Update: Critical Trends in Promo

Update - Recent Critical Trends All of us have lived through some pretty interesting times in recent months, and buyers of promotional products, like yourselves, have asked some hard questions.   Well, we have answers to several of the most pressing trends in our industry. What happened to the price of my Tee-shirts? 100 % cotton tee-shirts are one of the most popular items we sell today.   It is versatile, easy to decorate, and appeals to a wide audience, and until recently, was very inexpensive.   Between 2000 and 2010, the average cost of cotton was about 60 cents per pound but by March of this year, the cost had jumped to about $2.20 a pound!  Gildan, one of our favorite and highest quality suppliers, raised prices 4 times in 6 months - an unprecedented situation for this long-time supplier to the promotional products industry - and many other apparel-providers followed their lead.   So what happened?   A "perfect storm" of events globally influenced the price of cotton in dramatic ways. According to industry experts, the cost jump was caused by multiple factors spanning several growing seasons including: increased demand in emerging markets and first-world countries as their economies began to expand or recover production shortfalls caused partly by farmers who opted to plant other crops that were, at the time, more profitable bad weather in major cotton-producing countries such as the US and Pakistan India, the world's second-largest cotton exporter limited exports in an effort to stabilize prices in their country market speculation in cotton futures (Gordon Gecko, in other words)   So what's the off-shoot of all this, besides higher priced tee-shirts and other cotton apparel?   As a result of the increase in cotton prices, other apparel that was previously thought to be "too expensive" is now a lot closer in price.   For example, according to Mary Ellen Nichols, Director of Marketing at Bodek and Rhodes (a top supplier in the promo apparel industry), the increase in cotton cost has made "performance wear" much closer in price, and as a result has made the more expensive items much more attractive.  In fact, 29 % of Bodek's line is now considered in that category, up from only 3 % just 5 years ago.  Other suppliers report similar trends, especially with the improvement in decorating techniques now available for this category.   Weekend Warrior has seen a spike in very thin moisture management apparel that would be difficult and/or expensive to decorate in multiple colors without the use of the new-age transfers (as shown in the pics below). Can I get my USB Drives now, please?    Yes, you certainly can!   Besides all the normal "fun" economic activity of the last several years, we faced the added challenge this year of memory chip shortages due to the disastrous earthquake in Japan.   Although most of the USB drives used for the promo industry are assembled in China, many of the key components come from Japan, so any delay in the shipment of the Japanese parts could, and did, cause delays, uncertainty and dramatic (but temporary) price increases.  There is good news on this front! According to Nate Tangerini, National Accounts Manager at leading supplier US Flash and Technologies, LLC, "the feared supply shortages that caused the immediate spike in chip prices after the earthquake have proven to be largely unfounded as other chip manufacturers boosted production to fill the supply gap.  Not only are chip prices below where they were at this time last year, but they are at or near where they were just prior to the earthquake" (see pricing sample below).   For any company considering a project involving memory drives, availability and speculation currently is not an issue.  Even so, by its nature, the market remains so volatile that suppliers are reluctant to quote prices for more than one or two weeks in advance.    The good news is that turn-around time has dropped dramatically, even on custom shapes or designs, so the price fluctuation issue has been largely muted. For more information, please contact Ed Burgess at:  ecb@weekendwarrior.biz or (412) 922-8389;  or visit us online at www.weekendwarrior.biz

Top 5 Myths about Promotional Products Marketing

In the nearly 20 years that Weekend Warrior Promotional Products has been serving our clients, we have run across a number of "myths" regarding the use of promotional products in a company's marketing efforts.   Some are based on past history but some are just pre-conceived notions that have little to no basis in fact.   Our industry, unfortunately, is probably somewhat responsible for some of these misconceptions for a number of reasons, sowe feel it is our obligation to attempt to correct them when we can.   We have listed our "Top 5" below. “Giveaways don’t work!”   This blanket statement is usually made early in a discussion, and many times, the conversation doesn’t go much beyond this point but when we are allowed to dig in a little, we usually learn that there have been some critical strategic mistakes made with their promotional products marketing plan, and the statement has really become a self-fulfilling prophesy (“it won’t work, therefore, I will make only a half-hearted effort”).   The most common mistakes include buying products of poor quality (in an attempt to stretch the budget); lacking a coherent plan; or improper targeting.   In other words, their plans probably never had a chance!  (For more information on study data that proves promo works, click here: Promo Impressions Study )  “We can’t compete with the "big boys" so why bother?!”   We hear this one occasionally, and while a large competitor may make it more difficult to stand out, it is not impossible to do, if you “hit your spots”.   If you review the reasons promo items are retained (by their recipients) in the study referenced above, it becomes obvious that it isn’t always how expensive an item is – a lot has to do with how well it is targeted to the end-user.   Giving out potato-chip bag clips to 500 high-end financial clients is probably a bad idea if you are a bank, but sending 50 of them something they might use in their daily business lives, such as a quality writing instrument, or a technology item, might just gain the interest you are seeking. “Our business is different – promo items won’t work.”  While we hold open the possibility that some businesses might actually have a tougher time using promo items than others, we have a wide variety of customer types and all have found a way to use promotional products successfully.   At times, however, we run into companies that may need to tweak their sales and marketing approach relative to promotional products usage – we can help because we have so many clients using them in so many different ways. “Promotional Products are just too expensive for the return we get”.    Multiple studies have shown that promotional products are one of the most cost effective of all mediums, largely due to the repeat usage nature of promo items (if properly selected).   Many prospective customers that have made this comment have not tried to track promo program ROI (return on investment) because they either did not know how to do so, or did not have the tools, or they did not have the time.   We work with plenty of companies that have cut their budgets, but have not cut their promo efforts – it can be done with a little creativity and planning.  “I really don’t have time to worry about promotional items.”    This is music to our ears and is one of the big reasons we retain such a high percentage of our clients every year.   We act as an extension of our clients’ companies and supplement or “gap-fill” where needed.  We will never be “all things to all people” but we can certainly help most companies maintain a consistent and successful promotional products marketing program without the need for additional headcount.   And if things don’t work out?  Well, they don’t have to give us a pink slip!