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.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 26th, 2010 at 9:00 am and is filed under marketing, swag, uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.