The Power of Promotional Products

PPAI, the non-profit trade organization for the promotional products industry, has just released their latest research on the power of promotional products. For a quick view of the results, check out this link to a short presentation: Reach And Recall

The findings reinforce past studies -- consumers like receiving promotional items, they tend to remember the company that gave them out, and they tend to hold on to the item, creating multiple impressions of the product or brand.

The study also shows that promotional products advertising has a 15-50% higher recall rate than tv, print and online advertising -- a great bang for the buck.

Some quick facts:
• 83% of consumers surveyed like receiving promotional items
• 48% would like to receive them more often
• 69% generally will keep the item if it is useful
• 36% generally will give it to someone else if they don't have a use for it, expanding it's exposure
• 35% generally keep the product if they like the advertiser
• Decreases in advertising dollars are the least for promotional products as compared to other mediums
• A significantly more positive impact on brand image is projected by promotional products than other mediums

The PPAI website has a host of research and facts about the impact of promotional products. It's a great source when you are considering your advertising budgets and the impact you wish to create.

Cotton and Tshirt Pricing on the Rise

We've just been getting notices about increases in tshirt pricing from our suppliers. As of September 13, most brands will show an increase of around 5%. There are many factors causing this. Below is an explanation from Gildan, one of the top manufacturers of tshirts:

"There are a lot of factors that have caused the increase with the price of Cotton being a large part.

There is a sub-commodity market for yarn spinning (the step where they take ginned cotton fibre and twist it into the yarns that end up getting knit into the fabric that gets dyed, cut and sewn into shirts). The recession forced some yarn spinners to either close or change their machinery to make finer yarns so globally there is also a shortage of yarn that has impacted prices.

India also temporarily initiated a block on exports which further dried up available yarns.

The last (and possibly most significant reason) is that almost the entire manufacturing supply chain was caught off guard at how fast demand for cotton products has rebounded. Corporations are spending on promotions, people are traveling and going to concerts and fundraising efforts around the globe are booming. "

At The Creative J, we will price check among our various suppliers, looking for specials and options to help keep your pricing competitive whenever we quote on apparel. Apparel quoting is a constantly changing beast, something we custom quote each time in order to get the best pricing available.