Promotional Cotton Shopper Offer!

Looking for a great piece of cost-effective promotional merchandise?

At Code Promotional Merchandise we have the answer!!

We can now offer the promotional cotton shopper, 4.5oz, 38 x 42cm, 100% natural cotton, long handles at just 66p for 1,000 units printed 1 colour on 1 side.

Interested? Simply call 0844 879 7323 and we'll send you a quote!

UK Government Cancels Promotional Merchandise Framework...but the private sector responds!

In another major blow for the promotional products industry, the government's marketing and communications agency has announce that it is suspending all activity through its Merchandise and Promotional Items Framework.

Unveiled in December 2009, the current Merchandising and Promotional Items Framework was planned to be used for a maximum of four years. A total of 58 suppliers from across the UK secured a place on one or more of the five lots.

The Central Office of Information (COI) says that the suspension, which takes place with immediate effect, is being implemented to align its services with government priorities.

The COI says that all existing orders and individual contractual obligations will be honoured but no new orders will be placed through the framework. However it is understood that government departments may continue to commission orders on an individual basis although there is a government wide marketing freeze.

The suspension of a major conduit for promotional merchandise is expected to hit some companies hard. It commissioned merchandising orders worth around £3m a year on behalf of government departments and other public sector bodies, ranging from small orders to major campaigns such as Change 4 Life.

Ian Feingold, Director of Code Promotional Merchandise, an online distributor for promotional merchandise, business gifts and corporate clothing, commented that “coming as it does a week after the news of the new code of conduct announced by the British pharmaceutical industry, which effectively prohibits the use of most promotional products within the sector, it is a blow to the companies involved and the industry. However, we are seeing very positive signs from the private sector that they are again seeing the benefits of using promotional merchandise extensively as part of their marketing mix due it its flexibility, cost-effectiveness and long term awareness opportunities.”

New USB Insert Webkey Available At Code Promotional Merchandise

Code Promotional Merchandise Ltd is pleased to announce that it is now able to offer the USB Insert Key – bridging the gap between traditional print marketing and e-marketing.

The USB Insert is a customizable USB webkey, integrated into a die-cut detachable cardboard holder which in turn is integrated into a larger printed sheet or cardboard collateral. On receipt, the user detaches the USB Insert from the die-cut, plugs into their computer and has instant access to the content which is usually an exclusive microsite.

The USB Insert is trackable (as they are uniquely coded), virus free and Windows and MAC compatible. For more information click here or contact Code Promotional Merchandise on 0844 879 7323.

Promotional Adloops...always at hand!

The versatile Ad-Loop promotional keyring is a simple and cost-effective way to promote your company.

The flexible, non-scratch design allows your customers to keep your name, number and message at their fingertips.

We are offering a fantastic 5 working day lead-time on our Ad-Loop® keyrings until the end of November, so why not order yours today?

Visit www.codepromotional.co.uk/sc00014220/adloop-jumbo-keyring/131695/details.aspx

for more details.

Promotional Ice Scrapers Make Great Business Sense!

Have a read of the following blog entry from http://www.claims.co.uk/ who recently purchased promotional ice scrapers from Code Promotional Merchandise.


"With winter approaching I was thinking about a few quick and easy ways to get people looking at the claims.co.uk site, build some links to it, and do something useful.

I settled on the idea of giving away an ice scraper as they are cheap to produce and quite useful to people in the inevitable bad weather. Hunting around online points to various suppliers, types and quality. I prefer to deal with UK based companies as one of the benefits of running your own company is to decide where the spend goes, plus if there is a serious issue you have the option to ‘pop round’

Google is a great tool to discover reviews and experiences, and I hope this pops up for a search for “Code Promotional” as they were great (Hi Ian!) not only in the creation process but speedy delivery. Check out their site here – Their product had a built in tyre tread checker, a simple yet effective tool. Having spent £405 on tyres due to low tread earlier in the day this did seem genuinely useful!

A box arrived via courier, so I ripped that open and spread them out on a sheet for a quick photoshoot using my bog standard Canon 450D. The aim of this was to show that they are real freebies and I have loads to give away! There is nothing worse than faked freebies that dont exist. A few minutes later a page has been created and passed around a few people to get feedback/spellcheck.

I then start researching a few freebie style sites via google and compile a list of 16 in a text file. The aim being to seed them…

I did nothing more.

