It looks like mugs have been around as a BizGift forever. While many other promotional products come and go, mugs, quite like the pens, seem to be always in. The shapes, the colors, the designs may change, but the mugs are always around. Why is that ?

• First of all they are relatively cheap to make. The cost depends on the material (porcelain, stoneware, ceramics), the material grade, the print design, the print technology, the packaging (if any) and the quantity of mugs ordered. But it is safe to say that mugs are one of the lower budget business gifts.

• They provide large area for branding. Whether it is just a simple logo or all around photo imprint, the branding on the mug is visible. Many people keep their mugs on their office desk where others see it.

• The mugs are useful and practical gift and people usually like getting them. Mug is a gift that makes many people happy.

• Although the mugs are relatively cheap, they do not (or should not) look cheap if well made. They are a decent gift by themselves, but also a nice part of a gift set, like for example the one pictured below.

• The mugs are also mass marketing medium. Look at all the coffee brands around the world and check out the coffee shops that serve their coffee. All the coffee is served in mugs or cups bearing the said coffee brand.

How are they branded ?

The big orders are usually branded right at source in the mug factory. The most common method are the decals applied on the mug and then fired in the oven.

For smaller orders suppliers usually pick the mugs from their stock and depending on the size of the order, design of the mug and type of logo choose either the decal method, pad printing or even silkscreen.

So what to watch out for when ordering mug as a promotional product ?

• First of all, unless you are prepared to pay big money for your mugs, you need to be ready to accept, that what you get at the end may be a bit different from the sample you approved. The tooling used for ceramic mugs production usually last only one production and have to be remade every time. This may cause some differences in shape or size from order to order. The body colour of the mug may vary too. And not only from production to production but also within the same production lot. The final colour is affected by the temperature in the oven. And the higher up on the rack the mug is, the higher the temperature. Simple physics.

• Some people like to have mugs that have more than one colour. Example is the mug with spoon on the picture in this post. Outside the mug is white, inside blue. There are also designs where let’s say bottom half of mug is one color, the upper half another. This is done by dipping the mug into the ink. Try to dip anything into some liquid and see if you can manage to keep the same line every time … If you can than you have every right to complain if the 2 colour mugs you receive from your supplier do not have the perfect border between the 2 colours . Otherwise give your supplier some break .

• When you are choosing your mug, think about what you plan to print on it. Those all around prints are done on decals that are applied on the mug and fired. Only some shapes of mugs are suitable for that … Take a piece of paper and try to wrap it around the ice cream cone to see what I mean.

• Try to avoid having the mugs shipped by air. First of all, they are heavy and the freight may cost you several times more than the mug itself. Second - mugs tend to break. And the chance of them breaking is much higher when they fly then when they go on the ground. Here I am talking about bulk shipments. If you have the mugs individually boxed, they are usually well protected and should survive mailing by post or courier without to many injuries.

Enjoy your cup of coffee or tea !

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People are addictive collectors. Sometime the promotions that make people collect stuff work as planned. Sometime however they result in mass hysteria that makes some happy, makes some laugh, makes quite a few sick and many just shake heads in disbelief.

It was back in 1998 when McDonald’s in Hong Kong came up with a brilliant idea. They took the popular Snoopy character and dressed the poor little dog in costumes representing 30 different countries. The promotional campaign that was to last for 30 consecutive days could begin. Every day for 30 days in a row people could get with each Happy Meal or set meal and extra 50 cents (in US money) one Snoopy. Different Snoopy every day for 30 days. The goal of this promotion was obvious - to make people come back to McDonald’s.

That was the plan. Reality was very different. People went totally mad and collecting frenzy followed. People queued every day for hours to make sure they not miss out on any Snoopy. Failure to get Snoopy was worse than loosing money on a stock market (this was 1998, days of the Asian financial crisis). For few days people would actually also eat the McDonald’s meals. But those who have seen the Supersize Me movie would know, that eating McDonald’s food for 30 days non stop is a very difficult task. It only took few days before meals started to get thrown away. Get to the line, wait for 2-3 hours, get the Snoopy, throw away the meal and back to office or back to school or back to the line for another Snoopy.

