Workouts can be boring so I like to add colour to my workout gear. These Funk It Up Drink Bottles are ideal. They come in cool clear, translucent blue and translucent red with a silver screw top cap. You can hold almost a litre of water in this baby. As with all our other plastics bottles, these come BPA free. “What’s BPA?”, I hear you ask. Well, it’s basically a chemical which is not good for you or if you want me to show how smart I am, well, it stands for bisphenol A. Don’t ask me any further because I’m not a chemist.

Other than being BPA free and looking cool, these Funk It Up Drink Bottles also come with 3 different delivery leadtime options. A 24 hour rush production time and 3 day turnaround (both especially useful if you forgot that promotional campaign deadline your boss assigned you), or 10 weeks delivery (if you are a super organised person and have time to kill for your bulk order promotional campaigns, you’ll have dollars to save). These bottles are made from hard plastic so they are extremely durable. Toss em and chuck em around and they’ll still be fine.

In addition, they each come with a complimentary freezer bar. Never used a freezer bar in a drink bottle? Have no clue what it does? Well, essentially, you can put the freezer bar in the freezer then once they’re frozen, just pop them into your funk it up drink bottles. They’ll keep your water cool through your workout.

Minimum order for these promotional bottles is just 100 units. But why stop at just a 100 of these awesome bottles. I’m sure you can think of more than 100 people who could use these bottles and get your branding out there such as family, friends, staff, current customers and prospects. They even come with an easy pull leak resistant spout so you don’t look silly trying to drink water from your standard drink bottle while running on the treadmill and spilling it all over your tee when you’re trying to impress that hot guy in your gym.

So what sort of branding would look good on these bottles? I believe less is more so I personally would go for a 1 colour white print on both sides on the translucent red and translucent blue bottles and a black print on the clear bottles as these are excellent contrasting colours on the different coloured bottles so this will ensure that your branding stands out.

Silicone Wristbands  printed with your logo is not only a low cost promotional item but ideal for all types of events. This is why silicone bracelets are such a popular promotional product. Custom wristbands are used at charity events, conferences, tradeshows, clubs, school events, music festivals, sporting events, political events and even religious events.

Silicone Wristbands are a useful promotional item that can be used for event participants as identification. Custom printed wristbands can be colour coded to identify guests, staff and performers. For clubs or music festivals where alcohol should not be served to underage guests, printed wristbands can be used to identify guests who have been verified as of legal drinking age. This will greatly speed up service at the bar. Silicone bracelets also make your event participants really feel part of the event. Make your VIP guests feel even more special by having a VIP print on their silicone bracelets.

Reflective Silicone Wristbands are also available for safety uses. These are ideal for school and safety programs. Adults and kids alike can use light up reflective silicone bracelets for walking and running at night. Light up reflective silicone wristbands are also popular with cyclists riding at night as these wristbands make the traffic aware that there’s a cyclist on the road in the dark.  

Silicone Wristbands can also be used to promote your brand at events. If you’re sponsoring or hosting an event, guests wearing silicone bracelets with your organisation brand will let others know who is sponsoring or hosting the event. This will create a favourable impression for your company as guests associate your company with having a great time at the event.

In addition to the standard wristbands, you can get usb wristbands, slap on wristbands, custom keyring wristbands and even silicone ring bands. So the next time you have an event on your calendar, think about the event participants and how you’d like each group to stand out using silicone wristbands. You can see how custom wristbands are a must have at any event or party.

Promotional Merchandise from PromosXchange is available at factory direct prices. With our partnerships with factories in China, we are able to provide a wide range of custom products at the best prices but still at the same high quality standards we’re renowned for.

With our promotional merchandise sourcing office in Shanghai, China, we have direct access to A grade products for small orders to large bulk orders. Whether you’re a small business looking to save money or a large organisation looking to meet your allocated budget, we can help.

Apart from the standard promotional merchandise on our site such as promotional clothing, embroidered caps, logo mugs, printed lanyards and custom flash drives, we can also source unique branded products at factory direct prices for your marketing campaigns. What’s more, our talented graphic designers can come up with innovative designs for your advertising campaign.  We do all things promotional from design through to delivery so you don’t have to go to several different promotional providers.

