Each year, millions of Americans donate time, money, or goods and services to charitable organizations. But did you ever consider donating promotional products? In order for any charitable group to be successful, they must first spread the word about their cause. Promotional products are the easiest, most effective way to get a message out! By donating the tools a group needs to attract attention and further donations, you give a gift that continues to support the cause in the months and years to come.

InkHead routinely donates promotional items not only to charity groups, but also to community organizations and schools. We donated $18,000 in products and equipment to Goodwill in 2007; Goodwill resells the items in their stores to support their mission of providing education and career services to those who face economic hardship or are physically or mentally disabled. We also sent items to Operation Gratitude, a group that sends care packages to US troops serving overseas.

Charitable donations don't just benefit the group you donate to. Giving feels good! So whether you opt for pens, lanyards, water bottles, or bumper stickers, don't forget to order promotional items to support your favorite cause!

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

The idea of going "green" seems like the hot trend in most product sectors right now, from personal care to clothing to cars. The sudden rise in public awareness might make you think Al Gore invented the environmental movement single-handedly, but did you know that the first Earth Day was held in 1970? It was the brainchild of Senator Gaylord Nelson, who had been encouraging President Kennedy to make environmental issues a government priority since the early 1960's. Senator Nelson recognized the potential to galvanize a grassroots environmental campaign by appealing to Vietnam protestors on college campuses, and the idea for a national day of education and awareness was born.

Earth Day draws more and more attention worldwide as we become increasingly aware of the impact our actions can have on the environment. As awareness grows, so will the availability of goods and services that help to minimize that impact. Whether you're looking for t-shirts, pens, messenger bags, or any number of other product types, chances are pretty good that there's a more eco-friendly version available. Recycled and recyclable promotional items are a great way to promote an Earth Day event or just to show that your organization is doing its part. The sooner we can make every day Earth Day, the better!

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

This is a great piece of ambient advertising for the National Coalition for the Homeless. A custom imprinted sticker attached to the lid of a standard to-go coffee cup shows what the inside of the standard spare change cup might look like. Adding something unexpected to an item many people use daily is an effective way to put an important message directly into the hands of your intended audience. We offer promotional stickers in a wide range of sizes and shapes, many with full color imprint capabilities to achieve this type of photographic look.

Photo via Ads of the World

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

It's Presidents' Day, and here at the InkHead HQ we've been consulting the Presidents Ruler! It shows all of the American Presidents and the dates they were in office, so it's perfect for schools...or anyone who just needs help remembering that Taft was president from 1909 to 1913. Since it's an election year, we'll need to make room for someone else on the line up soon! Need to spread the word about your favorite contender? Try the Democratic Donkey Stress Ball or a Republican Memo Board. No matter what side you're on, you're sure to find the perfect campaign products here at InkHead! Just want to feel like a commander in chief? Try writing in your Presidential Portfolio with your Presidential Pen while sipping coffee from your Presidential Mug.

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

Make an impression this holiday season with executive pens from Cross! Cross is one of the most recognizable brands in writing instruments, and they make wonderful corporate gifts for the holidays or to commemorate special achievements. They can even be engraved with the recipient's name or initials for an added personal touch! With styles ranging from classic to contemporary, there's a Cross pen for everyone on your list!

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

If you haven't realized it already, 2007 is almost at an end. It's the perfect time to start thinking about planners and calendars for the upcoming year! Day Planners are a great way to help your team stay on top of meetings and events. They also make great holiday gifts for your top clients! Calendar Magnets make a great choice for direct mailings this holiday season. Try enclosing one with your holiday cards and get ready for 2008 with InkHead!

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

We've added some new recycled products to our catalog, just in time for the holidays! Items like personalized messenger bags and padfolios are the perfect gift for your sales reps or customer service team. What's more, you can feel good about your gift-giving choices with eco-friendly products this holiday season. Take a look at the Recycled Owl Deluxe Messenger Bag and the Recycled Owl Journal. We even have rush production for all of you holiday procrastinators!

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

Halloween is almost here! Looking for some scary promotional items? Take a look at these t-shirts created for volunteer workers at a horror film festival. The necks of the shirts were imprinted to look like the wearer's throat had been slit - the perfect gory tie-in for the event! Whether you're throwing a monster's ball or just looking to show your spooky side at your next promotional event, we have some great Halloween items available. And whatever you do, don't get caught without candy!

