Special Treatments

Lotions and bath salts could follow suit, according to Patricia Filaseta, also co-owner of Bath Promotions. She has noticed a palpable uptick in male traffic at the company’s trade-show booth. “The very first year that we were here giving out spa products, men were like, ‘What would I do with that?’ This year, men are coming up and saying, ‘Give me that.’”

One big reason distributors seem to be grabbing these items by the handful is spa products have a strong retail presence. Both Warnock and Whaley’s lines are used at luxury hotels and spas around
the country.

“Aloe Up isn’t exactly the biggest household brand out there, but when you go to all the resorts, we’re in the biggest shops,” Whaley added. And prior to joining the industry full-force, Warnock snagged accounts when distributors came directly to her. More than once, their clients specifically requested the company after seeing Bath Petals (Bath Promotions’ retail line) at various day spas.

Letting end-users know the spa items in a particular promotion aren’t simply “brand X” can help add value. “People will not put junk on their face[s],” Whaley maintained. “That’s why we like to use our brand, and then logo our bag, because if someone just gets a white sunscreen that says, you know, ‘Joe’s Garage’ on it … they’re not gonna put it on.”
Another inherent benefit of spa items is, more often than not, they’re packaged together in kits or bags so there are a lot of opportunities for themed promotions. “We can customize a kit for you with any product in our catalog,” Kaalberg said. And it’s not only the products themselves that can be tailored to the last detail. Warnock told of a few promotions with specific scents (e.g., margarita candles for a tequila company) and PMS-matched colors to mirror branding, such as bright magenta for a particular cell-phone service provider. “It’s one of those businesses where you have to pay attention to every detail all the time,” she concluded.