The Beer Coliseum

The Union of European Football Association held its UEFA championships in Rome. The city, with such a historic homage, wanted to create an attraction for all of the visit fans. Sponsor of the event, Henekin decided to help create a hype. As visitors traveled through the Rome Termini Station, they couldn't miss the 1.5 meter high and 3.5 meters in diameter, Coliseum replica. The structure is made of 1500 limited edition, UEFA Heineken bottles and is illuminated with the latest in high tech lighting. "History is Made in Rome," the platform read.



Passersby were blown away by the awesome mini beer coliseum. People were so excited by the cool display that they took videos and photographs. Of course this mini coliseum boosted Heineken sales and fan's blood alcohol levels.

The
custom imprinted bottles created a great source of branding recognition. Likewise all of our custom mugs and drink ware, gives schools, companies and clubs the exposure they need to succeed. Thumbs up Heineken. Let's cheers to
promotional products.

The Salvation Army on your Dirty Car

When I say Salvation Army, you may picture a man or woman standing outside of a grocery store, ringing a bell in the snow. You probably don't consider the thousands of employees they have, that stock stores with donated clothing and home goods. You also may not know that of the money spent at Salvation Army stores, 83 cents of each dollar goes to the needy. Rehabilitation centers and homeless shelters are staffed by Salvation Army employees and costs to run the centers comes directly from the store's profits.

Putting 83 cents of each dollar towards the needy is extremely impressive for a non profit. And with such a high percentage of money going right towards charities, not much is left over for advertising and promoting the Salvation Army and explaining its mission.

Therefore, in an effort to spread the word about the Salvation Army in New England, the organization approached business' in Portland, Maine with a favor to ask. Over 50businesses were eager to help in any way they could. Pizzeria’s had the Salvation Army logo imprinted inside pizza boxes. Volunteers hand painted rocks that decorated cafe tables in the down town area. And many store front windows became billboards for the Salvation Army without them spending even a penny.




I lived in Maine the past four years and worked in Portland for a good chunk of that time. Seeing such an awesome campaign take place somewhere I’m familiar with and love is just amazing. My favorite form of advertising for this campaign is the dirty back windshield, with finger written Salvation Army information. Sometimes there’s just not much to do in Maine. So off-roading and muddin’ become hobbies and leave cars absolutely filthy. The Salvation Army is thankful for those dirty windshields.

This campaign truly turned all of Portland into a promotional product. No
custom water bottles or promotional tote bags necessary.

A Promotional Executive Chair: With a Twist

The business magazine, Wirtschaft Woche of Germany has joined forces with the wild West to create one amazing advertising opportunity. The World's First Executive Chair Rodeo. Now all you business ladies and gentlemen lace up your steel toe boots and get the lasso ready. We're in for a wild corporate ride.

In a brilliant effort to illustrate that Wirtschaft Woche is Germany's leading business magazine, they had an inflatable bull riding ring created with one major alteration. No bull. Instead, mounted in the middle of the promotional item was a sleek, black executive chair.

At business fairs across Germany, passersby were invited to take a ride on the bouncy executive rodeo chair. Imprinted on the blow up rodeo machine read, "Wirtschaft Woche. Stay on top." The slogan encouraged every "rider" to stay on top of the chair, just as Wirtschaft Woche stays on top when it comes to business news and information.



The road show attraction created a buzz that induced heavier traffic at the business fairs and a greater number of subscriptions to the leading business magazine.

At a recent bar show in New York, some of the great Motivators staff had their own run in with the rodeo. Except this time the inflatable rodeo was stocked with a big ole bull. In between handing out custom imprinted sunglasses and promotional bottle opener key chains, the Motivator's found themselves faced with the mechanical bull challenge. They faired well...but given that we sit in executive chairs all day, I bet they'd do even better when put to the World First Executive Chair Rodeo challenge.

Tasty Promotional Products

Who likes shopping? Who likes eating? If you answered yes to either, then you’ll love the Waterfront Shopping mall. That’s what the advertising company kept in mind when creating the “Food meets Fashion” ad campaign. The exclusive shopping mall in Denmark is gaining even more business since the publishing of these advertisements in May.



The images are created to combine fashion (products) with food in a tasteful and beautiful way. Included in the ads is sushi being held with makeup brushes (chopsticks.) And a luscious apple growing on assorted belts (branches.) It’s a really cool and creative way to encourage people to shop and eat. Spend your whole day/night at the mall.

Almost all of the products shown can be found in variation at Motivators promotional products. Imagine promotional flash drives being used as spoons for a delicious frozen yogurt. Or a custom tote bag with a spaghetti strap. Even a custom sports bottle with a yummy candy straw. Oh the possibilities.