Minimum orders for factory direct prices vary according to the type of product you’re ordering. To give you an idea, minimum orders start from only 50 units for custom flash drives and 100 units for personalised printed pens. Delivery lead times range from 2-3 weeks to 10-12 weeks depending on the quantity and type of product you’re ordering.

Promotional Merchandise at factory direct prices from our offshore factories can save you up to 50% on your next promotional campaign. Remember our quoted prices to you include the product and imprint, import duties and delivery to your door. In addition, with our quality assurance, you can sit back and concentrate on your promotional event.

Have an international event in Asia, America or UK? Why lug your promotional products around when we can deliver your custom products to your selected destination for you at factory direct prices? Just inform us of the product you’re after, the imprint details required and the delivery address and we’ll give you an all inclusive wholesale quote.

So when you’re looking to save money and have a longer delivery lead time to spare, ask about our factory direct promotional products and prices. You’ll be glad you asked.

Promotional Pens are your answer for a marketing strategy on a shoestring budget. Even on a tight advertising budget, you can build brand awareness with printed personalised pens.

To get the most bang for your buck, choose a corporate pen which looks the most expensive for the price. Printed plastic pens are generally less expensive and you can get funky multi coloured transparent promotional pens. However, if you have more change to spare and your target recipients are more upmarket, then a nice engraved metal pen would suit better.

Pad printing of your logo on custom pens is used for small print areas. Instead of pad printing you can opt for screen printing which will give you a larger print area, though this might cost slightly more. However, bear in mind that overcrowding of text on a branded pen would just look distasteful so keep your message simple. Engraving on metal corporate pens would give you a much longer lasting imprint of your logo compared to pad printing or screen printing.

You can never have too many printed pens as they are always used so it’s always better to stock more than less. Besides, bulk orders can save you a lot of marketing dollars in the long run. Savvy marketers know this and so they tend to order in bulk.

Once you’ve got your hands on your beautiful promotional pens with your logo, don’t just keep them in your storage room. You need to give them away as freebies whenever you can. Whoever said no to a free pen? The more your custom pens get out there, the better for your brand exposure.

Are you tighter than tight on your marketing budget? Then if you have time to spare, you have dollars to save. Many leading promotional merchandise companies can offer you better prices from offshore factories if you have a longer lead time to spare. This is often known as offshore factory direct prices.

So there you go. You have no excuses for not creating brand awareness even on pennies. For best results of your branding on custom printed pens, choose a promotional products company that guarantees their quality and is recognised by a promotional association.

Printed t shirts  as promotional clothing are ideal for high impact promotional campaigns. They are versatile, mobile and highly visible and therefore of great value when it comes to promotional merchandise.

When asking for a price for printed t shirts, if the quantity you require is close to the next quantity price break, ask for the price for the next quantity price break as well and you will often find that it is more cost effective or sometimes even cheaper. When determining the quantity of promotional t-shirts required, always add 10%-20% depending on the quantity. You are always better off with more custom branded t-shirts than less as we always find that clients come back asking to print more promotional t-shirts. Remember, the more you purchase in one order, the less you pay.

Consider the event and the environment the promotional clothing are going to be worn in. If the printed t shirts are going to be for a one off event, you can choose lower premium tees, however, if the t-shirts are to be worn by your team for everyday work, you will require a more hardwearing t-shirts. Cool dry tees should be considered for more humid areas, summer and high level activity.  

Screen printing on branded t shirts work best on quality garments. Do not compromise your brand name for cheap low quality printed tees. Choose a promotional clothing distributor who carries a wide range of best value tees from renowned quality manufacturers to ensure great quality prints for your logo. More people are inclined to wear clothing they like. A good quality custom printed tee will give you a higher return on your investment with longer wears and brand exposure.

When choosing the sizes of your promotional tees, think of your target market. Unisex printed t shirts are great for more general promotions when you are unsure of the target audience sizes, for example, if you are giving out the clothing at a trade show. Bear in mind that unisex tees are more generous in sizes. If you have a more defined target market, for example, t-shirts to be worn by female fitness trainers, then you would be better off with ladies’ cooldry fitted t shirts.

Choose the tee based on the objective of your promotional campaign. For example, if you wish to communicate an eco friendly image, choose an organic tee. There are many styles and colours of t-shirts to suit your event from V neck, short sleeve, three quarter sleeve, long sleeve, crew neck in plain or contrast colours.

