Was interviewed today at PPAI headquarters (Promotional Products Association International) and got a tour of their building and promotional products museum display. For those who don’t know, promotional products (also known as swag, chotchkies, giveaways, etc.) are those free items you get with a business logo on them.
As I look around my office, I see lots of the stuff: local fire department color-change pencil with fireman hat eraser, Warner Brothers pocket mirror with Batman, Superman, Bugs Bunny and Scooby Doo on it, Office Depot big rubberband, old Frito Bandito pencil topper, various Green Lantern rings, triangle-shaped box of crayons from Uncle Julio’s, calendar from J.J. Collins Printers, Chick Fil-A and Dallas Morning News pencils, a screen cleaner mitt, a cell phone holder, and a PromoDoctors (my company) memo clip/hi-lighter. This cool stuff is free, fun, handy and it exposes us daily to a particular brand or brand message.
At the museum display, I learned that things really have changed in the promotional products industry. Today, a cool giveaway can be a mini flash drive or iPad cover. There’s no longer as much call for the giveaway pocket knives, ice picks or ink blotters of yesteryear. Or buttons that say “Vote NO for Women’s Suffrage.” (They really had one!)
I am currently dreaming of the day when Jim Corn Talking Corn Skewers are a top selling promotional product. I should call “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” and let them get on the ground floor with this. I hope I can fit their logo on the back of each skewer.