Thanksgiving - The Day After

I'm sure I will enjoy some left over turkey today, and after a client appointment in a couple of hours, we are headed to the hills to get a Christmas tree.

I just wanted to wish my readers and American Promotions loyal customers a Happy Thanksgiving.

I thought this promotional Turkey Pencil is unique and fun.

Papercraft is Growing (and it makes a good promotion too)

I've always loved building toys. I spent years building toys in my childhood and teen years. My brothers and I were very into papercraft - building paper toy models and objects with three dimensional designs. Our family did not have a lot of money, and we created most of our toys except for the ones we bought with our own money, and the few which we received at Christmas. My brothers and I thought we were unique in the creation of paper toys, but I've learned just in recent years that it is a fast growing worldwide hobby, which has in some ways exploded because of the advent of the internet and the color printer. Papercrafts can now be inexpensively downloaded and printed out, and some people seem to have created little side businesses actually selling the higher quality downloads. This is all very cool.

My favorite blog for monitoring the world of papercraft is Papercraft Paradise. It is a great aggregator of links from all over the world to new papercrafts, and a vibrant community of people who do this for a hobby. I've never used it, but there is a Japanese software called Pepakura which facilitates the conversion of a 3-D digital image to the parts of a papercraft model. From what I can tell, there is still quite a bit of skill which goes into producing a good design, but this tool is really helpful in creating good designs.

I've also learned that offering papercraft designs is growing in popularity as a business tool, and it is something free that a company can offer to generate website traffic and interest in their product. Canon, Yamaha and Nissan all seem to be getting in on this action.

American Promotions has not entered the business of offering 3-D papercraft printable models to it's promotional clients, and at this time, although it is a very interest field, I do not see us going there. However, there are other promotional building toys which we do offer, and hundreds more which we have access to.

I particularly like this Icon Stix and Stonz executive toy. You can logo the tin which goes with it. This Icon marble maze is also a neat promotion.

Weekend Explorer Grill

This is a unique set. I can't imagine it being in huge demand, but it has a certain innovative appeal. It is a Weekend Explorer Grill and Cooler set. I'd have to see it in person to know how it really works. The outer chamber holds the grill, while the inner chamber holds up to 12 cans of cooled beverage - not bad to pack all into one unit. My only question would be: How long do you have to wait for the grill to cool before you put it all back together, or if you just cooled it with water, would the fast temperature change warp the product.

To use this as a promotional product, it can have a single color or multi-color logo put onto it with image-bonding. This is an unusual imprinting methodology, and I think I'll ask Primeline, when I get a chance more about it.

Sweatshirt Blanket - Junior Size

Our sixth baby is over six months old, and he is huge. I think he weighs more than 25 lbs. now, and he just started rolling over a couple weeks ago. He is fat, adorable, smiley and a very contented baby. For whatever reason, he has started to interact more just within the past few weeks - kind of like he woke up from his previously contented nature. We are having a lot of fun with him.


It started me thinking about good promotional products which could be given by a hospital, another medical facility, or someone who wants to market to or gift to mothers. One of the best is this is this sweatshirt blanket. We sell a lot of these in a larger stadium blanket size, but this size would be perfect as a blanket for kids, toddlers and babies. It comes in a wide variety of colors and even the hang tags can be customized if your organization is offering it as a gift or offering it at resell.

An Evening With My Daughter

Tonight, I go with my daughter to the annual Daddy/Daughter dance with my little girl sponsored by our church, Mandy. She is not so little anymore, as she turns 12 next month. This is the last year I will be attending this dance with her, as the dance is put on for girls age 8-11. It is always a very sweet evening. It usually has a Fifties theme. The fifties is kind of out of fashion in the U.S. right now, and even though it predates me by a couple of decades, I think about that era with fondness. It may be more perceived than real, but it seems to have been a simpler time, and an era of family values and wholesomeness. I'm sure it has many of the same problems as our modern era, and there is an element of innocence encapsulated in that decade.

I was searching for promotional items representing the fifties, and I frankly didn't find much. The sixties, seventies, eighties and even the thirties are a lot higher up in the cultural consciousness right now. I did however find a Compress T in the shape of a jukebox which I thought was kind of fun. I'm not too fond of the stock art, but it could be customized with cooler colors and design.

Need More Sports

I didn't grow up a very athletic guy. I regret it a little. I wish I would have been more involved in team sports. I played some basketball with a pick-up team at my church, and I practiced basketball a lot at home, because I wanted to be better. The only other sport which I really did competitively was swimming and I really enjoy swimming. My grandparents had a swimming pool and in the summer months, I used to swim four or five times a week. I was on a swimming team in 6th and 7th grades, and I really enjoyed that. We traveled to meets, and I did ok, and placed here and there.

I would like my children to be more involved in athletics than I am too, but at present that is not going so well. We have a big family, and I work a lot, and my children seem to be more interested in creating things, the sciences, books, stories, hiking, camping and cooking and the like. Those are fantastic skills and interests, but I would like them to be a little more involved in sports, and I guess I just need to make it more of a priority. I had my three oldest children in Little League for a while and that was fun, but all of the driving around just became a little too heavy.

Anyway, I need to put more emphasis on physical activity with my kids and sports.

Promotional products are a natural tie in with sports. One of my favorite vendors is Sport Products. It's a pretty unimaginative name for a company, but they have a great focused line of promotional sports balls and a bunch of cheering items as well. I really like their line of soft sport footballs.

On the americanpromotions.com website, I found lots of cool football promotional products. I really liked the mini football with laces. It is just really sharp looking with a logo. I also really liked the micro mini football by Sport Products. It can be made in all kinds of school colors.

One of the more innovative suppliers in the promotional products industry right now is CorporateKey. They supply and manufacture over 1000 small portable electronics devices such as USB drives, wireless mice, USB hubs, MP3 players and digital photo frames.

American Promotions can offer any product which CorporateKey sales and at a discount. However, our website is best supplied with USB drives.

