Outdoor Events

Robbie Williams and Alexandra Burke are among the stars set to perform at a benefit concert for servicemen and women at Twickenham Stadium. The concert, which takes place on 12 September and will be shown on BBC One, will also feature comic talent including Bruce Forsyth and Jack Dee.

Describing Bruce Forsyth as a comic talent is pushing the boundaries of false advertising however this is what the promoters tell us. Some 60,000 fans and troops are expected to attend the event, with proceeds will go to the Help For Heroes charity, which raises funds for wounded service personnel and their families.

Bryn Parry, head of the Help For Heroes charity, said: “Our boys and girls, both those operating in the remote patrol bases and those recovering from life changing injuries, will hear this concert and know that they are in the forefront of our minds.

If you’re planning or sponsoring a large outdoor event then Gift Selection has a great range of low cost promotional products to get your brand recognised. Ask the friendly team of promotional experts who can put together a great promotions package based on your budget and target audience.

Pop-Up Shops

We love wacky branding ideas; guerilla marketing that stops and smacks you in the face (not literally). That’s why I was pleased to hear that Unilever is planning to open a number of Marmite pop-up shops as it looks to establish the brand’s positioning in new areas.

Last year Marmite opened a limited-edition pop-up shop on Regent Street, and is now set to launch new pop-up shops in 2011.Matt Burgess, managing director of the brand, admitted it is plotting further launches:

“We are looking at 2011 and it is under serious consideration. But it needs to be slightly different than before. It needs to be a new location, unusual location and bespoke.”

The pop-up shop in London was open seven days a week and stocked more than 100 Marmite-inspired promotional products. Marmite if you’re listening, Gift Selection can supply you with a full range of branded items!

World Cup Warriors

 The world cup is nearly upon us and if your business wants to get involved with the festivities, why not invest in some themed promotional products from Gift Selection.

 Make some noise for your favourite team with the Boogieblaster – the original sound from Africa. Don’t be fooled by its small size, because the sound will blow you away! A handy feature of this product is the removable mouthpiece, meaning you can conveniently pack it away in a box.

I must admit the Boogieblaster is my favourite promotional item, however I’m also a big fan of the branded retro footballs. These are the official size, featuring four layers with a lace closure. Thanks to the good quality imitation leather, the ball can be embossed to great effect.

Another great product, perhaps for the more eccentric football fanatic is the ‘Fan Helmet’. This is the ultimate piece of fan gear, they can be personalized to your taste with the football patches, spikes, devil-horns, mini-horns and warrior accessories! Tell me you don’t want some warrior accessories!

Branded Phone Accessories

If you’re one of those people who has their phone permanently in their hand, or some hands free nonsense in their ear, then David Cameron won’t want you in his new Cabinet.

Members of David Cameron’s new cabinet have been banned from having their mobile phones and Blackberrys with them during meetings. The prime minister told them the rule at their first gathering on Thursday. There was laughter in the room when Mr Cameron had to call Justice Secretary Ken Clarke to attention, as he was still engaged in another conversation.

Quite right too that’s what I say! These people are running the country, you want them paying attention to what’s going on, not updating them bloody Twitter page mid meeting. “Yeah sorry Dave I was just downloading a new App”. Put your phone away man that’s what I say!

Anyway if you do love your phone, you’ll love the range of promotional mobile phone items available from Gift Selection. People have a real affinity with their phones, which in turn can make relating promotional items very popular. If you’re looking for promotional skins for phones, promotional phone charms, promotional phone docks even, then you know who to call.

Gambling Sector Promotions

The biggest industry that buys promotional products outside of the public sector, is the gambling sector. Poker, bingo, sports betting you name it, there are promotional products out there representing them.

Promotional poker chips, branded snooker balls there are all sorts of unusual promotional products out there that Gift Selection can supply. We recently quoted on a very large order for some promotional travel mugs of all things, not the first thing I would recommend for a book keepers, but then again – why not?

It wasn’t a great day for the bookies on Sunday, as a massive £2 million was staked with online giant Betfair on Italian clubs Chievo and Catania finishing level. In the end, seven firms suspended betting by last Thursday, but they had to pay out on bets beforehand.

David Williams of Ladbrokes, said: “We saw a lot of money for the draw and decided to pull the plug”. One gambler made the good point of “the amount of money was unbelievably high for two teams in their position. Neither is exactly a household name here and the game wasn’t even televised.

