Looking to find a better way to market their brand, 75% of marketers said they will increase their experiential marketing budgets in 2008, according to a recent survey. Experiential covers many forms of face-to-face marketing including trade shows, special events and sampling efforts. Event marketing and promotional products go hand in hand. What better way to stand out from the competition and attract prospective customers to your booth or product than by marketing your brand with a useful promotional product. 70% of marketers said experiential marketing is extremely or very important to their organizations and 71% believed it would become more important in the years to come. The study, conducted by Jack Morton Worldwide, New York, asked 300 global Fortune 1000 marketers for their opinion on experiential marketing.

The findings are supported by another recent study, the “Branded Entertainment Marketing Forecast: 2008-2012,,” from PQ Media. It found spending on events, which it considers the largest segment of branded entertainment, surged 12.2% to $19.2 billion in 2007. Andrew Nisenhal, vice president of Jazz It Up says he has been hearing more recently from clients who regularly utilize events. “A lot of people don’t like the results they get from ads, they want to hand customers something to remember them by at the booth or do a mailer program to entice them to follow up with them. Plus, these programs are measurable. As long as you put together a good program, you cna show good resultys.” An increased focus on return-on-investment is one of the factors driving the trend, says Liz Bigham, director of marketing for Jack Morton. “People’s jobs are on the line if they spend money on the wrong things. We’re in an environment where there’s a lot of pressure to be efficient with their dollars.

For the latest in what’s hot in branded promotions, call me today at 888-959-9191 or 752-1200.

Last week, Reebok paid a $1 million fine for distributing a promotional charm bracelet which resulted in the death of a four-year-old boy from Minnesota.  The charm bracelet, which was distributed as a free gift with the purchase of Reebok children’s footwear, included a heart-shaped pendant containing toxic levels of lead which was swallowed by the boy.  The death resulted in a recall of 510,000 of the Chinese-made pendants that were distributed worldwide begining in May 2004.

Could this happen to you?  With the ever increasing Walmart Mentality of wanting the cheapest product out there (usually made in China), do you know what toxic chemicals might be in the product carrying your brand?  To ensure product safety, invest your branding dollars in products made right here in the USA.

One of the most popular products in the last few years are the silicone wrist bracelets (think Nike and Live Strong), 99% of which are manufactured overseas. You have the option of paying a few pennies more and buying from an American mfg’er.  Interested?  Call me today at 888-959-9191 (752-1200 local) for more information on how to buy American Made Promotional Products.  Help to stimulate the American economy by buing “local”.

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