Election Candidates

I'm keeping my vote private, but I will say that neither of the two major presidential candidates represent the kind of Constitutional and foundational thinking about government that I hold so dear. They are both cut from the cloth which states that government can solve most of humankind's problems if we can just find the right set of policies. This is fundamentally flawed. People must solve their own problems through their own efforts, with their families and by means of voluntary cooperation from like-minded communities. Governments, by contrast, try to coerce and financially incentivize change.

Our founding fathers were inspired men who understood that the primary role of government is to protect those rights which are inalienable to us. Neither McCain or Obama will govern this way. Both of them are ready to open the goody bag (and already have) for all types of special interests and ideologues even if it means freedom gets short shrift. Both are ready to help people avoid the consequences of poor choices.

I've always been interested in the political process, and I think if I were more of a collector, political memorabilia would be a great place to collect. Most political items are promotional products, and they are highly effective ones in that the primary function is message, as opposed to the peripheral function as with other promtional items.

Here are a few: patriotic foil pencil, custom hand fans, Republican elephant hand fan, Democratic donkey hand fan, and bumper stickers.

Here is a cool site if your are interested in becoming a political memorabilia collector: http://apic.us/

Cutting Wood


I had a very manly Saturday this last weekend and a lot of fun. Every year, many of the men from our church go up onto a property in the Applegate Valley in Southern Oregon, and we cut and split wood for other members of our church who are in need of it, and are unable to do it for themselves. The manly feeling runs deep as everyone is in their woodsy clothes and the sound of chainsaws, the splitting ax, and the mechanical log splitter pierce the cool mountain air. It is hard work and a lot of fun, and their is laughing, grunting and sweat.


I took my two boys with me this year, one 9 and the other 7 and they moved the cut wood into piles and pulled and lifted the more manageable pieces to be cut.


This is the type of job that is much less pleasant without the right tools. A natural promotional product for this type of work is the work glove. American Promotions offers an entire line of logoed work gloves from the inexpensive gardening type to high quality cowhide leather work gloves. I really like this pair.

Custom Table Covers

One of our biggest sellers on our website is our custom table covers and our imprinted table runners and logo tablecloths. We sell these almost every day, and we believe with proper marketing that we could triple our performance on those items. We use multiple suppliers for our table covers. The more expensive ones demonstrate a real quality difference.

Our customers use these table covers at trade and community events, and from what I understand, some of them use them in retail as well. I believe we have the sources to do matching banners, which hang behind the table cover, but we need to improve that area of our website to show more possibilities. My business partner explains that they do not sell nearly as well as the tablecloths do.

The best made table covers have a polyester fabric which is woven in a way that the wrinkles virtually just fall out of them. We offer a less expensive table cover, but we have had a couple of complaints as of late that the product doesn't have the same wrinkle free drape. We have addressed this with the manufacturer, and they are working to correct the problem, but we hate selling stuff which does not convey quality, so if we cannot get the problems solved, we may have to discontinue this other line.

Does OrangeSoda Really Have the Fizz?

American Promotions recently retained OrangeSoda to help us with search engine optimization in a couple of categories in our lead time. We are in the first part of our second month with their company, and so far I have been impressed with their very fast responsive and friendly service. I haven't been 100% in agreement with all of their website change recommendations, but they have listened and been flexible. Granted, it is not the cheapest source for this type of work, but it is not unreachable for a small business that is serious about expanding their market online.

In my opinion, the verdict is still out as to whether they are worth the money, but I will do a follow up post when I've been with them longer and can determine their performance.

In the past I used ideservepageone.com for SEO, and the proprieter there is a nice guy as well. He does good work, and has a cool reporting system, but his company is a LOT smaller than OrangeSoda, and doesn't have quite the muscle. Granted it is about a quarter the cost.

New USB Drives

We don't sell a lot of logo USB drives, because we have stronger competitors online who have more successfully carved out the niche. It is a great niche too, because the category practically didn't even exist in promotional products about six or seven years ago, and now it has become a microindustry within the advertising specialties world unto itself. And for good reason.

USB drives satisfy one of the major qualifiers of a good promotional product. They are useful! And that cannot be said for every little giveaway. They now come in every shape and color imaginable. I've also seen fully custom versions in the shape of figures and vehicles.

I was struck by the good looks of this USB drive in rose wood and maple wood.

A Couple of Patriotic Promotions

We have featured patriotic promotional items on this blog before. Here are three fun and unique ones the next time you want to do a USA themed promotion:

USA Lighted Key Chain

Patriotic Red White and Blue Beach Ball

Logo patriotic red white blue tote bag

The Constitution

I'm feeling patriotic, because I am longing for an America that makes different choices, and I'm hoping that my beloved country can be redeemed. I'm not particularly enthused about either of the Presidential candidates. I frankly do not know who it will be better to live under, and I guess time will tell. I'm not a Bush hater, but I don't believe that he has taken our country in the right direction. I think he has made a lot of bad mistakes in the face of hard choices. Frankly, I just love the Constitution and I think most Americans have forgotten it or are simply confused about its history, meaning and intentions.

The best way to honor the Constitution is simply to read and study it.

But as I'm in the promotional products business, here are a couple of other ideas to promote this wonderful document: a logoed hardbound book copy of the Constitution which would be awesome for any company promoting freedom, and a calendar with the timeless "We The People."

The Bank Bailout - French America

I am deeply disturbed by the bank bailout presently being undertaken by our Federal government. It seems that every day I wake up to a headline about how our country is taking us a step closer to economic socialism. We are economically approximating France.

Today, the news is that our government may take a direct investment stake in thousands of United States banks, healthy as well as sick banks - prop up an unsustainable debtor system. The markets love security and money only - not freedom, and the DJIA rallied 936 points, the biggest point gain in history.

The America I know and love is slipping into the annals of history. It is frightening. People are looking to government for economic salvation - to rescue us from the consequences of deficit and high risk living. Huge imbalances have been built into the financial system, and people are simply not willing to take responsibility and pay the painful price, and let the capitalist system correct and adjust which is the only way out of this mess. The U.S. Government, in its panicked attempt to stem the losses and the pain, is willing to take us only further in, like it or not.

In the words of Michael Shedlock, one of my favorite bloggers on the subject, you cannot plug a broken dam with water - which is exactly what our government is doing as it floods the market with cheap loans and money - with the perverse and illogical reasoning that this new liquidity will overcome an extended period of easy credit.

