Five Questions For ... Megan Ludlow, Snugz USA

It's often said hard times call for desperate measures, but maybe the phrase should be revamped for the 22nd Century and reborn with a much more positive outlook.

Hard times call for CREATIVE measures.

And so we come to SnugZ USA. SnugZ USA is running a unique promotion where distributors can essentially name the price they want to pay for lanyards. Quite a refreshing idea in a time of bottom lines and cost cutting.

At Promo Marketing, we thought it was an interesting concept, so we used it to launch our new feature “Five Questions For ...,” a series of articles reaching out to the promotional products industry to get an uncensored opinion on any number of topics.

For this, our inagural “Five Questions For ...” (FQF) we talk to Megan Ludlow, Marketing and Sales Executive, of Salt Lake City-based SnugzUSA.

1. FQF: What was the reason behind the creation of "Tell Us What You Want to Pay" promotion?
Megan Ludlow: We are always seeing EQP-10 percent, even on up to EQP-30 percent. We wanted to try something different, something that would really catch people’s attention. We are always thinking of what we can do to stand out in the industry. We love doing things no one else has thought of or doesn’t dare to do. It gets people talking, and that’s exactly what we want.

2. FQF: What was the initial reaction by distributors? Was it disbelief or did they take it at face value and embrace it?
ML: It has been great! I think they are taking it at face value and having fun with it. They can offer the lower price to their customer and still make a great margin. I have had multiple calls from the same distributors because they are calling their customers for re-orders and suggesting lanyards with every call. We also made up an end-user friendly flyer for them to send out. I think being as accommodating as we can to our customers says a lot about us and the way we want to do business.

3. FQF: We have to ask, have you had distributors really low ball you, or are finding most offers fair?
ML: So far, the offers have been fair! I think that [in] dealing with us, Distributors know they are valued and respected, and we get that in return.

4. FQF: Do you see this kind of promotion spreading to other products, or are there only certain items (and at certain price ranges) that it works for?
ML: We actually have decided to add some more items because it is going so well. Who knows where this will take us. We always have something up our sleeve.

5. FQF: How long do you see this promotion running, and do you consider it a success?
ML: We want to run it for as long as we can. It has been a great success and a really fun promotion. It has exceeded my expectations with the number of calls and e-mails I have rolling in.

We thank Megan for taking time to answer our five questions. If you have an idea or product worthy of five questions, well, FQF wants to know.

Send your ideas to cplyter@napco.com.