I recently made a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas for the annual PPAI Expo. (You can watch a video of me doing the whole trip in 3 minutes here). The PPAI Expo is the largest trade show for the Promotional and Marketing world. Tens of thousands of marketing professionals come from all over the world to descend on Las Vegas for a week of networking, parties, meetings and new products. I enjoy going out each year to reconnect with friends and to see what the latest and greatest new products are going to be.
At the PPAI Expo, you tend to see what the trends are going to be…before they are trends.
Usually the trend is a really cool product category, or a specific product that might be a fad. But the trend I noticed this year was not a product and (hopefully) not a fad. This year, the trend I saw was “Promotions with a Purpose.”
Promotions with a Purpose
Nearly every booth I attended had a product with a “give back” component to it. What does that mean? It means that many companies in the Promo industry are either creating products or partnering with brands that have created products that give back a portion of their proceeds to help others. I have often said that the Power of Promo is that it affects human behavior. Combining this “super power” with the idea of a giving component can have amazing impact.
Take for example Basecamp, a brand that partners with Promotional Products Supplier Sweda, to donate proceeds to help members of our Wounded Warrior Community heal. I had the opportunity to see Dan Nevins speak, and his story and his impact is powerful.
Or what about MIIR? Promotional Supplier Gemline is partnering with this brand that is dedicated to bringing clean water to areas in need. These are just a few…the give back component was everywhere.
This idea of Promotions with a Purpose is exciting to me because I think it highlights something that our media (and industry) does well. Promotional Products have a history of impacting the non-profit world. From fundraiser gifts to 5K’s, promo can help you grow the impact of a cause. With this newest trend with suppliers (and the PromoCares initiative) we are suddenly doing a much better job of telling that story.
So what does that mean for you? It’s simple. If you want to create a marketing campaign that has both an impact to your awareness AND to the community, you can. Let us know if we can help.
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