What's good swag nowadays?
When I went to PC Expo in 99, it was all about the t-shirts. We actually had to give out t-shirts with each session we gave at our booth, otherwise no one would stick to the booth for more than a minute. But recently, someone told me that customers are tired of t-shirts. Are they cool anymore? I haven't worn my shirt with Bill's mug shot on it in years (granted, I don't wear many t-shirts anyway).
So I'm investigating giving out swag as a thankyou for something, and I'm looking for something in the say $5-10 range. One thing I'm looking at are books from MS Press, being that I can get them for very cheap, thus saving valuable dollars in my budget that can be spent on implementing the actual program. But is a technical book about a product really that interesting or is that “ugh, yet something else to read for work”?
So, I have two questions:
#1: If you had the opportunity to pick the swag you get, what would you pick? Under $10 per unit (keeping in mind that there will be some economy of scale).
#2: Also, if you could choose between “something small that every person would get” like a tshirt/book/etc versus “a chance at something bigger, and not every person will win” (i.e. xbox, xbox games, maybe a pocket PC phone, etc), which would you choose? And if the answer is “both”, that's OK too.
Thanks.
Comments
- Anonymous
January 01, 2003
KC Lemson asked in a recent post, What's good swag nowadays?" I seem to remember getting lots of cool stuff years ago - at least stuff that my daughter would love, but over the past three or four years,... - Anonymous
March 01, 2004
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 01, 2004
Big hear hear on the USB Pen Drives.
And the plus side of that is you can preload it with data. So, even better than the reusable CD/DVD RW disc, they can simply pull the data off the drive. - Anonymous
March 01, 2004
Oh, and never overlook http://www.mcphee.com gift certificates as an excellent bit of swag :) - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
USB Pen drives are probably out of price limit (and getting a 32MB one in addition to my own 256MB is a waste although with something useful on it completely OK).
Books are always good. Difficult to find the level and hit the subject though ...
MS Finland always used to give the stupider kind of "game" (i.e. winetasting CDROM) away (at Premium Supprt events) to 10% of the people attending to the end. Fairly pointless.
I actually still like T-shirts (I canoe and what with sea water and sweat they get old quickly) with golf shirts much better. "Large" fit most men at least. - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
I'm easy. A T shirt will do. - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
Tshirts, unless you start giving away SMALL sizes and not XXXXXXXL or I JUST ATE A BABY sizes forget it, they dont fit. Its like walking around with a sandwitch board the sizes they give away at shows. - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
As said above, any techie thing or toy that is useful (like a roll-away cat 5 cable) and 'interesting' would be great. Of course with your company's logo on it, who cares, but something I can use, not throw on the next garbage bin or use as a rag to clean my car/motorcycle (what I do with t-shirts I never wear).
Problem is, as always, price.
When I used to work at expos we had two kind of 'gifts'. One for the usual ppl walking by, so they sticked around a little more. Another swag, more expensive, for the potential customer who asked real questions and spent time really looking into the product. - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
T-Shirts are still cool, giving that they don't have a company logo the size of The-Wearer-Is-The-Property-Of.
Computer mice could be a good bet too in addition to what Dave suggested.
btw, my overall answer to your question is Both. Getting a little something is always cool and looking forward to a raffle or something makes it cooler. ;) - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
I still carry around the MS briefcase/carry bags I got at TechEd in '95.
The first thing I look for at a show is something to carry stuff in. - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
I think you're overlooking the usefulness of a 32 MB USB pen even when you already have a 256MB. Namely, you're more willing to lose a 32MB drive (so long as you either encrypt the contents or don't care about them) so you can throw it on a keyfob, a lanyard, wherever you don't always have the 256MB. But that could just be me :) - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
The SMS 2003 R/C cars rocked!
small stuff is good but big stuff is also good as a tool to get people to leave details - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
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March 02, 2004
#1: Books would work as long as you have a couple to choose from.
#2: I would rather have something small so I would at least walk away with something. - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
KC - T-shirts are always a safe bet (with the sound advice above about shirt sizes and branding). A caution about tool kits - at last year's RSA show, a compant gave out tool kits that were confiscated at the airport (sharp and pointy) so that might not be a great idea if your attendees are travelling. Personally, I'd go for a small, cheap, and useful something for all (like the pen, cat 5 roll-up, etc.) and do a raffle for something unusual to build interest. We've had good luck with ThinkGeek.com gift certificates. HTH - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
Two words: Bagel Necklace.
;) - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
All a free t-shirt means to me is one more t-shirt for my wife to wear at the gym. They never fit me, they never fit anyone I know.
CD's are pretty useless given the availability of information on the internet.
USB drive is a cool idea, prett pricey for swag though. A good book is probably the best bet. The perceived value of the bok is more important. Most MS press books seem to go for around $40 retail. If you give someone a $40 book vs. a $5 t-shirt or a $.50 frisbie they are going to think "this is some good swag!".
You could try tayloring the swag to the conference. e.g. Small SD cards with eBooks or HTML resources on them for a mobile developer conference. - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
The Zip-Linq cables. The one that goes from my USB port to my Treo and both charges and synchs my Treo is sensational! - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
The Chicago Cubs are biving away chances to win autographed jerseys etc (http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/chc/schedule/promotions.jsp)
So 15,000 people or whatever get the chance to win 100 prizes, so your question about giving away better stuff has some validity. Other than that I have an Office 2003 radio I would be happy to donate to the cause.... - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
Given that the last 2 MS Press books I've read included a CD with the entire book contents on it, maybe you could just give away the CDs. Easier to carry, cheaper for you, with all the info on it. - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
I personally would love to get books. Especially if you can get ahold of new titles very early in their release.
T-Shirts are old. I give away bags full of unworn swag shirts to amvets every year. I'm sure someone appreciates them even if they don't have a clue what they advertise. =)
The USB drives seem to have universal appeal. Fill them with eBooks!
Mike - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
I would LOVE to get one of those little cheap plastic radios that looks like a carabiner.
I keed, I keed!!!! :) - Anonymous
March 02, 2004
I'd much rather have any tech book than a t-shirt, personally :) - Anonymous
March 03, 2004
MS Australia give out MS branded Pen drives that are pretty groovy.
Don't give out those horible radio clip compass things like the Office team gave the testers!
You could also have one of those big prizes, like a tour of the MS campus? Lots of geeks would love to win that!! - Anonymous
March 03, 2004
A nice story on the USB drives: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/business/technology/personal_technology/8061188.htm - Anonymous
March 03, 2004
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March 04, 2004
The problem with t-shirts is that the quality is quite low. The fabric is just to thin. A good quality t-shirt would be nice.
greetings, - Anonymous
March 04, 2004
If the help files are only electronic and not available in print, it might be useful to give away printed and bound copies of the help files.
greetings, - Anonymous
March 04, 2004
On second thought; food might be nice. Especially if you are in a place where you can have a grill. Grill your own food might be popular, but perhaps not what you want.
Pizza is not bad either. - Anonymous
March 04, 2004
I was suprised when I went to a MS organised w2k3 roadshow to not get ANYTHING - not even a beta or time limited version of 2k3 to test on a machine at home, not even a colour brochure extolling the product.
As to what I'd like, decent pens (i'm always loosing mine), usb drives (ditto) or even mugs would be nice. Over here the t-shirts don't tend to fit either.
ebooks on cd would also be great. people would probably still end up buying the book if they wanted to read it that much, but it makes a great reference material to load up on the laptop when you are away from the desk. - Anonymous
March 04, 2004
(Why can't I stop replying to this post! :) )
Splurge on these!
http://www.engadget.com/entry/0028247582524458/
Or any usb type gadget that can be gotten cheap, like usb keyboard lamps, usb mini-hubs, etc etc etc. :) - Anonymous
March 04, 2004
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March 04, 2004
My favorite is the one with a bunch of dogs leashed to a sled, with the labels of the products from backoffice... Exchange, of course, is in the front. The title: "Exchange: the big dogs of backoffice".
Or there's the Office Designer sweatshirts... I wonder if there is such a thing as a microsoft bob t-shirt? Now that's gotta be worth something. My husband's been holding onto a pristine NeXT shirt he got 15 years ago, hasn't even taken it out of the plastic. - Anonymous
March 04, 2004
John - I love the grow your own community idea!
Tom/Kent - Thanks, you made me laugh out loud - Anonymous
March 06, 2004
Both - love the drawings for big stuff and I'm perfectly happy with a book. I have a closet full of t-shirts so those don't excite me much. Books are cool, though.
So are the USB drives.
-B- - Anonymous
March 08, 2004
The comment has been removed - Anonymous
March 08, 2004
I promise I won't forget women, given that I am one :-)