The Case for Promotional Products

THE CASE FOR PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS

In these tough economic times, everyone’s looking for the most cost-effective way to get their ad message across. If you think TV, radio and print are the masters of measurable media, here’s convincing proof that promotional products are clearly in the mix.

CPI = ROI

Consider, for a minute, the power of promotional products. You want to talk ROI? Let’s look at what’s commonly known as "cost-per-impression," or CPI. A few head-turning examples:

· Notepads. Recipients of a 50-sheet scratch pad will have a minimum of 50 exposures to the ad message written on it - each time they write something down, that’s one impression. And if the notes are passed on, the number of exposures can double or triple. The cost-per-impression for a $1 notepad would be $1 ÷ 50 sheets, or 2¢ per impression.

· Watches. People look at their watch an average of twice an hour. If you figure there are 16 waking hours in a normal day, they’ll see whatever is imprinted on the watch face 32 times. For a basic $12 watch, the CPI for just one day is only 37¢. Spread that out across the typical 3-year warranty period, and it works out to more than 35,000 impressions, or a CPI of roughly three-hundredths of a cent.

· Calendars. The recipient of a calendar will be exposed to the ad message on it 2 to 3 times a day at home, or 5 to 6 times a day at the office. Using 4 exposures a day as an average (and multiplying that times 365 days in a year), we get 1,460 impressions, which makes the CPI for a $3 calendar a mere 0.2¢.

· Playing Cards. During a 1-hour game of rummy or poker, players would be exposed to the message printed on the cards more than 500 times. At a cost of $2 a deck, the CPI works out to 0.4¢.

· Mugs. The ad message on a coffee mug will be seen as often as 10 times a day, and mugs tend to be kept for years. For a $5 mug, the CPI would be roughly 0.2¢ over a mug’s two-year life span. And recipients hold the ad message in their hand and use it every day!

Try getting that kind of targeted exposure with a TV spot.

Given the potential promotional products offer for pinpoint targeting and superior CPI, it’s worth your while to sit down with Carrot Marketing and together select some irresistible imprinted items and brainstorm a few dazzling distribution strategies.