We are approaching summer of 2023, we’re back at trade shows, events, conferences… but you have to up your swag game if you want to be the talk of the trade show floor. If you can’t bear to give out yet another pen, water bottle, or even worse…..a lanyard, you have to really dig deep for ideas. Being creative with swag and giveaways, while staying on brand, isn’t the easiest feat. It’s easy to lose hours or even days going down an internet rabbit hole of searches for “customized giveaways” and honestly, there are only so many “company logo here” koozies one person can review.
V2Works kept our clients swag game strong, even during the time when we were all working from home. During Covid, we knew many working parents were at home with their kids, for endless numbers of hours. It just went on, and on, and on… what better way to alleviate that pain than some swag geared towards the kids? Hamilton Robotics made a series of coloring pages, with characters that did activities such as pipetting, and other laboratory work. It was a unique sort of giveaway—a downloadable, print-at-home piece that could distract the kids during that 5th Zoom call of the day. Or maybe you needed to stay busy while watching another virtual conference, so you downloaded the Hamilton Robotics cross stitch guide and started crafting on the side.
Knowing your audience is a major part of the decision on promotional pieces. Sure, we’ve designed wraps for the standard mug, t-shirt designs, carry bags, all that safe stuff. But how about a series of collectible enamel pins? The kind that get posted and have been tagged all over LinkedIn to the point that people are coming to your booth specifically for the next in the series as it’s a must-have item. Want 3 pins in one? Done. Want a series of 9 that release only once a year? Easy.
Sometimes, you may think your product is just not swag worthy or too difficult to represent in a giveaway. How does an airline leasing company make something fun and representative of their product or service? Make it hands on. Make them build an airplane of course. One of our earlier projects for Altavair Air Finance was a huge hit—A balsa wood glider branded, assembled, and flown around offices all over the world.
Even making a collection of caricatures and turning them into fun collectible stickers, can be a winner. It’s about coming up with just the right phrase or way to personalize your product to make it memorable.
We have so many more ideas swirling around waiting for a taker, reach out if you’re ready to take that chance!
