You might be wondering why I chose a Canoe for this post’s picture. Well, keep reading.
When hosting an event or putting on a huge Electoral Campaign, people expect to receive something for either attending or contributing to the cause at hand. People today, as sad as it may seem at times, WANT to be given something for their efforts. This is where promotional products are gaining ground.
No matter how hard you’ve worked to create the perfect video advertisement or spent hours on end prepping the venue for an event, simply put, it is not enough for the attendees. They might have the time of their lives but if they go home with nothing in hand, (SWAG), or something that will help them remember the event or the cause of the event, they will for sure push it to the back of their minds. Today’s world is crowded, and it is getting more and more difficult to be remembered.
One example of using Promotional Products as a “Thank You for Attending” comes from a local retirement company here in Utah. They were hosting an event for their retirement education. The meeting was touted very heavily in our local market via radio, newspaper, and even television. They expected to have at least 400-600 people attend the event. One of the hot issues was how they were going to get people to sign up for the offer of free retirement education classes. (I should mention that the theme of the event was, Chart your Course into Retirement. With a canoe travelling down river.) Here is what they came up with for the event:
They decided to use a promotional product, custom designed, for the event. It would be a canoe paddle the size of a #2 pencil. To hypothetically help people direct their path down river to retirement.
They hired a local Promo Products company i.e. BrightPoint Creative.
Both companies collaborated and shared their goals and objectives.
Then together they designed the custom canoe paddle, it would be made from oak wood with the website and tag line of the event carved into the blade, which is the end of the paddle.
Lastly, they set measurable goals for what the paddle would achieve at the event and had a process on how to reach/surpass those goals.
Each Person who attended this event was given one of the custom canoe paddles as they left as a “Thanks for coming”. The results shocked everyone involved in the campaign. They had 32 people sign up for their classes during the event but days after it had taken place, this Utah based company saw an outstanding increase of people signing up for the retirement classes. In the end, from this one event, they managed to sign up 174 people. Which was an increase of 62% from the previous event held.
Promotional Products do not need to be expensive, rather they should be tailored to fit your audience. This example above shows that even a small canoe paddle, no bigger than a number two pencil, is having a tremendous impact on consumers. Yes, this company could have sent out an email saying “Thank You”. Or even sent out hand mailed reminders to each attendee to sign up, but the choice to use a promotional product instead was the perfect way to go.
Just to hammer this one home, what was the best part of going to birthday parties when you were a kid? It was the SWAG bag you went home with!!!
Check out more of our Articles on Promotional Products here.