Corporate Gift of the Week: Gift-With-Purchase Drawstring Backpacks

Gifts with purchase are a great way for a retailer to persuade its customers to buy from them. People are attracted to the idea of getting something for free, so by picking a quality item, you can increase the perceived value of their investment.

Promotional drawstring backpacks are an excellent choice for your gift with purchase because they're incredibly affordable, customizeable, and useful. Your customers will be able to use the bags for everything from beach outings, to gym workouts, to going to class, and everything else in between. Imprinting your company name and logo on these bags will equate to lots of increased visibility for your brand.

Case Study: Logoed Promotional Sweatshirt Blankets Warm Advertisers for FOXSports.com

Challenge: Find a holiday ‘thank you’ gift with a high ‘WOW’ factor and low mailing cost

FOX Sports on MSN delivers comprehensive sports coverage to fans of all major sports. Because its audience comprises primarily power Internet users who get their sports fixes during lunch or after the gym on FoxSports.com, the Microsoft outlet’s advertising opportunities run the gamut from buttons and mobile banners to skyscrapers and streaming media. These diverse opportunities, in turn, attract a diverse blend of advertisers—from names you’d know, like HP, Netflix and Nationwide, to those you wouldn’t: smaller, but by no means less important, firms promoting everything from high paying jobs to low mortgage rates and exciting travel destinations.

This holiday season, the FOX Sports team contacted ePromos for help with a special holiday promotional gift that would show their appreciation to advertisers big and small.
Our discussions quickly revealed the promotion’s parameters: the team wanted a gift item that would express a hearty ‘thanks’ while being easy to mail and useful to recipients, thereby increasing the visibility of the FOX Sports brand.

Solution: Quality, logoed sweatshirt blankets with customized gift tags send the FOX Sports team’s warmest regards

The gift program winner soon emerged from the possible choices: a high quality, cottony-cozy sweatshirt blanket emblazoned with the FOX Sports logo. Not only would the blankets be easy to mail, but because they also come bundled with attractive gift tags, the FOX Sports team was able to add a special holiday greeting for that extra, personal touch.

Result: FOX Sports Wins Extra Points with Recipients

The sweatshirt blankets scored big with advertisers, who loved the thoughtful gesture and commended the FOX Sports team on its great gift choice. The FOX Sports team was also pleased with the promotion, which helped drive home to advertisers their importance to FOX Sports while increasing brand visibility at the same time.




Wrap up your next campaign with Promotional Blankets, Mats, and Throws.
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2008 Corporate Gift Trend: The Top 5 Hottest Corporate Gift

With the variety of different items available, I typically have a problem deciding which are best for a corporate gifting program. If you're like me and need a bit of guidance, here are the five hottest corporate gifts for this year.

1. Durahyde Zippered Padfolio - Made of a strong durable faux-leather mateiral, this padfolio features numerous features that make it a popular item choice for conferences or client gifts. Its functionality will ensure your recipients get lots of use out of it.

2. Photo Frame Clock - 2" x 3" - This promotional clock/photo frame hybrid is small enough to fit onto the most cluttered of desks. The clock conveniently showcases the current temperature, alongwith the date, day, and time.

3. Wine Companion Gift Set - For the wine enthusiasts on your gifting list, this set is ergonomically designed to allow users to conveniently and efficiently open bottles of wine. Included in this long-lasting gift is a wine informational chart, which will appeal to those seeking a quick reference.

4. USB Travel Speaker - Perfect for the frequent traveler, these USB speakers allow your recipients to take their music wherever they go. Compatible with mp3, CD, and DVD players, this product will help you make beautiful promotional music.

5. Texas Hold'em Poker Set - All bets are off with this promotional poker set. Arriving in an elegant wooden box, this game set contains two decks of card, chips, and dice.

Corporate Gift on a Budget: Top 5 Inexpensive Desktop Products

Sometimes when you're looking for great promotional desktop items to brand your office you don't want to blow your entire budget on expensive items. I thought I would show you my top five picks for inexpensive branded desktop products.

Picture Frames are really great promotional desktop items because they're a product that your employees can use to display pictures of friends, family, and even co-workers. The reason why I think it is so great to have a promotional picture frame on your employees' desk is because it will allow them to personalize their office space.

GOBE is a great new product I have seen recently that can truly make your promotions stand out. What exactly is a promotional GOBE? It is basically a bladeless box opener, made entirely of plastic. It is a great desktop item with a large imprint area, that is a great letter opener or box cutter. You'll never have to worry about your employees cutting themselves since there is no metal blades. This great inexpensive promotional product will really fit into your promo budget.

Memo Holders, I think are perfect for your employees desks. These nifty inexpensive promotional items will help keep your workers organized. Help your employees keep notes, messages and even business cards organized with an inexpensive memo holder.

Desk Clocks will really stand out on your employees desks. I think that an imprinted desk clock not only helps brand your office space but adds a more personal touch to your work area.

