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Those cheesy giveawaysfrom flimsy pens and T-shirts to, yes, colorful condomscan really extend the company brand. Tchotchkes. People poke fun at them, but have you ever turned one down at a conference or trade show? Cmonfess up. Before you left, you probably made one last mercenary lap around the booths to make sure youd collected every last glow-in-the-dark yo-yo and rollerball pen you could find. Everybody loves free stuffand brand managers know this better than anyone. During the dot-com days when big budgets and profligate spending ruled the land, company logos were plastered on just about anything without a pulse. Once the boom went bust, nothing was off limits. One man auctioned off the back of his skull to a Texas-based web-hosting company, CI Host, which had him tattoo their logo onto his noggin. Although this heady promotion sounds extreme, it shows the extent to which companies will go to keep their nameand brandin your memory bank.
Not to mention the money they will spend. Revenues in the promo products arena hit $16.9 billion in 2004, according to the Advertising Specialty Instituteand 2005 is expected to be a banner year. Gifts That Keep on Giving So what puts the hot in tchotchke? Good, old-fashioned staying power. \"Most forms of advertising have a very short shelf life,\" says Dale Kirby, marketing director at Promopeddler.com. \"Commercials last about 30 seconds, and newspapers really only see the light of one 24-hour day. Promo items are a completely different animal.\" The tchotchke typically enters the world as a gift. The grateful recipient may keep the item on his or her desk for years, or give it away to another colleague, family member, or client, spreading the logo recognition to a larger audience. This little propagator of good karma often leads a long and prosperous life before it finally meets its end in someones trash can. Almost every company employs some form of trinket promotion, says Marjorie J. Cooper, Ph.D., professor of marketing at Baylor University in Texas and consultant to the promotional products industry. And theres math behind the magic of free booty. \"You can apply communications metrics metrics to quantify the effectiveness of your promotion,\" explains Cooper. \"In general, you are interested in achieving maximum reach (the number of people in the target audience exposed to the logo) at the highest frequency (the number of times a single person is exposed to the logo) to yield the highest number of gross impressions (number of people exposed multiplied by frequency). From this you can calculate a cost per exposure (cost of promo item divided by the number of gross impressions).\" Bottom line: Who knows how many customers saw that Day-Glo pen with your logo running up the barrel? Trendy Trinkets These days the biggest users of tchotchke promotions are hospitals, says Kirby, followed by schools and universities, and financial institutions. What items are hot? T-shirts are perennials because you can do a lot with the packaging. In their promotional heyday, pharma companies used to distribute T-shirts compressed into the size of a pill. The next big thing? \"Silicone bracelets, similar to the one worn by Lance Armstrong,\" says Frank Suher, vice president of ES Sports Corporation. \"This is very trendy across all industries right now.\" Knowing your audience is the key to success, explains Suher. \"I have seen companies put their logos on condoms and pass them out at college campuses. But you obviously wouldnt use the prophylactic approach to market your product to a church group.\" Function has replaced frivolity. \"Consumers today are overloaded with advertising; products that serve a functional purpose are more likely to grab their attention,\" says Cooper. Kirby agrees: \"The tech companies, especially, are very focused on function right nowflash drives are currently a hot item. Companies will preload them with their information and pass them out like candy.\" Pharma companies, once the largest player in tchotchke marketing, are now doling out practical promotional booty to docs, because of the strict Compliance Program Guidance Pharmaceutical Manufacturers, which passed in 2003. The new code dictates that pharma sales reps may pepper a doctors exam room only with items that have either practical office use or potential benefit to the patient. (Sorry, the old Viagra coffee mugs and Lipitor visors no longer fit that bill.) As a result, drug companies are handing out branded medical devices that can be used during treatment. U.S. Neurologicals in Kirkland, Washington, produces pediatric hammers, stethoscopes, penlights, and tuning forks with either the name of the pharma company, or one of its popular drugs, emblazoned on it. \"The drug reps arent showing up with toys anymore,\" says Dr. Mark Fishel of U.S. Neurologicals.\"The quality of the product the company is giving away to doctors is as important as getting the branding message across.\" In other words, the longer the logoed stethoscope hangs around the docs neck, the longer the companys branding \"beat\" remains in his brain. Trinkets Ahoy! From highly functional to downright frightening, these real-life items will give your company unique ways to brandish its logo. Giant fly swatter. Flies, small rodents, interns, or an unruly marketing managerthe ultimate tool for complete office pest control. Mint holder/visor clip. Addresses two concerns at once foul breath and skin cancer. Bamboo fish filet board. Pair it with the... Deluxe knife set. Gives your brand a real edge. Slime-filled key chain. Play the nostalgia card by reminding customers of their Ghostbusters memories. USB keyboard light. Comes in handy when youre stuck in an airplane seat with a malfunctioning overhead lightbulb. The Slinky. Always a crowd pleaser. Custom bobbleheads. The possibilities are endless. Fluorescent pink flip-flops. Think of it this way: top of mindbottom of footclose enough.
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