When Consumers Are Polled, Our Medium Wins


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When Consumers Are Polled, Our Medium Wins
By: Tina Berres Filipski
Issue: 2010jan

Most people would agree that numbers don’t lie. That goes for everything from last quarter’s sales tally to the bathroom scale. And, fortunately, that’s great news for promotional products because the stats surfacing from two recent surveys—one of end buyers, another of end users—were off-the-charts positive for our medium.

In a study of the advertising purchase habits of marketing executives conducted late last summer, we learned buyers continually ranked promotional products as their advertising medium of choice—over TV, newspapers and the internet. Specifically, the 1,049 end buyers who responded cited promotional products as tops in these attributes:

• Ability to achieve long-term memorability at the cost of paying only for a single exposure.
• Flexibility to fit the cost of the medium to the budget—whatever that might be.
• Ability to bond with the audience in a way that promotes repeat business.
• Audience-friendly factor (people actually want to receive promotional products).
• Proven ability to generate traffic to stores, tradeshows, etc.

In addition, 72 percent of these end buyers reported they use promotional products sometimes, often or always in their advertising, promotion or motivational campaigns and 78 percent declared the medium as somewhat or very effective in achieving the advertising objectives. A little aside is that a third of responses in the 18-34 age group rated promotional products as very effective compared to those in the 35-50 age group. Their positive response may indicate a very receptive audience among the younger generation.

As if that wasn’t enough good news, last fall PPAI Research conducted a second study to find out how consumers react to promotional products and to measure reach and recall. This is where the findings really got exciting. 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 past 24 months. Of the 90.4 percent who said they still owned the product they received, 94 percent could recall the product, 89 percent could recall the advertiser and 78 percent could recall the message.

While we thought our earlier end-user research was encouraging, these findings show end users are receiving and remembering promotional products much more than previously thought. In a 2004 PPAI study, 71 percent of business travelers surveyed at DFW International airport said they had received a promotional product in the last 12 months and of those, 76.1 percent could recall the advertiser’s name on the product. And 33.7 percent of those interviewed had the product with them. At the time, those numbers were astounding—the best our industry had seen so far.

What could have made the difference between the 2004 and the 2009 end-user studies?

While researchers can and will cite several variables between the study methodology to explain the improved outcome, I’d rather believe it’s an authentic reaction to PPAI’s buyer outreach efforts launched five years ago, the increased professionalism and sales savvy of today’s promotional consultants and the increasingly distinctive, fun, useful and physical characteristics of the products themselves. There’s no doubt all of those things working together are improving consumers’ and buyers’ perceptions of our medium.

So next time you have a client who needs a little or a lot of persuasion, let these stats help you. You’ll find highlights of the end-buyer study and the end-user study starting on pages 70 and 80 respectively. PPAI members can also download free Power Tools on both studies by clicking on Members, Sales and Marketing Solutions, Research at www.ppai.org. And, here’s a way to take the good news out to your clients: buy a 25-pack of the printed end buyer Power Tools for use as client leave-behinds by calling PPAI’s Judy Darwin at 888-426-7724, ext. 3058.

If you like the research you are seeing in this issue, watch for the February 2010 issue when we’ll publish the second part of the end-user study comparing promotional products to other media. If these stats are any indication, promotional products are heading in the right direction.

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