promotional products

In this modern tech-enhanced era, the number of people screening their calls or just shirking the phone altogether is continually rising. And that can make business communications a little tough to manage. Does your client want a phone call, or just a voicemail? A Facebook message or a LinkedIn InMail message? A tweet or an Instagram follow? The opportunities for communication are virtually endless. But don’t worry—Advantages recently published a guide to connecting with others in the promotional products industry, including the best ways to do it and how.

It’s official: fanny packs are back in style. For us in the promotional products world, that’s a great thing. It means another spot for an imprint to help show our clients off to the world. But now that they’re back, many wonder where fanny packs came from at all. Here’s a hint: They weren’t born during the last mega-surge of the accessory’s popularity.

We all love a good promotional products campaign. Remember those flexible straws with people doing yoga poses on them or Shark Week’s surfboards with bites taken out that were scattered on beaches? Sheer marketing genius! However, sometimes things don’t go quite so well. Here are four of the biggest promotional marketing flops in recent history.

From February 4 to March 6 (also known as National OREO Day), the stuffed cookie brand is holding a huge celebration in honor of its new Most Stuf cookie. The promotion is called The Stuf Inside and features an interactive online cookie that you twist open to see, well, what’s inside.

Have you heard of whale hunting? It’s a clever play on landing your white whale, meaning catching that dream account you’ve always wanted. Some promotional products companies, though, are afraid to do a bit of hunting. Either they think they’re too small, don’t have the resources or they’re just fine surviving on the profits from several small accounts. And that’s understandable, but why limit yourself? Companies of every size and scope can land massive accounts — the ones that pay all your bills in one single order. You just need to know how to do it.

With the beginning of every new year, it pays to take a look at your promotional products business and see where you can cut back and where you can expand. These three specialty markets are trending right now and it’s important to consider if you can sell to them and ride those trends to new income streams.

In 2013, researchers at the University of Washington set out to accomplish a very scientific task: to see if can koozies really do keep our drinks cold. The project, which was eventually funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, proved what canned beverage lovers knew all along. We were absolutely right. It does keep canned drinks cold, mostly because the material in the koozie stops condensation forming on the outside of the can, preventing drinks from sweating away their chill.

Everyone, please welcome Cinnabon to the ranks of the branded swag experts. The cinnamon roll company has just joined other restaurants, such as Taco Bell, McDonalds, Arby’s, and Kellogg’s, in promoting their brand with deliciously clever clothing and products.

No doubt inspired by the full slate of fun branded merchandise put out in years past by other big brands such as Taco Bell, McDonalds and Wendy’s, Dunkin’ (formerly Donuts) has released its own line of quirky branded swag . . . sort of.

An April 2018 article in the Times of India highlighted the selfie craze and how logoed apparel has seen a major boost in sales thanks to Instagram and Facebook selfie posts.