I understand that the government is simply trying to prevent collapse, by restoring confidence, but in reality, they are only eroding the account balance and credit worthiness of the United States. And many people see it for what it is.

It cannot and will not last, as it is not based on solid principals. It will just transfer the systemic risk which is built into the banking sector to the U.S. Government and the taxpayer. And there will be a huge price to pay in inflation or repayment. I read the insurance on the risk of default on government bonds has quadrupled. I guess I am not the only one thinking this way.

Promoting for Halloween

Halloween is big business. I enjoy the holiday, because I like the excitement my kids derive from it. But my idea of a good Halloween is pretty tame. I hate horror moview. Actually, I'm not sure that I've ever even seen a REAL horror movie. Does The Dark Knight count? That is actually one of my favorites.

Anyway, I read in the Detroit News tonight that National Retail Federation estimates that Halloween is a $5 billion retail bonanza. Businesses are increasingly jumping onboard as a means to promote everything from safety to just a good time.

We have a modest collection of Halloween promotional products at American Promotions, but we could certainly improve it. I think we have sold a couple of orders this year - some trick-or-treat bags and some bat pens.

Lower Prices on Leed's Portfolios

We are lowering prices on our Leed's Padfolios. We should be done with the revisions by the end of this week.

The Return of the Promotional Piggy Bank

Now that the financial titans of the world are convulsing and collapsing around us, I wonder if there will be a cultural shift to remember old-fashioned values, such as saving and having a personal relationship with your banker, instead of deluding themselves with the notion that easy credit is the easiest way to economic prosperity.

I think a great promotional product which may see a resurgence is the logo piggy bank. Here is an inexpensive advertising piggy bank, and an even less expensive piggy bank, and some really nice higher end classic piggy banks.

Cool Ham Luke

With a hat tip to the recently deceased Paul Newman, my post title is simply what came to mind when I decided to post this fun Football Ham with crackers, Wisconsin cheese, a hardwood cutting block and a knife. This would be perfect to give your organization's employees to celebrate the big home game or for a Superbowl gift.

Maple Ridge Farms calls it "Tailgater." Appropo and very unique.

Maple Ridge Farms - The Perfect Choice For Christmas Giving

I am a huge fan of Maple Ridge Farms gourmet business gifts. They make a beautiful line of gourmet food gifts which are only sold through ASI member distributors. We sell Maple Ridge Farms every year, and last year is the first year that we had significant success selling the line via our online storefront.

On their own website, they boast that they sell to over 10,000 businesses every year, and I know that we have sold some very large orders over the years, so I would assume that they do a pretty healthy business. It will be interesting to see if the buying patterns change with the struggling economy. I'm sure that there will be a decline. I just don't know by how much.

Our company offers very competitive pricing on this line of business food gifts. Maple Ridge Farms offers the following product categories: Gourmet gift boxes with cookies, candy and nuts, smoked hams and turkeys, gourmet gift towers and party towers, a line of Quick Ship food gifts, really cool classic wooden trucks stuffed with goodies, a line of desk accessories combined with food gifts, and gorgeous food baskets a la The Office.

Breast Cancer Awareness Bracelets

We've sold several thousand breast cancer awareness bracelets this year. And it appears that lots of our competitors are selling them heavily as well, because it is only the first part of October, and most of our suppliers are telling us that they are already out of stock, and that they will not be restocking this year.

Last year there was an onslaught of "Pink" Find The Cure breast cancer awareness items available. We have an entire cancer awareness section of our website dedicated to these types of products. However, we've mostly moved bracelets. We sold a large order of beach balls and we may have sold a few other pink items, but the more expensive stuff is not moving.

I think with the economy seemingly on the brink, a lot of companies are cutting back on something extra like this, and that they hit the brakes very past, and the promotional products industry got blindsided, and they are overstocked. At least that is my guess. Plus, the trend this year seems to be in the "green" items.

Although I have mixed feelings about this bailout, I am not happy that it passed. I think it simply pulls us nearer to a coercively socialist scheme and where are property and money is not our own, because of the constant intervention by the government.

Stainless Steel Water Bottles

One of the up and coming trends in the advertising specialties industry is the metal water bottle. Metal water containers have been around for a long time. The settlers of the American West of 150 years ago used metal canteens. However, the metal water bottle has come a long way.

The new bottles are sleek, modern, innovative caps, straps, and cases for attaching them to bicycles. They come in an array of colors or in rugged unfinished steel or aluminum. Aluminum and stainless steel are particularly effective in sport bottles, because they are chemically stable, and the water or liquid stays clean and untainted. They are BPA free which is a large concern right now. There are two consumer products manufacturers making beautiful metal sport bottles. One is Klean Kanteen making stainless steel sport bottles. The other is Sigg, a Swiss company which makes an extruded aluminum bottle with a patented liner. Neither Sigg nor Klean Kanteen are inexpensive, and bottles can range as high as $25 each with many of the models costing in the high teens.

My favorite products in the promotional products industry are the H2go steel water bottles made by ETS Express. They are attractive and come in several sizes and shapes and a lot of cool colors that can successfully match almost any brand, plus they are about one third the cost of the big name brands. American Promotions collection of H2Go stainless steel sport bottles is found here. Here is the color selection for the H2Go Bolt Stainless Steel Water Bottle.

Promotional Products Ideas From Estonia

Promo products are being used the world over, even in places where you would think that they are not as pervasive. More and more, people understand the power of branding.

http://timandrewsblog-asicentral.com/timblog/2008/09/03/product-ideas-from-estonia-pics/

100% Recycled Biodegradable Funnel

This recycled 1 pint motor oil funnel is an inexpensive promotion for under a buck that can be used in connection with community recycling programs. It is 100% recycled polypropylene and it also has been designed with an additive which enhances the biodegradability of the plastic. Pretty neat.

Logo Airplane Glider

As I was out on the blogosphere and perusing for the latest and greates this morning, I encountered a fun product that makes me wish that I was a kid again. It is this Aeromax Jr. Astronaut Suit with Embroidered Cap. It has such a fun authentic look. I can just see my 5-year-old (or me) jumping on the trampoline in this suit as I defy gravity and explore uncharted space.

