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Everyone loves music and handing out music themed merchandise will surely make you popular among your customers especially those who are musically-inclined. These custom items are already unique in their own way, in terms of design and functionality. Whether you are in the music business or not, these personalised products are sure to be a “big hit” – pun intended. Among the favourite musical customised products are the following:

Custom Magnets in the shape of musical notes

You cannot deny the straightforward brand message that this product sends across. Print with your name and enjoy continuous exposure. Plus, customers get to enjoy the functionality that magnets offer.

Printed MP3 Player

People who love music will go the extra mile to make sure they have their favourite songs with them wherever they are; which is why these customised MP3 music player make the best business gift or giveaway.

Branded Speakers

Music lovers will go ga-ga over customised silicon iphone speakers. Some even take these portable speakers anywhere they go in order to enjoy good music anytime. When customising these products, make sure you do it in a subtle manner. This is actually one of those instances when “less is more”

Top 3 Gifts for University Students

With the upcoming new school year, a fresh batch of university students are set to embark on a new adventure – academics wise. We found it apt to give you some great gift ideas for university students. If you are a business looking to promote your brand to this particular market, take note of this list as it will help you achieve brand exposure and visibility.

USB Flash Drive – without a doubt, this particular device will be welcomed by any uni student as it is deemed crucial to have a mobile storage device. You can choose a design which offers convenience and practicality such as those rubber wristband flash drives. Simply strap on to the wrist and they will become a daily essential.

Post It Notes – if you ask any university student if there is one thing they could not live without, the answer would be Post It notes. These sticky notes help them remember things they would otherwise forget. Plus, they can be great for leaving messages on dorm rooms as a supplement to text messaging. For sure, students will appreciate this particular gift.

the call to go green has certainly reached the ears of our dearest university students and a lot of them have become very particular with the products they buy and use. This makes environmentally-friendly items quite popular. The great thing is you have a lot to choose from ranging from recycled pens and pencils to cloth-made tote bags. Your brand will even enjoy a more positive image aside from saving up on costs as these items are relatively a lot cheaper.

Reasons why cooler drawstring backpacks are one the best promotional items:

• They can fit in the tiniest of spaces without getting damaged. This is the type of bag that you want with you as it will increase your convenience and make you more efficient in whatever it is that you are doing. A feature that will appease most consumers receiving it as a promotional product
• Quickly closed and opened thus giving you quick access to your facilities. A user friendly feature that can increase the productivity of the user who needs to access items inside the bag. The fact that you can save time when packing and unpacking items makes it a very valuable asset to own and one that anybody will appreciate
• A company or organisation that settles on drawstring backpacks as a promotional products such as t shirt or umbrella, drawstring backpacks can be worn on a more regular and consistent basis. A promotional t shirt or umbrella cant be worn everyday but you can definitely have your backpack with you most of the times. This would increase chances of your brand being noticed by others. 
• The type of promotional backpack often has a very large print area which makes printing very clear and legible. It will act as the best platform to display your brand and message. In short, the user can be your mobile advertisement selling out your brand and messages to public.
• The cost of making this item isnt as much as other promotional merchandise which is a good thing. Since they are very compact in size, stock them up by bulk ordering in larger quantities and enjoy bigger discounts!

It cannot be denied that consumers are becoming more and more selective these days, scrutinizing not only the product but also the company which offers the product or service. Many businesses have grown aware of the growing damage to the environment with the pillage of worl'ds natural resources which is why they are opting for eco friendly products

If you have yet to join this bandwagon, maybe its time to think about it. Here are more reasons why you should:

• Enjoy public praise - with customers supporting green campaigns, shifting to environmentally products will surely benefit the corporate image. Your brand will be looked upon as responsible, caring and concerned. Plus, consumers see these products as cool and hip which make them popular
• Promote eco friendly advocacies - if your business advocates environmentally-friendly causes, one way of meeting your goals or objectives is to start with green merchandise. A lot of industries are also setting "green" standards, making the promotion of these advocacies much easier
• Minimize carbon footprint - by opting for green products you help in reduction of carbon footprints in form of greenhouse gases produced during production, utilization and storage.

When choosing promo products, make sure thay have energy star logos, recyclable or green seals to convey that the items are environmetally friendly

Corporate gift-giving may seem like a simple affair these days because of the wide range of promotional products available out there, but there are still some marketing people who fail to make wise choices. They end up giving away gifts that are either totally useless or offensive to their intended recipients.

Lingerie

Corporate branding experts (not to mention our own sense of good taste) advise against using lingerie as promotional giveaways. They will only succeed in branding your company as unbelievably offensive.

Ashtray

Ashtrays have long ago lost their usefulness. The number of smokers in Australia has been steadily decreasing over the last few decades and those who still smoke do it outside because of all the smoking bans in enclosed spaces. What will they ever do with an ashtray? Corporate gifts should be regarded as an opportunity to make a positive impact on your target clients. Don’t waste it

Perhaps one of the least expensive advertising tools these days is the use of custom wristbands and or dogtags to promote sporting events/concerts/ university activities/church projects, to raise funds, raise awareness, run for class president, introduce a new band and most everything else. In many countries, these two marketing tools have often been used as campaign tools, worn by candidates and given out to supporters to create a party identity.

Colour

Awareness ribbons come in many different colours, each representing its particular cause. Remember the pink ribbon? The colour pink in general represents breast cancer awareness. Green is the colour of environmentally-friendly endeavors. When events related to these causes are held, all those who attend show support by donning the official colour. Wristbands or awareness bracelets have become an integral part of “the look” as well. They somehow complete the look of belonging, of sympathizing with the cause and all they stand for.

