All about promotional products
Just what are promotional products?
Promotional products - a term covering a large field but with many minor but crucial differences. Wikipedia defines them as follows:
Promotional products are 3-dimensional advertising carriers which companies give to existing and potential customers for marketing purposes. Widely available classic promotional products include calendars, ballpoint pens and cigarette lighters. The market is huge and ranges from cheap give-aways in the lower price segment through to high quality brand items.
So promotional products are gift items, scatter items andgive-aways all in one? More or less, yes:
The
so-called scatter
items such as ballpoint pens or disposable lighters are used
primarily to raise awareness of the brand being advertised, through mass
distribution. They are only of small value in themselves which is why they can
be distributed (scattered) in relatively large quantities. Indiscriminate
scattering, however, results in relatively imprecise distribution.
High quality
promotional products, on
the other hand, are intended not so much to raise awareness levels, as to draw
attention to the quality and superiority of the brand or the company. These are
targeted mainly at decision-makers in strategically important positions. The
level of scatter losses is lower and they are more effective.
Ideally,
gifts create a bond - maybe only
subconsciously - between the parties
giving and receiving the item. They
allow the company to attract attention, to raise its profile, to expand
markets, open up sales channels, to promote a willingness to create positive
reporting and, ultimately, to increase sales.
In other words: promotional products are
"advertising messages transformed from ideas into
physical matter".
(Robert
Nieschlag, Erwin Dichtl and Hans Hörschgen)