I was not sure if we had very many promotional items suitable for children. We actually don't. However, when I think about it, almost everything kids where or play with is logoed and designed to advertise the purchase of more of the same. I'm not sure that is a good thing, but it is what it is.

In the aeronautical theme, I did find this Promotional Bungee Glider which would be a great toy at a trade show or in a backyard.

I spent the better part of the morning reading various blogs and participating in the "global conversation" as it is referred to by Technorati. I frequently post on others blogs, because I really like to respond when I read something interesting, and it naturally provides a backlink to American Promotions, and gives people a chance to find us.

It reminded me that there are so many things that I know so little about, and yet I have a broad curiosity and a renaissance variety of interests, but there is so much information out there that you can quickly get lost and waste gobs of time.

My favorite find this morning is this blog by newsman and writer Jeff Jarvis for The Guardian. I left a long comment on this post, "The moral imbalance of bailouts" and had some trouble with the submission process. When I emailed him, he kindly responded almost immediately. It encouraged me to read several additional posts from his blog, and it is easy to discern that Mr. Jarvis is an innovator who is not afraid of change and is a true journalist in the sense that he seeks the truth. I don't share all of his political views, but he is an insightful writer, and deserves a look.

Just wanted to share this beautiful and deeply moving blog post by my good friend Chris Jones about the passage of time, untimely loss of a loved one and the advice we give our sweet children. Read only if your interested.

http://cjgroup.blogspot.com/2008/09/sunrise-sunset.html

FYI: The boy whose death is mentioned in the post used to live in the home where Chris now lives in Lehi, Utah.

Looking Cool

There is something very cool and professional about a slick leather portfolio. My own taste is minimalistic when it comes to something like this. I really like these sleek, unpretentious numbers from Aspinal of London.

We also do a number of great leather portfolios. I really like this one.

Online vs. Offline Sales (and Really Nice Luggage)

I've been in selling corporate promotional items and premiums now for more than 12 years. We began the transition to primarily a web based business about 3 years ago, and it has really become the substantial share of our sales in the last 12 months. One thing that I have learned is that the dollar value of the products that you tend to sell online is lower, and that the average sale is smaller than in traditional corporate sales. Granted, the internet works for you 24 hours a day, and it does a lot of the selling for you as customers seek you out, and you are able to interact with your customer in a way that is not possible offline. Selling online has also exponentially broadened our customer base and allowed us to go national. There are pros and cons to online selling, but we are pleased by in large that we made the choice that we did, and we are hopeful for the future of the company.

One thing I do miss is the really special and unique requests we used to get from some of our corporate clients. I have sold everything from high end watches, to snorkeling gear to custom pewter and marble chess sets. We used to stock a complete rewards program for a large international nutritional supplement company, and it gave us the opportunity to sell all kinds of different items ranging from neck ties, to beach promotions and apparel and outerwear of every level of quality. We just don't receive such unique assignments anymore.

It was always really fun to get a special request, and to acquaint oneself with new manufacturers and new products. I remember receiving a request for Zero Halliburton aluminum briefcases. These are such a cool and classic product. Zero Halliburton was not set up to sell through the advertising specialties industry, and as it turned out, I believe that I simply directed our client directly to Zero, because there was not room or logic for a middle man.

I went on to the Zero Halliburton website today, and saw that there product line is as gorgeous as I remembered it.

Zero now makes computer cases that are made from polycarbonate and are very strong. We just reroofed our greenhouse in polycarbonate, and I know it is strong from selling polycarbonate drinkware for years. We still have a significant collection of polycarbonate drinkware within our line of logo water bottles, but we have focused our marketing efforts on safe, customer centric BPA water bottles.

I decided to check out the Zero website, because I came across some beautiful luggage by Logomark Bettoni, and I just thought to myself how cool it would be to actually have a customer request an order of something like it. I think it is unlikely to sell these items from our website, because the pricepoint is so high. The highest end luggage which acts as a business premium is by Cutter & Buck such as this piece.

Budget Logo Brief Bags

Leed's is trying to adust to the economic realities of a sliding economy with these brief bags under $10.00.

I think I may use the same collection to target some web sales with pay per click.

Adjusting to the Downturn

The economy has definitely taken a downward turn. The feeling is palpable in our industry and across the economy. But smart businesses will conserve, will be frugal and will cut costs while finding ways to grow. American Promotions is actually growing even this year when the economic headwinds against growth seem to be so strong. There are a lot of reasons we are growing - many of which we consider to be proprietary and secrect.

The main issue is that we are seeking to be adaptable, and to constantly adjust based on the best data we can get. Another reason is that we are not real large anyway, and so there is a lot of room to take market share from competitors even if the pie is not growing.

The official position of ASI is that the pie of promotional products sales is growing. According to ASI, the industry sales for the 2nd quarter of 2008 grew at 3.7% over the same quarter in 2007. I can't link to this because it is industry protected data. I find these numbers to be suspect, but I have no idea how ASI collects there data, so I don't have grounds to criticize them. From our experience, most prices across the industry have gone up 5% to 15% (in some cases much more). If ASI's data only represents the nominal value of all goods sold, then it is very likely that the industry is actually moving less product, but still eeking out sales gains. I also think there is a generalized trend of money flow from traditional advertising such as radio and television to nontraditional outlets such as promotions and web advertising.

In any case, a lot of distributors are struggling, and I imagine that some suppliers are too. I hope the government does not interfere with the market too much and that we can innovate our way out of this.

How About Bamboo Tree For Your Desk

This is a really clever idea. Here is a promotional Bamboo Single Chute Pot set in a biodegradable pot that can display your logo. For the right program, this would make a very unique statement.

Be careful though where you plant it. Bamboo can take over if it is not managed.

A Bamboo Cutting Board - With Your Logo

American Promotions carries a lot of bamboo cutting boards which are really nice unique items as business gifts and for promotional use. Your companies logo is usually printed on or better yet laser engraved into the surface. This Moso Bamboo Travel Cheese Set cutting board is my favorite.

