot timer is also available in the shape of a Toaster, Blender, Pepper Jug, Coffee Pot, Kettle, Stock Pot, Frying Pan or Champagne Bottle!
All these kitchen timers are 2" x 3" and have imprint areas of 1/2" x 3/4" for a logo.
Kitchen products make useful promotions because they are viewed daily in a very high traffic area of the home, the
kitchen.They catch a lot of logo impressions which increases the value to your business.
What promotional products are in your kitchen? On the front of my refrigerator I have a magnet notepad and a logoed pen. On the side of my refrigerator, I have a promotional magnetic calendar, two magnetic business cards (my dentist and doctor) and in my utensils drawer I have an imprinted jar opener and bottle opener.
I don't think I am out of the ordinary in keeping and using personalized kitchen swag. So I have picked out four kitchen promotional products that I like, to give you ideas on how to harness the kitchen to advertise your business:
I appreciate how you can take your normal business card, and turn it into something useful and highly visible, a notepad on the fridge, rather than the card getting lost in a desk drawer.
Add to the refrigerator notepad this Bic magnetic pen --your business will be remembered fondly every time a pen is so easily located. I want one! My current logoed pen rests on top of the fridge and I would like it better stuck to the side so it doesn't risk rolling off.
Help them find a pen, and remember your company name, at the same time
In fact, looking at these charming kitchen timers reminds me how much I use and like timers. I think I'll blog next week just on kitchen timers.These ones are too cute to be ignored!
Yes, that is the printed logo on a cutting board. Neat idea for this display logo to show full color food and include a recipe. That's a lot of space for a logo, 11x17", and there's a smaller 8 1/2x11" version available too.
People spend a lot of time in the kitchen, so placing your logo onto kitchen products helps your business get remembered!
What custom printed products do you have in your kitchen?
Today is actually Jump for Jelly Bean Day. Who knew? In honor of this auspicious day, I found some fun jelly bean facts from the Fun Facts About Jelly Belly site:
1. The first jelly bean was created by an unknown American candy maker in the
1800s.
2. An 1861 advertisement recommended sending jelly beans to soldiers
fighting in the Civil War.
3. Jelly Belly donated 288,000 jelly beans in 47 different flavors for the
world's first jelly bean stop-motion animation music video "In Your
Arms" by Kina Grannis; released November 2011. It's AMAZING! Have you seen it (see it below)?
4. Americans consume 16 billion jelly beans at Easter, many of them hidden
in baskets. If all the Easter jellybeans were lined end to end, they
would circle the globe nearly three times (according to FactMonster).
That's a lot of jelly beans! They are a popular candy, so of course, jelly beans make for good promotions. Here are three of my favorite jelly bean promotions:
These pill bottles are a giveaway with a sense of humor. Printing your logo on these large bottles gives a good laugh--and laughing makes logos memorable.
I like how this promotion is triple layered: first, eat the candy, second, use the notepad, third, refill the notepad because the beechwood holder lasts practically forever.
I love music and my teenage daughter loves it even more. She is hoping to get started in guitar lessons when school starts up again. We are looking for a good guitar teacher.
There are a lot of music teachers who live around here. How do we choose who to go to? Word of mouth. Facebook (which is word-of-mouth on steroids). It's through people. People will recommend the name of the music teacher who taught their kids so well. Let's hope they remember the phone number too. You know, it would be very helpful if there was a phone number, with their name, on something they could hand to me!!
Enter promotional products. This is where they shine. To help the word-of-mouthers pass the correct information along. Wonderful guitar music teachers of my area, please give everyone around you something with your name and phone number on it.
Maybe this inexpensive refrigerator magnet? It will reveal your name, phone number, email address and mailing address in up to six colors for 62 cents each.
I started work on a product review video today focused on fabric-topped mousepads, so I've been thinking about that industry.
Mousepads are in the top ten of most popular promotional products, because they position logos so visibly, they get used rather than thrown out, and logos can be displayed in attractive full color.
But just because mousepads are classic advertising product doesn't mean that industry has stayed stagnant. A new technology has emerged making the Original Fabric Mousepad with antimicrobial technology! I think that is just genius. I even have a motto for it:
Mousepads: Carrying your message, not your diseases.
I don't know, should I copyright that? ;) ;)
On a more serious note, another step forward that the Mousepad Industry has taken is in the new "mouse paper." It's not paper made from mice or even shaped like mice. Mouse paper is combining mousepads with notepaper!!! It is a second genius idea and proves that innovation is possible in every industry.
