Fore! Planning Company Golf Tournaments

Thinking of hosting a company golf tournament?  Imprinted promotional products will help create a successful event while promoting your company.  Just follow these easy steps. First, send out invitations to your tournament three months in advance.  Once you have an idea of the number of attendees, you can decide on appropriate promotions to build excitement.  A ball marker or a divot repair tool is a great way to start that excitement.  Also, customized golf tees and balls put a personal touch on your event.

Registration at the event table is an ideal spot to distribute gift bags.  Hand out a quality tote bag with items that your guest can use during the tournament such as a sport bottle, golf towel, balls, tees, divot fixers and sunscreen all imprinted with your company's logo.

When the event winds down, make everyone feel special by giving out awards.  Celebrate any success from longest putt, longest drive, low foursome, low golfer, etc.  Awards can be traditional trophies, embroidered duffle bags or even an engraved pen set.

Post tournament gifts is another way to promote your business and thank your guest for attending.  A picture frame, gold putting aid, or golf umbrella, all imprinted with your logo, will give your clients great memories of your event and keep your company fresh in their mind for the next time they need your services.

Planning a golf tournament?  Visit us at www.PromotionalEdge.com to find these, and many more, promotional ideas.

Who Knew?

Who knew that blinking badges could help light up a convention center.  At the American Payroll Association, the Symmetry Software company distributed "Payroll Goddess" light-up badges as part of their effort to give recognition to the otherwise forgotten payroll manager.  

Your employees deserve to be acknowledged too.  Let Promotional Edge help you do that with creative imprinted promotions.

 Read more about "Hail to the Payroll Goddess" on our website:  www.PromotionalEdge.com 

Promotional Products Do Work!

Promotional Products are proven to work.  Let us help you find the product that's right for your business.  With over 800,000 different items available, Promotional Edge can help you choose an effect advertising specialty that will grow your business. Visit our website and start promoting your business today!

www.PromotionalEdge.com

A CHANGE OF FACE

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Hate shaving? Then you'll love November. Since 2004, the Movember Foundation has been partnering with businesses, local organizations and sports franchises to raise awareness and money for a variety of men's health issues by encouraging men to grow facial hair for a good cause. The goal of the Movember movement, a combination of the words "moustache" and "November," is to "change the face of men's health."

NHL and AHL hockey players have long embraced the Movember agenda, beginning the month clean-shaven and embarking on a 30-day competition to see who can grow the thickest, funniest or most creative facial hair. Nicknamed "Mo Bros," the players seek out sponsors to help raise funds for the charity.

A sports promotional and event marketing agency helped the Milwaukee Admirals with a Movember promotion last fall. The Admirals, an AHL team, partnered with grooming products manufacturer Lucky Tiger Grooming for Men to help raise money for prostate and testicular cancer research.

The Milwaukee chapter of Movember hosted a number of events throughout the city to publicize Movember and promoted attendance at the Admirals' games, says Kim Salli, the Admirals' manager of merchandise. The team publicized the moustache contest online and on its website. Fans could sign up online to join the Admirals Movember team, which included team owner and CEO Harris Turer, and players such as Scott Valentine, Kevin Henderson and Taylor Beck, or visit www.movember.com to donate to the cause. Fans could also view the progress of the moustaches over the course of the month.

The Admirals offered a Mo-Package for $49 which included two ticket vouchers, good for any game in November, a donation to Movember, plus an exclusive Mo-Waukee Admirals T-shirt which depicted the team's skull logo sporting a Fu Manchu moustache. The package could be purchased through Ticketmaster or on the Admirals' website. This was the first Movember promotion in which the team gave away T-shirts, says Salli, who notes the team did experience an increase in sales as a result.

Fans who joined the Admirals' Movember team and raised a certain amount of money were invited to a Stache Bash on November 27 with free food and the opportunity to meet the mustachioed Admirals players. In addition, at the last game of the month on November 30, Lucky Tiger distributed fake moustaches to the first 1,500 fans at the door. A number of fans grew facial hair or wore the fake moustaches to support the cause. Even the Zamboni sported a moustache for the occasion.

"The players really got into it," says Salli. "We showed images of the participating players' moustache progression on the Jumbotron." On the website, the Admirals conducted a poll for fans to pick which player had the best moustache. Choosing fake moustaches as a giveaway "was a no-brainer," Salli says. "Promotional items are extremely important at our games."

Promo Products Help Tecate Target Football Fans

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Over 33 million Hispanics watched NFL games last year – an increase of more than two million viewers from the previous year, according to Mintel Sports Marketing. Tecate and Tecate Light worked with Dieste, a multicultural advertising agency, to capitalize on these growing numbers. The duo created a national retail program focused on helping U.S. Hispanics 21 and older celebrate their passion for football and the natural drinking occasion that the sport presents.

Bilingual products and promotions with the slogan “A Man Knows How to Choose His Team” were placed at locations across the country between January 1 and February 15, 2013. “Tecate targets men with character (the brand’s motto is cervesas con caracter), and in that definition are men who are confident about their decisions, whether it’s football teams or their choice of beer,” says Felix Palau, vice president of marketing for the Tecate equity.

