History of promotional merchandising
If you thought promotional merchandising is a recently developed way of marketing, you are mistaken. It has been around in the marketing world for at least two centuries now. And right from its inception it has proven to be an effective technique that customized promotional products gift retailing has today become a highly competitive business today.
The beginning
The first recorded use of promotional events in the US was in1979 when campaign buttons were given away during George Washington's election. Later on, advertising products such as rulers, calendars and wooden specialties were used for marketing, even though there were no organized businesses for selling them.
The credit of origin of such an industry may be given to an Ohio-based printer Jasper Meeks, who convinced and persuaded a local shoe store owner to supply custom backpacks to local schools. This turned out to be a masterstroke and the shop owners' business expanded. Taking cue from this success, another printer and a peer of Meeks picked up the idea, and soon these two people started selling various custom imprinted promotional products including fans, calendars, aprons and card cases, besides bags.
The development
To market their recently launched ‘sparkling beverage' in 1887, Coco Cola Company decided to try something different. Customers were given coupons that could claim free bottles of the new product. Another important incident in the development of promotional merchandising happened in 1930s. A marketer named Robert Collier gave away custom fountain pens as gifts to doctors to up sell them to his selling price of $7.95 for his doctor's handbags. Both these incidents garnered widespread appreciation from the marketing world.
It was in 1904 that the first trade association for the industry was set up. The organization, which was founded by 12 manufacturers in the industry, later came to be known as Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) and now has over 10,000 members globally. It currently represents about 5,000 manufacturers and over 22,000 distributors.
An exponential increase of promotional gifting happened only in 1970s when corporates started identifying the importance of brand identity and brand loyalty. Within another 10 years, the range of gifts being given to clients or customers diversified with a lot of out-of-the-box thinking.
Today, custom promotional products as gifts are part of marketing strategy of any corporate. Big bucks are spent in giving versatile gifts to customers to lure them into liking the brand and also to improve the brand visibility.
If you thought promotional merchandising is a recently developed way of marketing, you are mistaken. It has been around in the marketing world for at least two centuries now. And right from its inception it has proven to be an effective technique that customized promotional products gift retailing has today become a highly competitive business today.
The beginning
The first recorded use of promotional events in the US was in1979 when campaign buttons were given away during George Washington's election. Later on, advertising products such as rulers, calendars and wooden specialties were used for marketing, even though there were no organized businesses for selling them.
The credit of origin of such an industry may be given to an Ohio-based printer Jasper Meeks, who convinced and persuaded a local shoe store owner to supply custom backpacks to local schools. This turned out to be a masterstroke and the shop owners' business expanded. Taking cue from this success, another printer and a peer of Meeks picked up the idea, and soon these two people started selling various custom imprinted promotional products including fans, calendars, aprons and card cases, besides bags.
The development
To market their recently launched ‘sparkling beverage' in 1887, Coco Cola Company decided to try something different. Customers were given coupons that could claim free bottles of the new product. Another important incident in the development of promotional merchandising happened in 1930s. A marketer named Robert Collier gave away custom fountain pens as gifts to doctors to up sell them to his selling price of $7.95 for his doctor's handbags. Both these incidents garnered widespread appreciation from the marketing world.
It was in 1904 that the first trade association for the industry was set up. The organization, which was founded by 12 manufacturers in the industry, later came to be known as Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) and now has over 10,000 members globally. It currently represents about 5,000 manufacturers and over 22,000 distributors.
An exponential increase of promotional gifting happened only in 1970s when corporates started identifying the importance of brand identity and brand loyalty. Within another 10 years, the range of gifts being given to clients or customers diversified with a lot of out-of-the-box thinking.
Today, custom promotional products as gifts are part of marketing strategy of any corporate. Big bucks are spent in giving versatile gifts to customers to lure them into liking the brand and also to improve the brand visibility.