Everyone knows that college students have two things in common: 1) A fierce sense of pride for their own school, and 2) A profound love of free stuff.

As a member of the advertising specialty field, you can capitalize on both of these factors with specialized back-to-college promotional products.

Just picture students milling around campus with a branded keychain and drawstring jersey backpack. Imagine dorm rooms decked out with branded banners, Mardi Gras beads, and mascot bobbleheads.

At the first home game of the year, your company could be the winning team with sponsored gate give-aways like Spirit Stix or acrylic soccer scarves emblazoned with your logo.

Perhaps you run a business with locations in college towns? The opportunities for incentives are endless: use customized promotional products to entice students to stop by your restaurant or bar, shop at your store, or open an account at your bank. Give-away items like trend-right titanium ionic necklaces and bracelets in school colors are really popular with this demographic.

Consider this course Promotional Products 101. Advanced lessons in The Anatomy of a Sponsorship and The Science of Gate Give-aways coming soon.

 Texas boasts the largest state fair with an estimated annual attendance of 3,000,000. The largest paid state fair is in Minnesota, which drew nearly 1.8 million visitors in 2010.

These attendance numbers add up to one thing for those in the advertising specialty industry: extra eyes on your brand. State fairs represent an extraordinary opportunity for the advertising specialty industry. While Texas and Minnesota win the blue ribbon attendance prizes, state fairs all around the country attract people in droves. Attendees are ripe for a good time — and for free goodies!

Why not consider capitalizing on the throngs of fun-seeking fairgoers with a branded promotional product? Give away highly coveted beads, and you’ll have fairgoers asking each other, “Where did you get that?” Offer branded drawstring backpacks and your logo will be loud, clear and mobile as fairgoers carry your backpack around all day.

Consider these additional “fair-ready” promotional product ideas:

• Spirit stix (perfect for a concert at the fair!)
• Beads with the optional addition of an attached sample cup
• Hats
• Novelty headwear
• Wigs
• Light-up buttons

In the advertising specialties business we talk a lot about the influence and power of promotional products. We have lots of data supporting the fact that people really like getting free stuff. Not only do they like the promotional beads, buttons, bags and pens they receive - they place high value on them. According to a recent ASI Advertising Specialties Impressions Study reported that people use them regularly (81% considered them useful) and keep them for a very long time. More than 75% kept their promotional products for more than six months. This is destined to make brands very happy because they are getting all sorts of incremental impressions long after the campaign is over.

For example, IMC did this crazy student section wig for a stadium sponsor and it is still showing up on game day three years later. I can open up my kitchen cabinet and pick out 3-4 mugs, koosies, and other assorted drinkware that is at least that old or older myself. All collected by the way, before I came into this industry. The new stuff lives in my office. Don’t even ask about the closet of promotional tees, golf shirts, and jackets my family has collected over the years.

But what happens when the free stuff runs out?

Or someone gets passed over because of an unintentional error? I used to think that while disappointed, folks would just say “oh well” and move on or contact the company to see if they might have an extra lying around the office. That was until the day before yesterday. I read a post that blew my mind.

Apparently someone got passed over for the free stuff and got really upset. They got so upset they threatened an officer of the company with blackmail. The weapon a choice – a blog. Apparently the pen is still considered mightier than the sword. But blackmail? Seriously? Over a promotional giveaway item? Apparently the value propositon is greater than studies have led us to believe.

I would like to believe that this reaction was an isolated incident, although I cannot provide you with any statistical data to support that theory. The blogger in me is disgusted that someone would use the space in that way. The self-interested marketer in me hopes that it will give brands pause and they will order more robustly in the future. The realist in me knows this is wishful thinking.

Thanks to George Smith Jr. for the most unlikely blog fodder I have come across related to the promotional marketing. Link to the “blackmail” post http://bit.ly/IUWmP

The study used for this post is a great tool to illustrate consumer behavior and interaction with promotional products and the ROI potential. Released at the ASI Power Summit November 10, 2008, the “Advertising Specialties Impressions Study” is made available through the Advertising Specialties Institute (ASI) at http://www.asicentral.com 

 Submitted by Linda Whitteaker-Hanson