Virgil Winston:Marketing Guru
Walk into my fathers office and you can pretty much guarantee two things: one, he is asleep when you get there and two, there is some sort of odd sculpture sitting on his desk. Right now, he has this paper clip-fortune cookie attached to some “green slime” he picked up from a Nickelodeon Convention.
Outside of keeping your brand on the forefront of your customer’s awareness, my father always said there were two main objectives in every promotional product giveaway: get someone to pick it up and then get someone to say “what is it?” Nine out of ten times, someone would pick up his latest creation and do just that. As for the tenth time, well, let’s just say Mom has had quite enough of his “clever creations,” especially when they always seem to end up in her hands on Valentines’ Day.
And every time someone asked my father what it was they were holding, he would smile and say the same thing, “That my friend is the power of promotion.”
And, for that matter, so is our Icon Stix & Stonz Deluxe. This promotional toy includes 8 steel “stonz” and 12 magnetic “stix” that are packed in a re-usable gift tin. It’s a conversation piece. It’s a desk ornament. It’s a gift that draws you to pick it up and say what is it. More than that, it’s a gift that invites your client to start building—to doodle, play, free your mind and create. That’s a product my father would be proud to put on his desk.
Well, I’m off for a few days. I’m going to the Tuscon Scrabble Tournament—no sesquipedalophoiacs allowed, meaning those who fear long words. Until next time, remember what Heraclitus said, “Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play.”