Corporate ad specialties first began appearing the the late 19th century as small-town newspapers and print shops looked for new business to keep their presses rolling.

Horse blankets, flyswatters, buggy whips, playing cards, yo-yos—anything that would take ink—got squeezed into the flatbed presses.

In the 1940s and ‘50s St. Paul (MN)-based Brown & Bigelow Co. created calendar giveaway promotions for John Deere, Ford and Pillsbury featuring the work of Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish.

Items that were as well known then as today’s most prevalent TV campaigns.

Promotional giveaways are the fastest growing sector in the advertising business. Companies currently spend more than $8 billion a year on these items—because they work! (As a medium it’s bigger than outdoor billboards, and is catching up to magazines as an advertising medium.)

So do you want more business? Want an inexpensive (but very productive) way to get your name out in front of your clients, and prospective new clients?

Then pick up your phone and call your trade exchange broker, see what’s available through the exchange in the way of promotional items. Items like coffee mugs, paper weights, luggage tags, bottle openers, baseball caps, fishing lures, you name it—things to put your logo on!

There is no better way to provide continuous advertising than through ad specialties, corporate gifts and promotional items!

The Power Of A Promotional Item

A Southern Methodist University study shows that when a food-delivery service’s customers were given a $2 coupon, a promotional item worth $2, or nothing at all, those who received the promotional item ordered more frequently, reordered faster, and spent more money per order than customers who received coupons or nothing.

For a trade exchange near you see:
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 18th, 2008 at 7:31 am and is filed under Marketing, Purchasing & Financing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.