Bamboo Promotions

I've seen a trend toward promotions made of bamboo. I've always liked bamboo. I like it as a flooring. I like fabrics made from bamboo, and I love the exotic beauty of a bamboo forest. It grows and regenerates so quickly, which makes it a wonder renewable resource for making things.

One of my favorite examples of the ethereal beauty of a bamboo forest is in the movie The House of Flying Daggers. This is not my favorite movie in this genre (my favorite is Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and there are a couple of fundamentally flawed plot elements in Flying Daggers, but the battle scene which takes place in the bamboo forest is pure artistry.

Here are three fun promotional items which capture the beauty of bamboo:

Bamboo Keyhole Game
Bamboo Brainbuster Game
Bamboo Clip

A Great Pen Company

I just wanted to do a quick tip-of-the-hat to a great pen company - Senator Pen. They have done a fantastic job of offering a focused product line in the face of much more well funded and competition. They have great service and their website is innovative, straight-forward and intuitive. Promotional pens are the staple of the industry, and Senator has carved out a strong and well-deserved nitch.

Leather Padfolios and Journals

I've always liked the feel of genuine leather desk accessories, padfolios and journals. Presently, we have a decent collection of leather portfolios and padfolios, but I would like to augment our line with a larger color selection, because I think there is a color trend that is in full swing and moving through the industry. The success of the companies online that only offer leather journals is a testament to this.

Our leather padfolios are found here, but I expect our selection to grow over the next few months.

American Promotions is an authorized distributor of the Andrew Phillips Deluxe Leather Collection, and we are going to be adding a lot of their products to our website.

Circa/Rollabind System

I just discovered a really cool product that I think I would like to try. It is called the Circa Notebook System and it is available from Levenger. It looks really innovative. It is a perforation/punch system that punches "teeth" along the edges of any size of page, and then a notebook is disc bound, because the teeth grip each individual disc. This allows for fast and easy movement of paper in and out of the organizer or notebook and exchanging between notebooks with the same system. It looks to me like Levenger does corporate sales of the product and they have a really nice line. From what I could find online, the Levenger Circa system is a licensee of Rollabind, and Rollabind invented the technology. The Levenger system is also quite expensive for promotional use, but would make a really nice gift to the right executive.

I also just learned that Leed's has their own line of Rollabind products available through promotional products distributors. Here is the link for the Leed's Rollabind system, and the Rollabind website.

We are going to need to get some of these up on our website, and perhaps do a custom landing page for them, because it is an ingenius system, and I am glad that we can offer it.

Circa Disc Bound system - Also called Rollabind

Ocean Theme Promotions



My mind is on advertising specialties with an ocean theme, because of our trip to the coast for the Labor Day holiday. Several years ago, I sold a couple orders of completely waterproof containers for holding valuables such as keys, credit cards, cash and small jewelry. They are a very handy item for keeping things dry and on your person. I don't know that I'd risk body surfing while wearing something like this:



Here is a good quality version - the Flip-Top Floating Container from Bulletline.

Laser Engraved Palm Tree Picture Frame

Promotional picture frames make nice gifts. My wife and I were looking at family pictures on Thursday evening. I enjoy looking at pictures, and I really like photography. At some point, I'd like to devote some energy to becoming a better photographer.

Promotional picture frames make very nice gifts. If you are planning a classy beach dinner or resort style event, or if you are doing a Hawaiian luau theme party for employees, this promotional Palm Tree Picture Frame might be a nice fit. It can be laser engraved with your logo or with individual recipient names.

Another Travel Promotional Item Inspired by Coast Trip

This RoadMate Auto Set is a great auto organizer for road trips, and it comes with the Rand-McNally Atlas and a handy pen. Auto organizer includes pockets for necessities such as insurance and registration cards.

Headed to the Oregon Coast

Living in Oregon, we usually get down to the Oregon coast a couple of times a year. Sometimes, my wife and I go for a little get away. Other times, we load up all the kids and make a trip of it. It is a gorgeous drive replete with a 15 minute wind through the northern part of Redwoods State Park.

We usually end up in Brookings, but sometimes we go to Crescent City in Northern California, and sometimes we don't make it to the coast at all. This Labor Day weekend, at least Friday and Saturday, we are going to go to Jedidiah Smith State Park in Northern California. It is about 20 miles Northeast of Crescent City. We will then likely go to Church on Sunday in Crescent City or Brookings.

I strongly recommend this state park, if you want a beautiful place to stay and you are in this part of the country. It is great for families, and it has some nice hikes adjacent to the Smith River.

The last time we went to Brookings, we stayed in this nice little bed-and-breakfast called Lowden's Beachfront Bed & Breakfast. There are several promotional products that work well for a Bed & Breakfast to generate positive feelings and repeat business.

The first is wine glasses or other types of drinkware. I'm not a wine drinker myself, but I love elegant drinkware. Choose a beautiful style for a higher end romantic style Bed & Breakfast. Give them away for multi-night stays, and they will sit in the display cabinets of the recipient, and remind them everytime they look of their wonderful stay. They will certainly want to return and recommend the promoted establishment.

Coasters are a nice way to give a premium, and are less expensive to purchase, store and ship.

I also think promotional Christmas ornaments are a sentimental way to promote a Bed & Breakfast.

Recycled Promotional Journal

Promotional Journals are a classic and effective way to promote a company. They are perfect for conferences, smaller meetings, trade shows, as gifts and as a value added way to showcase your literature.

The most prominent manufacturer of custom imprinted journals in the promotional products industry is JournalBooks. They have a deep selection of cover styles and ways to customize your product, and I believe they are on the forefront of product innovation in the creation of custom promotional journals. American Promotions carries a full and extensive line of promotional journals including journals by JournalBooks, as well as Leed's and others. I like this Classic Recycled Journal. Here it is in two cool colorways:

Promotional Recycled Duffel Bag

"Green" products have been everywhere this, year. When it comes to promotional products, tote bags, briefs and duffels are a natural for the green movement. A lot of them were already as "green" as they are now, long before being environmentally sensitive with your product line became all the rage, because they are made of natural cottons or recycled fibers.

