A Lasting Impression


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A Lasting Impression
By: Staff
Issue: 2010jan

New Consumer Study Surprises Even The Researchers

Americans have spoken: They love promotional products. Since the time of George Washington, promotional products have been a part of our daily lives serving not only as useful tools, but as powerful and long-lasting advertising.

In an effort to better understand the effectiveness of this medium from the consumer’s perspective, PPAI research recently designed and conducted a study fielded through MarketTools Inc. in San Francisco, California. Its goal was to evaluate the action, reaction and relationship of promotional products and their recipients.

Of an audience consisting of the average American consumer, a little less than half (44 percent or 1,005 people) reported receiving a promotional product in the last 24 months. Those 1,005 consumers comprised the final panel for the survey. All questions were answered by the 1,005 respondents.

The Response
How do recipients feel about receiving a promotional product? Why do they think they were given the item? What actions do they take? These are crucial questions all advertisers should know and understand, as the answers can have a dramatic impact on their ROI. Here is what the survey uncovered.

How They Feel:
• 83% of respondents like receiving a promotional product with an advertising message
• 48% would like to receive promotional products more often
• 30% like receiving personalized promotional products
• 25% like getting promotional products with advertisers’ contact info
• 38% feel promotional products serve as constant reminders of the advertiser
• 49% are not bothered by seeing a corporate logo on a promotional product
• Only 2% dislike receiving promotional products

What They Think:
• 73% think they were given a promotional product to promote a service/product
• 63% to create brand/company awareness
• 63% to serve as an advertiser/business service reminder
• 56% as an expression of gratitude for business or action taken
• 53% to solicit support for a cause
• 32% to create good will
• 26% to spread awareness of safety issues
• 25% to commemorate person/event/occasion
• 23% for prevention education
• 16% to urge them to take action
• 13% in recognition of an achievement
• 3% think promotional products are a waste of money
• 2% other

How They Act:
• 69% generally keep the promotional product if they have a use for it
• 36% generally give the product to others if they have no use for it
• 35% generally keep the product if they like the advertiser
• 27% generally keep the product if they like the message it carries
• 20% generally throw away promotional products if they have no use for them
• Only 17% seldom forget the types of promotional products they receive
• 16% of respondents prefer to do business with companies that give promotional products
• Only 9% forget the advertiser/product advertised after having the promotional product for more than six months

Expensive Items Vs. Inexpensive Items
Are expensive gifts perceived differently than inexpensive ones? If a logo-imprinted promotional product perceived to be expensive was handed out, the majority of respondents say they would believe the item was given to them as both an advertising medium and a gift:
• 6% would believe the item to be a business gift
• 33% would believe the item was a form of advertising
• 59% would believe the item to be both

Additionally, if a logo-imprinted promotional product perceived to be inexpensive was handed out, the majority of respondents say they would believe the item was given to them as an advertising medium:
• 2% would believe the item to be a business gift
• 32% would believe the item to be both
• 66% would believe the item was a form of advertising

The results show there’s a propensity to believe that an inexpensive promotional product is a form of advertising because 66 percent of consumers say so.

Useful Items Vs. Attractive Items
While consumers say usability is key when it comes to picking up promotional products at events/malls/tradeshows, a fourth of respondents say they would pick up the item regardless of what it was—an impressive number when it comes to spreading an advertising message.

23% would pick up a promotional product regardless of what it was
69% would pick it up if found to be useful
5% would pick it up if found to be attractive
1% would pick it up if thought to be a collectible
3% would not pick up the promotional product

How Well Do Promotional Products Pull Traffic To The Advertiser?
Consumers are split when it comes to patronizing one
business that has given them a promotional product
over another that has not:
• 40% said their actions would depend upon the promotional product they received
• 39% said they would patronize the business that distributed a promotional product
• 21% said they would not choose one over the other

Products That Create The Most Favorable Impression
Do some promotional products have a greater ability to create change over others? The answer is a resounding “Yes” according to respondents PPAI asked survey participants to identify which of the following items would motivate them to take a particular action or lead them to have a more favorable impression of the advertiser. Of 17 promotional products listed on the survey, these products received the biggest thumbs up:

Food basket 73%
MP3 player 70%
Clock/watch 63%
Luggage 61%
Digital picture frame 60%
T-shirt/golf shirt 48%
Wallet 37%
Tote bag 33%

How Long Promotional Products Are Kept
Once a recipients have the promotional product in their possession, the advertiser wants to know they are keeping it. Good news: More than half (58 percent) of respondents keep promotional products for one year to more than four years. Even if the recipient uses the item only once per week, that’s a minimum of 52 impressions made during the course of a year with the possibility of more than 208 during a five-year window. And this doesn’t factor in the countless number of impressions made by others who view the promotional product when in use by the recipient.

21% keep the product more than four years
10% two to four years
27% one to two years
21% six to 12 months
15% two to five months
6% one month

Top 10 Reasons Recipients Keep A Promotional Product:

92% it is useful
30% it is desirable
29% it is attractive
19% it serves as an informative reference tool
17% it is fun
14% loyalty to the advertiser
14% it is unique
7% it is of high value
3% it is educational
3% other

Get More Results Now
For complete study highlights, including the most memorable messages for imprints and message recall by product category, download a free PowerTool at www.ppai.org (click on Member/Sales&Marketing/Research/PowerTools). You can also purchase the PowerTools in packs of 50 (great for presentations and client calls) through the PPAI Resource Center, www.ppai.org/bookstore.

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