Logo/Buzz Word

Apart from the colour of the wristband or dogtag, it can be imprinted with any particular event’s catch phrase, buzz word or slogan, whatever they might want to call it. If it’s a sporting event, it could be the name of their team. If it’s a beauty pageant contestant, the bands and tags will bear her name.

Material

• Dogtags are typically made of inexpensive aluminum, tin or stainless steel but depending on the event and the budget they can be made from sterling silver, gold and even platinum. The most popular shape is oval.

  

• Wristbands on the other hand can be silicone, braided fabric, plastic, cash tag, vinyl or Tyvek®. Whatever the material, they are easy to wear and take off, often with enough flexibility to fit all wrist sizes.

If you haven’t already done it, the next time you are planning a big event, include wristbands and dogtags in your promotional budget. Instead of giving away stuff that delegates will simply throw away, give them something that will double as a cherished souvenir of the event. These products are keepers.

With the existing range of promotional giveaways these days, it does seem like they have already thought of everything. However, in all my years planning and attending corporate functions, I have never seen any of these items being used.

Ceramic Essential Oil Burner

Upon entering a spa, you immediately feel pleasantly relaxed with the scent that seems to envelop you in its embrace. It sets the mood, so to speak. A lot of people want to achieve that same effect in their own homes. I know of a few tricks but my method of choice would be to use essential oil. It would be a nice welcome gift to real estate clients or to medical/dental practitioners for use in their offices. Give them away at property, medical or dental trade shows and they will surely be appreciated.

LED Flashlight/Whistle Combo

We believe carrying emergency signaling gadgets is a really smart idea. Emergency situation can happen to anybody at any time. Product that may be used by any ages – children, adults and elderly makes a great gifting idea. A whistle that doubles as a flashlight is even better. They should be used more widely as promotional gifts. For example, community-oriented companies can promote emergency precautions and get their brand wide recognition at the same time by donating emergency gadgets to schools. School officials can distribute them on orientation day when they discuss the school’s emergency procedures.

Portable Neck Massager

Instantly light up those conference delegates’ eyes by presenting them with their personal neck massager, portable enough to be used while on short coffee breaks at work. They will probably try them on right away after sitting through several conference sessions. Many promotional giveaways end up being thrown away. Event planners should spend their marketing budget wisely by picking items that will be kept, used and appreciated by the recipients enough to remember the name of the company that gave it to them.

In the corporate circles we belong to, almost everyone has some item that everybody else does. It’s no wonder because we all go to the same product launchings, the same trade shows, the same seminars and conferences etc. It’s all fine really…. It just means we belong.

There are however a few things that I personally have never had the pleasure of getting as a gift in any of the numerous corporate events I've been to, that women would find very useful

Handbag holder / purse hanger

These little accessories are just the most convenient item every women need. They keep your handbag nicely next to your table wherever you are so you don’t have to leave it on floor collecting dirt and bacteria. They will also keep your bag safe within your sight most importantly as you don’t have to worry about having it stolen.

Survival Kit

Emergencies happen. It’s a good thing to have small emergency kit for With the recent spate of both natural and man-made disasters, I have contracted a very mild case of what some people might call “prepper syndrome”. I actually encouraged our HR Department to hold small emergency seminars for employees and distribute survival kits of emergency provisions including those cool gadget combos that contain a signal whistle, LED light, compass etc. We never know when something like that can come in handy. Emergency preparedness is a must these days, so instead of giving away stuff that would only be thrown away we might as well give something that the receivers will thank us for.

Touch screen display market is expected to reach nearly $24B globally by 2017. Tablet sales alone are expected to hit 360 million units by then! This does not include other devices that use touch screen technology like smart phones, car displays, cameras, eReaders, game consoles, navigation devices, medical equipment, all-in-one printers, etc.

Within the touch screen market, resistive screens led sales for many years and stylus pens enjoyed immense popularity even if they were mostly so tiny they kept getting lost. When the higher quality capacitive screens took the lead in 2010 it was thought that stylus pen sales will weaken along with the resistive screen share of the market because consumers didn’t need the pens anymore. They only needed their fingers…. Or so they thought.

Precision issues

After initial consumer response to "finger only"  touch screens, it soon became evident that fat fingers were getting in the way, hampering functionality especially on smart phones with their small screens.

It wasnt any better on tablets especially drawing apps because fingers obstruct the user's view for accurate drawing. People who like to take on their iPads also needed something to write with instead of using their stubby index finger all the time. This was a precision issue that only an appropriate capacitive stylus pen can address.

Smudged screens

Smudging and dirty prints on expensive touch screen devices also began to annoy many users and since these smart devices were marketed without a stylus pen, there werent many of them being offered in the market.

Personalisation

Now come in many colours and body styles. They are smart gift ideas, corporate giveaways and cool accessories. They can be customised with your logo

orporate giveaways only do their job if the recipients actually keep them long enough to give you sufficient brand exposure. Your marketing investment should go into something that will last months or even years. Embed your products into the ives not only of your customers but their families as well.

This is the reason why lifestyle gifts are sure hits with recipients, and at the top of the list are car accessories. They need not break your marketing budget, many promotional car items are reasonably priced to be used as promotional gifts

Tyre Pressure Gauge

Many trade show attendees throw away stuff that they receive almost as soon as the leave a booth, sometimes even in full view of the people who gave it to them. Use a tire pressure gauge as a clever marketing tool. You can be assured that your brand will be carried all the way home.

Car Sun Shade

If you want to maximise your marketing investment, put your money in good quality car sun shades. Your brand will be displayed long after the recipients have left trade show. Everytime they leave their car out in the sun, they wil do your advertising for you. It's a non traditional advertising at its best.