At American Promotions, I wouldn't call us green, and we are making no efforts to "greenwash" the company, because I feel it is disingenuous. I've always felt that God gave us the earth to care for it and for the wise benefit of His children, so I'm happy to use less energy, to do things more efficiently and to seek out ways to protect the earth and conserve its resources while still preserving the fundamental and inalienable rights of human beings. The search for alternative energy sources is exciting and it is a thrill to watch all of the innovation that is taking place, not because of government mandate, but because the market is begging for it.

We elected to put up a line of promotional items which are represented by our manufacturer partners as being more ecologically sensitive. Some are really cool.

I really like this Recycled Linx Sport Bag. It has a classic clean look, and it is 51% recycled fibers. It has nice useful features, and it is at a great price point.

Promotions for Real Estate Professionals

Today's real estate market is very tough. People are leaving the real estate profession in droves. However, there are those that are going to survive this down cycle. There are Realtors (R), and other dedicated people who love buying and selling houses and they want to make a living in it.

Earlier this year, we featured a 5 part series at ameripromo.com with some smart and sensible ideas for using promotional products to succeed in real estate marketing in the current environment.

Take a look: http://www.ameripromo.com/realtor-promotional-products-t-8.html

Another Useful Gardening Promotion

My wife really likes this promotional gardening set. It is a 2 in1 Gardeners Tool Bag (and it comes with the tools.) She is about to give birth, and I doubt she will have the energy to be up on her feet a lot this summer. This Promotional Gardener Set is integrated with a nifty stool, so that your legs don't fall asleep or you don't wear out the knees of your pants when you are doing gardening. This would make a great business gift or could be used as a promotion with a Home Equity Line at a bank.

I don't think that this promotional gardener's set exhibits the same quality, but it accomplishes a similar function for just over half the price per unit.

We are trying to put a garden in, but with my wife's due date only days away, I sheepishly admit that we haven't made a lot of progress. I've been keeping my eye on various gardener themed promotions. I think I've found the promotional product that I would most like to receive and that I think will get the most use.

Check out this Promotional Stainless Steel Folding Shovel. It is a really cool promotion, and I believe it would be very well received as a Spring or Safety promotion. A nice pairing would be to gift it with a couple packets of logoed seeds with "Let's Grow Our Business Together" as the tagline.

One of my coworkers, Brock, is fresh out of school. He likes photography and design and does some for American Promotions. He just did a new Spring/rainy day theme for our main web page. I like his work, and his skills and technique are improving. The new image is on our main web page at http://www.ameripromo.com/index.php?

This was an alternate shot:

Our promotional products website has sold thousands of drawstring backpacks. We have dozens of designs and we have a lot of colors as well. I think that these bags are so popular, because they have the functionality and reusability of a more expensive bag, but the price point is very low, and they are perfect as packaging for trade show materials or as a giveaway by themselves.

I think my favorite design is this promotional DUROcord drawstring backpack. It comes in a lot of colors, and I like how sturdy it is for the price which ranges from $3.00 to $3.80 depending on quantity.

Looking for a padfolio that is a little different? The Windsor Reflections Steno-Folio opens steno style from bottom to top. It has a glossy vinyl finish and a zippered construction. It is trim and elegant, and would be nice for a business meeting or conference. The writing pad is 6" x 9" so don't expect to hold full size letter paper.

Technorati Profile

Two More Fun Sea Life Promotions

Here are two more fun Dolphin promotional items to follow up my last post:

This sleek Dolphin Shaped Massager:

And the Dolphin Insert Beach Ball:

Shark Attacks Cause Stress - Try a Shark Stress Toy ;)

Tonight we had a family night. After the prayer, songs and a lesson about gratitude, the kids and I watched Shark Attack! on DVD an interesting NOVA special originally aired on PBS in 1997. It is fascinating how frightening these animals are, and how the public continues to act with fear disproportionate to the actual and statistical danger that these magnificent creatures pose.

My boys love sharks, and they watched with rapt attention. My oldest son wants to be a scientist, and he really gets into shows like this. One thing that I found interesting is that the tiger shark actually poses a greater danger than the Great White shark, because they tend to be more aggressive.

I decided to quickly take a glance and see if we have any promotional items on our website related to sharks and other sea life. We did have a few. The only ones that we have are stress toy shapes. Here are the different ones that we carry:

Shark Stress Toy
Dolphin Stress Toy
Killer Whale Stress Toy
Humpback Whale Stress Reliever
Lobster Stress Toy
Octopus Stress Reliever

A shark would make a great little gift to reward aggressive sales goals met, while a whale could be a great giveaway for a record month of revenue. The lobster would make a great promotion for a seafood distributor, while the dolphin would be useful for an environmental or educational campaign.

Bedtime

I didn't get much sleep last night. My wife is pregnant and she was not feeling well. This will be a short post as I am about to pitch over of exhaustion right now and start drooling all over the keyboard.

Since I'm so tired, I thought of the perfect promotion to throw up on the blog, before crawling into bed. It's a Warm/Cold Eye Mask that would calm even the most stressed day. Good night.

Warm / Cold Promotional Eye Masks

Hacking With Friends: Why Even A Beginner Loves Golf

Golf is a great game. This is coming from someone who hasn't even played the game much. About ten years ago, I went golfing for the first time. A friend from my Church took me to a very hilly (and difficult) nine hole course and taught me the basics of the game. I only played a couple more times over the next eight years, but then this last year I went multiple times, and I even participated in a scramble. My shot is improving, and the better you become, the more you love the game.

I like golf so much, because every time I have played the game, I have played it with friends, and just the time spent jesting, and talking and teasing is the stuff good friendships are made of. For the same reasons golf is good for friends, it is good for business. It builds relationships, yet most of the competitions is really against yourself. Businesses are built best on this mentality, where colleagues are working to deliver their personal best, and their lives are being enhanced by relationships.

Here are some great golf promotional products and golf accessories to give to your co-players out on the links.

And here are two of my favorites:

1. Stainless Steel Folding Zippo Golf Tool
2. Golf Clik Clak Mints

After moving from Utah to Oregon, I became acutely aware of the practical nature of the umbrellas as a corporate promotional product. I've always thought umbrellas were cool devices. I loved how a push button umbrella extends and shoots out almost like a weapon and then quickly expands open.

