My Best Promotion: Paula Fenn

Custom Projects have a large payoff when executed well. Paula Fenn, creative marketing advisor for Halo Branded Solutions in Sterling, Ill., shared the details of, and the thinking behind, a custom promotion that was just that.

Promo Marketing: Could you briefly describe a promotion you consider one of your best?

Paula Fenn: I wanted to introduce my customer to the custom world and how creative they might get. There is nothing creative or exciting about the crude oil pipeline industry, so I wanted to bring some fun to the promotion. We did a custom magnetic bookmark that went over the page and the figure on the bookmark stuck out of the top of the book or page. The creative portion was that I had a shovel head with eyes and a happy face with arms sticking out created.

PM: What was the promotion’s goal, and what did you do to make that goal happen?

PF: The goal was to bring attention to the phrase “Call Before You Dig,” and [it] was being presented to Joe Public, so we wanted something that would get their attention and that they would keep.

My agenda was to bring them to the custom table. My buyer’s goal was to do something original, fun, useful and bring attention to herself as the creator. (I always let my customer have the glory.)

PM: What did you like about the promotion and why?

PF: It showed my customer another side of me, that I am not just a pretty face. They ordered 15,000 pieces and I feel confident they will reorder. I couldn’t be in this industry if I couldn’t do custom—it promotes my artistic side and lets my customer see that I’m not like every other distributor, that I can’t be replaced.