Listen with promotional items

Last week my favorite culture blog, the A.V. Club, published a list of “Music to work by.” Tasha Robinson recommends non-English singing bands like Sigur Ros, so the lyrics don’t interfere with whatever emails you’re reading or the text you’re editing. Leonard Pierce recommends post-war jazz to listen to while writing, and for more repetitive tasks Claire Zulkey recommends podcasts. A large portion of the workforce uses music to enliven their cubicles and zone them in on the tasks at hand. Promotional items that help out with cubicle listening make great gifts to employees, whether during the holidays, on their starting date, or during recruitment. Noise-canceling headphones and iPod docks are useful promotional items with a high-perceived value at a low cost. Is it time for your promotional items to get a tune-up?

Promotional items should always communicate

Today I noticed a new sign in the women’s bathroom at my workplace. Written on a paper towel and taped to the side of a large trashcan was written in permanent ink: “Ladies, paper towels go here!” It was even positioned on the trashcan in such a way that it was in direct sight of someone sitting on the toilet. We’ve been having problems with the smaller trashcan overflowing for weeks, so I was glad we now had a solution. And I admired the clarity of whoever created the sign. Promotional items should communicate just as clearly about your brand. It’s not enough to buy promotional items, give them away, and hope people use your business. You need to decide the exact message you want your promotional items to convey.

Promotional items tell stories

A friend of mine who does a lot of shopping on Craigslist mentioned that he likes to buy items that have a story behind them. He wants to hear why something is for sale… is the person moving in with someone? Did their daughter just leave for college? It’s important to tell stories around the promotional items we’re selling. Stories endow objects with meaning and place them in context. When using promotional items to market your business, spend some time brainstorming about what story those promotional items tell. Do your travel mugs say your company helps the busy person on the move?

Promotional items for the Less Than Jake fan

As you can see, I’m on a roll talking about how the entertainment industry is using promotional items to increase revenue from CD and DVD sales. For our third case study, let’s look at Less Than Jake cereal boxes. Themusicproduct.net -- a blog that appears sadly defunct -- directed me to these promotional items. In 2002 the band used these “cereal boxes” to package re-releases of their first four 7” records, along with promotional items like t-shirts and bobble-heads. As we’re beginning to see, Less Than Jake was ahead of its time. I wonder if, in those first few years of digital downloads, Less Than Jake could already see the future of music consumption.

Twilight promotional items

My coworker Kim blogged about Twilight promotional items today, and I can’t help but put in my two cents. As we’ve seen with Weezer and Where the Wild Things Are (below), music and film producers are desperate to sell promotional items to market the albums or films themselves, but also to collect additional revenue. It’s so hard these days to make money from box office tickets and DVD sales alone, and the higher the budget of the film, the more money the studios have to glean. From “Team Edgar” and “Team Jacob” stainless steel water bottles to “I Heart Sparkly Vampires” t-shirts, Twilight and its sponsors are going all-out with promotional items for the release of New Moon.

Promotional items go viral: the Wuggie

Weezer’s latest stunt with the Weezer Snuggie is proving that promotional items can go viral as well as videos. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Weezer recently introduced the Wuggie, or promotional Snuggie with the Weezer logo on it, to promote their new album. If you buy the Wuggie (it’s something like $50), you get the album Raditude for free. I.e., they are bundling the CD with a promotional item to give customers an incentive to pay money for something they could download for less, or for free. The promotion has been picked up by news sources everywhere, and in my opinion it won’t be long until almost every album release comes packaged with novelty promotional items.

Promotional items that talk: Wonderfalls

Ever seen the show Wonderfalls? It’s about a bunch of promotional items at a tourist shop in Niagara Falls -- a lion statuette, stuffed iguana, etc. -- that start talking to a 24-year-old clerk, telling her to do things. She can’t help but listen to these animate promotional items. Sometimes she does what they say; usually she argues with them. But they always seem to know something she doesn’t, and even though they may take her down stray paths, their directions usually lead to something good. The show oddly demonstrates the power of promotional products. What are your promotional items saying?

Promotional items for new branding

Promotional items can be enormously helpful during a branding process. If you are introducing a new brand, a great way to make customers aware of your brand is by holding a launch event. While passing out giveaways offers future customers a piece of your brand they can take with them, the most important promotional items are signs and banners, which communicate your brand to everyone who passes by. A new restaurant opened near my house recently. They strung a banner up announcing their arrival, and a week before the restaurant opened I was already craving tacos. Signs have been around a long time, but don’t underestimate them as one of the most powerful kinds of promotional items.

Promotional items to celebrate Thanksgiving

How will your office use promotional items to celebrate Thanksgiving this month? My workplace is having a potluck Thanksgiving lunch early next week. It should be a fun way to come together as a community and celebrate over food, and it won’t cost the company anything. Potlucks have a bit more character than catered meals, too, since everyone in the office gets to show off their culinary skills and share their family traditions. How will we use promotional items at this event? Glassware, picnic items and bucket coolers are a few promotional items that facilitate a potluck. How will your workplace observe the holiday?

