Have you thought about what souvenir you’d like to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee?  Memorabilia ranges from glassware, plates and mugs, to smaller items popular with children such as coins and bookmarks.  There are also the souvenir hats and caps.

All of which will become treasured mementoes of a special and unique occasion.  The frenzy for commemorative items remains as popular as ever.  People who started their collection as a small child, by receiving a commemorative coin, will sometimes go on to collect souvenirs from each historic occasion such as Jubilee’s, royal weddings etc.  Many people will have glassware, chinaware and commemorative coins in their collection.  Collectors will also consider their purchases for their historical relevance.   Although limited edition commemorative items are a popular choice, and are often bought for an investment, it can take several decades before a profit is achieved.  However, it is more likely to be the commemorative coin or mug that will generate a higher profit.  The reason behind this is that the higher cost items are kept in cabinets or wrapped up and put away with a view to protecting their investment.  Whereas the cheap and cheerful mug will be used, perhaps on a daily basis, and are prone to breakage and their existence is a great deal shorter.  Therefore, when a mug survives the passage of time and is still around in ten or twenty years, they are not only quite rare but also highly collectable.  The same goes for commemorative coins which are often given to schoolchildren as a souvenir.  These are played with and quite quickly lost because of their small size.  Again, the ones that survive quickly become very popular to collectors.

So, what will be your choice of souvenir or commemorative item?  Will you chose the expensive Spode plate, or opt for a cheaper china mug or the popular commemorative coin?

If you are a school looking for commemorative items, you may opt for a bookmark, which is not only a practical item, but will be cherished by the schoolchildren who receive them.  Parish Councils tend to opt for the commemorative coin as a gift to everyone within their parish.  Organisations favour stylish glassware, which serves as both a practical and traditional memento that will stand the test of time.

Whatever your choice, it will be a wonderful and cherished commemorative item and a special souvenir of a very historic occasion.  We wish everyone who is celebrating an enjoyable and memorable Diamond Jubilee.

If you would like to download a Pdf of popular commemorative items, please click here.

People find them extremely useful in their daily lives.  This is why they are a popular promotional item, as customers recognise their value.  They can be used for numerous reasons, because of their low cost they are great for exhibitions and trade shows.  Also, many niche retail outlets use cotton shopping bags as a way to promote their brand.  One example is the prestigious SeaSalt brand in Cornwall, who believe in ethical trading and supply top quality cotton products.  They use the cotton bag as a way of promoting their brand by presenting each customer with their purchase in a cottong bag with their logo and slogan printed on it.  This type of advertising is an extremely effective way of making sure your customers will return, whilst also spreading the message and brand of the company in a unique, inexpensive way.  Hence, giving away custom printed shopping bags has been considered as one of the most effective and inexpensive strategies to promote business.  In SeaSalt’s case it adds value to their brand, and extends their belief in environment.

Many business owners have started using printed cotton shopping bags which have their company’s logo and marketing slogan printed on them.  For years the printed cotton shopper, carrying the logo of the companies and their business message, has reached countless people far and wide, even into different continents!  The power of this type of advertising, for considerably little cost, has to be considered as one the most effective, far reaching advertising promotional tools that there is.

The large print area is one of the most important factors for people to choose cotton shoppers as promotional gifts.  Compared to other most popular promotional products like mugs, pens and keyrings etc., with the cotton bag you get more print area for your pound! It is a shrewd business person who considers the amount of advertising you get, and the audience it will reach, when considering their marketing budget.

USB’s have overtaken pens as the most popular items ordered, it has been revealed in a recent survey by the BPMA.

Although pens and mugs still feature strongly, the number of Quick Quotes being posted show that USB’s are growing significantly in popularity.

 So, they are a perfect promotional giveaway, regardless of whether you work for a corporate or ‘blue chip’ company, a small business or are a student attending college or university, you can benefit from USB flash drives by handing them out or giving them away to consumers, prospective clients, business partners or lecturers.  Your only problem is deciding which promotional USB device to give out, as they come in so many shapes, sizes and memory capacity!  The following pointers will help you to pick the best USB device to hand out or give away:
Because USB devices or ‘dongles’ (what a great word!) are designed to meet almost every computing requirement, their usefulness as a promotional product is evident with its growing popularity, and it demonstrates that people perceive this as a valued item to receive.  They will retain it for longer and use it regularly, which means it is an excellent low cost item but has a high perceived value.  It’s worth remembering that the bigger the memory, the bigger the cost!  With smaller capacities, you’ll pay less, which is why 1 and 4 GB memories are very popular.  Handing out large capacity models will be expensive and drain your promotional budget.