Photo via Ads of the World

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

A Norwegian mobile phone dealer sought a way to attract potential clients who were still using standard fixed phone systems. This great direct mail piece focused on the idea that the holdouts weren't afraid of technology, but rather that they simply loved their traditional phone handsets too much to surrender them. The old-school receiver came with adaptors that allowed it to attach to common cell phone makes in order to help the recipient adjust during the "transitional period." It's the perfect attention-getter, and the devices are sure to generate lots of conversation in the offices where they are received. For those of you who have already joined the cell phone revolution, check out our selection of custom cell phone accessories.

Photo via Ads of the World

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

These giant highlighters were strategically placed near escalators around Hong Kong to show the long-lasting power of Stabilo pens. As the escalators moved, the pen appeared to be drawing a line on the stairs. We don't have any promotional highlighters quite this big, we do have some pretty interesting styles like the Happy Highlighter.

Via Ads of the World

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day! While it's too late to get your pirate promotional items for this year, why not get a head start for the next pirate holiday? And really, what holiday couldn't benefit from a little pir-attitude? For a more subtle pirate approach, try a treasure chest (actually a wine box), a sea-worthy custom beer mug, or even a jumbo pencil (it could substitute for a peg leg in a pinch)!

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

This is a great ambient advertising campaign to raise breast cancer awareness in India, and one that would be equally effective worldwide. It's a sad fact that many women are more likely to check a piece of fruit for irregularities than their own bodies. Since early detection increases the chances for survival, self-examinations and mammograms as recommended by a doctor are crucial in the fight against breast cancer. So whether you're a non profit group or a corporate sponsor of a run/walk, we have plenty of imprinted products to help build awareness and generate support. Try the Lunar Convention Tote, the Contour Sport Bottle, or the Icon Pedometer. They're all available in pink to help you convey your message during Breast Cancer Awareness Month and beyond. We have lots of other ideas, so call one of our Promotions Specialists for help finding the perfect pink promotional products!

Image via Ads of the World.

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

If your company plans to attend a tradeshow anytime soon, it's time you started thinking about which promotional items you plan to hand out to booth visitors. Keep in mind that this is the time for your business to stand out from the crowd! It's a big misconception that slapping a logo on anything makes it a memorable giveaway, when in fact most tradeshow attendees wind up with a bag full of items they've already forgotten by the time they get home. Consider spending a little more on products that will have a lasting impact on the recipients. You don't even have to offer the same giveaway to every visitor; try targeting hot prospects with big-ticket items, and offer something more cost-effective to casual passers-by. Here are some ideas to get you started:

Hand Sanitizer: This is an inexpensive promotional item to offer your booth visitors. Many attendees will likely have traveled from out of town, so they'll appreciate the compact size. And after all that tradeshow hand shaking, they'll probably really appreciate the sanitizing properties!

Aluminum Bottle Opener Keychain: They're so simple, and yet so many people love them! This is a great item to offer to the casual passer-by at your booth. Most people will put this on their keys over a plain imprinted keychain because it actually has a function (Flashlight Keychains are good for the same reason).The usability factor will put your logo in their line of sight frequently, which can easily turn a passer-by into a customer.

Stix and Stonz Magnet Game: Now let's get into the fun stuff! People often underestimate the impact of giving something unique and fun. Small games and toys are the sort of items that people will keep on their desks to play with while they talk on the phone or wait around for 5 o'clock. Yahoo has been known to hand out items like this at tradeshows. You can pretty much guarantee that the recipients will (a) not throw them away and (b) likely show them to coworkers and friends when they get back from the show.

Messenger Bags: Messenger bags are extremely popular with young professionals, and they have a high perceived value. If you're hoping to attract new talent to your business at a tradeshow, they're a good giveaway choice. Plus they'll stand out over all the ubiquitous tradeshow tote bags.

Mp3 Players and Flash Drives: You can't go wrong with either of these tech items. If you're on a budget, reserve high end promotional products for your very top prospects. Or consider having a contest at your booth and offer these as prizes to the winners. You're sure to draw plenty of traffic!

