Happy Jump for Jelly Beans Day

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:

The fake-prescription bottle promotion:

Fill a Personalized Pill Bottle with Jelly Beans

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.

Put the jelly bean candy into a custom printed champagne bottle:

Fill a Champagne bottle with Jelly Beans

Fill a champagne bottle with jelly beans, for Jelly Bean "Bubbly!"

And the classiest jelly bean promotion, the custom firebranded Beech Notepad holder with Jelly Belly Jelly Beans (which is the most well-known company making jelly beans).

Jelly Beans with Notepad and Beechwood Holder

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.

Do you like jelly beans?

What Music Needs Everywhere

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.

Music Note Magnet

Even better, make it a magnet more eyecatching--and guitar shaped. Just print your name and number, and we will find you!

Guitar Magnet

This pencil comes shaped like a guitar...or as a note, even a french horn (but I'm not looking for a french horn teacher).

Oh music teacher in my community, I hope you promote yourself so I can find you.

We can't depend on the school music program being there for my child. In fact, perhaps what music needs everywhere is a little promoting!!

The Classic Mousepad Gets Innovations

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?

Parade and Promotions

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?

Staying Cool and Sweet and Dancing To your Own Beat

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.

Patriotic Lighted Fans

 Or for the daytime, check out a more inexpensive fan for summer parades and sports games:

Promotional Stars and Stripes Hand Fan

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!

USA Maraca

And ending on a sweet note, how about Patriotic Mints?

Patriotic Mints

Happy July to you! May you stay cool and sweet and dance to your own beat.