Every year, we sit down and think about swag and its applications in the real world.  What trends are influencing the ways people are using promotional items? What do users of promotional media gravitate towards in terms of fashion and function?

Well, we have debated these topics tirelessly over the past few weeks and have synthesized the findings into the Top Ten below.

1. “Re-thinking Products: Form & Function”

When does a to-go mug go from trash to re-usable?

Current promotional product trends look at re-thinking the way we use everyday objects and making them useful and eco-friendly – especially with the current push of carbon footprint and social responsibility in the media. Adding a bit of creative flair to the design also makes it appealing to those looking to stand out and differentiate their brand identity.

2. “What’s old is new – Retro Inspired”

An emotional connection with swag is one way of capturing attention.

It paints a story for the client as they would be familiar with the product from their own experience. It’s also a step back from regular promo gear and allows the receiver to have more fun with it – who doesn’t like a pair of neon sunglasses?

3. “Social Media and Mobile”

Infolust on the go

Smart phones, PDA, laptops – whichever piece of technology available out there, someone has got theirs hands on it so why not have your brand in their hands too.  By choosing products that relate to the current trend, it gets your message out there and becomes practical.

4. “Colors”

No more corporate colors – Red, Black, Navy.

A lot of employees are looking for exciting options for their corporate uniforms to wear at work and also for recreational use. With casual dress codes becoming more common in the workplace, the color palette is starting to change and heading more towards the seasonal colors that comes with fashion: orange, green, pink (or salmon), etc.

5. “Retail look”

Patterns, materials and details you would see at a store, are making their way into work wear. It gives the apparel a bit more personality to the person who wears it.

6. “Small Promo/Big Impact”

Good things come in small packages!

Cell phones/PDA/laptops; these are everyday items that are carried by work professionals as part of their gear. Why not have your brand be visible daily and useful at the same time, instead of sitting in another swag closet never to be seen again? Useful as a mailer as well, with little costs to ship directly to your clients. Even with a small budget, you can still have the biggest impact; it’s all how you present it.

7. “Girl Power!”

Crossovers – no more one size fits all golf shirts that wear like a dress.

Women have always been the main consumer for households. The same goes for ordering branded apparel in a corporate setting.  A lot of them are leaning toward the styles that have crossovers to suit both male/female employees. There is also a push towards more female-oriented products in the market. Patterns, Fit and cut is important and makes it appealing to the female demographic. Choose styles that differentiate between men and women’s apparel.

8. “Eco but cheap”

Eco-friendly products have become more standard with products these days.  Not everyone has the budget to spend on organic cotton tees or bamboo woven bags. But that doesn’t mean that you should be left out of the mix. Useful everyday items are getting the eco makeover while helping stick with your bottom line.

9. “Custom made Easy”

Want your self-promo to stand out from the rest? Don’t have the time or quantities needed?

There are new product lines that allow for full customization without the long timeline and higher minimums.  Sometimes there just aren’t enough hours in the day – but that doesn’t mean you should sacrifice quality of your brand with the same old 1 color/1 location.

10. “New Materials”

Bamboo, coconut, recycled tires, kraft paper, neoprene, jute and poo!

Using non-traditional materials is another differentiating factor in rethinking products: form and function (trend#1). New materials/textiles are making their way into the industry and create interesting stories within the products themselves – promoting organic solutions (bio-energy), why not hand out a journal made from elephant poop?

It will definitely get people talking and take you to the next level with your client.

From time to time, we come across swag that makes us stop and think “Wow, this company gets it.”

I wanted to congratulate Wind Mobile on a fantastic promotional package at last night’s TwestivalTo.  It’s rare to see such a nicely coordinated promotional campaign these days.

Here is what they produced and why it worked so well:

1. Recycled Non woven polypropelene tote bag (in the same size as the fashionable and hugely popular LuluLemon bags). Front and back shots

2. Moleskine “inspired” journal with custom printed inside cover

3. Felt coffee sleeve with a Wind Mobile woven label (very cool)

4. Recycled Paper pen

5. Lanyard with metal clasp, featuring custom printed Wind Mobile taping

6. Wind Mobile magazine

The bags were lined up behind the private booths at the Tryst nightclub where TwestivalTo was hosted. The eager crowd – primarily made up of fashion forward 20 and 30 somethings (Wind’s core market) – grabbed them quickly and oogled at the contents all night. The perceived value of the gear was high and the distribution channel was perfect. Exclusive, yet accessible.

Here’s why this promotional giveaway was so effective:

1. The products were well designed. Wind paid attention to the details.

2. The items had a high perceived value.

3. There was a retail feel to these items (full print coverage on the bag, custom printed inside cover of the journal, woven label on the coffee sleeve, fully custom lanyard with all of the attachments).

4. They were distributed at an exclusive event where attendees felt they were walking out with a valuable swag bag (think Oscar swag bags).

5. Wind had no cheesy sales people handing the bags out in return for business cards. Wind had a presence, but not a pushy presence. There is no question that people left the event with Wind on their mind (and in their hands).

6. There is a practical use for each of these items. People will actually use these products long after the event, keeping Wind top of mind.