Late on on the 11th November I had a couple of “ICE SCRAPER REQUESTS” pop into my inbox, on checking the referer it turns out it was this post on MoneySavingExpert . I have previously had a few sites feature on MSE in various forms, and I know it sends a fair few visits.

By 10am there had been 2,238 requests for a free ice scraper and the demand had caused the server to keel over. The load averages tell their own story… 56.60 31.18 20.74… with one peak being as high as 240!

Its worth highlighting the work done by Mark & Nick at dedi.co.uk , who when I asked ‘whats up with the server?’ had already picked up the issue on monitoring and were managing it. Another great UK based company – probably best known to people under their Fast.co.uk ADSL brand.

By 1pm the traffic was making the server yo-yo due to stuff like the 359c ‘hot’ rating on HotUKDeals and several other sites.

What did disappoint me is some comments found from normal members of the public, describing claims management companies as ‘vultures’ and assuming the giveaway was part of some crazy plan to build spam lists. It wasnt, and as I put on the form I hate spam as much as anyone else (even taking people to court over it, and completing ICO complaints).


The stats looked like a trip to Egypt
At the time of writing (Monday 15th Nov, 1pm) this site has seen an extra 57,565 visitors than it would have normally in the same time period. Traffic is worth very little if it is untargetted, so this is more of a vanity measure than anything else. I was asked on Wednesday though if I was going to give the scrapers out around the local Halfords, a very traditional way of thinking about promo item marketing. The ‘reach’ of several hundred freebie items given out against the online version is massive and for mystical offline ‘brand building’ its done well.

Hopefully the below summary will help those thinking of conducting the same, feel free to pop comments and questions in the ‘comments’ section:

Lessons:

•Everyone loves a freebie.
•You really have no idea how many love to have freebies.
•Make the freebie relevant & useful.
•Cheeky ‘reverse marketing’ does not hurt ie. use this so you dont become a client of claims.co.uk!
•Use some ‘freebie’ keywords in content and others will seed/promo/viral it for you.
•Ensure you put ‘limited avalibility’ on the page, I intend to give out as many as possible but dont bankrupt yourself by promising everyone on earth a freebie!
•Tynt style stuff is worth doing as a couple of people C+P’ed content so the auto-appended link worked. I use a self hosted version
•Traffic to the page took out the server by about 10.30am , so ensure wp-cache or the like is enabled *beforehand*
Costs:

•£250ish for the first batch of scrapers.
•£xxx to cover more as I will feel bad if I cant give as many as I can out!
•Time of around half a day.
•It took out the server out for periods of time.
•Envelope stuffing time and postage…
Benefits:

•In theory 57,000 new people exposed to the ‘Claims.co.uk’ name.
•40+ new links, some private, some public.
•6 mentions on twitter.
•80 ’shares’ on Facebook
•The above experience gained

Read more about news by null

- http://www.claims.co.uk/news/40p-scraper-57000-visitors.html

How can promotional merchandise work for your business?

Promotional merchandise offers get value for money! You could promote your business from only a few pence per item or send a valued customer a great gift as a thank you for an order or perhaps a gift for Christmas.

Retaining custom is far easier than trying to gain a new customer and promotional gifts are a great way of doing this. For those who travel a lot, a practical travel mug is always welcomed as it can keep the drink inside at the perfect temperature for hours on end and has a great branding area that can be screen printed or laser engraved depending on the effect you are looking to achieve.

Here at Code Promotional Merchandise we have always offered great value for money which is why councils, schools and universities as we as SME’s and large organisations come to us time and time again. You will see that we do not just print the product and send it out, we look after your brand as we know how precious it can be.

We can advise which promotional products would complement your brand, from printed pens to personalised mugs to corporate gifts including metal desk clocks, personalised wine, business card holders and crystal awards.

No matter what you are looking for please do not hesitate to visit www.codepromotional.co.uk or call today on 0844 879 7323...we are here to help with all you promotional merchandise needs!

Stock Clearance - Promotional Pocket Diaries!

We have end-of-stock clearance prices on 2011 promotional pocket diary wallets with the following features: cream comb bound diary insert, week to view, perforated corners, gold ribbon marker, 14 month diary, 24 pages of world maps, clear credit card and ticket products, available in NewHide and NewCalf black and navy blue. Until stocks are cleared all quantities between 250 units and 1,000 units are priced at only £1.25 each including one position blocking (origination, carriage and VAT extra). To order call Code Promotional Merchandise on 0844 879 7323....offer only available whilst stocks last!