Promotional Products Blog | Pinnacle Promotions Marketing Company

These days, boy-crazy preteens are sticking posters of Justin Bieber and Robert Pattinson up on their walls. Back when I was that age, I was absolutely crazy over NSYNC. Seriously – crazy to the point that I convinced all of my teachers to allow me to sign my name as Ashley Chasez (the last name of my fave member JC) on all of my papers. Luckily, I have taken back my proper last name in the years since, but I still get excited when I see my favorite boy band continuing to make it out there in the world. (Yes – I started watching America’s Best Dance Crew solely because JC is a judge). And what do you know— one of my teenybopper idols is breaking into the promotional products scene! That’s right – Justin Timberlake, perhaps you have heard of him, has become an investor as well as a designer for a line of bags (Ful, which sounds like Fuel) that are available in retail as well as within the promotional bag industry.  Wanna know more about JT’s bags?

Wedding season is in full swing. I not only have friends that are getting married in the coming weeks, but buzz is in the air around our office from co-workers who are attending if not just one, but multiple weddings throughout Spring as well.  I guess it is just natural for people our age to take the leap.  You wouldn’t think that a company such as ourselves would get many orders for weddings, but surprisingly we do. Couples are not only commemorating their day, but they want all their guests to have a little something to take home so they can remember the joyous occasion as well. Click to read about what wedding promos are popular

First off, apologies for the lack of posts here the past few days. Pinnacle’s Marketing Department is in overdrive finishing up some work for our site. Thanks for staying loyal and checking back with us.

Everyone loves getting mail, right? A few days ago, alongside junk coupons and the U.S. Census, I received a tiny envelope in my mailbox with my address hand-written on the front. I opened it and lifted out an embossed note from my friend Allison, thanking me for a favor I’d done for her.

Read about the charms of handwritten thank-you notes and promotional giveaways…

A study of Internet usage released by The Nielsen Company shows that Americans nearly tripled the amount of time they spend on social media sites and blogs between August 2008 and that same month one year later. Over the course of that time, people developed and altered the way that they gain information. Not only are consumers turning to online news sources such as CNN.com or the New York Times online, but also people are garnering more of their news from sites such as Facebook and Twitter. This means that hard news stories- about the earthquake in Haiti or the latest status update on healthcare reform- are cluttered with personal status updates, such as what John Smith ate for dinner last night or the color of Jane Doe’s new hat. What’s more, consumers are hearing the news through secondary sources that cannot help but add their own personal bias.

Personal bias about online news also applies to brands. Social media sites provide an easy and uncensored outlet for shoppers to share their likes and dislikes about certain products, companies and customer service experiences. Thus, as consumers spend more and more time on these sites, effectively changing the way they share and acquire information, marketers are forced to shift their campaigns as well. And they are. The same Nielsen study reveals that while the time consumers spent on these sites tripled, the amount of money that businesses spent advertising online increased 119 percent during that same time span.

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Flash drives are nothing new to the promotional products industry (you can find Pinnacle’s most popular USB flash drives online at The USB Drive Shop) Companies everywhere have been snagging up these little items imprinted with their business’ name and logo to give away to customers and to use internally for their own data storage and transfer needs. But it seems that a new wave of USB flash drives is emerging care of a Korean company (the website is all in Korean but it appears to be called EARLYSHOP) that hand makes little flash drives to appear as tiny replicas of different types of food. Yummy. Continue reading…

As many of you know, I became a first time homeowner at the end of January. My husband and I had been house hunting for months and finally found our home last December, during the peak of the winter season. So while our new yard looked nice, we had no idea if the stick-like mounds in the island in the back yard would ever amount to anything more than kindling for a fire.

Continue Reading…

Having been born and bred in Georgia, I am no stranger to the distinctive green and yellow logo featured on John Deere promotional products. Okay, so I grew up in the metro Atlanta area, where farmland is sparse and suburban residents have no need for heavy duty John Deere agricultural equipment to manicure their manageable front yards… Nevertheless, I had peers who would not leave home without their trademark John Deere trucker hats. I always knew that the brand had a longstanding, loyal following in the Southeast, but during my teen years, I viewed it as more of a trend- wearing John Deere paraphernalia made people my age appear “rugged” and “outdoorsy”. Looking back, I wonder if even half of the John Deere-clad teenagers I knew had ever stood within 3 feet of an actual tractor!

An article on BrandFreak.com discusses John Deere’s current campaign, called “What Will You Create.” It features actual customers who have accomplished amazing agricultural feats using John Deere equipment. For example, take Larry Carlson, a New Yorker who transformed a 5 acre potato field into a Tuscan-inspired panorama of gardens and mazes using tractors made by- you guessed it- John Deere. Keep reading…

I want to start out by saying I’m a huge Seth Godin fan!  I was turned onto him about two years ago when a co-worker told me about his blog; I checked it out and signed up to receive his blog entries delivered to my inbox everyday.  I didn’t give it much thought, but time and again I was shocked at how his blog related to the work I was doing.  His blog really made me think about innovative business & marketing strategies and how to re-evaluate and fine tune what I was already doing.

That being said, when his new book, Linchpin came out I was thrilled that my co-worker, Kim ordered a copy and said I could borrow it when she was done.  A few weeks later Kim ran into my office elated with a letter from Seth and another copy of his book, Linchpin.  Continue reading

With the preliminary round of the 2010 NCAA Championships only two days away, school allegiances and rivalries are at an all-time high. Will the Jayhawks stay at number one in the Midwest? Will they square off against Duke in the semi-finals? I sure hope so. Both teams, who enter the tournament holding the top spots in their conferences, proudly hold three championship titles. But that is nothing compared to the University of Kentucky Wildcats, a team with a very respectable seven wins under their belt.

I’ll be watching to see if the Wildcats come out on top again this year but even if you aren’t a basketball fan or your team just didn’t make it this year (Ohio State’s 69-68 victory last week over Michigan in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Big Ten Conference Tournament was heartbreaking to many in the Midwest), there are plenty of other reasons to tune into the NCAA basketball tournament. The tournament- more commonly referred to as the Final Four or March Madness- isn’t just about basketball.

Continue reading about advertisements, spirit accessories, and why you need to watch the Final Four

In case you were not aware, March is National Women’s Month. So in honor of Women’s Month and, well, women, I have decided to dedicate this blog post to the influence of women in today’s consumer market and emphasize the fact that if you are not already directing part of your marketing efforts and promotional products toward this demographic, you should. For instance, American women spend about $6 trillion annually – that’s a huge market.

Read on for some more statistics regarding women’s impact on today’s economy care of she-conomy.com.

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