Standing Out from the Crowd
- 5 unique promotion ideas
June 2005
By Daniel Fogg
As a general rule, everything has been done before and everyone has seen
it all. So what is the best method to penetrate "design cynicism"
and get your message across in a fresh and exciting way? To help answer
that question, here are 5 unique promotional ideas that will wow your clients/customers
and get everyone talking about your brand or business.
Seasonal Card with Fused Reflective
Embossing Powders
3D Paper Sculpture printed on Metallic
Inkjet Paper |
1. Seasonal Card Promotions.
Most of the time unsolicited messages or mailings will either be ignored
or, in the worse case scenario, annoy the receiving party who already
receives enough junk mail as it is. Selecting an appropriate holiday or
time of year for a festive and fun promotion can bring a more positive
connection between your mailings and your brand. Shown here is an example
of a seasonal holiday promotion created using a unique blend of iridescent
papers, reflective embossing powders, metallic inkjet paper, digital illustrations
and paper sculpture techniques to make a unique and upscale promotion.
Clearly the labor and expense involved with this promotion is cost prohibitive
for a mass-mailing but quality materials sent to a select group rather
than a blind mass-mailing can yield more effective results. The metallic
inkjet paper is an Avery product that can be found in most office supply
stores. The embossing powder used to give the card cover its "ice"
effect can be found in arts & crafts stores such as Ben Franklin and
Michael's.
Wildly Sophisticated Promotional Badges
1 1/2" Paper Punch
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2. Sticker Badges.
Finding an interesting and eye-catching free giveaway to help promote
your presentation at an event can help boost attendance and create "buzz"
about your offerings. Stickers can be a fun and effective method to get
your logo or image out on the floor of an event where each individual
who wears your promotion becomes an advertising platform. To make your
sticker more interesting I advocate going further than a simple "print
and stick" approach. For an on-campus marketing seminar that Wildly
Sophisticated Media took part in, I developed an interesting stick-on
badge that included a combination of digitally printed graphics, specialty
art papers and fabric-printed logos that were easy to apply and wear while
still durable enough to last throughout the day. To save production time,
two separate paper punch-dies were used to quickly and easily create the
separate square and round pieces. Avery printable fabric was used for
the main logo graphic to provide the flexibility and durability to resist
tearing or crumpling while worn on a person's shirt or backpack. Xyron
adhesive cartridges were used to create the adhesive backings used in
assembly and final sticker-making process. The finished badges were a
great success with full capacity attendance at the Wildly Sophisticated
Seminar due in part to the badge promotion.
Promotional Pop-Up Card
Pop-Up Card Detail
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3. Pop-Up Cards.
Although pop-up cards require a significant amount of handwork as well
as specialty die-cutting and printing, they can make a big impact in a
world of "flat" design. Paper engineering of pop-ups is a complicated
process of folds, cuts and glue joints. To help you skip the complicated
parts and get right into the visual design elements, I highly recommend
the book: The Elements of Pop-Up. This amazingly complete and informative
book provides designers with a variety of ideas and paper folding techniques
that can be easily adapted to create a unique pop-up promotional card.
As a general rule, you'll need to use a heavier weight paper stock than
your normal prints, so step up to a 50 - 65 lb grade paper and make sure
your folds do not go against the paper grain to prevent unsightly creases.
To keep production costs down, try to engineer a pop-up using only two
or three components with relatively easy shapes and cuts (e.g. angles
instead of rounds) to ease assembly of the card. If you are producing
a small run that does not merit production at a service bureau then I
recommend using die-cut paper punches for smaller shapes and the Orbis
Circle Scissors for consistent and clean circle cuts.
Booklet with mirrored-finish, circle die-cut cover
Booklet with mirrored-finish, circle die-cut cover
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4. Mini Booklets.
For a promotion that delivers a lot of content in a small form-factor
consider creating mini booklets that feature multiple pages of illustrations,
photographs and text. For an economical binding method, try using an industrial
stapler (available in most office supply stores) that can use 1/2"
or 5/8" staples that are strong enough to hold 50 pages together
with only one or two staples. To hide the staple edges use a folded over
binding cover. In the example shown on the right, a reflective cardstock
was used with a die-cut window that featured the various illustrations
included throughout the book. Loose-leaf ring binding is another economical
method for assembling booklets together and it has the advantage of easy
removal and insertion of pages. A service bureau can drill holes through
up to 200-300 pages at a time (depending on paper weight) for a minimal
fee. If you want a more unique shape for your booklet, a die-cut service
can cut round pages out of your pre-printed layouts for approximately
$100 if you use a stock die. Custom dies can cost anywhere between $45 and $100
depending on the complexity of the shape.
Corporate Branded Gift
Mini Book Cover Detail
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5. Customized Gift Items
Customized gift items fall into the premium, high-expense, low quantity
category of promotions and are generally best targeted to high-level contacts
within a business or organization. The example highlighted at right is
a custom-made "Business Bear" that includes a Mini-CDROM and
miniature book. The mini book cover is a scaled replica of the author's
full-size publication. Other ideas include custom-made buttons that can
be pinned to the shirt of the bear or miniature business cards with corporate
logos of the target company. Screen-printed images can be applied to many
items such as T-shirts or hats. Alternatively, many embroidery studios/shops
can take your custom designs as vector formats and create an array of
custom logo gifts. Custom printed ceramic mugs are a traditional yet very
fun gift for many CEOs and managers. Cafepress.com offers high-quality
imaging on a variety of ceramic cups with reasonable pricing for low-volume
work. For high-volume work there are several online vendors that can create
permanent designs using 4-ink process color printing.
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> Packaging Graphics &
Design
Notes: Metallic papers are highly sensitive
to fingerprints so use clean hands and try to minimize touching the surface
of the paper once it has been printed.
Notes: The original layout for the tree was
created in Adobe Illustrator and then hand-cut into sections for final
assembly.
Notes: The Xyron cartridges are part of an entire system of adhesive applicators
and sticker makers with a variety of sizes and adhesive types. For promotional
items that do not want to have a permanent bond to surfaces use the "Removable"
adhesive cartridges instead of the "Permanent".
Authored by David Z. Carter & James Diaz
Published by Simon
Little
ISBN: 0689822243
List Price: $35.00
Orbis Circle Scissors
Stanley Heavy-duty Industrial Stapler capable of using up to 5/8"
staples.
Mini CD-R discs are now commonplace and are easy to find online. If you
want to include video content or larger amounts of data than the limits
of a CD-R then DVD-R discs are now available from a limited number of
retailers including Meritline.com.
For high-volume production of stuffed bears consider the Build-A-Bear
company. They offer custom printed shirts that fit a variety of their
stock stuffed animals.
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