Promotional products, promotional merchandise, giveaways, corporate gifts for business partners and employees have been popular lasting reminders of donors. There has always been a line of sceptics inside a company advocating that any number of (expensive) items will soon disappear from stock without any measurable impact on brand awareness and sales. And the group of advocates, in fact, believing we all love to receive things for free and that the true loyalty comes from subtle bribery.
Sometimes promotional merchandise does not really carry the right message at the right time. Giving a female colleague a voucher for beauty salon may translate into “do something about the way you look”. Another brilliant idea: distributing sunglasses in the middle of Autumn, which either means “we ordered too many” or “cover your eyes, look, do not see”.
Corporate branded t-shirts (or other tailored fashion items) are hardly ever available in fitting quantities. Another enemy of a corporate gift is its poor quality. I will never forget being given an expensive looking box containing a bottle labelled “Vin de Table”, which marks the lowest quality tier of French wines. At times, certain items become extremely popular with companies: having a full drawer of (cheap) pens, a weekend house fully equipped with mugs for hosting a street party, an office fridge full of weird magnets from suppliers and competitors, or a box of (sustainable) seedlings for planting just about anything (unless you live in a tiny downtown apartment with no space for farming). Useless items include holders of various kinds – how many people have I ever seen putting a cellphone on a branded holder either on their desk or at home? Placing a phone on a charging matt – maybe – but putting it into a stand, really?
Do not get me wrong, there have been several examples of doing promotional merchandise right. Novel and innovative ideas are always welcome, especially if these are connected to the brand. Personalized items featuring a name of the recipient goes beyond the usual thank you card. Co-branded (expensive) items featuring well-recognized reputable retail brands could emphasize the value of relationship and may be more likely to be used in fact. Post-covid trends in promotional items either relate to home office or contrary to the renaissance of face-to-face work enjoyment. One needs to be careful with stationary as corporate policies require routinely employees not to use items branded with other companies around the office.
International brands, companies, and/or affiliates may still consider promotional souvenirs reminding recipients of foreign cultures. Similar logic holds for local companies and their utilization of locally-made products. Green, sustainable, eco-friendly and other gifts communicating healthy and trendy lifestyle seem to be another omnipresent recipe for designing promotional merchandise. A big question mark surrounds food items, where dietary habits, requirements and food allergies may be a factor, not to mention the ubiquitous great candy debate, possible health risks associated with energy drinks, or abuse of alcohol. (Confectionary, energy drinks and alcohol are all popular giveaways in some countries, but total no-no in others.)
A big topic of our current semi-virtual way of life has been the provision of promotional merchandise at online events. Virtual tradeshows are never going long way and their impact is simply lower. Offering tangible freebies drives online engagements and brings virtual to reality, although they need to be shipped to participant’s address right after the event. Even intangible promotional gifts (e.g. vouchers, audio books, online magazine subscriptions, NFT items) could seal the relationship with attendees.
Regardless whether tangible or intangible, there needs to be an link between the item itself and the brand it attempts to promote. Be it functional, design, location, or a tag line connection it shall be obvious to the recipient what the message is. Next time, you decide to dispense a promotional gift, ask three easy questions 1) Why this item for my brand? 2) Why this item for that recipient? 3) Why this item at that time?
Résumé
Reklamní předměty: Trvalá připomínka dobrého a špatného
Plná zásuvka reklamních propisek, dvířka ledničky v kanceláři zcela zaplněná magnety dodavatelů a konkurentů nebo reklamní hrníčky, jejichž počet by vybavil domácnosti v půlce ulice jsou příklady přespočetných a postupem doby irelevantních reklamních předmětů. Na druhé straně existují mnohé trendy, jejichž vhodné využití v kombinaci s relevantním propojením se značkou a obdarovaným, mohou nadále přispívat k vytvoření silného a trvalého spojení. A takové reklamní předměty nemusejí mít pouze hmotnou povahu.
Kontakt na autorov/Address
doc. Ing. Pavel Štrach, Ph.D., Ph.D., ŠKODA AUTO Vysoká škola o.p.s., Katedra marketingu a managementu, Na Karmeli 1457, 293 01 Mladá Boleslav, Česká republika, e-mail: pavel.strach@savs.cz
