I work in an ad specialty Institute. Most advertising agencies are pretty broad-based, but we are targeted towards advertising specialties. We have several different department, and they are all run with a great deal of autonomy. We have an advertising specialty in guerrilla marketing, an office dedicated to word-of-mouth campaigns,and even a bureau of advertising on the Internet. Of all of our advertising specialties, however, our biggest focus is on the designing, producing and distributing of promotional products.
Many people see advertising logos on pens, t-shirts, and other advertising products, and never really think about what goes into them. Many of them never even realize how much of an effect these kinds of advertising products have. The great thing about advertising is that, when it is done just right, you don't even know that you have been swayed by it. It sort of works on an unconscious level of your mind. If you see the right logo over and over, it becomes familiar to you. You feel comfortable with it, as if you recognize it from somewhere you trust. This makes you much more likely to buy the product, whether you're aware of it or not.
Of course, advertising specialties products are difficult to do well. A lot of companies simply specialize in printing promotional products and leave it at that. They deliver a good, clean printing on high quality pens, papers, T-shirts, or whatever else. Where I work, however, we handle every step of the promotion. We don't design advertising campaigns, and we don't restrict ourselves to logos. What we do is sort of in between. We make sure that the logos fit the promotional products, and that the products are used in such a way that they will gain attention. After all, what's the point of giving away pens if no one is going to notice your logo on them?
The best advertising specialties products are hand-picked, or even custom made for the business advertising campaign. Making, for example, a notebook with a strange shape reminiscent of the corporate logo, or handing out a office toy with the company's motto can be much more effective than a more typical advertising product. It is all a matter of catching the eye. As far as I am concerned. That is 90 percent of what goes into advertising. The rest is just timing timing and luck.
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