SnugZ USA

I’ve got some good news and some great news. I’ll start with the great news first: After a tenure of 51⁄2 years, Friday, April 25 will be my last day at Promo Marketing magazine. I’ve accepted a new position as a writer at an ad agency. So, herein is my final entry to my three-month stint as a PromoMarketing.com blogger (well, I suppose the part about the end of the blog might be the only bad news).

But, here’s the good news: Although I will no longer be a full-time staff editor at Promo Marketing, I will, however, continue writing for the magazine

Salt Lake City-based SnugZ USA introduced a line of handcrafted and classic greeting cards through its subsidiary line ImpressionZ in October 2007. The artful, scrapbook-style cards feature a personal touch through combining unique papers with metal, ribbon and stitching. The concept was greeted within the industry with so much success that the line was additionally translated into Spanish and French in early 2008. Effective April 2008, the company is taking the ImpressionZ greeting cards concept one step further by introducing a series of “ImpressionZ InspirationZ” message cards aimed at the workplace market. The goal of the new line is to inspire and motivate while

I admit it, I love the man! At least I love those inspirational e-mails he sends out every week or so. Hi, Charley Johnson from SnugZ USA (I told him I would be blogging about him this week). Some of you may be receiving Charley’s e-mails. Don’t you just love them?

Well, the thing is, you can’t send a “self-help, live-your-best-life, seize-your-destiny” fiend thought-provoking, potentially life-altering quotations and not expect her to go bonkers!

I met Charley face-to-face for the first time at the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas. (It’s important that I specified “face-to-face” because we had been e-pals of sorts

SnugZ USA, Salt Lake City, Utah, recently launched its SolutionZ Line of more than 40 products, featuring digital photo key chains, picnic trolleys, mini digital cameras and 40-piece tool sets. According to Charley Johnson, vice president, the line was created as an opportunity for SnugZ to grow. “With our name recognition and the awards won these past few years, we have had hundreds of requests from customers asking us to carry more products,” he said. Products in the SolutionZ line can be categorized in the following categories: trade show giveaways, executive gifts, consumer gifts, travel and outdoor products, high-tech electronics, and health and safety

DON'T LOOK NOW, but—POOF!—the promotional products industry just went green. Green meaning, of course, eco-friendly—not violently seasick, uncontrollably jealous or oddly monochromatic. No longer is saving the earth simply a topic for college campuses and backstreet beat coffee shops. The environmental sloganeering has been replaced by actual conversation—which, it should be pointed out, never would have happened without the sloganeering—as big businesses wake up to the natural world around them. Suppliers and distributors are singing a new tune that is friendly to everyone’s ears. More importantly, end-users are purchasing environmentally responsible products and supporting conservational business practices. Even if they don’t realize it, or

Trae Taylor, owner of Peak Incentives, Herndon, Va., designed a self-promotion campaign: The $5,000 Mystery Flavor Game, where contestants were to guess the flavor of custom-flavored lip balms purchased from SnugZ USA, Salt Lake City. Following almost 10,000 guesses in the past 18 months, the company named Natalie Taylor of Reston, Va., as the first $5,000 winner. “We’re thrilled that Natalie, a prospective new customer, is our first $5,000 winner,” noted Taylor. “Looking back, I never would have imagined that this promotion would be so successful—everybody loved it.” Peak Incentives purchased www.mysteryflavorgame.com and built a direct mail campaign around the lip balms, sending

SnugZ USA, Salt Lake City, has acquired Advanced Printing Solutions (APS), the two companies recently announced. The acquisition will boost SnugZ USA’s printing capacity by 4 million units per year. “An opportunity presented itself,” said SnugZ USA’s President and CEO, Brandon Mackay. “We’re growing by more than 25 percent annually, and we needed more capacity to meet future demand.” APS specializes in pad printing and screen printing—technologies that SnugZ USA uses to customize its lanyards, health & beauty care items, and other promotional products. For more information, call (888) 447-6840 or visit www.snugzusa.com.

When was the last time you heard of a movie spinning off into a real-life event? Usually, it’s the other way around. For one man, though, the message in the 2000 flick, “Pay it Forward” was too important to be confined only to the silver screen. He set out to make it a global reality. In the movie, a young boy, troubled by his mother’s alcoholism and fears of his abusive but absent father, attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher gives him that chance. The boy’s social studies assignment led to social changes that spread from city-to-city. After seeing

**VIDEO - SnugZ USA makes a commitment to personal care

THERE ARE A myriad of conventions and trade shows for every industry and hobby imaginable. Whether one’s checking out the latest gadgets and innovations from Silicon Valley or taste-testing a variety of maple syrups from New England, trade shows and conventions are fertile ground for promoters. With large crowds of both dedicated and casual attendees, conventions and trade shows offer a unique opportunity for promoters and their products. “I love trade shows,” said Charley Johnson, vice president of sales and marketing at SnugZ USA, Salt Lake City. “A lot of people complain that there’s too many, but where else are you going to see five