When making a judgment about products for placement with any branding program your company is planning to implement, it can be easy to fail to think about pure logistics. Logistics should be a fundamental component in the decision making routine, though. If your plan is to hand out corporate gifts to thousands of attendees at a show and you think a squishy ball is a great idea, you might want to reconsider! Something like a football might be fun or goofy, but can take up a lot of room, and bulk is bad on the tradeshow floor. The best merchandise is one that is easy to ship and move around but will still have an impact.
For the event planner, sleep masks are one of the items that we have sold the most of recently. They lend themselves to clever event tie-ins, especially when attendees have to take a trip to the event. At the booth they will attract attention because most people probably do not have a bunch of them in their tote bag already and are also light enough to be sent in the mail.
Quite often we’ll suggest a client take a look at the customer base in the city they are exhibiting in, send out postcards to them a couple weeks before the event, and request participants bring the card to the booth to claim special gifts. You might not expect it, but a stylish bag can draw a lot of attention. Make sure you stand back, because people will be waving cards around as soon as the booth opens to get some freebies! A second tier of gifts can be for everyone else, and cost a lot less. Your main objective is to introduce your company by giving them something that they will use and that you can easily ship and move around.
We like desktop calendars because they print them twice a year so you have the option of a full or split year calendar. If you have a convention in September, it might be a little too early to give away 2008 calendars. With this item, though, you can give away a calendar that begins with mid 2007 and goes through mid 2008.These calendars are small so it is easy to ship and they will sit in front of your clients all year long. Think of it like "beach front property" to get an idea why these things are so useful. These calendars let you achieve the contradictory goals of advertising: remain unobtrusive and still be in front of someone’s face.
Promotional products that are tradeshow orientated, like caviar bath beads to soak in or relaxing foot lotion put a smile on anyone’s face when you hand them out at a tradeshow. Thinking of someone’s well being goes over great because we have all had the sore feet and aching backs from long days walking the floor. In the promotional industry the personal care/spa products have really improved in their quality, presentation and price points.
Size is what all of these suggestions have in common. Thinking big is certainly important when it comes to your company, but when it comes to a tradeshow you need to keep your giveaways small and lightweight. Logistics is king! Take these considerations to heart and you'll really make an impression at your next tradeshow!