Staplers are great to brand your office. Not only can your employees use the desktop item, but having branded office supplies in general makes your office space look very professional. Promotional staplers won't take up a lot of room on your employees desk and don't need to be over-priced to look great.

These promotional items are on the top of my list for inexpensive desktop items. I think having your employees office branded with promotional desktop items is the perfect way to thank them for a job well done.

Case Study: Stevens Institute of Technology Taps Tech Interest of Prospective Students with Music Download Card

Challenge: Build relations, be top-of-mind with college-going high school seniors

College marketers know that admissions is, when you get right down to it, a numbers game. To increase the likelihood of admitting the best students, simply increase the applicant pool by increasing the stream of applicants. Easier said than done—but, decidedly do-able, as the Stevens Institute of Technology discovered during its holiday campaign to high school seniors who had previously expressed interest in the college. Stevens, founded in 1870, is one of the leading technological universities in the world, offering Bachelor’s, Master’s and doctoral degrees through its schools of engineering and science, technology management, systems and enterprises, and arts and letters.

The Stevens team turned to ePromos associate Valerie Bogucharova for help in developing a promotion in tune with the holiday for what is a discerning—and notoriously fickle--crowd. Ideally, to appeal to high school seniors, the promotion would tap into students’ love of the latest and greatest while reflecting the technological savvy of the school. Ultimately, the goal was to push Stevens’ name top-of-mind as the college application season ended.

Solution: Funky music download cards to appeal to the techie in students

After exploring various options, Valerie and the team selected a senior-perfect promotion: music download cards, which the school would send in lieu of traditional holiday greeting cards. With a funky image of Institute founder Edwin Stevens donning headphones, the card invited students to visit a customized Web page where they could choose and download from a library of more than 1.5 million songs.

Result: Free music downloads play the right promotional note for the holidays

With only a small window remaining to get the promotion in the mail in time for the holidays, Valerie leveraged her sales finesse and marketing and merchandising expertise to rush the process, completing a production that normally takes fifteen days in just eight. The Stevens staff reported that students welcomed the thoughtful holiday gift—as evidenced by responses received and downloads made. Staff also expressed their appreciation to Valerie, who helped ensure the successful completion of Stevens’ holiday promotion: and a measurable spike in visibility and ROI.



See how you can enhance your next campaign with Promotional Gift Cards.
Find more promos geared toward Colleges & Universities.

(Via: The Promo Know-How Zone)

Gift With Purchase of the Week: Drawstring Backpacks

When you are looking at promotional products for a gift-with-purchase campaign, you want to choose an item that is fairly inexpensive but also makes a great impression on your customers. You can use imprinted drawstring backpacks to accomplish your goals.

Drawstring backpacks are light-weight bags that are great for giveaways. Though mostly popular as trade show giveaways, I think they are perfect for a gift-with-purchase.

If you are a retail store that sells sporting goods, using a customized drawstring backpacks are a pull in the right direction. These bags are great for your customers to take to the gym. If your customers tend to be kids, then having drawstring backpack giveaways are perfect for a back-to-school theme promotion.

Corporate Gift Tip: Gifts With Purchase

A great way to boost sales, increase brand recognition, and get people saying and thinking nice things about you is by incoporating gifts-with-purcase into your retail program.

If you're a retail company, sending out these kinds of items present perfect opportunity to utilize promotional products to reinforce your brand among your customer base. With a free gift item imprinted with your name and logo, your recipients are all the more likely to return to you for future purchases.

Along the same lines, free gifts can help you move merchandise that you might otherwise have a problem selling. Consumers are extremely attracted to the prospect of free anything, so you could definitely beef up your sales with a strategically picked gift-with-purchase, like a promotional tote bag or handy imprinted multi-function keychain.

Case Study: Miniature FM Radios Bring Holiday Cheer to the Cottonwood Residential Treatment Center

Challenge: Find a low-cost promotional holiday gift that serves dual promo purposes

The Cottonwood Treatment Center is a residential treatment community for youth with impulse control disorders, learning disabilities and other mental and physical health issues. The Center is also slated to become one of only six nationally approved fetal alcohol spectrum disorder diagnostic centers and the only one of its kind combining diagnostic and treatment capabilities—in the country. At its core though are people. The Center prides itself on its cadre of dedicated staff, all of whom have devoted themselves to helping youth lead more fulfilling and enriching lives. To find just the right way to offer a warm, holiday ‘thank you’ to its dedicated staff, the Center team turned to ePromos.

Solution: Cost-effective and portable mini, imprinted FM clip radios

The strategy quickly became clear after discussions: we were looking for fun, convenient promotional giveaway—a gift that would serve double duty as both an internal and external promotion. After ‘scanning’ various options, Center staff quickly ‘tuned in’ to a unique promotional item—a portable, scanning FM clip radio in an appealing translucent purple. Shaped like micro CD players, the imprinted gifts were small enough to encourage employees to carry with them after hours, thus maximizing visibility and promotional power. The radios were also very affordable—a key concern for non-profits with lean budgets.