When I was a boy, I would pretend that an umbrella was a weapon. It was both a sword and a shield. I guess the mechanism of the umbrella is a simple fascination with me.

A promotional umbrella can be decorated in multiple ways. The most common is a screen print on a single or multiple panels. Because an umbrella has multiple panels, a cool application is to put a different message on each panel or on every other panel. I have seen embroidery on an umbrella. I used to have a nice Ritz Carlton umbrella with gold metallic embroidery, but I don't think I would recommend it as a rule, because the nylon fabric or polyester fabric from which many umbrellas are made tends to pucker when embroidered and then stretched tight. It looked okay on the sample that I had, but I think a simple silk-screened imprint is slicker and more polished way to go.

You can also have umbrellas done with all over four color process printing, which is an awesome custom promotion. However, I believe that the minimum quantities for this kind of a logo treatment are quite high (maybe in the 500-1000 piece range) and I would count on a minimum of a 90 day lead time as this is done custom overseas.

Three of my favorite suppliers of promotional umbrellas are: Peerless Umbrella, Avaline, and Rainkist. All three of them are reliable, high performance suppliers and do good work.

I really like the innovative aspects of the patented Rainkist Windefyer. It has a unique Square Canopy shape, and the double overlapping canopy funnels wind to prevent umbrella from inverting. It has a 64" arc and a pinch proof runner to protect fingers and then a comfortable squishi gel handle. It is a little spendy as an advertising specialties umbrella, but if you are looking for a nice gift for your next conference or trade show, this would be a winning idea.

I was working on the web tonight and researching tradeshows. I think I am going to write a series of articles about marketing ones company at the top trade shows. I did not realize that there was so much volatility among the top trade shows, and that a couple of tradeshows Comdex and E3 that were the top tradeshows just a couple of years ago are either dormant or entirely restructured. It appears that the granddaddy of all trade shows as of this writing is CES, the Consumer Electronics Show. It has over 140,000 attendees! I'd love to attend that show.

I've always dreamed of attending a major auto show as well. My brother Daniel and I both love cars, and we have talked about flying into Detroit to attend the Detroit Auto Show. Both of us have families and limited vacation time, and it has not happened yet, but some day it will.

I think it is shows like CES that have driven the demand for flash drives in the promotional products industry. I would say that they are the hot promotional products story of the last five years, as five years ago they practically didn't exist. We have sold thousands of flash drives, and I believe that we have sorted through the junk and selected a couple of the highest quality suppliers. You can check out American Promotions' flash drives here.

I love mountain biking. Today, I would love to be up on the Mountain. I cannot believe that it is the third week of October and that the temperature today in Central Point, Oregon is 75 degrees Fahrenheit! I just longingly look out the big picture window in my office wishing that I was not sitting in front of this flat screen, but I really don't have that option today.

We just sold a sizable order of Anvil Dri-Release T-shirts and I realized that these would be great for mountain biking and they would make a great promotion for a sports themed promotion or company gift. My cursory research indicates that our price for this Anvil t-shirt is one of the best prices on the web.

Yesterday was a wonderful day with my family. We had our weekly Family Home Evening. We hold this on Monday nights every week, and it is a night that we set aside solely for family togetherness. Sometimes, we plan family events. At other times, we have a religious lesson or message. Earlier this summer, we built a chicken run for our chicken coop. Sometimes, the evening is completely unstructured, and we just jump on the trampoline or chase each other around the house. I work long hours, and my children really look forward to this. They are ages 2 to 10 and I hope that they don't grow out of it, although I am sure that is just wishful thinking.

Last night, we gathered long dead sticks in the meadow area in our front yard and we raked giant pine needles. The kids are using these raw materials to build a lean-to style shelters against the pool house and against a closely positioned grouping of four oak trees out in the meadow. It is so adorable to see them plan and construct. Their goal is to not use any items that are not native to our yard. We would place the long narly oak branches against the trunk of the tree and try to lay them and interweave them in a way as to get a reasonably sturdy structure. The kids then thatch the frame with the big pine needles and line the floors with soft moss. (I'm sure that the hundreds of species of spiders that call are property home are going to be very grateful to the kids for these huts).

I'm just glad for times like last night and for the memories they create.

And since this is a promotional products blog, and since the weather is starting to turn chill, I would really enjoy a classic jacket like this Devon & Jones Clubhouse Jacket.

Make Your Logo "Wrinkle-Free"

I woke up this morning before 5:00 a.m.. I couldn't really sleep. When that happens, my mind starts pouring over all of the things that I have to do. But, then I just lay there and don't do anything. It's not very effective. I decided to get up and to start my day, and try to squeeze in a blog post and some extra work. I showered, shaved and got ready. I then grabbed a shirt that I had already worn once before, a Land's End no-iron shirt. However, I had crumpled it onto a shelf in my closet, and the shirt did need ironing.

Parenthetically, I love the Land's End no-iron shirts. They are attractive, they are very durable, and if you hang them up straight out of the dryer, then you really don't need to iron them and they look just as crisp as if they have been professionally laundered and pressed.

Back to my ironing. So anyway, I start ironing this shirt, and I finish the two fronts, the collar the back and one of the sleeves, and then I turn the shirt over to do the final sleeve, and there in orange red glory was the reason I should not have shoved this into my closet in the first place. The last time I wore it, my two-year-old girl had taken a chubby, friendly hand and smeared the sleeve with spaghetti sauce and then smiled up at me with a big sticky grin. Fortunately this shirt has some kind of stain guard on it, but I couldn't wear it today.

Anyway, this little insignificant, but time-wasting experience reminded me how much I love my daughter, but it also got me wondering if American Promotions offers a no-iron shirt. The closest thing I found was this Port Authority Long & Short Sleeve Easy Care/Soil Release Shirt. It is a woven shirt by SanMar. This is a quality shirt, and the price with a corporate embroidered logo is very competitive. It is not truly 'no-iron.' It is wrinkle-resistant.

I do not think that this is quite as dressy or as care-free as the Land's End version, but it is a lot less expensive and gives the promotional apparel buyer a lot of shirt for the money.