Those days the meals were around USD2.00 - 2.50, to get Snoopy people had to part with extra 50 cents. Even with the cost of the throw away meal added to the price of the Snoopy, people still found it to be good deal. No surprise when people who missed out on Snoopies from McDonald’s were willing to pay even 50 US dollars for them …

If increased sales were the goal of this promotion than it was definitely success. It however also resulted in lots of food wasted and thrown into garbage bins. It also did promote not exactly the healthiest eating habits while targeting the young. I would not be surprised if many who diligently went to McDonald’s every day for a month would not set their feet to the place again for a long time. At the same time many McDonald’s regulars had to change their diet for a month or line up with the Snoopy mad crowd.

There however were at least two winners - the company producing all the Snoopies and the homeless camping around the McDonald’s outlets getting free food from those who had no intention eating the meals.

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Not only corporations but sometimes also the governments need to be liked by people. They also use giveways to achieve that. This task is always easier when then government coffers are swelling with cash.

In the weeks before the budget speech by Hong Kong financial secretary there was quite a big pressure from the community to return some money back to taxpayers. The predicted budget surplus of almost USD15 billion made many people feel that they are simply taxed too much. That somehow is not the case in Hong Kong but with a surplus like that, some tax concessions were widely expected.

The government clearly is in a big need to be loved by people because what the budget brought was beyond expectations. Lowering the income and corporate taxes by 1% (to 15% and 16.5%), raising the tax free allowance (exempting another 75,000 people from paying taxes) and introducing one off tax refunds are all very good steps and save quite a lot of money to those who have to pay the taxes.

But what an unexpected free gift was added to all of the above - the import duties on beer and wine were abolished with an immediate effect ! There are duties imposed pretty much only on tobacco and alcohol in Hong Kong, with the latest figures at 40% import duty on wine and 20% on beer. This is gone now . The official reason is the intention to turn Hong Kong into major wine trading hub.

I believe the purpose of this cheap booze giveaway is to keep us all merry . In any case, I am not complaining. So, cheers !

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Many companies, especially event organizers, like to motivate their potential customers, participants or visitors to make up their mind quickly. The sooner the tickets sell the better. And so they come up with all sorts of early bird incentives. The most common ones are the Early Bird Discounts. When people know they can save if they buy early, they go and buy early.

Some companies go the other way. They offer no discount but throw in something extra instead. When people know the price is the same today as it will be tomorrow, they will buy today if they get some extra early bird value.

The Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix organizers have a neat way to motivate people to purchase the tickets early. The early birds become their GP Advantage Members. It probably does not cost them too much money but it certainly does the trick. It did work on me . I only found out about this “something extra” by chance when I went online to check out the tickets. (OK, not letting people know about the promotion is not exactly a sign of great marketing from the organizers) I realized that I have only a day or two to grab the early bird value. And so I did. The ticket would cost me the same if I waited few days. But it would not come with a 4 days access to the trackside bar and a pit straight walk pass for the morning before the race. OK, I admit, I am an F1 freak.

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Few days ago I found in my email box photos of goodies and amenities given away by Singapore Airlines to first class passengers on the first Airbus A380 flights. Well it is not first class, it is class beyond first - the Singapore Airlines Suites. The flight was from Sydney to Singapore, the only route the Superjumbo is serving at the time of the writing.

I was not there on that flight and there was no description attached with the photos. I can only guess that there were 2 kinds of freebies. One a gift set to take away, the other a collection of stuff to be used on the flight first and then taken away.

From what I can see on the picture and from the bits and pieces I found at different aviation forums the goodies bag was very impressive:

- a Mandarina Duck briefcase with a personalized A380 inaugural flight luggage tag
- an A380 model
- a pen set from Rolls Royce ( I assume the engine supplier)
- a Mont Blanc leather luggage tag
- a SQ desk calendar
- a booklet on the Airbus A380 Superjumbo
- a luggage lock
- a clear plastic cosmetic pouch (compliant with the safety regulations)

The travelers were also presented with complimentary noise canceling BOSE headsets - a very fancy gift by itself. If somebody gives me only that, I would be more than happy.

There is also what looks like Salvatore Feragamo cosmetic set - even if you do not use it all, this would make for a great present for somebody.

The rest of the items are likely special edition in-flight magazines and “First To Fly A380″ certificates - definitely great souvenirs whether you are an aviation freak or not.

One has to give it to Singapore Airlines, they know how to impress … Well, it comes at a price. The ticket price for return ticket from Singapore to Sydney, one leg on B-747 Jumbo in First class, the other leg on A380 Superjumbo in Suites costs about USD7,200.

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