PR Panda Promotions

On February 4, 2010, FedEx Express donated its logistical services to transport two giant pandas from the United States to China. Tai-Shan, a four-and-a-half-year-old male panda, and Mei Lan, a three-year-old female panda, traveled onboard a custom-decaled FedEx Express Freighter known as the “FedEx Panda Express.”


FedEx wanted to promote the event and was looking for apparel that would be very visible on television, in addition to items that it could give to the general public who came to say goodbye to the pandas. They produced jackets for ramp workers that had “FedEx Panda Team” imprinted in large letters on the back. These items were front and center in television news stories. They also provided T-shirts, buttons and stuffed panda bears. There was even a Chinese newscaster holding one of the plush pandas reporting the big event in China.

Fed Ex knows a good PR event when they see it. They also know to use high-visibility promotional items when it absolutely, positively has to get attention.

Intrinsic or Extrinsic?

Managers and business owners have to be concerned with motivation. Succesful businesses depend on a motivated work force and managers must figure out how best to motivate their employees. Ironically, many of these leaders are intrisically motivated. Intrinsic motivation is the drive we get from inside. The desire from within to accomplish without any external reward. This is a form of fulfillment gained from pursuing and accomplishing a goal that has little to do with a paycheck. Many leaders are intrisically motivated.

Extrinsic motivation on the other hand is doing something in exchange for a reward. Our society is drenched with extrinsic motivation. From a young age, we are given rewards and punishments for wanted and unwanted behavior respectively. Unfortunately, research is showing us that extrinsic motivation does not necessarily produce the results that we would expect. Research shows that intrinsic or self-motivation is more effective for long term results.

However, if planned and handled appropriately, rewards programs can produce intrinsic motivation. Research has found that rewards create the most enduring benefits when they make an emotional connection, and that such intrinsic factors are mostly addressed by the choice of the reward and the way it’s presented. In other words, when carefully selected and personally presented, noncash rewards actually are a form of intrinsic, not extrinsic, motivation, and therefore provide the ideal complement to cash compensation as an overall motivation strategy.

Not all rewards programs are built to get the best results, but it seems that well-designed programs can work for the long term.

Virtually Promoted

In the virtual world, you can do anything that you would normally do in the "real" world and then some. Now the brilliant marketers at Sony and Fast Company have teamed up to offer a Fast Company branded t-shirt on Sony's new PlayStation Home virtual world.

As in the real world, people like to associate with cool, forward thinking companies. They are happy to promote your brand by utilizing fun and useful products emblazoned with your message. It is a natural progression for promotional items to migrate to the virtual world along with many of the other effective advertising mediums.

Pinhead Promotions

Bill O'Reilly wants to get his message out and make it stick. Naturally, he turns to a campaign using the most effective form of stickiness - promotional products. O'Reilly has trademarked the phrases "Don't be a pinhead", "Bold and Fresh" and "Restore the USA" for use on a variety of promotional items including key chains, coffee mugs and t-shirts. And that's the news...We report you decide.

8 Tips to Increase Your Brand Value

Here are 8 tips on what you can do to have an immediate impact on adding value to your brand:

1. Stay on top of your customer needs – Be “high touch” with your A-level customers, build solid relationships, and keep tabs on their problems.

Visit customers regularly not only when they need something, and attend network events are great ways to strengthen the relationship and expand your reach at the same time.

2. Be visible to your customers - Make sure they’re aware of your value continuously; try to remind them of your value strategically.

Offering an updated version of your product or tagging on a free service are good ways of letting your customer know you are constantly improving.

Convince your customer that your existence makes their lives easier, better, happier by providing them with information they value and care for.

3. Know your competition – Always be on the lookout for what others are doing out there.  Be ready to explain your value proposition versus your competitors’.

You must be able to provide the facts to back up your claims.

It will make you more competitive if you can level the playing field just like how all the restaurants are offering smaller portion meals in their own way.

4. Go the extra mile – Do things that are outside the scope of your business.   Go above and beyond your normal routine by solving their “other” problems.

This will help you stand out from the competition.

5. Reward loyalty – Similar to the rewards program, give your customer something more for sticking with you or using your products and services.

It could be a gift like a cup / tumbler, gift certificates or discounts for doing business with you in the future. You want to build a relationship that extends as long as possible so focus on customers life time value.
 
6. Try new ideas – If you’re in a highly commoditized market, you need to think about where you make your profits.  Most of times there is no point in competing on price or service alone.

Try new ideas like the “freemium model” where it may be worth it to give some of your products or services away for free and charge for value-adds or premium account later in exchange for maintaining the relationship.

7. Improve experience – The entire experience in doing business with your company should be present from start to finish.

Try to make every step as frictionless as possible and think from your customer’s perspective.

They should know that they can contact you with their concerns with the expectation that you will respond quickly and effectively.

This also creates great leverage for word-of-mouth marketing.

8. Include a human element – Many companies don’t focus enough on humanizing their brand.  As a result, customers can feel out of touch.

They need to feel like they are more than customers.

Logos, slogans, tag lines and websites are just references, they’re marketing vehicles.

Besides receiving your newsletters, brochures, emails and phone calls, allowing your customer to reach you in other engaging ways can help your company grow.

Goodwill Hunting

Building Customer Goodwill


Now that the economy is starting to revive, it’s more important than ever to create goodwill with customers. This will help you stand out from the competition and strengthen brand loyalty.
Studies have shown that promotional products are a very effective way to increase customer goodwill. Here are some ways you can use promotional products to build a more positive attitude about your company:

• As thanks for repeat business or referrals. A restaurant, for example, can make customers happy (and gain free brand exposure) by giving valued customers t-shirts, hoodies and hats. A high-visibility item like a desk clock or calendar is a good way to say thanks for referrals.

• As a sales leave-behind. After your meetings, leave an item related to thesolution you offer. One company uses calculators to help add up the increased sales they can bring in; another provides memo boards to record the creative ideas they will provide.

• To show support for social causes. Many customers look for businesses that support local, social or environmental causes. If your company sponsors a team or a cause, promote it with silicone wristbands
or lapel pins.

• In direct mail campaigns. Boost open rates by including an item like ahighlighter set or ruler. Increase response by offering a gift such as a wireless mouse or business card holder.

• To win back inactive customers. Get them thinking about you again with a gift such as a plant in a logo’d container or a box of chocolates.

Contact us for more ideas on building a positive image of your company!

New and Unique Products

Jerry Brown bobbleheads half price

In a move that is sure to save the state of California from its epic budget catastrophe, Gov Brown has banned all state agencies from purchasing promotional products. A whopping $7.5 million was spent by the state on these items between 2007 and 2010. This should make Californians sleep easy knowing the $25 billion deficit is being seriously attacked.

The fact that Brown is raising Californians ridiculously high taxes and fails to cut the state's exorbitant entitlements and regulations is enough to lose confidence in the Governor. But the way he referred to promotional products as "plastic gewgaws" shows me he is ill-informed and only worried about symbolic measures.

Promotional items have been used in the state to promote health and wellness, to promote environmental issues and to raise awareness for public initiatives. I don't hear the Governor banning the purchase of brochures, signs or posters that will certainly "end up in a landfill" as the governor glibly stated.

It's also quite enlightening to notice how many "Elect Brown for Governor" promotional products you can find by a quick google search. He or someone in his campaign obviously didn't feel the items were "useless"  when the message was about capturing political power.

I find it telling that the Governor would feel at ease belittling an industry full of hard working Californians, while pandering to the least productive.