The Eye-Catching Promo Ad

Once again, Amnesty International has released an awesome campaign. In an effort to raise awareness and help prevent domestic violence, posters have been placed around public areas in Germany.
The poster displays a man throwing a punch at a woman. But once the viewer looks at the poster directly, the poster changes and displays the man and woman pretending to be happy together. The poster conveyed that while couples may seem happy, it's what happens when you look away that is the problem.




This is the first use of "eye-tracking" for a poster, ever. A camera, concealed in the poster, picks up the eye signals and sends the message to the digital poster. This is an awesome promotional idea that really affects its viewers.
Motivators has an exclusive category for custom awareness event products. Domestic Violence awareness month is October. There are many promotional electronic items that can expose more people to the problem at hand or choose a popular promotional auto ribbon magnet to stick on car bumpers and gain greater awareness. No matter what promotional product you choose, lives can be saved when you raise awareness on domestic violence.

Passing the Baton for great Advertising

An advertising agency in Japan found an inexpensive and effective way to promote the Special Olympics. The “Message Relay” began last July and plans on never ceasing. A red baton was engraved with information about the Special Olympics and a web address for the “Message Relay.” After being handed the red baton, recipients are asked to report their status on the website and continue to pass on the baton.

This idea helped to inform people about the empowering Special Olympics while creating a hype. People love checking the website to see where the baton has made it and receiving the baton has been called a “warming moment…as if it were a present from a stranger.”



The promotional baton cost $42 to make but has accounted for an approximate $112,000 of free publicity. Motivators has many custom sports and outdoor items that could similarly give off free publicity. Products like promotional bags will constantly be advertising for your business because they aren’t going to be stuffed away in drawers.

Consider following this innovative way of advertising your business with a traveling promotional product. I’ve heard of those teddy bears left at airports with notes saying, “Mail a letter to this address with your story of where the bears traveled with you. Then leave him in a public place for the next person.” The same deal goes for the, “Where’s George?” website. Sign in. Enter the code on your bills ($1 to $100 bills) and trace back to find its past recipients. Cool ideas like this help to connect people. Making bonds is incredibly important and celebrating the awesome Special Olympics is a rare example of beautiful human interaction.

We Got the Beat on Promotional Products

An advertising agency in Korea won a Cannes Lion award at the International advertising festival this week. Their goal was to create awareness of one of the leading causes of death in Korea, heart disease. With a focus on the importance of a beating heart, the “Listen” campaign was formed by the Korea Heart Federation.

A studio was set up where visitors could put on headphones and place a monitor over their hearts. A special listening device then played the sound of their heartbeat. This reminds me of what I did, (and what I assume other kids did) with those child play doctor’s sets. But instead of fighting over who gets to play doctor with the stethoscope, the “Listen” campaign recorded each person’s heartbeat to an MP3.

Next, songs were recorded to the beat of the captured heartbeats and digital art was created to compliment it. People could then visit the “Listen” campaign website to here and see the miracle of their heartbeat through art and music. The promotional head phones were imprinted with the “Listen” campaigns logo. That way, the “Listen” campaign gained great recognition. We’ve got a ton of electronic promotional products that can be imprinted for optimum exposure.



Motivators applauds creative advertising ideas like this. We especially support any awareness campaigns and offer an abundance of promotional awareness event products. Immediately, I thought of all of the great promotional stress reliever that could help promote heart disease awareness. A fun heart shaped stress reliever inscribed with an encouraging message like, “love your heart,” would definitely spread the word and encourage healthy living.

This campaign was the greatest success in the history of Korean health. It goes to show that when you get out there and talk to people, they’ll listen. I’m very interested in hearing the songs created by the “Listen” campaign. Who would’ve thought? The stethoscope and turntable united for one great awareness campaign.

Ewww

There's really no other way to describe this ad, except to say ew. Honestly, if I opened up a magazine and water squirted at me, water that was supposed to be boogers, I think I would gag. With all the promotional item options out there, from promotional bags to flash drives, you really went with a booger-esque ad? Really?



It's not that I'm not a fan of creative advertising, because I really am. It's just that this is...well, gross.

Beach Towels, Take Two.

Just last week, we featured these great beach towels for Preventable.ca and in the summer spirit, we've got more promotional beach towels. Do you get the point?



Can you tell that these custom beach towels are supposed to represent a puddle of blood? In theory, it's an excellent idea, but in execution it misses the mark. I envision recipients being confused as to why their free beach towel looks like it was made from scraps of other towels.

Stand Back, This is A Crime Scene

Gum bleeding. It's not pretty. It's not something that people want to talk about. It's not something that you want to bring up in conversation. It's not like you head out and just chat people up about gingivitis. So how do you market a toothpaste that specializes in preventing these types of problems?



With the cutest little crime scene ever. The chalk outline of a murdered tooth is surrounded by the recognizable crime scene tape. It's simple, and while it's not a promotional item that people can take home with them, it'll still stand out enough and be memorable.