Result: Gift radios surprise employees; increase name recognition in community

Cottonwood Center employees were pleasantly surprised when they received their gifted FM radios, a throwback to a time when listening to music was simpler—a time before expensive mp3 players ruled the world. Center staff was also pleased with the promotion: they successfully rewarded their valued employees, thus increasing morale, output and impact on the youth they serve, while also gaining an invaluable increase in name recognition in the community as well.



(Via: The Promo Know-How Zone)

Top 5 New Corporate Gifts For 2008

It's here. We did our research and figured it out what the top 5 new corporate gifts are for 2008. By looking at some of the new trends planned for 2008, here are our top 5 picks.

1. Water Powered Calculator This is definitely one of the best new products of 2008. It is a calculator powered by water. It fits perfectly into the eco-friendly trend of 2008. Forget the batteries and go water powered. One of the coolest new products.
   


2. Custom Logo Sand Sifter When you need a cool desktop corporate gifts this sand sifter is the perfect match. The sand sifts through to reveal your logo or company name. It is a perfect corporate gift for clients or employees.


3. Chalkboard Tumbler When your looking at travel mugs to give to clients and employees this one really makes their mark. With a piece of chalk you can even personalize the tumbler.


4. Hydracoach Sport Bottle I personally really like this item. When you have employees or clients who are health nuts this water bottle actually helps you track your daily water intake. That is such a unique product I had to stick it in the top five.


5. Spring Powered Stapler Last but not least, I thought of the perfect corporate gift for office supplies. This stapler is spring powered, which means it is easier to operate than a standard office stapler. It is a great way to brand your office.
   

Corporate Gift Tip: Sending Direct Mail Packages

Sending a direct mail package to your clients can be effective in a wide range of different ways. It can be used to attract new clientele, can be used to thank first time buyers, as well as strengthen relationships with customers you have been doing business with for a long time.

1) Generating new clientele. Often when you send out a direct mail package to all the residences in your area, for example, this can help generate new business for your company. It builds brand awareness. Sending out promotional keychains is often used to help make people in your area aware of the services you provide. They can be imprinted with your company name, business information, as well as your tagline. An effective way to bring new business to your company.
2) First Time Buyers. Sending a first time buyer gift via a direct mail package is a great way to thank customers for doing business with you. This solidifies your relationship and will often encourage repeat business. You can send some company information, a coupon, a drawstring backpack, along with a thank you note. Your first time buyers would love recieving a gift like this.
3) Old Customers. Sending a direct mail package to customers you have been working with for quite awhile reinforces why those clients continue to do business with you. You can inform them of new products or services you have going on, simply by sending them a ringtone gift card in your direct mail package. You can imprint some of the goals your company is working on to provide your clients with better service. Keeping them informed of what your business is doing for them just makes them appreciate you all the more.

Case Study: Fun Holiday Desktop Gift Doubles as an Effective Internal Promotion for PEO Firm NELCO

Challenge: Find a dual-purpose holiday gift for employees

Staff at the PEO firm NELCO, recognizing that employee gift promotions motivate employees and subtly but effectively communicate company brand, recently contacted ePromos for help with their holiday gift promotion. NELCO handles the administrative end of hiring and staffing—functions like HR, payroll administration and taxes, and benefits administration and workers comp—freeing companies to focus instead on the supervision side of staffing.

Solution: A bendable, character clock with note/pen holders, in corporate colors

Our team and their team talked. We strategized. We showed the NELCO team various promotional options. And we loved their choice!—a bendable, character alarm clock with a clip to hold notes, photos or a business card, and with arms that can be posed to hold a pen. The amusing desktop clock, which also happened to be available in NELCO’s corporate colors, was ideal for several reasons:
1. Employees would likely keep the clocks on their desks, thus serving as an effective internal promotion
2. The clocks would reinforce the time-savings theme of the NELCO brand
3. They would also make employees feel good, thus fostering loyalty

Result: happy employees, happy NELCO team, successful promotion!

Reactions to the holiday gift were very favorable. Employees were instantly attracted to the clock’s unique design, which soon appeared on desktops throughout the company. The NELCO team was pleased as well: they say the promotion was a success, and report their intention to work with ePromos on future promotions. Jazz up your next promotion with handy Desktop Items.
Spread some promotional joy with Corporate Gifts.

(Via: The Promo Know-How Zone)

Corporate Gift: Salesforce Door Opener Gifts

When you are pitching your sales it is much easier to communicate with new clients when you bring a corporate gift. Giving a salesforce door opener gift is a great ice breaker.

When you are walking into a client meeting, especially for the first time, a good way to make your customers more at ease giving a box of promotional fortune cookies is a great way to make you seem more personable.

People are more willing to listen to you when you don't walk in the door and immediately start selling. By giving a corporate gift you make your potential clients more comfortable.