Cutter & Buck

We recently added a new section to our website titled Corporate and Executive Gifts. We wanted to feature promotional products and premiums of a significantly higher quality that could be given with confidence when the goal to impress or thank the recipient is paramount. These are executive gifts that can be given when taste and quality really matter.

The first sub-category in this new area of the website is Cutter & Buck accessories. It includes luggage, luggage tags, writing instruments, padfolios, totes, compu-briefs, picture frames and drinkware. Every single one of these 100+ items portray the Cutter & Buck lifestyle. Parenthetically, it always seems like a pretentious thing to say that a brand conveys a "lifestyle." However, there are brands out there that are truly successful in selling, at the very least, some kind of emotional aspiration to a lifestyle. Polo Ralph Lauren, Kate Spade, Ben Sherman and The North Face are just a few that come to mind.

Cutter & Buck is not as prominent in the cultural landscape as these other brands, but I do think that it is a successful brand at shaping a cohesive image and a lifestyle that says "success" and "motivation."

Cutter & Buck accessories make beautiful corporate gifts or premiums and are perfect for rewarding exceptional customers or employees. Here is an example of one of my favorites.

Cutter & Buck Desktop Photo Box

I have been learning how to use AdWords, and I have been trying my own hand at crafting a good keyword campaign. It is a time consuming and detailed process, and it requires endless monitoring of data.

It is also very interesting. I've been interested since college in economics and statistics, and AdWords gives the average guy a chance to test his skill at the actuarial art. There is a touch of linguistics in the whole process as well. I've discovered that there are literally dozens (and in some cases hundreds) of ways to say exactly the same thing, and yet certain variations of search terms occur with far more prevalance than others. Not every mind follows the same thought pattern when determining how to conduct an online search, and the paths that some minds follow are just plain weird.

One of the product categories that we are working to advertise are the H2Go line of water and sport bottles. They are durable and attractive and our company has sold thousands of them in the past.

We'll see how well it works.

Hawaiian Theme Promotions

It must be luau season again, because we are getting a lot of interest in Hawaiian Themed Promotions on the American Promotions website. We just had an order for 75 Hawaiian shirts with embroidery on the back, and we have had a lot of interest in Hawaiian tote bags.

It is always interesting to me what sells and what doesn't in our industry and the market is far from predictable. But with Hawaiian and other island themed parties and promotions, it is easy to see the appeal. The island lifestyle is an intoxicating dream for most Americans. This explains the success of brands like Tommy Bahama, whose entire lifestyle brand is meant to evoke a kind of stylized island experience.

Luau's are a very popular form of summer company party, and a luau is a good way to provide something a little different in place of the company bar-b-que.

DILBERT - Imprint Stress Toy

Working folk, like myself, love Dilbert. Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert has created a group of characters that create a sometimes biting but mostly gentle satire about heartlessness, bureaucracy, greed, stupidity, office politics and mediocrity in the American corporate experience.

I think that many companies are at least somewhat aware of their inefficiencies and quirks, and these fun and coy stress toys can give any company or human resource department a way to laugh at itself and show employee appreciation. The whole gang is available, so check them out:
Dilbert stress toy, Catbert stress toy, Dogbert stress toy, Alice stress toy, The Boss stress toy, Wally stress toy

Patriotic Stress Toys

Promotional stress toys, also referred to as stress relievers or stress balls come in a huge assortment of types. My favorite supplier is Ariel Premium Supply. They have a very deep selection of styles.

Here are a handful of styles for your company's Fourth of July or other patriotic themed promotion:

Uncle Sam Hat Stress Toy

American Eagle Stress Toy

United States Stress Toy


Statue of Liberty Stress Toy

Landing The Account

I have been in the promotional products business for more than 10 years. The bulk of those years, our company obtained business the old fashioned way: we worked through cold calls, direct marketing and relationship marketing (which was by far the most successful).

However, about two years ago, under the wise and tenacious direction of my partner, LaRae Crane, we started a major web initiative to move the majority of our sales online. We are well into that process.

Our company had tried to land an order with the Swire Coca-Cola account in Draper, Utah (the local Coca-Cola bottler) for the last eight years. We had sent them materials, called on them, provided quotes. However, we had never landed an order.

However, without any notice, a buyer with Swire Coca-Cola contacted us after browsing the website of an H2GO water bottle. He needed a large order to do cooperatively with the Training Table Restaurant, and he contacted our office and asked us to "sharpen our pencil." We landed that order with this item:

I am just amazed at the power of the web. When you have what people want, presented in an attractive and service-friendly way, they come looking for you.

It has been some time since I published in this blog, and I have decided to renew my commitment to it. People who are searching for promotional products need advice as there is an avalanche choices and options, and yet there is so much product out there that is of poor quality or is not fulfilled in a timely way.

Our company, American Promotions has been around for more than ten years, and our employees have poured their heart and souls into making the company a model of service and courtesy. We really do strive to satisfy the customer and do the little extras that keep customers coming back. My brother Jeff publishes a blog with the motto "Improve . . . . Exponentially" . He does not work for our company, but I enjoy the blog, and I think he has some valuable things to say. I think improvement ultimately should be the goal of any company or individual, to build on what one knows to become incrementally and ultimately exponentially better than they were before. The best organizations and people contribute to society in ways beyond what they sell.

One of the best companys in our industry is Leed's. They are a supplier of all types of promotional items but with a particular emphasis on bags, padfolios and desk accessories. They have one of the most reliable fulfillment departments in the industry and they are able to do much of what they do at rush speeds. The thing that makes their company so phenomenal is they do what they say they will do. They are fast, professional and an example to the entire industry of innovation.

Our company distributes the entire Leed's line, but here are a few of the Leeds bestsellers:

Excel Sport Meeting Tote (Leeds #1 Best Seller)
Excel Sport Utility Tote
Roadster Gift Set
DuraHyde Zippered Padfolio
Manchester Zippered Padfolio
Connections 12-Can Collapsible Cooler
7" x 5.5" Spectra Journal Notebook

I will blog about Leeds Promotional Products and advertising specialties again, as they have so much to offer. And next time, I'll throw in a few pictures.