7. The value of a client to Wind Mobile is approx $1000/year. Landing a few clients from swag bags that cost a mere fraction of this figure is excellent ROI in my opinion.

The bottom line?

There is no point producing swag if it’s not well thought out. Producing a bunch of uninspired mousepads or stress toys at the last minute because your company sponsors an event – and you feel you need to have some “free giveaways” on hand – is very often the wrong thing to do. This ends up being a waste of time and money. Even worse, poor executions like this can damage your company’s brand as people often spend time dissecting good and bad promotional campaigns in very public ways (this post being one example as well as these 2 posts (here and here) from the SXSW/Interactive conference).

If you can tap into people’s emotional connection with swag in any campaign you do, you are on the right path to achieving stunning ROI. Congrats Wind Mobile for raising the bar.

I attended The Art of Marketing conference (#taom) in Toronto last week. The day was jam packed with top speakers – among them Seth Godin, Mitch Joel, Sally Hogshead and Dan Heath – and the learning was top notch.

I wanted to share some of my key learnings from the event (as always, your comments are welcome).

1. Staring down the lizard brain

Seth Godin talked to us about the lizard brain, the part of our brain that allows us to compromise or to play it safe when the right answer might just be to take a risk. Formally, it is defined as “a key component of the limbic system in the brain, involved in the experience of anxiety, distress, and fear.”

People need to stare their lizard brain down and embrace risk where appropriate  if they are going to break out of their comfort zones. The vast majority of us are ruled by our lizard brains that prevent us from doing things differently. To be sure, paying heed to our lizard brain is important at times (like ducking when a baseball bat is flying at us, as Godin illustrated in a series of amusing slides) but evidence suggests that the lizard brain dominates our actions at work and prevents us from innovating.

More on the lizard brain can be found here

2. Seven Fascination Triggers

Sally Hogshead spoke about 7 things that trigger fascination: mystique, power, lust, prestige, alarm, vice, trust. I found this to be particularly interesting because understanding the role that emotion plays in a purchase decision often dictates whether you get the sale.  Or in other words, “facts tell while stories sell.”

Her best example was illustrating how Jagermeister – the “popular drink nobody likes”  - came to prominence despite tasting a bit like “battery acid.” People don’t drink Jager for the taste, they drink it for the experience as evidenced by the savvy marketing which links hardcore partying to drinking Jager-bombs. People rarely remember Jagermeister for its taste; they remember it for the environment they were in while consuming it.   An important difference.

3. Bright spots.

Dan Heath spoke about the power of focusing on bright spots in our organizations vs the natural human tendency to focus on the negative. In the face of overwhelming obstacles, the power is focusing on the bright spots and growing those parts of your organization.

He cited the example of how Save the Children was able to reduce malnutrition in Vietnam. By focusing on the bright spots (ie. studying what mothers of healthy children were feeding their kids and replicating their methods across several villages) versus getting lost by trying to combat the larger, more overwhelming problems like poverty and unclean drinking water.

4.  Quality over Quantity

Mitch Joel talked about popularity contests in social communities and why having as many Twitter followers as possible is missing the point. It’s better to focus on better quality followers, keep them engaged and nurture that community as much as possible. This is the easiest way to create a committed fan base vs targeting as many people as you can (as the saying goes … “jack of all trades, master of none”).

5. Every month, 20% of Google’s search terms are new

Wow. Talk about having to adapt quickly when user search queries are turning over at that rate. This creates an incredible opportunity for long tail businesses, but can also be pretty frightening for established players who are not able to adapt as quickly to changing consumer preferences. This fact came courtesy of Mitch Joel.

6. The emotional vs the rational mind

Dan Heath gave an amusing example of the  Clocky alarm clock, an ultra annoying alarm clock that wheels around your bedroom until you chase after it to turn it off. A very effective way of ensuring you wake up in the morning. This example illustrates the tension between the rational and emotional mind. The rational mind is what sets the alarm clock the night before knowing full well it has to deal with the emotional mind at 5am that desperately wants to press the sleep button. Creating a hostile environment for sleep through the Clocky’s erratic movements is what guarantees the person will wake up.

Overcoming the tension between the rational mind and the emotional mind is the key to change. Heath uses the analogy of a Rider (rational mind) and an Elephant (emotional mind) to further illustrate this point. From his book Switch

“The Rider provides the planning and direction, and the Elephant provides the energy. So if you reach the Riders of your team but not the Elephants, team members will have understanding without motivation. If you reach their Elephants but not their Riders, you’ll have passion without direction. In both cases, the flaws can be paralyzing. A reluctant Elephant and a wheel-spinning Rider can both ensure that nothing changes. But when Elephants and Riders move together, change can come easily.”

7. Be an artist

Seth Godin quipped “The first person to put a urinal in an art gallery was an artist, the second person to do so was a plumber.”

The point is that true art is very hard to copy and the benefits often accrue to the originator of a concept. Godin’s argument was that artists are indispensable because what they create cannot be easily copied. This was consistent with his overall message from his current book Linchpin:  “Are you indispensable?”

Listening to inspiring speakers always fills my head with ideas, the challenge becomes how to leverage these amazing concepts when you are back in the daily chaos of the office.  For those who attended #taom: how are you going to apply these concepts to change the way you do business?