One of our computers uses Mousepaper as its mousepad. The top layer has notes scribbled on it and we are about half way through the pad of paper. VERY USEFUL idea! Paper is right where we need it, and no one runs off with it because it is a mousepad under a mouse.
Do you have a mousepad next to your computer? What does it say on it?
I watched two parades in the last two weeks, and while I enjoyed the bands, the glittering floats, and the fantastic cars driving by, I pondered parades and promotions.
Parades bring lots of people together who sit and watch each other. This makes parades a perfect place for promotions. As we wove our way to an empty spot to sit and watch, I counted three of these umbrella hats.
Immensely practical umbrella hats! They shade, they keep off rain, and...they advertise. There were enough hats to recognize that people will wear them. And a logo imprinted on the side would have advertised to hundreds of people and be cheaper than a billboard.
Add to that, beach umbrellas at a parade.
Beach Umbrellas for Parade Shade
Easier to carry than a canopy, yet providing shade, as I melted in a mere straw hat, I suppressed my shade envy toward the beach umbrella people.
As more people filled in the empty areas of the sidewalk, I noticed the group in front of me brought stadium chairs.
The two seats, exactly like our Tote Stadium Seats promoted a piano teacher! There, on the back of the stadium chairs (that looked comfortable to sit in and easy to carry, both of which make parade goers universally jealous) was the website address of a piano teacher. She should've made her text logo a bit bigger, I had to squint, but I applaud her for choosing those stadium seats as a promotion. Great memorable and usable marketing!
Now a word about t-shirts. T-shirts are classic promotions, and at a parade they show group solidarity as well as "talk" to the audience.
Multiple times I watched groups of people wearing the same logoed t-shirts holding together huge balloon floats. I even saw a band dressed in identical logoed shirts (although they used polos). One balloon-float group caught my eye because all the t-shirts were printed on the side. This meant that the people watching the parade could read the t-shirts more easily as they walked by. I sent mental kudos to whomever created that design.
Hope you enjoy your next parade. What promotions do you think that shine at parades?
I love summer! I will get tired of it, around August, and long for the cool nights of fall. But right now, I am enjoying the hot sun, warm water, fireworks, parades and outdoor picnics. The scent of sunscreen and lemonade are filling my nose.
It's now July, so I've been looking around for some fun promotions to go along with summer and The Fourth.
My first pick---I love these motorized fans! An outdoor concert or an evening of fireworks would be the perfect place to light up these fans and bring a bit of a breeze. Just bring an extra, you know people will want to borrow yours.
I can see us all now, sitting in camp chairs at the parade, or as fans on a bench at a sports event yelling "USA, USA" to the beat of maracas. I'd dance to that beat!
Today I worked two videos about the white and clear Visstun cups. As I was analyzing them, deciding features which to highlight, I realized I like how comfortable they are to drink from. Some plastic cups have a sharp edge on their rim. The Visstun cups have a rolled, rounded rim. This realization led to some drinking introspection.
Like lots of people, I try to drink the healthy 8 cups of water a day. Something that helps me drink more liquid is a comfortable drinking experience. It's not something I've thought much about. But, I realize that I have some drinking-comfort-opinions.
At home, I prefer glasses over plastic cups, the bigger the glass the better. Especially if I'm at the home computer, because I'll drink a lot of water without realizing it if it's next to me (but I get too busy on the computer to get up and refill it).
At restaurants, I prefer a straw with my ice water rather than drinking it from the glass. Probably because those glasses typically have so much ice. Ever taken a sip of water and have the ice suddenly shift, sploshing water down your front? Dislike. I prefer straws when I have ice. So if I want ice in my water bottle, I'd choose this H2Go Aqua water bottle (with its large opening) and use this H2Go Athans water bottle if I'm drinking liquid ice-less.
At the office, I prefer to drink from a water bottle--if I accidentally knock it over, a water bottle won't spill and ruin my computer or papers. I like a BPA free water bottle, so I don't drink any toxins..
And I just decided while writing this that I prefer spouts to open lids. I drink more water if I suck it up through a straw or spout than sipping with a rimmed cup. My current personal favorites (my co-workers have their own favs) are the Spirit Tumbler (it has a permanent straw and can used with hot cocoa or ice water)...
The sun is out hot today, the local water park and outdoor pool have opened, and since I am in the office and not out in the sun, I am going to talk about something beachy.
