80% of product give-aways end up in landfills — its time to stop giving away useless items that no one wants.
We work in the promotional products industry and over time we've have really come to deeply understand all facets of the industry and always marvel at the endless amount of innovation and creativity that exists within it.
For context, we basically help companies create custom items for giveaways, corporate and company gifts, tradeshows, retail & more.
Basically if you have a vision of a product that you want to customize (if it exists already in the world and you just want to brand it or if its just exists in your head and you want to make it come to fruition) we can help.
Yet with countless, amazing products to push, 80% of what we end up selling is cheap plastic garbage that no one and their mother wants — not even the manufacturer that created it.
Its not entirely our fault, nor is it entirely the client’s fault either.
It’s pretty complicated.
Limited Budgets
You see, a lot of the time when a buyer at a company is trying to source a custom product they are usually constrained by a myriad of factors that include by are not limited to: production times, product & material selections, imprint methods but most importantly their budgets.
When you work with a limited budget as a buyer you’re always looking for the best value and bang-for-your-buck and often settle for lower quality items that one would never consider buying personally themselves because it stretches your budget much further than buying 200 Yeti tumblers would.
Although it may stretch one’s budget, the return on investment would in no way be equal. Whoever received a custom Yeti tumbler with your logo on it, in this case, would immediately become a fan of your brand and perceive you as being high value— meanwhile if they received a plastic $1 sports bottle, their perception would be one of low value. And as we all know, perception and reputation are everything.
In a case where one is constrained by budget, it would be more sensible to get a lower cost item in a different category that is that best what it does, rather than settle for subtler alternative — it’s just not the best strategy when you want to get your brand noticed.
If people receive items that they love, not only will your brand be in front of their faces at all times, but they themselves will sing your praises and develop positive sentiments towards your brand. And though we live in the digital age, word of mouth marketing is still, by far, the most effective form of marketing.
Making a quick buck
When we first started in the industry we were quite happy to sell anything. We didn’t care if the product was a hunk of junk. If the client wanted to give away a cheap tote bag that would probably break after a few uses, who were we to deny them their misery? They are getting what they pay for at the end of the day right?
WRONG....
This mentality is exactly the type of mentality we have to try and escape from.
As a society we need a greater push for higher quality, more sustainable promotional product options and at the same time phase out the unsustainable ways of existance.
Yes, we can sell you an 80gsm bag, but we honestly probably shouldn’t unless you’re a convenience store that is in need of cheap “re-usable” bags — because the product itself will do absolutely nothing to move your brand forward and paint a positive image in your clients heads of your business — it will only end up in the garbage and in some landfill.
We Need A Cosmic Shift
Manufacturers and distributors in the promo industry need to dream a new dream — one that is centered around creating high quality, creative and sustainable products that people actually want and dump everything else.
These days we try and guide my clients to better options and always tell them the absolute truth about products. For what good would it be if they order a an inferior product and they themselves, along with their audience hates it? It would be a lose lose for everyone involved including our company and mother earth.
Though we personally think that if we want to make a greater impact we need to “Veto” these goods and materials and omit them from our catalogs entirely. Does that world really need more 12 oz, super thin, non-insulated, barely plastic bike bottles that look like they were made back in 1979 for some kid’s little league game?
Exactly...we could probably do without em.
We're pretty sure your child’s little league team doesn’t want them either.