What kind of swag have you gotten that you actually use?

[anothernewphone]

What kind of free promotional stuff have you gotten from a company that you actually use? I'm thinking about things in the range of moleskin notebooks, portable battery chargers, hats, stickers, phone covers. The usual pens / mini flashlights, and the like usually wind up in the trash, and we're trying to avoid that.

This stuff might be something that I can send to the community leaders to my company's most active user base.

Anything awesome that you've gotten that you could share with me? Thanks, fellas.

I wish a custom-dialed Rolex was an option, but we're thinking on a much smaller scale.

[Frosty]

How much is your budget for each item?

One thing that I got a number of years ago, was a small travel first aid kit. I used to travel a lot and kept in in my main bag. I still have it and still carry it when I go on vacation. It has come in handy more than once.

[andromeda160]

I got a Swiss Army knife from one of the people my dad was contracted with and it has their logo on it. I still carry it as a beater knife occasionally. And the presentation case it comes in is nice. IBM also gave me this USB stick that has the IBM logo that flashes in a little digital display, and lights up with a blue led and you can see the electronics inside, i've been using it for 6 years now. The one before that I used was another one from BAE systems and I think they gave it to my dad with a document on it because its narked unclassified which I always thought was cool.

[anothernewphone]

We have a budget for one big item a year - maybe a 150-250ish dollars, for something like a nice set of headphones or a BT speaker, but not necessarily branded with our logo - just a nice "thank you." The other items, we would probably be thinking $10-25 per item, and sending out different things about every four months.

[tfly212]

I have attended a lot of conferences over the years and very little of the swag has been useful. Below are two I have used a couple of times that have been very well received...but will depend on the setting.

1. Cheap - beer koozies with your logo...only applicable in certain instances but if you have an event that has a cocktail hour I have found it very useful to put a stack on every bar...slip the bartenders a few bucks and your koozies will be on every drink

2. More expensive, but broader appeal - custom under armour/dri fit shirts. I recently got a bunch from eastbay.com (their in house brand...good quality and very affordable). I recommend going easy on the logo...either something simple centered under the neck or just on one arm. Everyone wears these now and no one will forget who sent it to them.

[anothernewphone]

Originally Posted by tfly212

I have attended a lot of conferences over the years and very little of the swag has been useful. Below are two I have used a couple of times that have been very well received...but will depend on the setting.

Great ideas! The koozie one is something we're considering, but the shirt idea is really cool. We have some nice casual shirts and your idea would make for a good upgrade for the community leaders' shirts over the generally available one. Thanks!

[Fox red lab]

koozies are great and recently we got gum done with our logo on the package. The gum is quite inexpensive so not a high end gift, but almost everyone chews gum.

[tfly212]

Originally Posted by anothernewphone

Great ideas! The koozie one is something we're considering, but the shirt idea is really cool. We have some nice casual shirts and your idea would make for a good upgrade for the community leaders' shirts over the generally available one. Thanks!

No problem.

The shirts I got most recently are below...they are good quality but run about 1 size small as they are slightly fitted. I used Under Armour a few years ago but I got them at cost as I used to play lacrosse with one of their reps...he left and so did the friend pricing...definitely more expensive (as is Nike)

We had a conference in Las Vegas about a year ago and by day 2 half the conference was wearing our shirts by the pool or to the gym.. they were a big hit.

http://www.eastbay.com/product/model...YWORD%20SEARCH

[jjnd08]

Originally Posted by tfly212

I have attended a lot of conferences over the years and very little of the swag has been useful. Below are two I have used a couple of times that have been very well received...but will depend on the setting.

1. Cheap - beer koozies with your logo...only applicable in certain instances but if you have an event that has a cocktail hour I have found it very useful to put a stack on every bar...slip the bartenders a few bucks and your koozies will be on every drink

2. More expensive, but broader appeal - custom under armour/dri fit shirts. I recently got a bunch from eastbay.com (their in house brand...good quality and very affordable). I recommend going easy on the logo...either something simple centered under the neck or just on one arm. Everyone wears these now and no one will forget who sent it to them.

These are great.

Wine/beer opener are great.

Mints/gum packages with your logo.

[scottIN]

It all depends on what you're trying to do.

This is my 22nd year as a promotional products consultant, writing about 1100 orders a year. So I've got somewhere north of 20,000 case histories to pull from.

The most important thing is this: the product is just a vehicle for your message. It's a combination of the right vehicle and the right message, delivered to the right person, that gets results.

[james1787]

Golf Umbrellas..

[anothernewphone]

Thanks for the suggestions, guys and gals. This stuff is more of a "thank you" than it is to get the word out. These are going to be gifts for our biggest advocates that already help spread our word out there. Everyone can get a t-shirt, but custom tees are the focus now, so some dri-fit style ones might be the high on the list!

[malarky_hk]

I've gotten a pair of Zenith cuff links as a thank you gift from my AD. Which is quite practical and I actually use it and it reminds of my Zenith.

[cedargrove]

Originally Posted by malarky_hk

I've gotten a pair of Zenith cuff links as a thank you gift from my AD. Which is quite practical and I actually use it and it reminds of the my Zenith.

Those are freakin' awesome. Love 'em.

[T. Ferguson]

Horologically speaking a cleaning cloth and that's about it. I've received jackets, T-shirts, and stuff from some companies I've done business with.

[watchdog507]

My wife gives her clients Sweatshirts, T-Shirts, and Technical Jackets with her logo on them. I've never seen anyone disappointed with her swag. But the products are top quality. No polyester in the sweatshirts or t-shirts and they have tasteful and discrete logos.

[anothernewphone]

double post

[anothernewphone]

Originally Posted by watchdog507

My wife gives her clients Sweatshirts, T-Shirts, and Technical Jackets with her logo on them. I've never seen anyone disappointed with her swag. But the products are top quality. No polyester in the sweatshirts or t-shirts and they have tasteful and discrete logos.

Yeah, beefy Hanes cotton tees aren't going to get worn- we use some really nice comfy t-shirts that I personally wear all the time. I'm thinking we need to up the ante for some custom t-shirts for our developers and get them some of those dri-fit style shirts that were recommended by Terry. We'll need smaller, more affordable gifts if we're going to do it more often than a couple times a year, so I'm just trying to think what else we could do. I might do some portable battery pack phone chargers, magnets, and a nice back pack for the holiday season.