USB’s are great for giveaways and to include a logo, website address and phone number on them.  You can match USB’s to your corporate colours or school’s themes, remembering to pay the same careful attention to branding as you would with regular printed media.

Don’t worry about that you can’t fit your full contact details onto the small printing area, USB’s allow for either printing on the outside or storage of your details on the inside!  One of the great things about USB’s is that you can simply pre-load them with a text file or an image similar to what you’d have printed on one of your business cards. This is a lovely way to market because it’s totally non-intrusive. If the recipient wants to delete your contact info, they can, and your logo still remains prominent on the outside.

The best placement is to simply include them in corporate literature, product shipments or with anything else you sell, hand out or otherwise distribute.  Make an impression that lasts!

January 2012 – The World’s Smallest USB

This month sees the World’s smallest USB come to the market.  The new Micro UDP-chip measures 19.5mm x 14.5mm and is 2.9mm in thickness.  The super small USB is available in 4, 8 and 16GB. 

The advantages of its small size are that it fits easily into wallets and is unobtrusive on a set of keys.  The biggest advantage is that it doesn’t have to be removed from a laptop or computer, plus it will not protrude when stored in a laptop bag.  So, hopefully, it won’t get lost so easily!  It’s simple to see why USB’s become the leading promotional item giveaway!

“What is this?” I hear you ask!  Well, it’s actually ‘Smartphone Gloves’ typed on your Smartphone or Tablet when your hands are freezing cold!!!

A great innovation and an excellent way to ensure your texts and emails are typed accurately with warm hands is to invest in a pair of Smartphone Gloves.  They look and feel like ordinary gloves, but have a unique patented product woven into the tips of the thumb, index and middle fingers of both gloves, so it doesn’t matter if your left or right handed, it still allows touch screen interaction without having to remove the glove.  Traditional gloves are useless in this process, but the ingenious Smartphone Glove solves the problem of using a touch screen device simply and easily!

So, no more fumbling with your gloves and juggling your phone whilst trying to answer a call, text a message or type an email! 

SmartGloves are an incredible innovation for the touch screen market.  Combining new technology such as the iPhone, iPad and Smartphones with an old age problem of keeping your hands warm whilst trying to use and operate your hand-held device: 

The solution is having a pair of SmartGloves that allow you to touch, tap and scroll any touch screen device without removing the glove! 

SmartGloves are the simple solution.

Mousemats and mouse pads come in a variety of styles, ranging from the traditional soft or hard tops.  HardTop mousemats are the original and best mousemat, the best selling mouse mat in Europe.  Everlasting under-surface print combined with a non slip foam base provides exceptional value for money. 

The traditional soft mousemat are a high quality, low cost option and are great for mailings!  Coasters and matching sets are also available.  There are also mouse mats with a pocket along one edge which can be made to hold almost any size business card.   These make excellent promotional sales giveaways.  As well as, mats with a lift up flap and recess in the foam to hold a CD or DVD, which can expand on your promotional campaign with presentations or video and music giveaways.

Using a promotional mousemat keeps your message in prime position on your clients’ desk, and is one of the most cost effective forms of advertising your business or brand.

In fact there is a mouse mat to suit pretty much every aspect of business.  From architects and design studios, which require oversized pads for a wide range of motion to ergonomic wrist wrest mouse pads, which are very popular with those who spend long hours working on the computer (which is most of us!).

Unlike many other promo tools, mousemats afford you the space of almost a full page spread, allowing you to depict whatever you wish in stunning color.  The graphics you use on your mousemats are only limited by your imagination; they can just consist of nothing more than a well-placed logo, to being printed in full Technicolor by dye sublimation for exceptionally bright and vivid results.  The choice is yours!

Popular mouse mat images include things like natural scenery, animals and historical buildings.  The point of the colourful background is to draw the eye to your information, and the more pleasing the mouse pad looks, the more effective this will be.  Recycled, environmentally friendly mouse mats which used to be car tyres are also available. 

