Promotional Mugs – Drinking your way to a better business

Promotional Mugs – Drinking your way to a better business

Mugs are practical and useful in many ways.
It has always been a popular product in the promotional industry. What better way to advertise your company, on an item that is constantly used in a working environment for tea and coffee.

Printed mugs have a minimum qty as low as 108 and here at Which Promotional Gifts we have various designs and sizes to suit all needs. With its large print area, on both sides, it’s an eye catching product that will get your company logo recognised. Printed mugs can also be used for fundraising.

Printed Promotional Mugs make a great giveaway product. They are practical, low cost and people often become attached to “their” mug that they use daily.

Promotional Mugs come in a number of materials including ceramic, bone china and plastic. You have a range of different colours but White is the most popular.

Mugs can be printed 1 colour print up to 4 colour process. There are many different methods of printing promotional mugs: direct screen printing, transfer printing, digital printing and Dye Sublimation. The method of printing will all depend on the logo, the material and the lead-time.

Printed mugs can be turned round in as little as 5 days. So this also makes them a best seller. Allot of customers would appreciate a product that is so useful.

Make Printed Mugs your choice and your gift will make a difference to your business.

Promotional Gifts Printing

When it comes to putting your logo on promotional giveaways, there are so many methods:

Screen Printing is the most common method used for printing clothing, from 1 to 4 colour process. Screens are typically made from a woven mesh; this supports an ink blocking stencil.

Transfer Printing is great to use for mass-production or very short runs for logo application of an image to a curved or uneven surface. It is commonly used for printing on hard surfaced pottery, clothing and other materials. Transfers can be hand applied with excellent results from a 1 colour print to a 4 colour process.

Tampo Pad Printing is a very common method of print on promotional merchandise. It can be used to print on small and curved surfaces like pens but only solid spot colours, no tints.

If your product is metal then Laser Engraving is the practice of using lasers to engrave or mark an object. The engraving process gives you a longer lasting finish and adds to the perceived value of the product. Laser engraving is also sometimes used on wood and acrylic and is more permanent than tampo print on these surfaces.

Diaries and conference folders can be given a classier look with Embossing. There are two types of embossing, blind and hot foil. Both of these methods can be used on leather and some PU items. With the hot foil process it’s the heat that applies the logo onto the surface of the material using a metal block that has been produced with your logo on. Blind embossing etches the logo onto the product into the material. Almost like a stamp.

Embroidery is the most common method used for all types of clothing including Baseball Caps, Jackets and T-shirts. It can also be used on some material bags depending on the access of the bag. The logo is produced on an embroidery jacquard or disc. Embroidery costs can vary; a stitch count of the design will give accurate prices.

Dye Sublimation Print is quite new in the promotional gifts industry. It’s a computerised process that uses heat to transfer dye onto a medium such as fabrics, plastic cards, paper and even on ceramics like mugs and coasters.

Digital Printing reproduces a digital image onto a physical surface. Digital Printing can give you a faster turnaround and is typically used on short runs printed onto paper. It’s a cheap and easy way to produce a 4 colour process image on flyers, paper insert rulers, coasters and keyring’s, pus booklets.

Business Gifts, a Family Business

Business Gifts, a Family Business
It seems most business gift companies are spawned from a family business, typically starting from the kitchen table and then slowly expanding into offices and mergers.

The principle of any Business and Promotional Gifts company is basically selling branded items from pens, mugs, t-shirts, umbrellas, diaries, clocks, conference folders, badges and awards just to mention a few. Branding is typically by printing, embroidery, engraving or hot foil blocking. Unusual requests tend to occur from printing eggs to badminton nets. Some companies tender for schemes, these tend to be high turnover, high servicing and lower profit margins.

The norm is for the gift company to be part of a catalogue group, this gives them immense buying power and discounts from products sourced all over the world. There are also associations that can help and support the business, promoting best practice around the sourcing, manufacturing and distribution of promotional products. There are also Trade Associations that represents manufacturers, importers and distributors.

Right, back to the family business, this tends to be a mixture of parents, (the owners), their children, spouses, friends and relations. This mix contributes to a real cocktail passion and fireworks. That day’s business can carry on in the car, at dinner and even breakfast, emotions can cloud business decisions.

Power struggles can happen, the older experienced heads who know best nearing retirement, conflict with younger driven know it alls. This in fact can be a fantastic combination, which should the clouds disperse then the business would have a clear blue sky. Success is in the hands of the drivers, it’s their decision which way to turn when they hit those crossroads!

Am I talking from experience, what do you think?

Labels:

Promotional Gifts Seasons

Festive promotional gifts were a very traditional part of UK business for many years. Promotional gift companies could always rely on a big increase in sales figures in the last quarter of the year.

I more recent years the business has been spread more evenly over the year with peeks and troughs due to seasonal and financial reasons. For instance, the summer gives a different promotional gift push, T-shirts, flip flops, beach towels etc. The winter best sellers can be fleeces, ice scrapers and hand warmers. And let’s face it the UK climate can literally appeal all year round to the promotional umbrella. The festive gifts can be sleek pens, fancy clocks to personalised cards.

