(Imprinted) Slings And (Logoed) Arrows …

A decade ago, a lot of promotional products pros saw themselves as the Rodney Dangerfields of ad the world – the medium they dealt in didn’t get no respect. Not real surprising, considering the many sobriquets imprinted merchandise has tolerated. Some are benign – goodies, freebies, giveaways, novelties, stuff, gadgets. Others have a shade more sneer – knick-knacks, nostrums, doodads, tchotchkes, gizmos, doohickeys, trinkets, thingamajigs. And still others sport a jagged edge – garbage, schlock, crap, junk, trash, and yes, even the “s” word. 

Back then, most counselors, knowing the strength of logoed products, took high umbrage at having them reduced to an unflattering one-word descriptor. 

But then a funny thing happened. Firms that previously regarded logoed goods as a sort of glorified afterthought realized that with the advent of cable TV and the then-fledgling Internet, consumers on the personal and business level suddenly had far more choices, People thought things out before buying, unlike those crazy carefree ’80s. Tastes changed, as some generations aged and others came up. Businesses got scared. Mass-marketing wasn’t the only answer. Specific audiences, many with staggering spending power, had to be specifically reached. “Niche-marketing” became a buzzword. The general belt-cinching in the corporate arena made many firms understand they also needed measurable marketing techniques to ensure they were getting the desired return on investment. 

Voilá! Promotional products. The same businesses who’d used them for years saw them in a new light. They weren’t a panacea for every marketing problem, but were a measurable way to target groups they needed to target. In their minds, counselors morphed from “stuff-peddlers” to what they always were: highly creative, inventive, professional marketer-partners who can develop entire programs, and effective ones, around logoed products, while staying within the budget. They finally got the respect due them. 

And that’s how it’s remained. Firms like yours now consider specialties a key part of their marketing mix, evidenced by the fact that since 1990, promotional products sales have increased from $5 billion to $15 billion – not too shabby by anyone’s standards.

Recently, the pervasiveness of ad specialties got rediscovered by the press. Wired, CNN.com and USA Today, all ran articles about how many different imprinted items are used as gifts at trade show booths, as employee incentives, in direct mailings, to accompany press releases, etc. Expectedly, each tailored the tone to fit its readership – USA Today’s and CNN’s were info-packed quick-reads blending humor and hard facts. Wired’s was more tragically hip, dividing itself between experts’ comments and an admittedly amusing rehash of some of the industry’s less-than-stellar moments (hey; all closets have at least one skeleton). But none of the pieces even hinted that promotional products were anything but appreciated and effective. They may have talked a little derisively about them, but nobody said they didn’t work.

What the articles also did was introduce a new word into the lexicon of promotional product synonyms: swag.

By definition, swag (or schwag) means “spoils” or “booty.” The logoed plastic bags often distributed at trade shows to hold all the other items given out are, of course, “swag bags.” To put it simply, all the useful marketing tools you receive or dispense on a regular basis have, again, been squeezed into a single word.

But you know what? We don’t really care. And as a user of promotional products, neither should you. You know they can help achieve your marketing goals, and that’s what really matters when all the smoke’s blown away. As one counselor put it a dozen years ago, “Honestly? I don’t care if they call them grilled cheese and sardine sandwiches. They let me earn a living and help my clients improve their business. What else do I need to worry about?”

Well said. As an Imprint reader, you don’t need to be convinced of the potency and staying power of the logo on a useful product. You learned that years ago, from your counselor. They work, period. But if you or your customers or staff feel better calling them gizmos, trinkets, or swag, go right ahead. We’re used to it by now.

As they say: “The truth is out there.”