Imprinted items have become a staple of any reasonable marketing budget, whether it's a multi-million dollar corporation or a small mom-and-pop business. It's no secret that these nice, little advertising promotional products buy good behavior. Even the local auto repair shop will send a promotional calendar and the bank may hand out imprinted pens.

The mall is full of stores with imprinted bags and even the Starbucks latte is corporate branded as a subtle reinforcement. Surveys show that the next generation of consumers like being bribed into buying, rather than entertained into buying, as in their parents' generation.

Their grandparents' generation was enticed by practicality and appearance. Today's consumer is a complex being that wants the best of all worlds. Marketeers need to take heed and look at all available custom promotional options. Imprinted items often come in and out of style in phases, but with a little bit of redesign, they can return with renewed popularity. For instance, promotional marketing lanyards quickly became a buzz idea when they first came out a few years ago -- mostly due to the fact that people were more and more concerned about losing their pieces of identification, their passports, their keys and their cell phones.

They even started using custom promotional lanyards to hold business cards or employee badges. "Lanyards have really saturated the market," admitted Charley Johynson, Marketing VP for SnugZ, "and we've been looking for ways to make lanyards exciting again, and to show people they're good for more than just tradeshows."

He explained that his distributor company is "spicing things up" by offering a one-time setup charge for new clients and allowing an unlimited number of color choices. Thanks to a new merger with Crestline, SnugZ offers a wide variety of dye sublimated lanyards with 13 background designs to add to the corporate logo (or the ability to submit original artwork). This functional gift is great for a variety of people of all age groups.

The good news regarding the influx of direct marketing promotions is that there are always exciting new imprinted promo items coming out! Many marketeers like to play it safe and stick with the imprinted pens, the t-shirts and the tote bags. However, for the internet savvy individual who's willing to go the extra mile to impress the public, there is a whole world of unusual items that are sure to make an impact! "HorizonSources" offers "logo toasters," which is every bit as intriguing as it sounds.

A custom imprinted message can be cooked right onto a slice of toast in a custom logo toaster! Another innovative idea is to take the successful corporate apparel formula but go beyond the traditional hats and t-shirts to offer imprinted promotional items like socks, tote bags or bottle cap opener/hats. At "4Imprint", custom socks go as low as $3.50/pair and there is a wide selection of trendy tote bags, coolers and duffel bags.

Glow-in-the-dark tattoos go over well for a club promotion, whereas a poncho or umbrella might go over especially well during the rainy season in the Northwest. In the age of technology, imprinted promo items like USB devices and mousepads have become industry favorites. In New York City, Lifebrands condoms offered branding opportunity for 4 cents/package, which definitely caught a lot of attention among that 20-something demographic!

"Health and fitness" is another theme many marketing divisions are running with now. Imprinted stress balls have become hot sellers because there are so many colors, shapes, sizes and graphics from which to choose.

Additional health product imprinted items include: big inflatable exercise balls, pedometers, spa sets, pill timers, portable first aid kits, digital jump ropes, sports water bottles, back massagers, frisbees and sunscreen. Health and fitness products promote wellness, while promoting a business at the same time, making it a win-win situation for everyone.

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