When it comes to buying promotional apparel, or any kind of apparel, trends are important – without them, we’d all be wearing animal skins or plaid. Keeping with seasonal trends keeps you hip and trendy, and is more likely to bring you success with your marketing efforts that involve apparel. Here are three trends that are huge right now and you should definitely take advantage of:
Inexpensive Eco-friendly apparel:
Eco-apparel has been a trend for the last 2 years, but it's only growing in popularity. More and more new eco-friendly apparel are popping up every day by way of recycled, organic, bamboo, post consumer mate rial etc. The choices are so diverse, customers can now find the style of shirt they need, in the material they want; and with the prices falling for this type of apparel, in the price range they want as well. He
re are
a couple of our favorite, most popular, and inexpensive eco-friendly apparel options. ePromos Budget Friendly Organic Pick: Organic T-shirt by Anvil®
ePromos Budget Friendly Recycled Pick: 100% Recycled Cotton/Polyester T-shirt
Bright Colors:
Another trend we see is the increasing demand for bright colored apparel. T-shirts are the most common apparel items featuring these bright colors, but whereas customers had previously gone with the traditional white t-shirt, they are now opting for the colors instead.
Check out the case study in this newsletter if you want to see how these types of shirts helped a marketing communication firm.
ePromos Budget Friendly Pick: Jersey T-shirt by American Apparel®
Performance:
Performance is in. Maybe it’s the commercials and ads draping the media, but the demand for performance apparel has risen tremendously this year – especially in golf polo shirts. The light weight nature of performance apparel makes it perfect for outdoor activities and the versatility of the fabrics allows you to choose the shirt that is going to get you the exact performance you want to give your recipients.
NOTE: The most popular performance shirts are the ones designed for moisture wicking. The fibers of the shirt are designed to pull moisture away from your body to help keep you cool.
ePromos Budget Friendly Pick: Relax Fit Microfiber Performance T-shirt
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| Promotional Apparel on the Green:
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For the seasoned golf outing planner, using promotional apparel is common sense. With it’s ability to promote your company and the event long after the 18th hole and it’s high level of perceived value, imprinted shirts should be on the checklist of any good planner looking for a successful golf event. But for the not-so-experienced planner, we've come up with the who's, what's, when's, where's, and why's, for using apparel on the green:
Who gets apparel at golf events?
No exceptions - everyone gets something!
Staff & Volunteers
At golf events, staff and volunteers are typically dressed in brightly colored imprinted t-shirts with a large logo. By branding your staff, you are drawing attention to them and showing your golf outing participants who they can go to if they need help.
Participants
Give your participants something to wear while they are on the course, or wear after they leave. It's a way to thank them for participating in the event, but also makes them feel welcome. If you want to make a good first impression give a nice polo shirt to the participants.
What types of apparel are most found at golf events?
T-shirts:
T-shirts let you keep your spending under control, but still gets your message seen. These are typically the apparel of choice for outfitting event staff that are there to help, and also for the budget conscious.
Visors and Caps:
Shading the sun is very important in golf, and it’s almost impossible to watch a game without seeing at least one professional wearing one. With all the varieties out there, make sure you pay attention to quality – giving out a plastic visor to a participant that donated money to your cause would only end up giving you 1 less donor next year.
Polo Shirts and Pullover Jackets:
Really nice polo shirts, pullover jackets and even rain gear are popular high-end items for awards. Apparel makes great rewards because they are multi-functional for the office as well as on the green.
When is apparel given at golf events?
At the start - At the end
At the Start
Give out apparel to your golfers before the games start – when they first check in. It's much easier to identify a golfers shirt size at the start of the event so there is no uncomfortable golfer on the course.
Apparel is also typically found in a golf goody bag - usually given as a welcome kit. This kit contains everything the golfer needs for the day like golf balls, tees and divot tools, sunscreen, and a promotional visor for the golfer t
o wear
during the event.
At the End
Higher-perceived value items like pullover jackets and vests are given out at the end of the golf outing - usually as prizes. It's also very popular to use these items as thank you gifts for volunteers or event sponsors.
Where is the best imprint area for my logo?
The Higher Quality of your Apparel - The Smaller and more discreet Your Logo should be.
Front of Shirt
If you want to draw attention to a cause or to a particular person, like a staff member or volunteer, than you should have a large imprint on the front of the shirt. This will help get the attention that you're looking for.
On the Chest
The most popular imprint location is on the left chest area, where your logo is still very visible, but you have a higher-quality feel for your apparel. This is the most common imprint area for important individuals and golfers – usually wearing a nice polo golf shirt.
On the Sleeve
On higher end golf shirts or pullover jackets, it's increasingly popular to imprint the logo on the sleeve rather than the chest area. This increases the value of the item in the mind of your recipient and makes it more likely that the recipient will wear it after the event.
