Yesterday I bought a new DSLR camera at the local camera shop here in town (great customer experience by the way – service from Tom was great!). Once I’d purchased my camera they bundled it and a few accessories in an imprinted tote like our new Dot Gift Bag (I know, if I had been thinking I would have taken a shot of it right then and there with the new camera – not very quick am I?!).

In this case it was imprinted with a Canon logo (I bought a new Canon to replace my old one). This was effective marketing for Canon as I really did appreciate having the bag to carry my purchase, the bag will get reused (it’s a nice size!) and the logo was easy-to-spot as I walked back through town (as it will be each time I reuse it!). Ideally, the local store would have had their logo on the opposite side of the bag or along side the Canon logo – would like to see the retailer get some mileage as well.

Regardless, these bags are a great marketing opportunity for all of the brands involved – manufacturer and distributor. I can tell you from my personal experience, it’s a great touch that left me feeling even better about a significant purchase.  I realize this is pretty basic stuff, but if you sell a product that needs to be carried home, or manufacture one that does, these bags are an  effective way to make a good impression at a very low cost. Promotional products work.

Promotional products have a wide variety of uses - giveaways at trade shows, awareness campaigns, brand support, recruiting or recognition, phone number/web site recall – all sorts of things.  Often times promotional items are used as a ‘thank you’ or business gift. When that’s the case, you can often turn a ‘wow’ into a ‘WOW‘ just by thinking about, and ‘upgrading’ the presentation packaging.

Consider a gifts box, vibrant tissue paper or some other kind of packaging. This little ‘extra’ make a big impact and tells the recipient you really thought about them as your were putting things together. Plus, who doesn’t love that ‘prize inside’ feeling?

Our merchandising crew has added some fun new packaging goodies to get the thought process going next time you need to say ‘thanks’!

Came across this table made out of a shipping carton the other day. It was featured in a book about green design (coolhuntinggreen.com) and it made my smile for two reasons.

First, how many of us did this anyway as a student? (Or, even more recently when moving?) Did you think of yourself as ‘eco trend-setters’?  Probably not.

Second, it made me wonder what our Blue BoxesTM have turned into over the years!

For those of you who aren’t 4imprint customers, Blue BoxesTM are boxes of free samples we send out to our customers to keep them up to date on promotional products available. They are sent out in corrugated cardboard boxes that are, well, blue.

We’ve been sending out these boxes for several years now, so I’m willing to bet they’ve found their way into a few kids’ science projects, are storing nuts and bolts in a few garages across the country and maybe even storing promotional pens for reference?

I’m sure you’ve found a bunch of different ways to re-use your Blue BoxesTM before recycling them. So, do tell.  And, if you have pictures, I’d love to see them!

–Suzanne

I read all of the customer product reviews our customers share with us and this one caught my eye this morning. Vincent mentioned that he paired our imprinted balsa glider with a cholocate airplane he sells and sales went up 40%!

Great creativity at The Chocolate Shop & More in Buffalo. In a tight economy this is the kind of thinking that can make a difference.

Bet their chocolate is really, really good!