Don't get lost in the tradeshow crowd with lackluster marketing gifts! With items like these, your tradeshow giveaways are a lot less likely to wind up in the promotional product purgatory known as your customers' junk drawers.

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

I just love clever direct mail advertising! This piece for Scandinavia's Langley Travel (known as "the skier's travel agency") was sent out to existing customers to remind them of the upcoming ski season in Japan. By focusing the campaign to existing clients, Langley knows they're reaching their target market. The miniature ski bag embroidered with Langley's logo contains chopsticks imprinted with "Niseko, Japan" and Langley's booking phone number. By combining an item instantly recognizable to the target audience with an item directly associated with the message, Langley was able to deliver a very focused and memorable piece of advertising. Even if a client wasn't interested in this particular trip, they'd certainly remember the promotion and the agency that sent it. But why stop with just the direct mailer? We have some great travel accessories that would be perfect thank you gifts to send to clients who followed through from the mailer with a booking.

Via Ads of the World.

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

A recent Associated Press article covered a study regarding children's perceptions of food packaged in McDonald's wrappers. In the study, the children were given two samples of identical McDonald's foods; one was wrapped in the McDonald's logo, while the other was in a plain white wrapper. To almost no one's surprise, the foods in the branded wrappers were viewed as better tasting than the plain wrapped foods. And it didn't just apply to burgers and fries! The children who participated in the study even preferred carrots, apple juice, and milk when presented in McDonald's packaging. I think this is a stark example of just how powerful effective branding can be in influencing consumer preferences. McDonald's has designed their packaging to be bright and kid-friendly, thus giving children a positive association when they see the logo...even when it's on a pack of carrots!

Think critically when selecting promotional products for your business. After all, that item will have your logo or advertising message on it, and the goal is for customers and prospects to have a positive association with your brand. Consider your target audience and the nature of the promotion. What item would most appeal to that group? Are the colors of the item and your logo eye-catching? Is the giveaway a quality product that will reflect well upon your brand? You don't need to be a multi-national corporation to employ effective branding tactics! And if you need help, our Promotions Specialists can help guide you in the right direction.

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Environmental awareness has increased greatly in recent months. Whether it's because of films like An Inconvenient Truth or the Live Earth concerts or just good, old fashioned word-of-mouth, the message is definitely being heard. The InkHead Team is really excited to see environmentalism come to the forefront of discussion! We recently added several styles of journals and notebooks completely made from recycled materials. My favorite is the Deskpad Jotter, a notepad that you can refill with paper from your recycling bin! I love the combination of reusing and recycling in one cool (and useful) product.

I also like the Energy Saver Lightbulb Stress Ball. Even if your industry doesn't pertain to electricity or lightbulbs per se, you could easily tie your company's branding in with this item to let customers know that your business is energy-conscious. As awareness and education increase, I think it will become more and more important for businesses to let their clients know that they're doing their part for the environment. We're in the process of adding even more recycled and environmentally-friendly products, so if your company wants to help lead the way, you're in the right place!

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

This is a great custom clock to advertise a yoga studio (though 6:30 could be a little painful). Maybe if I had this clock, I could find the time to get to yoga class! Consider an imprinted clock for your next corporate gift. The most effective promotional items are those that will be seen repeatedly, and a nice desk clock is a classic gift that the recipient will actually use. A touch of whimsy, like custom-shaped hands or even just choosing a clock in an unexpected shape, will help put a smile on their faces even if it's still not time for a break.

Via Direct Daily

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How funny is this? A pair of chattering and hopping pearly whites advertising the relocation of an orthodontist's office! This is a great example of using business-appropriate promotional products to convey a specific message to a target audience. Presumably these would be offered to existing customers to notify them of the pending move. Sure, they could have just printed up some postcards announcing their new location...but would their clients have taken notice? This item gets the message across in a fun and unique way, and I'm willing to bet that most of their patients are going to follow the office rather than seek a new orthodontist. In fact, those patients will probably show this promo to at least one other person, which is even more advertising for the new location. We don't have chattering teeth available yet, but take a look at some other fun promotional items.