Your information should always be prominently displayed on the mouse pad, but one of the most often overlooked pieces of info is a website address. You’ve already got a user at their computer, so take advantage of the opportunity to draw them to your site. Promotional mousemats help spread your presence wherever they go, so distribute them to consumers and business partners alike.

Promotional mousemats make very good trade show handouts, but they can also be distributed via other means such as mail-outs, and because most are lightweight, they are an ideal, cost effective marketing tool.  Another good way to promote your business with mousemats is to offer them as prizes.  Consumers who purchase your items and enter in a competition cannot all win the grand prize, but a mousemat certainly makes a great runner’s up prize.

The most important factor in choosing promotional items to stock and distribute is usability. You don’t want to give your customers something they’ll never have use for, but mousemats always come in handy.  Especially if you include features such as calendars!

 In the workplace, employee recognition is an effective tool that encourages staff to work diligently for the benefit of the business.  When you recognise people effectively, you reinforce the actions and behaviours you most want people to repeat.  Therefore, adopting an effective employee recognition scheme, such as regular presentation of medals and awards, makes the impact of reward and recognition immediate and powerfully reinforces your appreciation.

Appreciation is a fundamental human need.  Employees and pupils, alike, respond to appreciation expressed through recognition of their good work because it confirms their work is valued.  When recognition is paid to an employee, their productivity levels rise, and they are motivated to maintain or improve their good work and behaviour.  Similarly, this perception of reward and recognition is how pupils will react to praise for a good piece of coursework, demonstrating excellent behaviour or excelling in a team event or promoting teamwork.

Praise and recognition are essential to an outstanding workplace or school environment.  People want to feel respected and valued for their contribution.  Everyone appreciates being recognised as an individual or member of a group.

Recognising people and teams for their good work sends an extremely powerful message.  It reinforces the importance of personal endeavour and teamwork and promotes a positive outlook on the school, team or business which promotes and rewards recognition, maybe through the giving of shields, trophies, medals or badges.

Recognition is a key success factor and increases productivity and positive behaviour.  It also raises staff and pupil morale, which leads to improved performance and attainment of goals.  It creates a sense of belonging and loyalty.

Benefits summarised:

•Increased individual productivity

•Greater satisfaction and enjoyment

•Higher loyalty and satisfaction

•Teamwork is enhanced

•Quality employees are retained

•Lower employee turnover

A Christmas corporate gift is a personal gesture that is made in the spirit of giving, showing recognition and gratitude that will be appreciated and remembered by its recipients.  It is also an effective way of maintaining staff morale and increasing motivation.

There are a number of excellent reasons for giving Christmas corporate gifts:  Reward and recognition is a powerful way to enhancing staff performance; raising the profile of a company in the eyes of their employees and customers; staying ahead of your competitors and is a very effective marketing tool.

An extremely effective Christmas corporate gift is an engraved item that can be branded with your company logo and can also incorporate a personal message.  It is a positive way of staying ahead of your competitors and being in the forefront of your customers and employees minds.  This, in itself, boosts profitability by way of work ethic and commercial relationships.  However, it’s not only your existing customers that can benefit from receiving Christmas corporate gifts, giving branded gifts to potential customers can also be a great way of raising brand awareness and winning that all important new business.

What should you consider when choosing Christmas corporate gifts?  Well, firstly, it creates an excellent first impression.  However, you will not be the only company to promote their business through branded corporate gifts, so it is especially important to make the right choice of gift.  This is where gift packaging is a great option for making a Christmas corporate gift extra special, and there are many different ways of branding.  We have a huge selection of gift boxes that can be embossed, printed in gold or silver lettering, gift ribbon that can also be branded with your company logo and all presented in a stylish gift bag.

The beauty of Christmas gift giving is also to consider “it’s the thought that counts”.  Therefore, it is equally important to take into account smaller budgets, which is why we have a wide selection of inexpensive items that will also be well received with the same gratitude, as it raises a smile and a warm feeling of the spirit of Christmas.  Important considerations when you are giving a ‘novelty’ Christmas gift is that although you still want people to smile and get excited about their gift, at the same time you don’t want them to throw it in the bin as soon as Christmas is over.  To get the most out of your novelty Christmas gift, make it practical as well as fun, and attractive and useful enough to be kept and used well after Christmas is over.  Giving careful thought to your budget and the type of gift you give will pay dividends in the long run.  Remember Christmas is a time for giving and “it’s the thought that counts”!