A Disappointing, yet Promotional Evening

There's really nothing worse than going to a Broadway show for one specific actor only to find out they're not there. That was the case with me last night, when I went to go see Rent for Adam Pascal. I'm always lured into seeing what's for sale at merchandise stand and that was how I bided my time while waiting for the Adam-less show to begin. Rent's been on for over 10 years and their merch stand was packed as usual, which just means they had what people wanted. The in demand items included

A Black "Rent" Drawstring Backpack

Rent Apparel (including t-shirts, tank tops, and sweatshirts)

A Rent Stuffed Cow

Rent lapel pins

They had the usual stuff too, like the soundtrack to both the movie and the show. Of course, they didn't have Adam and nothing, not even the massive amount of promotional items could make up for that.

Little more info please!

So these promotional signs were the most recent campaign to designate the new public transportation route in Karlstad. It's definitely easy to see and for the most part, easy to understand. I would however re-think the placement of the number three on the manhole cover. Every other one seems to be placed on a bus shelter, where you wait for the bus. The color coding is nice and the signs are large and efficient, but unless they want people to get hit by the bus, I'd go with adding a little more information.

This one's a mind boggler...

I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this promotion. Love the tagline, but when you're promoting recycling awareness, are you really going to use paper? There are so many other products available, but they're not as inexpensive as an adhesive pad. Personally, I think if I were doing a promotion and had a budget that was bigger than .50 cents per item, I'd go for the Organic Cinchpack Backpack and add the tagline, "Paper and Plastic are So Overrated."

Vegas eat your heart out.

So Vegas may be awesome, what with its insane amount of Elvis impersonators and whatnot, but did you ever think, "Hey, I'm totally obsessed with gambling but Vegas is just too darn hot and the dice are too small." I mean I have. I really wonder who hasn't. And I wondered if my tiny dice and heat problem would ever be solved. Well I can rest easy since gnuf.com has constructed the world's most giant dice roll. The dice weigh 550KG and are constructed of steel. And where do you roll giant dice? Down a mountain of course! Being an online gambling site, they're now having people bet on what the outcome is. Mama needs a 6!!

If they need a promotional item, they should brand little mini dice with the name and the date of the roll on it. That would be fun. But again, mini dice are just not as cool.

Peephole Promotion!

Here's an interesting promotion for the classic Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only. A peephole was created with the title of the movie in it. When people looked inside, they saw the title of the film. Of course, if I wanted to reach more people I might go with a custom kaleidescope. That way when it gets to people they'll know what to do with it. Brand it a little bit with a message so people will actually be intrigued to peek.

Bowling...Blackberrys...Fun Times!

So after the Motivators Bowling league's first outing last Thursday night, the following weekend we all had crazy thumb pain. I attribute the best quote to my team mate (in the office and in bowling), Bill who said "I've never had such a small muscle hurt so much." We played again last night and my thumb is killing me again, which reminded me of the recent article I read about Blackberry Thumb. The condition has existed prior to the blackberry, deemed in the early 80's as "Nintendo" thumb. The article was about how Hyatt and some other places offer a Black Berry Hand Massage. I actually saw it and thought, "advertise with a PDA holder!" I'm sure if I had a black berry I would need this, as I would be addicted to sending emails on it. I'm wondering if they're going to have to start offering an iPhone massage. I played with one owned by someone in our sales department and my pointer finger hurt!

Pay attention to safety! (says the giant highlighter!)

Step with caution says the giant promotional highlighter. Sure this won't help you when you're studying for an exam or reading over a document, but it would be smart for there to be someone at the top of the escalator to be standing there handing out smaller versions of these highlighters. But hey, I didn't even get it at first so that might be a very useful promotion. It's like taking a journey to get free stuff! And everybody loves free stuff.

Dry Floor Sign!

I'm one of those people who never listens to the weather and still makes plans ahead of time. So earlier this year I headed to a local waterpark with one of my friends and it was about 60 degrees. Not exactly one of the best days I've ever had seeing as how the water was about 20 degrees colder. The lazy river isn't that relaxing when your teeth are chattering so hard that you're shaking. I still managed to get sunburned though, not quite sure how that happened.

Apparently I'm not the only one who doesn't pay attention to radio ads.


These signs were put up in Dubai to alert tourists that one of the most popular attractions, a local water park was closed. It's definitely a custom promotion with a sense of humor that gets it's point across. How can you miss the giant Dry Floor sign?

CBS Flash Drives!

So I've already determined that September 25 is an awesome day of my life. Rascal Flatts new cd is being released which I plan on buying from iTunes as soon as it's available. The lunch hour on that hopefully sunny Tuesday will consist of going to Best Buy and picking up Knocked Up, which is out on DVD. Then it's home to watch the season premieres of NCIS and House. It's just a great day! Although I'm peeved that I didn't get a subscribtion to Entertainment Weekly, since CBS put in promotional flashdrives in every issue with episodes of their new fall lineup. Plus they're re-useable. They are the world's smallest flash drive though, and at 128MB don't start thinking that you're going to be able to back up your iPod on this puppy. But you could mail it. Or eat it. Both suggestions courtesy of the Consumerist. While I do put a lot of my own opinion in this blog, I'm going to have to speak officially for the company on this one: Motivators does not recomend eating flash drives.

Emmy Awards Complete With Custom (Cliche) Promotion!

