Custom Promotional Products

Well, let’s first start with what is a promotional product:

 

What are branded promotional products?

Sometimes called branded merchandise, giveaways or if you are from the USA, the rather inelegant term, Swag. We are talking about those gifts which are branded with a logo that companies give to clients, or potential clients, so that the name of the brand will be remembered. These can range in value form the humble plastic pen to VIP gifts including designer bags.

5 things that make a good giveaway

Since the name of the game is brand recognition and recall then the best giveaways will be:

1. Retained

There is no point in giving a branded gift if the recipient is going to return to the office and throw it away or place in the drawer along with the countless other products they have.  From an environmental point of view, this short termism is just a waste and from a brand point of view serves little purpose. One argument has always been to spend more per gift, and buy a lower volume, so that it encourages retention. This is fine if you know your recipient but at an exhibition say, you do not know which of the walk-up traffic will one day be a major potential client. And, giving everyone an expensive gift is well, expensive.

2. Useful

Making the gift useful means that the gift is more likely to be retained. An ice scraper is useful, and you are likely to keep it in your car - branded logo and all. A pen is, per se, useful, however, if you already have 20 pens in your drawer and 3 ice scrapers, then another one is probably going to be consigned to the bin. Utility alone does not cut it.

Branded sweets and confectionery are useful, unless you are on a diet, but again they will be consumed and not retained.

3. Unusual

Be remembered. The holy grail of the promotional products industry is something new, something unusual. The industry produces many novel ideas every year and products go in and out of fashion. The fidget spinner boomed, then faded and as I write this is, is seeing something of a revival. Trying to find something different is tough, really tough. Searching the vast array of websites is time consuming and often fruitless – you find what you think is unusual only to get to your event and see two of your competitors with the same idea. They searched the same websites! – we have some ideas how to help with the search – see the blog post on a different approach.        

4. Aligned with brand values

Brand values take many forms and the discussion of brand values is a subject for whole marketing course. But, you can ask yourself whether the giveaway is aligned. Does the pack of branded seeds evoke thoughts of growth and the environment. Does the T shirt say casual, comfortable and relaxed, when your audience are financial professionals and you’re trying to create authority?

5. Aligned with the audience

Is a tech product appropriate for an audience of geeks – sorry, highly trained IT specialists. The brand has a target audience as well as its own values. Our highly trained IT professionals, you might think, would like the tech gadget. But life is not that simple. The IT guy has all the latest gadgets he spends a fortune on them. Your power bank may be open to criticism since it’s only a 1200mAh power bank and they already own a 10,000mAh. Strangely our experience of the tech guys is that socks and teddy bears are more successful. But you know your audience and if not, we can help.

 

Difference between a customised promotional product vs branded promotional products

Arguably every piece of branded merchandise is ‘customised’ and a Google search on ‘customised’ will bring up all the main product distributors. But that is not what we are talking about here.

If trying to find the new product which aligns with the brand and the audience is tough – then why not take a tried and trusted favourite and give it a new twist.

Take the baseball cap. Yes, you can have a baseball cap with your logo on the front or you could have a customised version. This could mean a design over the whole cap, contrasting colour panels, eyelets in a different colour, branding to the inside or branding to the peak – see https://www.pdi.co.uk/custom-promotional-products/custom-headwear for visuals.

We are trying to create a WOW factor. The cap is an old favourite because it already ticks many of the boxes for utility and retention, what we are doing is aligning more closely with the brand whilst creating something new.

 

 

Why is a custom product important for my brand?

 Colours of standard products are very often not pantone matched

If you have a brand manual or even just the logo then there will be a defined colour or colours. So, for example, the colour is pink – pantone reference PMS191. Now if you look for a T shirt you will see pink T shirts and on screen, they may look the same colour as the one you are seeking. It is unlikely the promotional products distributor will tell you the pantone colour – they may, if you ask. But when you find out its PMS 195, you will discover that yes, its pink but not your pink. Standard products have a very limited range of colours.

Brand consistency

We recently picked up three branded merchandise items belonging to a multi billion-dollar company (yes, Billion). There was a notebook which was light blue, a soft touch pen in light blue and an octopus charger which was white with the printed light blue logo. All the blues were different. Noticeable when you put them together, and the company had all three products on their stand next to each other! Not great, but the company had little choice but to choose from the products they thought available.

Something new, Something different

And the principal benefit of a customised product is that will not be the same as everyone else. Yes, they may have a baseball cap but one which will look significantly inferior to the fully customised version.

 

Top 5 ways to customise a promotional product

Whilst customisation is all about multiple different techniques to create a unique product 5 major ways prevail

1.. Pantone Matching

2. 100% Edge-to-Edge Printing

3. Choice of contrasting colours of accessories

• ribbons and elastic on a notebook, handles on a bag etc

4. Additional branding opportunities

• Inside of the cap, the inside of the notebook or the back of a T shirt

5. More than just the logo

• Create images and designs based on multiple brand colours

 

Top 5 custom promotional products

The top products for customisation are:

1. Notebooks – the old favourite notebook can be given a new twist with contrasting ribbons and branding to the inside

https://www.pdi.co.uk/custom-promotional-products/custom-branded-notebooks

2. Clothing – whether the T shirt or the polo shirt something as simple as contrasting colours of collar and cuffs can lift a product from being just ordinary

https://www.pdi.co.uk/custom-promotional-products/custom-branded-clothing

3. Bags – printing across 100% of the tote bag will have your brand noticed. If done well, the tote bag will look trendy and be used more. The ideal for any promotional giveaway

 https://www.pdi.co.uk/custom-promotional-products/custom-branded-bags

4. Headwear – not just branding but the creation of a fashion accessory that will actually be worn, giving greater exposure to your brand

 https://www.pdi.co.uk/custom-promotional-products/custom-headwear

5. Bottles – sat on the desk and used consistently, a well-designed bottle will be attractive and more value than the ordinary bottle

https://www.pdi.co.uk/custom-promotional-products/custom-branded-bottles

 

What quantity do I need to consider a customised promotional product?

It differs between products but generally 100.

Technology has moved on and digital printing techniques and changes in manufacturing processes have brought down the quantity needed to customise. 100 is often ell within the budget – get to 250 of some items and the customisation costs barely make a difference