St Patricks Day!

Today is St Patricks Day, so let’s all celebrate our Irish neighbours, by going into our city centres, getting blind drunk and ending the night one of two ways; getting arrested for assault or getting arrest for criminal damage. Hooray!

Everyone associates green with the Ireland, and Ireland with green. Originally however, the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue. Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick’s Day as early as the 17th century.

He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish, and the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the day. All was not well, as in the 1798 rebellion in the hope of making a political statement, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on the 17^th of March in hopes of catching attention with their unusual fashion!

In the past Gift Selection has provided many promotional items, spreading businesses messages far and wide on St Patrick’s day. There are plenty of clover shaped items available as family giveaways, such as branded clover stress balls, branded clover T shirts, even branded clover shaped pencils!

While for adults, there is a great selection of bar themed promotional items available. Branded bottle openers, branded pint glasses, branded coasters – even branded cocktail shakers can be bought from Gift Selection.

Hot Chocolate Drinks

We have had some interest lately in little branded sachets of goodness recently, or printed hot chocolate as there more often called. Branded sachets of hot chocolate might not be everyone cup of tea (sorry), but they are certainly a fun promotional product that can get people thinking about your brand.

Branded hot chocolate sachets would make a really inexpensive mailing item, which would target a wide audience in a novel and cost effective way. One important point to bear in mind if you’re interested in personalised hot chocolate sachets is the relatively high minimum order quantity of ten thousand pieces.

If it’s just a small campaign you’re looking at then personalised hot chocolate sachets may not be for you, but for larger organisations they could prove to be a great marketing tool. Incidentally their promotional chocolate drinks are credited by the Fair Trade people, so you they could help to market your business along ethical lines too.

Sweets2order supplies promotional hot chocolate sachets, as well as many other printed sachet items. They can supply everything from luxury herbal tea to the humble salt and pepper!

Fun Retro Confectionary

Sweets2order has started stocking fun retro confectionary pieces, that harks back to the good old days, where grubby children would gleefully stuff their pockets with old fashioned style sweets. Rather then today’s youth, who are too busy comparing knives to bother with such innocent pleasures as humbugs and chocolate mice.

Their branded retro sweet pot contains: 1 x Love Heart Pack, 1 x Gobstopper, 1 x Chocolate Eyeball, 1 x Fruit Salad, 1 x Black Jack, 1 x Lemon Sherbert, 1 x Mint Humbug. If your business is looking to add to a nostalgic element to it’s corporate identity, these promotional retro sweets are well worth considering.

These promotional retro confectionery pieces are available from as little as 100 pieces, while if you order a large quantity they are available for as cheap as 99p each! These pieces of retro confectionary can be fully branded in razor sharp full colour, so your brand will really stand out. If you have any questions about any promotional confectionery items, or require a sample of the sweets, just contact the friendly team at Sweets2order.com.

Gaming Not Just For Geeks

A study of 500 consumers aged between 15 and 34 dismisses the cliché that gamers are ‘geeks’ sitting on their own in darkened rooms. The survey, carried out by Continental Research and Microsoft’s Massive Inc, found that contrary to the stereotype, gamers crave premium brands, are interested in fashion and spend more money on grooming products than non-gamers.

Almost half of those surveyed claimed to have posted comments or reviews on product websites in the past six months, with a further 80 per cent believing they could influence other people’s choice of mobile phone or gadget.

With this in mind, perhaps it won’t be long before we see more computer game related promotional items. Promotional mouse-mats and USBs are a standard item, but maybe we will soon have promotional computer controllers for example.

Eco Puzzles

Here at Gift Selection we are big fans of wholesome family fun, and have discovered some eco friendly promotional toys and puzzles, that are great fun.

If you’re looking to show the softer side to your brand, then the promotional eco puzzle has attractive minimal styling and will keep your grey matter ticking over. The classic wooden puzzle arrives in an eco friendly drawstring cotton pouch, so it will show of your eco credential perfectly.

To add a sense of nostalgia to your brand, consider investing in some promotional eco yo-yos.This  unusual promotional product is made from recycled CD cases of all things.

With summer fast approaching you  may be looking to invest in some promotional items that can be used outdoors. There are a great range of promotional outdoor items such as a recycled boomerang, a recycled frizbee or an eco venus flyer for example.