Other than screen printing, t-shirts can also be embroidered or imprinted with digital transfers of your logo. Embroidery is not recommended on thinner fabric tees as it has a heavier backing. For a complex multicolour logo, digital transfer is best. However, screen printing on tees is the most popular branding technique as it is often more cost effective especially for large non-multicolour logos.

It is best to send your logo to your promotional consultant so they can advise you on the best branding technique for promotional t shirts depending on your target audience, objective and budget.

When it comes to promotional products or promotional merchandise, it is no different to other types of advertising where consistent brand repetition is the key to the success of your marketing campaign. Below are 5 reasons why brand repetition is the key to the success of your promotional campaign. 

Mental Brand Association   

Ever heard an advertisement jingle that you just couldn’t get off your head and even found yourself embarrassingly humming to? Well, that’s the power of repeated advertisements; it actually conditions your prospects or consumers’ minds to recall your brand. In terms of tangible products with your brand, the more prospects and consumers see your brand name in front of them on a promotional products, the stronger the mental association with your brand.

Expands Brand Exposure 

When it comes to advertising, don’t expect results just from a one off marketing effort. Many businesses particularly small business owners make the mistake of relying on a one hit wonder. Instead, your promotional message on promotional products on a repeated cycle will get you more brand exposure. The more your brand exposure, the more saturated the market will get with your brand. 

Creates a Viral Buzz 

Repeated branding on promotional products is ideal as it creates a viral buzz by arousing the curiosity of others. Go a step further by promoting a thought provoking message on a unique promotional product to create a greater buzz. The possibilities are endless with custom made promotional merchandise. 

Image Reinforcement 

Having your promotional message consistently in front of your prospects and consumers gives you an opportunity to strongly reinforce what your brand stands for. For example, if you wish to promote that you are an environmentally friendly company, consistently promote this message on a range of green promotional merchandise to strongly instil this in the minds of your target market. 

Market Credibility 

The more your brand is seen everywhere, the more people get familiar with your brand. In this way, your brand becomes more credible. Prospects will start to take notice of your brand, trust you and become a customer of yours. 

Due to the 5 reasons above, you need to ensure repeated and consistent reinforcement of your brand or you risk falling short of making the impression you want in the minds of others.

Promotional clothing such as corporate clothing and work uniforms prices will be affected by the soaring cotton prices recently. At the 2010 financial year, the price of cotton was US$0.75 per pound. However by mid November 2010, the price of cotton was $1.40. This is a whopping 86% increase in the price of cotton in five months causing work wear uniforms manufacturers and corporate clothing distributors to take a second look at their prices of cotton made clothing merchandise.

Promotional clothing such as cotton made corporate uniforms and work uniforms will further be affected by analysts’ predictions that this is just the first round of a price rise cycle with more to come in the future. According to Bill Nelson, an analyst for Doane Advisory Services in St. Louis, Missouri, “We haven’t reached the upper limit yet.” Despite this, China, the world’s number one consumer of cotton is scrambling to stock up on their cotton supplies.

So what has caused cotton prices to soar drastically in turn affecting cotton made promotional clothing prices? This is essentially due to demand for cotton outpacing supplies of cotton. Adverse weather in the world’s biggest countries of promotional apparel such as floods in Pakistan, India & China has reduced sizes of the cotton crops. Further, India, the world’s second-biggest cotton grower, stopped its export contracts after it filled its export quota with export contracts with Cargill Inc., Louis Dreyfus Commodities and other trading companies. (Source: www.bloomberg.com Leslie Patton Oct 12 2010)

Despite the rise in cotton prices, promotional clothing distributors such as PromosXchange have endeavoured to keep prices of cotton made corporate clothing and work uniforms stable together with competitive prices of their screen printing and embroidery services. However, you are likely to see increases in prices in the coming months if cotton prices remain on the increase. Don’t forget that there are also other fibres in promotional clothing you can switch to such as clothing made from synthetic fibres so there is no need to panic.

Our promotional products industry is greatly affected by developments in China. Over 80% of the products we consume and use such as promotional merchandise is from China. However, recent developments in China have caused rippling effects to our local promotional products industry namely in terms of:

• Longer production lead times
• Higher prices

There are a number of factors which have increased prices and production lead times of promotional merchandise from China.