Ahh, the Emmy awards! The glitz, the glamour, the recipient's desperatly trying to talk over the blaring "Shut Up" music. I just have to say that my favorite is the people who tend to shout over it, like Sally Field who pretty much screamed that she wasn't finished even though it didn't matter because the rest of her speech was censored anyway.

Last night's Emmy's weren't that great. Ryan Seacrest bored me as the host and I think him dressing up in costume from Showtime's series the Tudors was the producers attempt to be funny. It wasn't. Ray Romano came out to present the first award and mistook the Shrine Auditorium for whatever comedy club he's been playing because the majority of his time on stage was spent doing stand up. Wonderful opportunity for me to go make pizza rolls, thank you very much. Katherine Heigl won for best supporting actress in a drama and I just imdb'd her name to make sure I spelled it right, seeing as she announced on stage when she came to present that the announcer has mispronounced her name.

Hugh Laurie lost to James Spader (rats!) and the entire art department and I were furious that Best Directing for a Comedy went to the pilot of Ugly Betty instead of "My Musical", the musical episode of Scrubs.

So all together not that exciting of a night, especially since the writers did the cheesy cliche of having two actors with new shows come out together, and claim that they're not there to promote their new shows all the while repeating the name of their shows several times. I hate that bit. It's tired, put it to rest. But at least they were just doing what they were told, unlike Macy Gray years ago who chose to have a dress custom made for the MTV VMA's with the release date of her album on it. Personally, I'd say go with the writers writing you a bit and smile through it, rather than go the custom apparel route.

Breast Cancer Mousepad

So I'm all about the ergonomic things lately. I tried writing with the Pen Again, which feels weird. I enjoy the Pen Again Glidelighter, but it still feels kind of strange. I've got my keyword wrist rest and it's very comfortable. My number one favorite is my ergonomic mousepad. This one however, isn't exactly office appropriate. It is an excellent breast cancer awareness promotion, though.

Tricky mousepad!

So now you may come in and see this mousepad on your desk and think, "Gosh! Why is there a small, unwrinkled shirt confined into a perfect square shape underneath my mouse?" But it's actually just a promotional mousepad! Tricky designers! They made it look like it was a tiny wrinkled shirt and your mouse was the iron.

What Time Is It?

This promotional clock for the Gabriela national Women's Organization reminds people that every hour a woman is abused. This is an excellent and interesting way of alerting people to the growing number of domestic violence cases each year. Of course, the guy doesn't really look that intimidating. He doesn't even look like he's honestly trying to punch someone.

Speakers and Beer?

The Netherlands likes music and alcohol, apparently. Just look at Heineken's latest promotion. The promotional speakers are shaped like beer crates and come with 6 cans of beer. It's an interesting idea and a fun one! Kind of like a gift with purchase, or buy one get one free type of idea, even though you do still have to purchase them. But as long as you have a computer or an MP3 with a USB port, you're good to go.

Chattering Teeth are Seriously Underrated

I love these things. Chattering walking teeth are so well known and I really have no idea why. They don't do anything except walk and chatter, but they are so darn amusing. And they're probably more coordinated than Britney Spears at last nights VMA's. I never thought they would be useful for anything except to laugh at (also, like Britney Spears), but lo and behold an Orthodontist used them to tell his patients that he was moving. Clever, clever walking teeth.

Oh Beyonce, what were you thinking?

So I saw a picture of Beyonce with her newest handbag purchase in People magazine (at least, I think that's where I saw it). And it looked ugly from the pictures. It's a Louis Vuitton and it's hideous. It's also $52,000 and one of 24 in the world. Now I know I scramble for Coach bags (love the outlets) but this is slightly ridiculous. I can understand if it was coated in diamonds like the million dollar Victoria's Secret Bra (firstly oww and secondly why?), but it's like ripped up parts of bags sewn together. To quote Z100's Danielle, "It's the Frankenstein of bags". Can someone please alert the villagers to get the torches. This thing needs to be taken down.

Instead, I suggest the Ogio Mildred Purse. I'm not going to go into features, there's only 2 things that really matter. It's not butt ugly and it NOT $52,000.

Slasher Shirts

You know, custom t-shirts are really underrated. I enjoy all the free t shirts that I get when I go out places, whether to a bar or to a club because they're perfect for working out or wearing to bed. But I really enjoy when custom t-shirts make me look like Michael Myers latest victim.



These shirts were actually worn by the staff of a film festival so that attendees would know who to ask if they had a problem or question. Or, were desperately seeking a zombie.

Talk is Cheap.

The key to the best type of promotion is one that will get people to notice it. Think about your target audience and what you want them to feel. For example, you give out a drawstring backpack to kids before they head back to school. But do you honestly think that those will be noticed when there's Nike and Adias drawstring backpacks out there? This bag is an excellent example of how two simple words can have a powerful effect on your branding and make people realize and react to your message.



Botanique Slimming Cream used a simple promotional bag as their canvas and only added two simple essentials: the words Before and After. The goal that they had was to get people talking. Since this bag was probably made for less than $5 and given away, talk really is cheap.

Fido is NOT amused!

So this looks a little weird but nice. I'd be happy if someone gave my dog free dog food. But no, they're just lying to the dog! It's a promotional sticker thats scented like dog food to attract Sparky. Interested way to sell dog food, but I bet the dog isn't happy.