The US Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI) reported that, in 2006, their advertising specialty industry sales topped $18.6 billion, which is up 4.5 percent from the previous year. Spending on advertising specialties in 2006 was double the spending of online ads, five times the size of outdoor ads and more than cable TV advertising. “They have very reasonable costs-per-impression and provide a positive return on investment for marketeers,” explained ASI president Tim Andrews. While spending on specialty advertising is high, the returns from imprinted items are even higher, experts say.

Promotional food has always been a sure-fire way to drum up business for food manufacturers and restaurants. People, by nature, are reluctant to try new things, especially if they have to spend money on it. Sure, that box of cookies is only $5, but why bother if one likes the usual brand just fine? However, how can one refuse a free gift? By presenting the new item, the manufacturer is engaging consumers in a “Come on over and I’ll cook for you” sort of way.

Yet one needn’t be in the food industry to use food to appeal to people. Almost any food packaging can be branded as imprinted items nowadays: water, chocolate, popcorn, gum, mints, nuts, popcorn, pretzels, tea, gift baskets, cookies, wine, fortune cookies, gourmet coffee, M&Ms and much more. ”Marketing is important in difficult economic times,” said Patrick Conway, executive director of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association. ”Promotional items and specials are marketing techniques used in finding a way to pull customers in and it does come down to marketing efforts.” By offering a sale concurrent with the food promotion, customers will be eager to not only try but also to buy impulsively, if the food suits their pallets.

The good news regarding the influx of direct marketing promotions is that there are always exciting new imprinted promo items coming out! Many marketeers like to play it safe and stick with the imprinted pens, the t-shirts and the tote bags. However, for the internet savvy individual who’s willing to go the extra mile to impress the public, there is a whole world of unusual items that are sure to make an impact! HorizonSources.com offers “logo toasters,” which is every bit as intriguing as it sounds.

A custom imprinted message can be cooked right onto a slice of toast in a custom logo toaster! Another innovative idea is to take the successful corporate apparel formula but go beyond the traditional hats and t-shirts to offer imprinted promotional items like socks, tote bags or bottle cap opener/hats. At 4Imprint.com, custom socks go as low as $3.50/pair and there is a wide selection of trendy tote bags, coolers and duffel bags.

More On: Innovative Imprinted Items

Technorati Tags: promotional products, imprinted items, innovative imprinted items

Quickly bookmark About Innovative Imprinted Items at:                                                

This entry was posted on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 9:11 pm and is filed under Business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.