Movement of Labour

During the 2008 global financial crisis, many workers in factories on the coast were laid off and went back to their homes. Many workers have still not gone back to the factories on the coast due to bleak prospects. Due to the low supply in labour, labour costs have gone up, in turn raising the cost of materials. This has resulted in price increases in promotional products. Analysts believe that this trend may be a long term one.

Government policies

China’s large investment in the development of hi tech companies, automotive and the service industry and staff incentives provided in these industries has left the manufacturing industry which the promotional products industry relies on to be understaffed.  

Another area China has concentrated on is in making China the “food bowl” of the world. In line with this, China has invested heavily into farming on a large industrial scale. Farm wages have doubled in the last eight years leaving little incentive for people to leave the farms to work in the factories.  

The government’s strict policy on birth control has also resulted in an aging population with a shortage in labour.

The Changing Face of China

The new generation born in the 90s differ from their parents due to higher education and access to the internet. Working in factories is no longer regarded favourably as compared to the past when it was the only option for many. The new generation of youths are unwilling to work as hard as their parents did choosing to be content with earning enough to only cover their expenses. They now prefer to be in the service industry where they can earn more compared to working in the manufacturing industry.

Better income and working conditions in China have also put pressure on prices as labour costs increase. With an increase in the middle class, Chinese consumers’ demand has also increased causing prices of products to rise.

The above factors will continue to affect the prices of promotional products and promotional merchandise. As China transforms into an advanced economy like Japan, other emerging countries like Vietnam, India and Bangladesh are expected to take its place.

Promotional Lollies and Promotional Confectionery is a great way to celebrate the festive season such as Christmas and New Year. Who in their right mind does not like promotional confectionery such as lollies and chocolates? For this reason, custom confectionery  as a category of promotional products is extremely popular all year round especially coming up to the festive period.

Promotional Lollies and Promotional Confectionery can win you clients and put you in good light with prospects. Ensure you make use of the festive period to cement relationships with your business contacts by using custom branded confectionery as part of your promotional products campaign. As your recipient savours the sweet, they will think about your brand name.

You will be spoilt for choice when it comes to Promotional Lollies and Promotional Confectionery gifts for Christmas and New Year with a range of mints, candy, jelly beans, chocolates, lollies and sweets available. Custom confectionery products also come in a range of packaging from canisters, shakers, cups, noodle boxes, pillow packs, buckets and drums for the lolly crazy, to premium gift boxes.

Remember to leave sufficient time for your custom confectionery to be branded and sent to your recipients as it gets extremely busy during the festive season as people rush to put in their branded confectionery orders. The lead time for promotional confectionery is usually 2-3 weeks from art approval. For the best results for your promotional campaign, consult your promotional products consultant regarding the branding you wish to put on the sweets and your target recipients.

Tis’ the Season be “Lolly” so give the best gift that everyone will enjoy – Promotional Lollies and Promotional Confectionery.

Promotional caps and hats are one category of the promotional products must haves coming up to summer.  You see many custom branded caps on people particularly in summer whether it’s at the tennis, cricket or on people just out and about shopping or at the beach. People are now more concerned about protecting themselves especially in summer so this is a great opportunity to get your brand in front of the masses.

 We can help you choose the best branding options on promotional baseball caps and headwear and one which would be suitable. Embroidery and digital transfer are the two most common branding methods on custom branded caps. You will find that there are suppliers who do screen printing on promotional caps and hats, however, we do not find this cost effective to you as screen printing is based on the number of colours in your logo and so set ups alone can be rather expensive.

Our most recommended branding technique on promotional caps and hats  is digital transfer. This is because there is no set up cost and your logo will look picture perfect. What you see on your computer screen is basically how your design will look on the branded caps. In addition, there are no limitations to the colours you can have in a digital transfer.

Other than digital transfer, we also offer embroidered caps. If you have a simple logo, then embroidery is cheaper than digital transfer on caps. However, there are limitations. Embroidery is not able to achieve shadings and small letters are not recommended whereas with digital transfer this is not a problem.

Send us your artwork and one of our promotional products consultants can advise you on the best custom branding on promotional caps and headwear.