Promotional Products: The Marketing Evolution!

Promotional products are generally inexpensive useful and / or fun items with the company's name, logo, message or offer imprinted on them and are often given away free. This form of marketing is sometimes called 'speciality advertising'.

A wide range of promotional products are manufactured today, including calendars, mugs, t-shirts, pens, coasters, key rings etc. The list comprises literally 1000's of products and if you look around your office, or home you'll probably find one.

With the advent of the Internet and social media, promotional products are often overlooked as part of a business marketing campaign. However, it's been shown that an effective promotional product campaign can boost a company's good will standing with it's customers by as much as 52%!

Smart marketers realize that promotional products can be very effective in reaching a specific target audience, which is one of the key objectives of marketing, whether online or offline.

 

Polmac (UK) Ltd Promotional Playing Card Boxes

Promotional products are designed to be useful, or fun because the goal is to keep them and the branding they represent in front of the customer/ prospect for as long as possible.

Promotional products work on the principle that if you give someone a gift, they'll feel the need to give something back in return. This could be customer loyalty, repeat business, testimonials and recommendations to other businesses.

The best promotional products are those that allow the customer/ prospect to interact with the item. Puzzles and playing cards are a good example of promotional products that allow good interaction.

Promotional products are often given away free at trade shows to draw people in and increase excitement and effectiveness.

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies, custom made, wood presentation boxes including promotional boxes for a wide range of marketing products. They're beautifully made, versatile and terrific value, which means they help boost product sales!

http://www.polmacuk.com

Flock Fabric Linings: Tough, Durable & Visually Appealing!

Flock fabrics are made by adhering short, coloured nylon, rayon or polyester strands directly on to a flexible substrate such as paper, to provide a material that looks something like wallpaper when finished. 

Making The Flock Side Elements

The fine flock strands, which are usually between 0.25 mm - 0.5 mm in height, are electrically charged to keep them upright. This provides a tough, durable and visually appealing material with that classic ‘suede’ effect for which flock fabric is well known. 

Applying flock fabric linings is a craft skill which takes several years to perfect and is always undertaken by hand. The skill is similar to that of a tailor cutting fabrics for suits etc, although on a much smaller scale.

Adding The 'Flock Hinge' & Side Elements

 

Flock fabric linings are normally applied flat and glued to the inside surfaces of wooden boxes, using a glue gun. Glue guns work by inserting a clear glue rod into an appliance that looks a bit like a small electric drill. The glue is melted by an electrical heating element and is then discharged at the nozzle, using a trigger.

Individual pieces of flock fabric are first carefully cut with a sharp knife or scissors and stretched over the joint between the lids and the bases of the wood boxes. The flock fabric pieces are then stapled in position on both sides of the joint, providing  what is essentially a ‘flock hinge’. 

Adding The Final Flock Lined Base Element

Individual elements for the bases, lids and sides of the wooden boxes are then made up and comprise flock fabric stretched over and around stiff cardboard pieces that are carefully cut to size and glued in position, to provide a smooth, even finish.

The final inspection ensures the flock fabric linings are finished to the required high standards and the wood boxes function correctly. This may involve a degree of ‘fabric tucking’ which is usually undertaken with a sharp scalpel knife. 

The Finished Flock Lined Polmac Box

Polmac (UK) Ltd flock lined, wood presentation boxes are beautifully made, versatile and terrific value, which means they boost company branding and product sales.

http://www.polmacuk.com 

From Russia, The USA & Elsewhere With Love!

Caviar is fish roe or eggs, which is slightly salted. The salt helps to cure and preserve the caviar and is a  method that is still used today.

Female fish reproduce by laying eggs but not all fish roe is considered to be caviar. To a connisseur, however, real caviar comes only from the sturgeon.

 Large Sturgeon

The sturgeon is a saltwater fish but spawns in freshwater and is found in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea between Europe and Asia. It's also found in the Pacific Northwest and Southern Atlantic coasts of the USA.

The sturgeon can grow to over 3,000 pounds but usually the average weight is about 60 pounds. The flesh of the sturgeon is also highly prized.

Caviar from the beluga, osetra and sevruga sturgeon are the most highly prized. However, today 'caviar ' is also available from other fish varieties, such as salmon, lump fish and tuna.

Caviar

The word caviar comes from the Turkish word 'khavyar' which first appeared in print, in 1591 England. However, the sturgeon has been a part of the Middle Eastern and Eastern Europe diet for centuries.

Caviar was once reserved just for royalty but in early nineteenth century America, it was routinely served free of charge in saloons. The saltiness of caviar made people more thirsty and this increased beer sales, much as salted snacks in public houses do today.

Back then, America's waters were full of sturgeon and by the end of the nineteenth century the USA was the largest exporter of caviar in the world.

Polmac Caviar Box

However, during this period, a great deal of the caviar shipped to Europe was exported back to the USA and labelled as 'Russian caviar'. This was because higher prices could be charged for Russian caviar which was considered the best quality.

This kind of sharp practice continues today as can be seen from the recent European, horse meat scandal, where inferior and cheaper quality horse meat was substituted for beef..

Sturgeon stocks in the USA were decimated by over fishing, almost to the point of extinction and the sudden shortage in the early 1900's meant that prices rose sharply. The prices for premium quality caviar remain high today.

Polmac (UK) Ltd supplies custom made, wood presentation boxes for caviar and other premium quality food products. They're beautifully made, versatile and terrific value and are designed to boost company branding and sales!   

http://www.polmacuk.com