Promotional products are, some say, the oldest form of
advertising. American businesses spend $20 billion a year giving away stuff
with logos, according to Jerry McLaughlin, president of Branders, one of the
largest sellers of promotional products online. Which is pretty good evidence
that it works. Mr. McLaughlin credits the effectiveness of promotional products
to centuries old cultural norms around the rule of reciprocity. “If you give
something, the recipient is honor bound to give something back,” he said. “In
every language and culture, research has found there are really pejorative
words for people who get and don’t give back. We humans are hard wired to
respond if we get someth
Are we really that easy? When you get that survey in the
mail with a crisp dollar bill attached, do you fill the survey out or pocket
the money and relegate the envelope’s contents to the circular file? I visited
with Dr. Robert Cialdini, professor emeritus of psychology and marketing at
Arizona State University. Dr. Cialdini, who has written a book on the topic,
“Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,” became interested in studying the
rule of reciprocity out of self-defense. “All my life I’ve been a sucker,” he
said.
Dr. Cialdini observed Hare Krishna Society members in
airports, watching them foist paper flowers upon travelers. As soon as
travelers accepted the flowers, they became more likely to reach into their
pocketbooks and reciprocate with a donation. Sociologists and anthropologists
have found, he said, that there is not a single society in the world that
doesn’t train its people from childhood to this rule. “Marketers take advantage
of this all the time,” he said. “Tupperware parties — one of the things that
happen very early on — they play games so everyone at the party wins a prize
from the Tupperware representative. And they feel very obligated to give
something back in return.”
A well-known veterans’ nonprofit group, the Disabled
American Veterans, is a case in point. When the group sends a mailing for
contributions, Dr. Cialdini said, it gets an 18-percent response rate. When the
same letter is sent with personalized address labels, which cost about eight
cents, the response rate goes up to 35 percent. “For the cost of the address
labels they get almost a doubling of return,” he said. “It’s very powerful rule
and very small things can trigger it.”
How do companies find the right promotional item? Here are
four suggestions:
• Give items that members of your target audience will use
in the environment where they make decisions about using your product or
service. If you go after executives in corporations, give them something they
will use in their offices, around their desktop so your company can be top of
mind when they make decisions. Golf-related items are exceptions because lots
of business happens on the golf course.
• Have it underscore your marketing message and differentiate
your company. Mr. McLaughlin recounts a computer software client who makes
antivirus software. The client put its logo on boxes of condoms and sent them
to information technology types with the message, “Protect yourself, protect
your computers.” Results? “Most I.T. people are male,” said Mr. McLaughlin,
“and don’t really have girlfriends so that’s particularly titillating. They
believe they got pretty good results.” A bit edgy for most companies, but you
get the idea.
• Personalize them. While we are fond of our company logos,
customers really like to use items that have their names on them. “People like
seeing their own name above all else, said Mike Linderman, president of Express
Pens, and former chairman of the Promotional Products Association
International. His company makes pens in small quantities that can be imprinted
with both your company’s logo and your client’s name.
• Skip the logoed water bottles and other items that will be
quickly used and tossed. Make your promotional products investment something
that will have a shelf life.
Some of the most popular promotional items these days are
thumb drives, aluminum sports bottles, reusable grocery bags, and anything
green. But will this stuff really replace the calendars with
alluring young women? “I don’t know who the folks were who figured out that men
would look at pretty girls and if you put your tools, software or cars next to
it, they will look at it. I don’t think that trend is going away,” Mr.
McLaughin said.
*Credits to: MP MUELLER
