Too often in this industry, the client will be looking for the next coolest item. The newest craze, something hip, sleek, sexy… in other words, the promotional product version of me. Now I know what you are thinking. That was a disturbing image you did not need to be burdened with. The odds are, you are you probably right. But I want you to keep something in mind. The greatest, most powerfully delivered promotional item is not the greatest product necessarily, but the combination of the vivid art that is imprinted on it, and how it is packaged and delivered.
Take a tee shirt for example. There is nothing inherently clever or special about a $2 tee shirt. Yet, when covered with a vivid specific artistic imprint, it becomes a canvas. A canvas that can sell in the $20 – $30 range. I know, right? I once bought a tee shirt for $75 at a Madonna concert for my wife. Yes she made me go to the concert, but you are missing the point. There is no greater walking billboard than the tee shirt. You can imprint the front, the back, and the sleeves. You can customize the label. Billions of people wear them every day. Everyone you know has them.
If you want to get creative, if you want to get funky, if you want to drive home a specific message to the recipient of the promotional item or decorated apparel item, spend more time making the graphics jaw dropping, then trying to find the coolest new item. The odds are, if you give your client something that is useful, with artwork that is powerful and vibrant, and is packaged in a manner that reeks of being a GIFT, they are going to keep it for a much longer period of time.
Really think about that the next time you are ordering your logoed gifts. If you don’t have an artist in house, contact someone like me who has incredibly creative designers on hand that want to make you the next promotional product Picasso. When you do work with your designer, communicate to them what the message is. What is it you want your customer to know about you and your brand?
The promotional product is the canvas. Your brand and how it is presented is what translates and is most powerful.
As always, thank you for listening. Enjoy the day.
Dan