Via Ads of the World

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

You're probably not going to hear that coming from too many kids as the summer draws to a close, but the time is nearly upon us whether they like it or not! It's time for schools to stock up on personalized pencils and imprinted rulers featuring the school mascot. Need to raise money for student organizations? Custom school supplies and spirit items are great for fundraising! Booster clubs often go for BamBams or the ubiquitous giant foam hand (and really, who doesn't love those?). This is also a perfect opportunity to market products or services on college campuses. You might want to consider more sophisticated school supplies for campus promotions, like custom flash drives or logo backpacks. No matter what you choose, your promotional school supplies are sure to make this dreaded time of year just a bit more bearable.

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What a great concept for a promotional mouse pad! A laundry/dry cleaning company used these to promote their ironing services. Custom computer accessories are an effective advertising product for nearly any business. Think about how much time per day you spend on the computer at work and/or at home. Chances are that your customers have similar habits, so computer accessories featuring your logo are sure to be used and seen daily. When your message is presented in a highly visible and unique way, you have a greater chance that your business will stay top-of-mind with your customers and prospects.

Another point to consider: imprinted mouse pads are flat and lightweight, so they're perfect for direct mail advertising!

Now, if someone could get to work on inventing a mouse that really does iron clothing...

Via Fubiz.net

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

This is a pretty cool promotional item for The Economist. Most folks would probably expect a stodgy giveaway from an economics and politics magazine, but this promotional balloon shows the lighter side of the publication while indicating the results of becoming a reader. Or maybe they're trying to say that they're full of hot air. Either way, it's an effective advertisement! A fresh marketing campaign like this is also a great way for The Economist to reach out to young up-and-comers in the business world. Today's lesson? Promotional products don't have to be bland to get the point across, and it might even be a good idea to take yourself a little less seriously. Consider who you want to reach and what message you want to convey to that group, and see what sort of fun advertising products you can come up with to help you reach those goals! Via Ads of the World.

Posted by Andrea Boyd

We know it's hard to think about the holidays when it's sweltering out and you haven't even taken your summer vacation yet. But if you plan to give out custom gift sets to employees or clients this holiday season, now really is the best time to begin the process. You'll have plenty of time to select the perfect imprinted gifts, and you'll save yourself from high fees on rush production and expedited shipping by getting your order in ahead of the holiday crowds. Coincidentally, we also just added some great new custom corporate gift sets and executive pens that are perfect for holiday (or any other time) giving. There's more on the way, too! So while we don't recommend wearing a fuzzy red Santa hat to the beach, it's definitely a good idea to go ahead and start thinking about your holiday corporate gifts. After all, that time of the year will be here before you know it!

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

Okay, so you probably won't find that particular spell mentioned anywhere in the Harry Potter books. But if you want to celebrate the theatrical release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix or the forthcoming release of the seventh book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, we have the perfect giveaways! Check out the Wizard Stress Ball (doesn't he look a bit like Dumbledore?). Or try the Lightning Bolt Pencil in honor of Harry! Whether you're hosting a bookstore event or just a party for Hogwarts enthusiasts, they're affordable enough that you won't have to drain your account at Gringotts (that's the goblin bank where wizards keep their money, for the uninitiated).

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD

We received a catalog in the mail the other day with the sender's company name in an elegant script font, complete with important-looking flourishes. Unfortunately, the font size wasn't large enough to be read clearly at first glance, and I read their business name incorrectly. And by "incorrectly," I mean that I read it as a word my mother would have washed my mouth out with soap for using when I was a kid! The moral of the story? A pretty font is lovely to behold, but only when it's large enough to be read clearly! This is especially important when it comes to promotional merchandise. Your customers and prospects have to be able to read your imprint in order for your campaign to be successful. If your font of choice has a lot of detail best viewed in a larger size, a pencil won't get your message across in the same way as, say, a coffee mug or hat. If the budget only allows for pens or smaller items, the nice folks in our Art Department can help make sure your font style and size are appropriate to the medium.

Don't worry. We won't let you make a font faux pas.

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Welcome to the official blog of InkHead Promotional Products! In addition to news about company goings-on, you'll also find tips and ideas to increase your success rate with promotional products, photos and stories of client promotions, and interesting tidbits from the world of promotional advertising. We hope you'll visit often!

CREATED BY ANDREA BOYD