I was doing small research on evolution of some big brand logos. OK, not really a research. I needed to see how some big guys polish and revive their brands so I spent about 15 minutes on Google and looked around. I found this article on the Starbucks logo. I had no idea they recently started to use some retro logo design. Over here all we get is still the “classic” green one. But after reading the article I thought this is exactly what I was looking for – some example of return to the roots. And I thought this is quite well done.

The article I mentioned says that the marketing objective in bringing back this version of the original logo was to compliment the campaign slogan “Roasting coffee since 1971. The best cup then. The best cup now”. I think the logo does it nicely. It also gives a different feeling to the Starbucks merchandise – including the mugs.

But then I checked few other links pointing to the new Starbucks logo articles and I realized that some people actually have some issues with it. Serious issues. The problem seems to be the way the siren (mermaid) in the logo is pictured – “naked woman on it with her legs spread like a prostitute”.

Here is one nice article on this. I am quite sure that making people calling them “Slutbucks” was not the idea behind the old logo revival . But it got people talking and gave the retro image quite some publicity. At the end the very people who find the the logo slutty are doing the new old logo the best service. Marketing by controversy in its best .

Time for some coffee . Slutbucks perhaps .

It was about 10 years ago when we got to work with an advertising agency on gifts that would go with tea. I am not sure what were all the ideas considered but when we came into the picture there was only one concept left – The kitchen timers.

The client did not want to use any generic timer designs. They wanted products specifically designed and produced for them. They were willing to invest into new tooling and surprise surprise – they even gave us enough time to manage that .

We were presented with 2 designs of timers – one in the shape of half a lemon, the other in the shape of raspberry. These 2 designs represented the fruit teas from client’s product range.

The gimmick was the dial. To make these timers “special” there was special marking on the dial. Different colours marked the correct infusion time for different kinds of tea – 3 minutes for black tea, 5 minutes for green tea, 8 minutes for fruit tea etc.

The result of all the work was a practical and useful product of nice quality and unique design (at that time, 10 years ago). And … it also taught people how to make their cup of tea .

I believe it was in January 2001 when I went to Dallas to visit the PPAI Show. Those were the old days before the show moved to Las Vegas. The things on display were the usual mix of pens, wearables, trophies, drinkware, basically the classic promotional product selection we were all used to.

Among all of the above we found some sort of laces. They were all over the place and there were quite a few companies displaying the laces and nothing else. We wondering what the hell is this for and how can a company make living by selling only this weird stuff .

So few days and few drinks later we decided that if such a funny thing like lanyard (by now we knew the proper name) can sell big in the USA, we should be able to sell it in Europe too.

It took a while but we found some manufacturers. The problem was not that they did not exist. The problem was that outside USA those days no one seemed to know what is lanyard, so it was not easy to explain what we are looking for .

After finding the supplier, we prepared some basic collection of different widths, different attachments and worked out costing for different quantities and branding technologies. Lanyards received nice full page in the new catalog, and …

… nothing happened. In the whole first year we made one order, 500 pcs . Such an instant hit these things became . But a year later, the hell broke loose. All of a sudden the lanyards became a must have for everybody. Not as a promotional product, bus as trendy fashion accessory. Massive 2.5 cm (1 inch) wide lanyards were the hottest ones to have … We were glad we were prepared, prepared way too in advance .

These days the lanyards are back where they belong. No longer a hot fashion accessory, but a useful product with prominent logo placement. In the old days all the trade show badges or employee cards and IDs were hanging on simple strings. Now the string is gone and lanyards are in (still). Here are few examples of use:

• Corporate Identity – It is much cheaper to hang company branded lanyard on the neck of each employee than buy uniforms for everybody.

• Events – Entrance tickets, conference passes, trade show badges – All these are often required to be visible on person all the time and that means on the neck these days. The branded lanyards replaced the older strings and even better, the safety pins from the days when it was common to pin the badge on one’s shirt.

• Sponsorship messages – Especially during the events, the lanyards often bear logos not only of the event itself but also of the sponsors. The lanyard is long enough to repeat one logo several times, or to alternate several logos over the length of the lanyard.

• Merchandising – The licensed merchandise is not cheap. Many people would love to have some souvenir after visiting a theme park or a sports match or a museum. Most of the shops these days carry lanyards and people do buy them. Maybe not because they are that great, but because the price makes them relatively affordable when compared to a piece of garment for example.

• Products Accessories – Branded with main product brand and used as camera holders, mobile phone straps (shorter versions also, as wrist straps), binoculars, flashligths …

The lanyards come in different materials (nylon, polyester, satin, cotton…), with different brand applications (print, jacquard, sublimation), with different accessories (clips, phone holders, safety breakaways). The most common widths are 1.5 – 2 cm (5/8 – 3/4″).

Did you know that some of the largest lanyard factories producing millions per year used to make shoe laces just few years back ?

All this schwag, promotional products, business gifts and all that I call here BizGifts have been around for quite some time, but for how long exactly ? Here is little bit of the early history.

The different sources do not seem to agree on when the first BizGift appeared and what it was, but widely accepted version dates back to 1789, the days of George Washington and the commemorative buttons celebrating his election as president. The next hundred years brought some calendars and wooden products but nothing significant happened until Mr. Wrigley showed up.

Mr. William Wrigley was originally a soap manufacturer and at his humble beginnings selling Wrigley’s Scouring Soap. As an extra incentive to merchants, Mr. Wrigley offered – here we go – premiums. He expected that the something little extra for free would make his customers more likely to carry his soap. One of these premiums was baking powder. The baking powder proved to be more popular than the soap itself and so he switched to the baking powder business.

Then came 1892. Mr. Wrigley decided to offer two packages of chewing gum with each can of baking powder. And guess what happened ? The premium – chewing gum – is what Wrigley’s has been famous for ever since.

The BizGift “historians” however give the honours of being the “Founder of the Modern Promotional Product Industry” to certain newspaperman Jasper Freemont Meek, owner of a small newspaper and a printing shop from Coshocton, Ohio. After seeing a child drop schoolbooks on the street the idea came. Meek bought some burlap fabric and had his printers set the names of several local stores in large type. Printing on burlap fabric instead of newsprint proved to be a challenge, but after some effort and several tweaks the fabric ran through the machine. Then Meek hired a lady to cut up the burlap and sew it into 12″ x15″ school bags.

With sample ready Meek approached his friend, Mr. Cantwell of Cantwell Shoes, with a marketing idea. Let’s imprint a burlap book bag with a simple advertising message – “Buy Cantwell Shoes.” Cantwell would give every child who came into his store a bag for free. The children would carry the bags to and from school and promoting Cantwell’s name all over town. Mr. Meek manufactured the book bags that benefited both Meek and Cantwell. The schoolbags with advertising messages proved to be huge success. Business operators in the surrounding areas jumped on the wagon and the orders poured in. Meek realized he hit the jackpot and separated his BizGift operation from the newspaper business. Soon he started officially the first promotional products company – the Tuscarora Advertising Co. This was year 1886…

He had no idea that his schoolbook bags just started a multi-billion-dollar industry.