Promotional Advertising Gift

Promotional merchandise , promotional gifts , or advertising gifts are products that are branded with a logo, and are given away to promote a company, corporate image, brand, or event.

History

The UK & Ireland promotional merchandise industry formally emerged as corporate marketing became more sophisticated during the late 1950’s. Before this companies may have provided occasional gifts, but there was no recognised promotional merchandise industry. The real explosion in the growth of the promotional merchandise industry took place in the 1970’s. At this time an ever increasing number of corporate companies recognised the benefits gained from promoting their corporate identity, brand or product, with the use of gifts featuring their own logo. In the early years the range of products available were limited; however, in the early 1980’s demand grew from distributors for a generic promotional product catalogue they could brand as their own and then leave with their corporate customers.

In later years these catalogues could be over-branded to reflect a distributor’s corporate image and distributors could then give them to their end user customers as their own. In the early years promotional merchandise catalogues were very much sales tools and customers would buy the products offered on the pages.

In the 1990’s new catalogue services emerged for distributors from various sources. In the nineties there was also the creation of ‘Catalogue Groups’ who offered a unique catalogue to a limited geographical group of promotional merchandise distributor companies. Membership of a Catalogue Group could also offer improved buying terms, a network of fellow distributor companies, & provide other support services.

The UK promotional merchandise industry since 1990

Up until the 1990’s the industry had a peak season in which the majority of promotional products were sold. The season featured around Christmas & the giving of gifts. This changed significantly in the early 1990’s as Christmas gifts became less appropriate in a multicultural Britain. Corporate companies were also becoming more inventive in their marketing and were now using promotional merchandise throughout the year to support the promotion of brands, products & events. In the early 2000’s the role of a promotional merchandise catalogue started to change, as it could no longer fully represent the vast range of products in the market place. By 2007 catalogues were being mailed to targeted customers lists, rather than the blanket postal mailings that had taken place before. The catalogue had now become seen more as a ‘business card’ demonstrating the concept of what a company did, rather than a critical sales tool. In 2009 published results from research involving a representative group of distributor companies, which indicated the usage of hard copy catalogues was expected to fall up to 25% in 2010.

Distributor companies are experts in sourcing creative promotional products. Traditionally, to ensure that they had an effective manufacturer network, they kept themselves aware of the trade product ranges available by attending exhibitions across the world & from mailings received from manufacturers themselves. In 2004 the way the trade sourced promotional products began to change with the launch an online trade sourcing service which united distributors with manufacturers worldwide. This service is purely for vetted trade promotional merchandise distributor companies & is not available to corporate end user companies.

By 2008 almost every distributor had a website demonstrating a range of available promotional products. Very few offer the ability to order products online mainly due to the complexities surrounding the processes to brand the promotional products required.

Sourcing promotional merchandise

Promotional merchandise is, in the main, purchased by corporate companies in the UK & Ireland through promotional merchandise distributor companies. They have the ability to source & supply tens of thousands of products from across the globe. Even with the advent and growth of the internet this supply chain has not changed, mainly because the products require printing with logos, and this needs exchange of artwork & discussion to ensure that the colours & print positions are produced exactly as required.

Use of promotional merchandise

The giving of gifts goes back throughout the history of man. Gifts would be, and still are, given for various reasons including: to welcome, for appreciation, and for celebration. In the late 20th Century a new industry evolved around the concept of giving gifts. As industry & commerce recognised the benefits that could be gained by a company & corporate organisation in giving gifts to existing & prospect customers. Promotional merchandise is now used globally to promote brands, products & corporate identity. They are also used as giveaways at events like exhibitions & product launches.

In 2009 the promotional merchandise industry is an established specialist sector of the promotions industry. Other sectors include incentive and motivation programmes, long services awards, on pack promotions, below the line promotions, and premiums.

The giving of corporate gifts vary across international borders & cultures, with the type of product given often varying from country to country.

Promotional merchandise is rarely bought directly by corporate companies from the actual manufacturers of the promotional products. A manufacturers expertise lies in the physical production of the products, but getting a product in front of potential customers is a completely different skill set and a complex process. Within the UK & Ireland promotional merchandise industry a comprehensive network of promotional merchandise distributor companies exist. A promotional merchandise distributor is defined as a company who "has a dedicated focus to the sale of promotional merchandise to end users". (An 'End User' is a corporate company or organsation that purchases promotional merchandise for their own use.) These distributor companies have the expertise to not only take the product to market, but are also to provide the expert support required. The unique aspect of promotional merchandise is that on most occasions the product is printed with the logo, or brand, of a corporate organisation. The actual manufacturers rarely have the set up to actually print the item. Promotional merchandise distributor companies are expert in artwork and printing processes. In addition to this the promotional merchandise distributors also provide full support in processing orders, artwork, proofing, progress chasing & delivery of promotional products from multiple manufacturing sources.

UK promotional merchandise trade associations

The industry has two main trade bodies, Promota (Promotional Merchandise Trade Association) founded in 1958, and the BPMA (British Promotional Merchandise Association) established in 1965. These trade associations represent the industry and provide services to both manufacturers & distributors of promotional merchandise.

UK promotional merchandise market statistics

According to research completed & published in 2008 the UK & Ireland promotional merchandise industry had an overall value of £850m. By mid 2009 the market had decreased to £712m as the UK’s worst ever recession took grip. In July 2009 published research demonstrated that the top 10 promotional merchandise products were promotional pens, bags, clothing, plastic items, USB memory sticks, mugs, leather items, PU items, (PU = Polyurethane) conference folders, and umbrellas. The July research from a representation industry focus group also found that the current fastest growing product was hand sanitiser, which at the time coincided with the outbreak & growth of Swine flu in the UK.

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