Today we had a client order 150 of these Beach Buddy Mats. They are made of a tubular polypropylene material, which means they are water and sand resistant. Totally tubular. Sorry, couldn't help myself.
I like the pocket, I like the inflatable pillow, but most of all, I like how the mat zips into a bag. Love that feature, actually. Whenever we go to a water play area (sadly, I don't live by an actual beach) I am loaded with stuff: Sunscreen, towels, snacks, water bottles, and more snacks, all in a humungous bag. The Beach Buddy takes that bag and doubles its use.
And I like the bright summer colors too. Hope you're catchin' some rays for me today!
Tonight is the Transit of Venus. Venus will visibly move in front of the Sun, like a grape in front of a watermelon. Are you going to watch it? It won't come around again until 2117. I suspect you and I won't be here for that.
Unlike this sunny stress toy, I don't have special solar eclipse glasses. I heard I could make some out of paper towel tubes...but I think I will try and figure something else out. It sounded complicated and I am at work until the Transit begins. But I am not without ideas. A couple weeks ago, a friend of mine watched the solar eclipse through two open car doors with tinted windows. I'm going to try that--double tinted windows.
There's a new ultimate frisbee course going in near my neighborhood. That place was a weedy eyesore, so I'm glad it'll be better used space. It reminds me of my college days, when I played a game of ultimate frisbee.
I had imagined the game to be a friendly throw and catch game. I was wrong. The males on both teams were out for blood. And I was a disk thrower on the wobbly side and a disk catcher on the, well, occasional side. I didn't last long.
However, that wasn't the last time I played with a flyer. I threw for a bit with one of my sons last fall. We had a fabulous time. And we were evenly matched, my 10 year old and I.
But I have no idea where that disk ended up. With warm weather approaching, I need to get another. I was looking through our catalog and saw two disks that were 100% recyclable. One even has an "enhanced biodegradability additive." I pictured me throwing a disk into the branches of a tall tree, or having it miss my frisbee partner and ending up in a river. Yes, with my frisbee prowess, I could see the value of an "enhanced biodegradability additive."
Have you ever thrown a frisbee? Do you call it a frisbee or disk or flyer??
I am a writer. That means many things, including....a weakness for journals.
Confession: I currently don't keep a daily journal. I go in fits and starts, and right now is a fit. But I still have a weakness for the smell of paper and the clean white potential of a page. So when we get a couple samples of Journalbooks, I'm excited!
8 months ago I made this product video on a faux leather JournalBook called the Pedova (that journal a beaut):
I didn't feel right about sniffing at the book cover in the video, but I like the smell of book. So I took a whiff off camera.
This is a recycled cardboard Tuck Journal. It's currently on CLEARANCE!
I have one of these pocket bound Ambassador books in my purse, so I can jot down great ideas when my muse strikes.
And this journal has crisp pages sandwiched between a cover of aluminum. Classy and unique!!
Do you keep a journal? What kinds of things do you jot down?
I'm always on the lookout for trends that affect promotional products. I stumbled on this article that announced the color Tangerine as the Color of the Year 2012. After reading that article, I've run into tangerine (in various shades) throughout the promotional products industry.
Tangerine is a bright, happy color that grabs attention, which makes it promotional color well-suited to snag impressions for business logos.And tangerines are tasty too!
Over the course of the last week, our landing page for the Spirit Acrylic Tumbler has been driving considerable interest for these excellent double wall acrylic 16 oz tumblers and for our Sedici Tumblers. People like the 11 available colors, the option to have of color lids on the clear tumblers, the choice of straws, and the expanding options in lid styles. The Spirit Tumbler is coming out within the next month with a hot cold lid option.
We even had a call from a company who was seeking to buy these acrylic tumblers in the 24 oz. size blank for the purposes of decorating them with vinyl graphics for their own clients. That was a first. The innovation of small business even in small variations always energizes and amazes me.
I enjoy reading other entrepreneurial successes, and recently, I've really taken to enjoying a little downtime browsing Kickstarter.com which is a great home for innovation on the web. More on that in later posts.
If your organization or customers are among the millions of people who have made the iPad an indispensable part of their lives, you may consider gifting the Pedova iPad Stand and Case. This refined and elegant case also features a pen loop and a ruled pad for notes. The organizational panel built into iPad stand features three ports for pen,
stylus or USB memory, five business card pockets and a receipt or memo
pocket. As a promotion, it will not break the budget either as it is crafted from UltraHyde as opposed to spendier leather.