Financial years can also reflect in sales, especially if you have an abundance of public sector clients. End of year budgets need to be spent, last minute panic spending does happen.

Golf season and company golf days are always a big appeal for the golf accessories and clothing within the promotional gifts industry.

Major sports events can have a massive push on sales especially if they are in the UK. The 2012 Olympics will have a major boost on the UK promotional gifts market. The 2010 World Cup although in South Africa can also be a major boost on promotional gift sales especially if England have a good tournament and create a feel good factor.

The Promotional Gifts Industry

The Promotional Gift Industry

The beauty of the promotional gifts industry is that every company in the world is a potential client. It could be the local builders who require a dozen polo shirts with their brand embroidered and 500 promotional pens to giveaway, or the local café that wants to promote their company with cotton shoppers and paper cups to give to their customers with their coffee in. Right through to a local authority promoting an event with 10,000 printed balloons, 500 t-shirts with their logo on, 10,000 logoed pens to giveaway or a large commercial company wanting 3500 polo shirts and 2000 jackets with their logo embroidered for staff. There are many promotional giveaway options to suit all needs

Budgets can simply vary from £100.00 for some pens delivered to 1 UK address to £1,000,000 for an entire marketing campaign with world wide sourcing, unique dedicated customer website, stock control, storage, call off and delivery. Total logistic options are now being offered a part of the entire promotional gift service.

Price is becoming a big issue, with people becoming more and more aware of value in their personal and business. We now see every major and minor business gift company offering unbeatable prices.

The small local gift company, a one man band working from home has far fewer over-heads than the major gift company in large plush offices with a team of sales and administration staff. However, service can be key. The small gifts company would struggle to service too many clients, although he can be personable, it would be difficult to portray a larger company image without the back up. Quite simply if he’s out on a call, sick or on holiday, whose going to take the calls and deal with queries or enquiries. The larger company can flex its corporate muscle and cover all angles if they get it right with the personable edge also. Service is Queen, with price the King.

Recycled Promotional Gifts

The UK generates a vast amount of plastic waste every year, in excess of 2.8 million tonnes. This is expected to rise by over 2% in the next year. With ECO quickly becoming the ethical solution, promotional products made from recycled plastic are becoming more and more popular. Recycled is the buzz word.
Now you can get promotional key rings from recycled plastic, pencils from recycled paper, t-shirts from plastic bottles, promotional rulers and promotional fridge magnets all made using recycled vending cups. These have become increasingly popular within the business gift industry.
Recycled promotional gifts provide a fresh approach within the promotional industry. A Eco Incentive not only shows the companies social responsibility, but also a corporate responsibility. With environmental issues constantly hitting the headlines, ECO giveaways can be a double whammy in promoting a company.

It is quickly becoming an important part of the promotional industry Supplying promotional items and business gifts which are ecologically sound and environmentally aware today. Basically, you can take an everyday household throwaway item and turn it into a Promotional product. Promotional gifts are seen to be ecologically sound for any environmentally aware business.
With a recognised need to protect our trees, recycled paper as been an obvious choice for the promotional industry for quite a few years. One tonne of paper that is recycled can save 18 mature trees from unnecessary destruction. A less obvious choice to recycle and produce business gifts from is tyres, yes old tyres. These can be made into promotional pencil cases, promotional coasters and promotional mouse mats.
Education in recycling is now really starting from the grass roots. All schools constantly promote and educate their children in environmental issues and the value of recycling.
Remember today’s plastic bottle is tomorrow t-shirt, so recycle.

Recycled Promotional Gifts

The UK generates a vast amount of plastic waste every year, in excess of 2.8 million tonnes. This is expected to rise by over 2% in the next year. With ECO quickly becoming the ethical solution, promotional products made from recycled plastic are becoming more and more popular. Recycled is the buzz word.
Now you can get promotional key rings from recycled plastic, pencils from recycled paper, t-shirts from plastic bottles, promotional rulers and promotional fridge magnets all made using recycled vending cups. These have become increasingly popular within the business gift industry.
This fresh approach within the promotional industry for Eco Incentives not only shows the companies social responsibility, but also a corporate responsibility. With environmental issues constantly hitting the headlines, ECO giveaways can be a double whammy in promoting a company.

It is quickly becoming an important part of the promotional industry Supplying promotional items and business gifts which are ecologically sound and environmentally aware today. Basically, you can take an everyday household throwaway item and turn it into a Promotional product. Promotional gifts are seen to be ecologically sound for any environmentally aware business.
With a recognised need to protect our trees, recycled paper as been an obvious choice for the promotional industry for quite a few years. One tonne of paper that is recycled can save 18 mature trees from unnecessary destruction. A less obvious choice to recycle and produce business gifts from is tyres, yes old tyres. These can be made into promotional pencil cases, promotional coasters and promotional mouse mats.
Education in recycling is now really starting from the grass roots. All schools constantly promote and educate their children in environmental issues and the value of recycling.
Remember today’s plastic bottle is tomorrow t-shirt, so recycle.