I was sitting in the Atlanta airport returning home from a successful few days of supplier meetings in sunny Tampa, Florida. As I was waiting to board the request of one supplier continued to play through my head. I walked down the jet way with bag in one hand, a few $0.55 stylus pens in the other. I entered the door of the Delta jet and was greeted by the flight attendant. Instead of just my typical hello, I simply and nonchalantly handed the gentleman the three pens and told him these were a gift for him and the other flight attendants. The gentleman thanked me and I headed down the narrow aisle so as not to hold up the boarding process. I got to my seat near the middle of the aircraft and settled in next to the window. I began to wonder if what [...]

I think it’s safe to say there are many companies we use and support, but don’t necessarily care to walk around as their billboard. On the flip-side, there are times we want to provide a thank you gift to a customer, want it to be a reminder of our company and our appreciation for their business, but not shouting “look at us, look at us”. Using promotional items with a more subtle branding approach can create a more intimate and personal experience for the recipient. It shows them the gift is more about your appreciation for them than having others see you. This approach can do a few things. Strengthen the bond between your company and the customer. May get more day-to-day usage as it’s not an ad, instead it’s just a really nice retail-looking product. This results in high value and low cost per impression [...]