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| | Upcoming Promotional Event Dates | |
Teacher Appreciation Week (May 3-May 9)
The first week in May is Teacher Appreciation Week, and is dedicated to honoring the many teachers who have positively influenced lives. For those individuals who have special teachers in their lives and wish to celebrate this week, gifts as Teacher Appreciation Ribbon Magnets and the Crystal and Silver Apple Award can help show how much you value their hard work. The promotional White Board and Marker Set also ma
kes a
great gift that teachers can use daily.
National Nurses Week (May 6-May 12)
Throughout the second week of may show appreciation for the nurses in your life, during National Nurses Week. With a promotional stethoscope light or a Keep-it Clipboard, you can even use custom spa kits imprinted with your logo to thank the ones who care for you when you need it the most.
Plan ahead and take advantage of the
following promotional
opportunities.
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Caps Gone Eco
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As the popularity of eco-friendly apparel grows, and the materials used to create them get more and more diverse, we wanted to take a minute to highlight some of the really cool ways manufacturers are making eco-friendly caps:
Recycled Bottle Caps:
Made completely from recycled plastic bottles, this recycled cap is a great eco-friendly option. It comes in five different colors, and its unstructured, low profile gives it a casual feel.
Organic Cotton:
This cap made from 100% organic cotton, makes this cap a great eco-conscious choice for your next event.
Fabric From Bamboo:
Made from bamboo, this Flexfit Structured Cap is naturally moisture wicking and anti-microbial. Its light-weight feel and anti-bacterial material makes it perfect for those unusually warm spring days.
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Imprinted Golf Umbrellas
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Make your logo stand out, rain or shine, with promotional golf umbrellas. They are great for company golf outings or picnics and with their large imprint area, they will get you noticed. Here are three of our favorites:
With an incredible 68 inch arc, this umbrella can keep anyone dry. This wind-resistant umbrella won't falter on those windy days either and has a great reflective binding on its canopy - perfect for seeing your logo near or far.
This golf umbrella is a classic - with a wood handle and an auto open/close feature, this umbrella is perfect for those hands full moments.
With its flextech fiberglass construction and natural wood handle, this golf umbrella is a great way to add class to your golf outings.
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| Promotional T-shirts Drive New Product Awareness and Campaign Buzz During CA World Conference for Integrated Marketing Communication Firm McMillan
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| Challenge: To leverage t-shirts in an integrated campaign designed to generate awareness, web traffic and leads
A familiar excitement permeates the air as you prepare for your firm’s highly acclaimed, highly attended annual customer and vendor conference. You’re certain this year’s affair will be better than last, with more than 800 conference sessions, a hustling-bustling exhibition center and social events galore giving staff, partners and customers opportunities to mingle and forge lasting, mutually beneficial relationships. Something else exciting is happening this year as well: your firm, with the promise of a warm, receptive audience assured, is launching a new product. But because your firm’s new thing will be but one among a sea of many, you need a certain marketing savoir-faire to execute successfully. With that in mind, you reach out to an integrated marketing communications firm for the best possibility of
success.
This is the true story of CA, formerly known as Computer Associates, and the Canadian-based marketing communications firm McMillan, as they devised a campaign to promote CA’s new business governance solution during CA World, a five-day education and networking extravaganza for CA customers and partners. The idea: to promote the product, drive awareness and generate leads with a newly created fictional character, Allan Peterson, whom, through the clever use of life-sized placards strategically placed near booths, refreshment tables and doors, you could not miss during the conference. Team McMillan also incented attendees to collect a series of five Allan Peterson buttons available at secret, random locations throughout the conference. Attendees, with all five buttons in hand, would visit a special button redemption booth for prizes, including a GPS system for one lucky winner and promotional t-shirts and other cool stuff for others.
Solution: Hip, yet tailored American Apparel® t-shirt in three colors promotes messages and incents attendee contest participation
Enter ePromos. Team McMillan connected with ePromos’ Account Executive Michael Bloomenthal for help in finding the right t-shirts—t-shirts that would “fit” and enhance the CA campaign. The shirts would not only act as prizes; they would also be worn as “uniforms” by CA conference staff to promote the campaign’s message, “Get a True View,” as well as to promote the new CA Web site and communities at www.WhatAllanKnows.com, where enterprise customers gather for governance information, to discuss governance challenges with CA experts and to connect with happy CA customers. After exploring their options, the team chose the hip yet refined, tailored look of American Apparel’s® Jersey T-shirt, a cotton classic made, sweatshop-free,
in the
U.S.A. They also selected three colors, white, green and teal, each to be imprinted with a different CA message.
Result: T-shirts generate awareness, contest participation and, ultimately, new leads for CA
Team McMillan reports outstanding results: the button contest and t-shirts generated high campaign and product awareness, as well as high Web traffic, while the campaign overall produced significant warm leads for the CA governance product. One team McMillan member, charged with carrying t-shirts from storage to the redemption booth when supplies were low, told us how a group of 20 attendees followed him, asking how they, too, could get CA shirts. After sharing his story with us, this team member exclaimed, “Never underestimate the power of a t-shirt!” We agree!
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