Promo items - what works and what do people want?!

[NemoTeamo]

My boss has asked me to promote the company using a smallish budget of a couple of hundred quid. She wants promo type items but not very specific about WHAT. Im keen to avoid plastic rubbish that will be binned, but cant blow the budget on three nicely embroidered bags.
What do people like? Pens? Coasters? I ideally need to get company name and contact as well as a picture (not really a logo) on it. Any thoughts anyone?

Tote bag. Bamboo or similar cutlery set. Pencil set with branding on the end, 3 or 4 pencils can have a lot of info.

I also once got a nice branded mini metal nail file and nail clippers in a small box, perfect for the bottom of the handbag and the odd raggidy nail. Very useful!

Shopping bags that fold up small
Tins of sweets
Travel cups
Usb sticks

I am currently sitting next to someone who works for the professional body for promotional merchandise (yes, there is one.) He says, tote bags.

How about bee bombs? I heard about them from a thread on wedding favours so might tie in nicely with your events business.

www.beebombs.com/stock-beebombs

I've got more canvas tote bags than I know what to do with, ditto USB sticks which I very rarely use. I never use lanyards and have an ergonomic mousemat, I don't need another. I have two travel mugs and a Chilly bottle, that's enough of those.

Pens/rulers etc are good though, as are the little tins of mints (I hate mints but use the tins for sewing bits).

I’m really surprised by the number of people saying bags. I go to quite a few conferences and always end up throwing out any bags I end up with (don’t pick them up deliberately but you’re often given one with all the conference bumph in). I wouldn’t walk round with a bag advertising a random company!

What'd be useful for someone planning an event?

People seem to love counting down the days to big events. And sleep is associated with feeling relaxed/stress free (something I'm sure they pay you for). So I'd go along those lines.

Like, a sleep mask, pillow spray, countdown calendar/fridge magnet, something like that.

yes I've seen promotional handgel come up in searches lately, would be very topical!!

Practical things better. Don't need more mugs, bottles, bags etc though.

Depends on location - something for car or bike - like seat covers - could go down well, car seat pocket holder/glasses case, some other gadget thing for cars; I had a promotional small screwdriver that I still use for things as it's just the right mini size; folding scissors

magnets with clips, interesting shaped paper clips

desktop -size watering can

phone beanbag (to hold it still for photos or to prop it up to read recipes)

magnetic bookmarks

usb fan or other mini fan. or hand warmers, if it's winter, those ones with the click disc inside

Notepads with a pen! I love small pads that can fit into your suit pocket. Another thing I got was an armband phone holder and wallet which was very useful. Maybe stress balls (our sales team love these and are always hurling them across the room).

Bags are useful - especially if you don't 'overbrand' and keep one side plain (although I turn some brands inside out).

Also, post-it notes and pens - I like practical items.

our promo gifts are pens (made of rock hard cardboard - not sure how they are made), tote bags and reusable coffee cups - again made of 100 percent recyclable materials.

A fold-up shopping bag would get my vote too.

You can get logo-ed bamboo straws, which might be good for events settings

Dh had a pen that was a good biro at one end and fluorescent yellow highlighter at the other end - writes really nicely and both of us try to ensure it ends up on our desks at home. So it’s a pen - but a bit different from a normal pen and really handy to have. Pen has long outlasted the company that gave it away!

You can get logo-ed bamboo straws, which might be good for events settings

I love this idea!! And plastic straws are banned from March 31st so this is very timely too. Do it, OP.

I have recently been sent a coffee voucher by a company trying to get my attention.
(It did, but I refused the coffee as their services are not relevant to my job at all, so I felt it would be wrong.)

DON'T buy travel mugs. The quality is almost always shoddy and people that want and use them already have a preferred, good quality one.

Agree with pp on practical items - notepads, (decent quality) pens, post its etc. Nothing electrical, especially not USBs.

Keyrings? Would give you more space for a picture. (If double-sided you could have something fashionable/attractive on one side & company info on the other.)

I like the idea of the little tin of mints.

Not phone chargers for the same reason as travel mugs and USB sticks, most people who would use them will have them already.

I've seen packets of seeds used which h was easy and a nice touch

If you are doing a promo with a few £ hundred you need something that is cost effective, smart and small that is used out and about frequently and seen by others , the larger more expensive items will be less cost effective as there will be significantly less . We had pens , two different styles and they were well received - everyone uses a pen and it's small and transportable , the silver ones with company name number and address worked well , if you put the website on even better , people can then look you up if interested , more info than that is wasted as public will be less inclined to read more

Yep, a nice reusable coffee cup always good. I use them for water at night to avoid awful spider-in-cup incidents. And yes to tote bags, too.

We get a lot of promotional stuff through the post at work. The only things we keep are pens and maybe phone chargers if anyone needs one

Tins of mints are an excellent idea.

I got a golf umbrella at a conference years ago which is on its last legs. I don't normally like to carry round an advert IYSWIM but would make an exception for one of these again.

I picked up a great pen at an event which also had the rubbery bit for a phone screen AND a torch! (DD soon appropriated that one )

My firm did phone power-banks - not cheap enough to give away en-masse, but popular.

mug
tote bag
t shirt
notebook
memo pads
shopping list pad
fridge magnet
balloon
biscuit with imprinted company name
hankies
little personalised easter eggs with company details on the iced ones you can do it yourself
choc bars and sweets with personalised company label/wrapper on them

Have you phoned a merchandise company and asked what's popular?