Last week at BizGiftGuru was mostly about the real life examples of all sorts of BizGifts in use. It started off with an example of a “Collect Them All” promo that worked out pretty well for all parties involved – People like to collect stuff, let them do that – 1. This was later on in the week followed by an example of not so perfect promotion – People like to collect stuff, let them do that – 2.

Seriously cool gifts are out there for those who are ready to pay serious money for travel- the A380 Superjumbo First class gifts

Early bird incentives sometimes do work… And … when governments make more money than expected they may come out with their own giveaway idea.

Elsewhere in blogs:
The notorious BlackZedd compares the salesmen to stealth bombers
The ShopDogDiaries take a shot at Cafepress and wonder what lies ahead for the screenprinters
The Media Morgue talks about the new commercial (that) promotes domestic spying

And one final recommendation – I scanned several free photo sites last week looking for some photos that I could use for my different projects. I was most impressed with Free Range – great selection, excellent quality.

Another week has passed by, here is what happened here at BizGiftGuru:

To brand or not to brand: that is the question that I tried to answer.

Winner of the Watch Gift Set Contest was FC. However he stepped aside and did not claim his prize and I will be sending it to Marketing Deviant who ended up in th second place. Please contact me for the delivery arrangements.

BizGiftGuru sponsors contest at GatherSuccess – this blog about giveaways is giving away 100 branded pens.

And it is time to get back to business, holiday seasons are over .

Gifts for new subscribers – Time vs. IHT – how the incentives offered by Time and International Herald Tribune compare.

I spent most of the last week traveling and working with my suppliers, so there was not too much time to read around other blogs. But still, there are few interesting finds:

There are many things that can carry company brands, one of the most expensive ones would probably be a Formula 1 car. How much of a brand awareness does it create ? If you find plastering your logo on Formula 1 car too expensive, you can check how much sponsoring and exotic would cost ?

Back to logos for a while. At the end you need the logo first before you can print it on anything. Many people do not realize how much do logos develop and change over time. Here is a look at few car manufacturers. And here are some ideas for few companies, what to do with their branding to be seen as Web 2.0 cool .

Another week is over, here is an overview of what was happening here at BizGiftGuru:

• What is the typical timeframe for BizGifts project ? – How much in advance do you need to start working on your promotional products, if you want to have them ready on time.

• How to get dumped by your BizGift supplier – Few hints what to do and what no to do if you want to have good relationship with your business gifts supplier

• Accidental Hero – Lanyard with a Card – A story of desperate last minute solution that turned out to be a hit

• Giveaway Watch Gift Set – Win One ! – Review of pretty good give away gift set.

• The Lanyard Story – How I discovered lanyards

One of the above posts also includes the first ever contest here at BizGiftGuru.com, check it out while you still have time ! Thanks to Contest Hub for writing about this contest !
There is now also BizGiftGuru group on Facebook – check it out and join !

Elsewhere in the blogs, Archondigital reviews the Pantone’s latest product, the PANTONE® Goe System – a completely new color inspiration / specification system.

Slightly off topic, but nice design nevertheless – Isabella Rossellini turns herself into different insects in 8-part short film series Green Porno, to be featured at the Sundance Film Festival and the Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin this year. LeTrash has more on this.

A week has passed and five new posts have been published on BizGiftGuru.com

• Not sure what to do, start with a pen – advice on how to begin your own promotional products adventure.

• Not one of the best BizGift ideas – Three Nuts – advice how things perhaps should not be done .

• BizGifts and Chinese New Year Part 1 – look at one of the Chinese traditional gifts.

• BizGifts and Chinese New Year Part 2 – how the traditional Chinese festival can affect your promotional activities.

• How to brief your BizGift supplier – something that may help your supplier to understand what you need.

The ShopDogDiaries blog continued with excellent series of articles on T-shirt printing, I highly recommend all 3 parts published so far for reading.

There is Logo Design Love Awards competition in full swing at the LogoDesignLove site, BizGiftGuru logo designed by the UBD is among the contestants.

Last week was a Superbowl week. I am not much of a fan of the American version of football so for me the Superbowl is about the ads Here are the collections of this year Superbowl ads from Dear Jane Sample and from the Daily (Ad) Biz.

Big Bald Blog joined the party with his Favourite TV commercial ever.

Staying with marketing and sport – F1Wolf has an preview of all the 2008 Formula 1 team logos and Air Asia, one of the sponsors of the Williams F1 team painted one of their planes in the team’s colours, with helmet of Nico Rosberg included.

It has been just about a week since BizGiftGuru dot Com went live. For a site that is still virtually unknown it was not a bad week. I definitely did not expect close to 600 visitors and close to 1200 page views. The most popular articles in the first week were:

• So how old is this BizGift business ? – A brief look into the history of the promotional products industry

• So how big is this BizGift industry ? – A pie chart that reveals how much money and in what areas changes hands in the promotional products business

• What are the BizGifts ? – A quick preview of what the BizGifts are and what this site is going to talk about

To my surprise some sites already linked to BizGiftGuru. impNerd.com liked the pie and brucehopkins.net decided to giveaway some link love and included BizGiftGuru !

Some interesting articles relating to business gifts appeared in other blogs too last week.

• The Shopdog Diaries blog began to run a series of articles on the Custom T-shirt printing issues. The Part 1 is an excellent piece for anybody who considers ordering printed T-shirts.

• The important part of the BizGift business and advertising in general is the creativity. Marketing Deviant has his 6 ways how to boost creativity.

Thanks to all that took their time to comment on BizGiftGuru !