Why do companies spend money giving away promotional gifts? Let’s all sing the lyrics from the theme song of Fame … ‘Baby remember my name’.
It’s as simple as that, it’s an investment in brand awareness. To be more technical, the pinnacle of brand awareness is called proprietary eponym. This simply means a brand has become so well known it is used generically to describe a product or service.
For example, do your kid’s sneakers have hook and loop fasteners or do they have Velcro? When you have a cold do you reach for a paper tissue or a Kleenex? Xerox, Bubble Wrap, Chapstick are all examples of brands which have become so well known, their brand names have become a victim of their success.
Using promotional gifts to make a connection
Free stuff, everyone loves free stuff. A millionaire can book into a 5-star hotel and still get a kick out of the small shampoo bottles because they are free.
A good free promotional gift needs to be useful, something the person will interact with as often as possible. And the more personal a promotional gift is, the more likely they’ll hold onto it. Think water bottles, mugs, keyrings, pens, T-shirts, hats, etc.
If these only contain company branding, the receiver has no connection to the object. A simple addition of a personalized design and the connection is made.
Choose promotional gifts wisely. First impressions stick!
Whether it’s a job interview, a date or a promotional gift, first impressions count. A bored student employed for the day to hand out free pens, is not going to leave a striking first impression. However, a bunch of cool guys personalizing a custom water bottle will create a memory.
Airbrush Events can boost your brand awareness. We work with established businesses looking for smart and innovative ways to stand out in the crowd. And also new startups developing a brand identity.
Along with private and corporate hosting events where we custom airbrush t-shirts, hats, and other funky goodies as party favors. We also attend corporate promotional events to help build brands.
Custom Earth Promos offers many paintable and eco-friendly giveaways for us to personalize. Visit their blog for more ideas to help your business stand out from the competition.
Making your booth stand out in a convention.
When you are one of many booths at a convention, all pitching similar products and services, how do you stand out and attract guests to your booth? You entertain people and ensure they leave with a useful custom product with which they have a connection.
We were recently employed by WEBROOT, a cybersecurity company offering anti-virus solutions. They had a booth at the IT Nation Connect 2019 Convention in Orlando. We had a great time customizing their water bottles.
On this occasion, WEBROOT supplied their own bottles because they regularly attend conventions and use their own merchandise sourcing company. However, we can also obtain the water bottles on your behalf for painting. We can also arrange for your branding to be screen-printed on the bottles before the event.
Painting on stainless steel water bottles
The stainless steel water bottles provide a non-porous surface, which causes airbrushed paint to move around. To solve this, we used paint pens, which dry quickly, are permanent and the bottles can be washed without affecting the design. Paint pens also offer a solution when space is limited. Although we don’t need more space, there just isn’t space at all events for easels and compressors, which airbrush artists use.
Our artists for the convention were me (Pete), Regis, and Guillermo. We produced 550 custom water bottles working 11 hours across three days. WEBROOT used these as corporate promotional gifts to build brand awareness.
Customization while being entertained is a winning combo
Guests were drawn to the WEBROOT booth by the entertainment value of unique artwork being created live. They were offered a selection of designs to choose from and they decided what they would like their bottle to say. Requests range from their name, their company’s name, some even get their children’s name painted on. Most designs took an average of 5 minutes to paint.
While guests were waiting for their custom water bottles to be painted, the WEBROOT staff had time to inform guests about their products and services while collecting follow up information. Guests then left with a very useful, personalized gift.
Water bottles are a good choice for promotional gifts
The beauty of this particular corporate gift is it has the potential to go everywhere the customer goes (home, work, gym, car, shopping, etc), so wherever the bottle goes, your brand goes along.
Not only that but water bottles will really connect your brand with the growing environmentally-friendly consumers out there. People are becoming more aware of the impact of single-use disposable cups and bottles and the damage they are causing to our planet (Check out how the founder of Airbrush Events is reducing his carbon footprint). It is now viewed as eco-friendly to carry a water bottle as it helps to stop the use of plastic or paper disposable cups.
I’m not a gambling man but I’d put money on the expectation of seeing these good quality bottles becoming a huge marketing tool in the coming months.