As part of the program, Tecate offered consumers a text-in sweepstakes allowing shoppers to enter daily for the opportunity to win branded tailgating items. Prizes included Tecate football grills, rolling coolers, tailgating chairs and Chicas Tecate football bobblehead dolls. “The Tecate football sweepstakes drew shoppers in and engaged them at retail by providing them with prizes relevant to football,” says Palau. “Winners were announced each day in an effort to continue generating interaction.”

More than 20 states participated in a rebate program that helped consumers save on the essentials for their football parties, including salty snacks and ice, with the purchase of Tecate products. “We promoted the coupons, including the partnership with DELIMEX on the Tecate Facebook page, and encouraged consumers to participate in the text-in contests at their local stores,” Palau says.

Bilingual point-of-sale materials include price cards, tuck cards and cooler decals, prominently featuring brand ambassadors (Chicas Tecate) decked in red and blue outfits, as well as product shots of Tecate and Tecate Light bottles and cans.

Given the changing landscape of U.S. Hispanics, Tecate was forced to find ways to connect with bicultural millennials. “While our media mix for Tecate has been relatively traditional, this year we are expanding our digital efforts,” Palau says. “We make it a point to align ourselves with sports that share the characteristics of our brand. By doing what we can to help consumers feel closer to their favorite sport, we keep the brand top of mind among our target.”

Promo Tees Help Save Pets

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In November 2012, Switch, an experimental marketing agency in St. Louis, MO, launched the Ugly Holiday Sweater Tees fundraiser for its annual "Switchmas." This event benefits local charitable organizations. In deciding on a four-week campaign centered on the holidays when themed clothing is in high demand, Switch's team was left wondering how they could combine those two factors into a win for the cause, all while helping the sweater-less guarantee style success at their holiday events.

For the second consecutive year, Switch chose to donate funds raised in the campaign to the nonprofit Animal Protective Association (APA) of Missouri, which provides shelter and adoption services for homeless dogs and cats and animal welfare education to the public. Switch implemented social media and local media exposure in St. Louis to get publicity for the cause. According to Public Relations Specialist Jen Beidle, "Switch's effort netted many free mentions in the media valued at approximately $25,000, with 807 Facebook likes, 119 Twitter followers, more than 6,000 website visits and more than 61,000 impressions on LinkedIn."  

All proceeds from the $22 T-shirts featuring holiday sweater designs were donated to the APA, raising $13,065 during the campaign with the sale of 820 T-shirts. Since 2009, Switch has donated nearly $50,000 during holiday campaigns to local charitable organizations. "We thrive on using design to create something good for people – or animals – who really need our help. These shirts represent that intersection, and make you look totally rad, too," says Brent Coder, creative director at Switch.

Consider getting involved in the community by teaming up with your ad specialty distributor and a local nonprofit group. This will enable you to reach a wider audience, gain more social media attention and benefit a deserving cause that will have longstanding positive results.

Star Power

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When Sandra Alexander, a marketing rep for cosmetic firm darci by Di Caprio, sent out a press release announcing the firm's new makeup brush cleaner in September 2011, she never dreamed that the product would find itself in the Oscar gift bags of Hollywood's elite at last year's Oscar ceremony.

Upon reading the press release, a representative from an agency that specializes in the entertainment industry reached out to Darci Henry and Lisa Di Caprio, to see if they would be interested in contributing their new brush cleaner to the gift bags for Oscar nominees in the top five categories of the 2012 Oscars.

At first the pair ignored the call, but after receiving a second call telling them their product would be great for the celebrity swag bag, they decided to get involved. "Make it as unique as you can," was the only request the agency made. The women brainstormed about how best to build around this opportunity, and ultimately won raves and press coverage, including mentions in Lucky magazine and Philadelphia Business Journal for the cleverly designed gift packaging, which centered on the founders' mission statement, "The Beauty of Believing in Yourself." Henry and Di Caprio, divorced mothers who overcame personal adversity, became best friends and started darci by Di Caprio to support themselves, become independent and inspire others to do the same.

The women chose boxes that looked like hollowed-out books bearing the tagline, "Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover." The box contained the brand's signature brush cleaner, with limited-edition Kabuki brushes (no animal hair was used and the product was cruelty free-certified by PETA) as well as a towel with the brand's logo to dry off the brushes.

A card insert read,  "You can't summarize your career with one performance, define a character with a single facial expression or take one look at someone and understand who they are or how far they've come. On the surface, your makeup brushes may seem clean. But look a little closer and you may find a different story." The gift box also contained a mini movie script and a short video on a USB drive telling the story behind the brand.

Appearances on talk shows and morning shows to discuss the Oscar gift bags reached almost 3 million viewers. The press that darci by Di Caprio received resulted in increased traffic in their PA-based store, plus the addition of four new wholesale accounts, including Beauty Cirque, New Beauty at Fred Segal, and two major online retailers,www.beautysak.com and www.dermstore.com.