Promotional Products: Buttons, Book Bags, and Safety Tools, Oh My!

Some people call them

“tchotchkes.” Others, “swag” (or “schweg”). However you say it, promotional

products are an important—and surprisingly underused—part of contemporary

marketing.

 

Promotional products—those

little giveaway keychains, buttons, caps, and other items embossed with product

names or company logos—may look small, but they’re a big business. In 2006 the

industry pulled in $18.6 billion—more than Internet, cable, or Yellow Pages

advertising. It’s growing faster than both radio and TV advertising—and no

wonder. Promo products, because of their usefulness, have a potential staying

power greater than that of any TV commercial or billboard. Savvy businesses

know that promotional products represent a great way to increase name

recognition, foster customer and employee goodwill, and conduct marketing

research. Whether you’re an office manager looking for a way to say “Thanks” to

your team, or a small business owner who needs an inexpensive and fun way to

get the word out, promotional products offer many creative options.

 

History

The promo product industry is

nearly as old as modern advertising itself. Experts trace its beginnings to 1789—that

momentous year of Constitution and revolution—when George Washington’s

supporters put together the first-ever political campaign buttons to celebrate the

first President’s inauguration. Ever since, promo products and presidential

politics have been intertwined. Andrew Jackson’s 1824 presidential campaign was

the first to consciously use giveaway items as a form of advertising. Since

then we’ve seen everything from the Eisenhower potholder to the McKinley

lunchpail (his campaign slogan was “A Full Dinner Bucket”), from the FDR shot

glass to the (unofficial!) Mitt Romney thong, from the Jimmy Carter peanut-shaped

radio to Nixon sunglasses. 

 

It was left to a

nineteenth-century Ohio

newspaperman, Jasper Freemont Meek, to discover the ways this technique could

help small businesses as well as presidential hopefuls. One day, the story

goes, Meek witnessed a tired little girl accidentally spill her schoolbooks in

the dirt. The lightbulb went on. Meek approached a local shoemaker, Mr.

Cantwell, with his big idea—why not give away bookbags (imprinted with “Buy

Cantwell Shoes”) to every child who visited Cantwell’s store? The bookbags would

increase community goodwill toward Cantwell’s business, while ensure that

Cantwell’s name went everywhere the town’s schoolchildren went. The bags were a

success—for Cantwell, for the schoolchildren who now had free bookbags, and

most importantly, for Meek, who printed them. The idea caught on, and soon Meek

was making promotional marbles, buggy whips, card cases, fans, calendars, cloth

caps, and aprons.

 

Since then, nearly every

imaginable product has been used to advertise new businesses. Some of the most

durable industry standbys include commemorative plates, magnets, calendars,

keychains, pens, radios, office equipment, umbrellas, and, recently,

Bobbleheads. The Internet and print-on-demand technologies have only increased

the options available to small businesses. Some of the odder possibilities for

today’s business: wetwipes, underwear, sleep masks, fishing knives, and church

collection baskets.

 

Businesses love promotional

products because, unlike those expensive TV and radio ads, these little items

have the potential to become part of consumers’ lives. A successful promo

product goes home with somebody. It gets used. And every time that promo pen

comes out of the desk drawer, another potential customer is reached.  

 

Safecutters.com offers a practical, convenient alternative

But for all their popularity,

promotional products represent, in some ways, an untapped resource. Too many

businesses settle for the same old products—those pads of paper nobody uses,

those keychains nobody needs. Others, trying too hard for novelty, end up with

bizarre, white-elephant giveaways that sit on the shelf. Wouldn’t it be nice to

have a creative and practical

alternative to the same old thing?

 

Safecutters.com offers your

business a full line of useful promotional products that will set you apart.

This fast-growing, innovative company has made big strides in the

office-supplies industry with its unique line of safety box cutters, utility

knives, and safety knives. Every office needs a good box cutter, and no home

should be without a package opener. And with the rising cost of health care, no

office manager, mail room, or shipping and receiving supervisor can afford to

ignore the issue of knife safety. Whether you’re looking for a way to useful,

unusual promo item for potential customers, or a way to promote employee safety

and loyalty, Safecutters has just what

you need.