Elon Musk's Boring Company flamethrowers, launched in 2018, were a masterwork of promotional marketing. And yet, to the surprise of absolutely no one, the flamethrowers have been a disaster for everyone but Musk. More than 1,000 people have had their flamethrowers confiscated, with many facing legal repercussions...
Sean Norris
Looking to generate business in the absence of live events, Naomi Bodway and 10 other distributors put together a virtual event for customers. The group hoped to reach 150 attendees. Thanks to their creative approach and a killer swag box, they ended up with more than 200. The event directly resulted in multiple orders for each distributor...
Youssef Fadel, business development for NEPM-New England Promotional Marketing, Wilbraham, Mass., attended Promo Marketing's Back to Business Virtual Power Meeting - Fall Edition in November. He walked away with a $1,000 prize for being the most engaged at the event, but he also completed a few successful orders, adding an easy $2,000 to one...
Olivia Scott, MAS, is owner and president of Promotional Partners Inc. She came away from a 2018 Power Meeting with notes and contacts she still uses today. She came away from a recent Virtual Power Meeting with all that and something extra: an upgraded showroom. Here's how...
Hippy Feet, which specializes in socks but offers a variety of apparel, has created more than 1,900 hours of paid employment through a program that has generated short-term income opportunities for more than 130 homeless teens and young adults aged 16 to 24...
In the months since the pandemic started, we’ve all turned to various hobbies to stay sane and pass the time. Some of us started baking bread or tie-dying shirts. Others brushed up on guitar or watched all of Netflix. Roger Burnett wrote a book. Here, Burnett fills us in on how it all came together, what the book is about and why promo professionals should give it a read...
Rodrigo Blankenship has recognized the incredible branding potential of his signature look, leaning fully into his status as the NFL's No. 1 Top Bespectacled Kicker. Just a few months into his rookie season, "Hot Rod" already has his own branded merchandise store (tagline: "Respect the Specs") filled with a whole bunch of clever designs...
As part of a promotion that began last week, Snapchat users can now scan the Ralph Lauren logo on the front of an actual shirt (or anywhere else it appears). Doing so will unlock an in-app augmented reality experience that includes a Ralph Lauren branded lens featuring virtual holiday gift boxes users can interact with and send to friends...
McDonald's has temporarily stopped issuing Happy Meals containing promotional toys for Disney's Mickey & Minnie's Runaway Railway ride after discovering an error in the QR codes printed on cards that come with the toys. The codes are designed to take users to a contest page, but in some cases did not work properly...
Come Friday, before the tryptophan has even fully left our systems, most of America will be listening to Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" on repeat, getting properly festive for the holiday season. There's one person, though, who probably won't be participating in this most beloved of annual traditions: Mariah Carey herself. That's because...
The whole "not doing Thanksgiving" thing is a bummer, sure. But Jose Cuervo has a solution: If you can't physically go to Thanksgiving dinner at Meemaw's house this year, why not do the next best thing and send a life-size printed cardboard cutout of yourself instead?...
Honduras is home to manufacturing facilities for several large apparel companies operating in the promo industry, including Delta Apparel, Hanesbrands, Gildan and American Apparel (now owned by Gildan). As such, tropical storm Eta, despite its downgraded status, has the potential to disrupt the promo supply chain...
Overruns have long been a standard part of doing business in the promo industry, but not everyone is on board. We talked to distributors and suppliers to learn the reasons behind overruns, identify strategies for dealing with them and attempt to settle a surprisingly philosophical question they pose. Plus, we ask if the economic fallout from the pandemic rekindled the debate...
Last week, a number of prominent promo industry companies released earnings reports. While some of those companies are faring better than others as they navigate the pandemic, the news overall was encouraging. Here's how a few of these promo businesses performed...
Our first Back to Business Virtual Power Meeting event, held at the end of summer, was designed specifically to help distributors and suppliers connect and generate business. Based on the feedback from distributors and suppliers who attended the event, it was a no-brainer to do another one...