Promotional items for Friday the 13th

Tradition has it that Friday the 13th is a day of luck, whether bad or good. Have a celebration tonight where you use promotional items to test your luck. Gambling games like poker sets and mini roulette tables are some risky promotional items. Hand your choices for the evening to fate by using decision dice -- “Go for it, No way, Ask later.” After exhausting your promotional items, hunker down indoors and get duly creeped by watching Friday the 13th movies. If you watch all twelve I’ll give you a dollar. If you watch thirteen, well, this really will be a supernatural event.

Where the Wild Things Are promotional items

Have you seen all the Wild Things promotional items in Urban Outfitters the past few months? The store has everything from t-shirts to pillows with Max and the wild things imprinted/embroidered on them. I know the movie was targeted to hipsters in some part (it is a Dave Eggers screenplay after all), but the promotional items are really over the top. I’ve been reading lately about how Disney and Universal both sacked their top guys for marketing people who could expand the reach of movies by selling promotional items for profit alongside box office and DVD revenue. Harry Potter and Twilight are no-brainers for developing swag lines, but I wonder if this trend means we’ll never again see a non-franchised movie.

My favorite a.m. promotional items

Mornings at the office are an interesting time, because they’re a blank slate. The moment you walk through the door nothing has happened yet; the day could go either way, and those first defining moments will have a big impact on your mood for the rest of the workday. Here are two promotional items that make my day more positive:

- coffee mugs. Sipping coffee at my desk in the morning as I check my email and RSS makes me feel both relaxed and invincible.
- Sharpie markers. Every morning I tally new leads with my promotional Sharpie, a tool that makes everything I write seem important.

More of my favorite promotional items to follow this week. What promotional items put you in a good mood?

Promotional items make you want to dance

Whether jazz, ballet, hip hop, modern or club, dance is a great avenue for both exercise and self-expression. Consider giving promotional items like athletic pants and bags as gifts to dancers. Or, sponsor a dance performance and give away promotional items to market the event. Throw a company get-together and invite a professional to teach square dancing or contra -- something fun and unintimidating that will get even stuffy Tom in accounts to move his two left feet. Dance has a remarkable power to make people laugh and bring them together. So take advantage of dance by working it into your promotional items.

Tear down the wall with promotional items

Use promotional items to celebrate a free society. Today marks the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. On November 9, 1989, the East German government finally allowed citizens of the Soviet-occupied German Democratic Republic to visit West Germany and West Berlin. Crowds of people crossed over the Berlin Wall in celebration and began chipping away at it. Celebrate the destruction of the wall with promotional items like tools. Today Berlin is a unified, democratic city. Show support for our neighbors to the east as John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan did, and celebrate today with promotional items that say, “Ich bin ein Berliner!”

Promotional items for a sunny fall weekend

Now that Daylight Savings Time has ended, use promotional items to enjoy the sunlight while you can. Wake early on Saturday to an alarm clock, don your cap and sunglasses, and head out for walk or picnic. If you’re feeling lazy, set up a chair outdoors and read under the sun. Or do like I do, and open the porch door to let a breeze in while you lay about on the couch. Promotional items like neon sunglasses are super trendy, and can almost convince you that summer’s still hanging around. What other promotional items keep the approaching winter at the back of your mind?

Promotional items for the voting booths

As local elections around the country today face runoffs between candidates, look back upon the history of promotional items in political campaigns. The first promotional items were used in the United States’ 1789 presidential election of George Washington, when commemorative buttons marked his inauguration. Candidates continue to use buttons, stickers, yard signs and all manner of promotional items to develop their brand. And yes -- a candidate is more than the individual running for election. A candidate is a strategic, created brand, as David Plouffe, campaign manager for Barack Obama’s presidential election and author of The Audacity To Win, must know well. His book came out this week.

Go car-free with promotional items

You can use promotional items to stage a green event at your company. It’s been exactly 36 years since the Netherlands held the first Car-Free Sunday during the 1973 oil crisis, a day when the highways saw only bicycles and roller skates. In order to promote sustainable energy and market your brand as environmentally conscious, consider holding a company-wide car-free day. Help employees prepare for the day by giving them promotional items to ease their commute like backpacks and water bottles. Use recycled and reusable promotional items to promote the event publicly. Educate employees about alternative commuting options such as public transit, bicycling and walking, and help them choose the most convenient option.

Promotional items that prevent swine flu

The nation’s current vaccination campaign against H1N1 is the largest against flu in history, but the government announced Saturday that there wouldn’t be as many doses available as they predicted. If you are one of the millions holding off on vaccination, whether because of availability or personal choice, make sure to take preventative measures against the flu this season by offering hygienic promotional items to your employees, like hand sanitizer and antibacterial wet wipes. Supplement your promotional items with information about Vitamin C and building a healthy immune system, and stock the bathrooms with soap to encourage frequent hand washing.

Monday Morning Promotional Items

Nobody likes Monday morning, but certain small pleasantries can alleviate back-to-the-grindstone malaise. Use your company’s promotional items to encourage employees. Returning to the office after the weekend to find a new coffee mug waiting may get someone through the morning, smiling instead of sighing. If employees have the tools they need to get their work done -- calculators, pens, notebooks and staplers -- they are more likely to stay happy and positive, spared the minor irritation of having to run around the office looking for a pair of scissors. Promotional items are the little things that can improve someone’s day.