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

So goes California, so usually goes the nation.

California has been a leading force in pushing forward environment-based legislation. The most recent  is a ban on plastic shopping bags that will be impacting supermarkets, convenience and liquor stores, and pharmacies by the city of Santa Monica beginning September 1, 2011. Fines for ignoring the new ban – $75 per violation, with criminal prosecution possible for repeat offenders. Ouch!

Why should marketers care? Three communities in California and one in Texas have passed plastic bag bans this year. Nationwide, 19 plastic bag bans have been enacted or approved overall, beginning with San Francisco in 2007.

What about paper? In some places they are still offered for free, with a discount going to those who reuse them. Some stores are now charging for them. As grocery prices soar, one can only think that saavy stores may even consider discontinuing them as well another way of preserving margin and keeping product cost low.

Some statistical tidbits from the 2010 Global Advertising Specialties Impressions Study, conducted by the Advertising Specialties Institute are as follows:

-  Impression rate leader: Average of 1078 impressions per month
-  Kept for an average of 6.7 months
-  One of the lowest per impression costs at .001 cents per impression

Never has the reusable tote had such opportunity to gain in popularity. With a large live area for messaging, high impression rates, ability to spur favorable attitudes toward advertisers, the bag is a promotional item poised for growth.

The modest bag.

Simple, utilitarian and, according to results from the latest ASI Advertising Specialties Impressions study, a promotional powerhouse.

“Among wearables, bags were reported to be used most frequently with respondents indicating that they used their bags an average of nine times per month. They also deliver the most impressions: Each bag averages 1,038 impressions per month.”

The survey of 465 business people,mainly between the ages of 21 and 44, was conducted in June and July of 2008. Respondents had all received promotional products within the past 12 months. 8 out of 10 could recall the advertisers of the products they had received.

Bags were seen 30% more of the time, beating out old standbys like shirts and caps in the wearables category. Bags were held onto longer, with a whopping 42% being kept over a year. Shirts at 10% and caps at 15%, lagged well behind.

Bags were also considered 14% more useful than thier shirt and cap counterparts.

In ability to identify the advertiser, bags again led the wearables category with a 94% brand retention rate. Respondents reported having a better impression and higher likelihood of doing business with the advertiser after receiving a promotional bag item.

It’s nice to see the modest bag coming into its own. Quietly and resourcefully it has taken on the competition and emerged victorious. Innovations making them more interesting and relevant are abounding. Try one for your next promotional project.

IMC Marketer – Promotional Products – Promotional Product Consulting -  www.imcsuccess.com