As recent interests have arisen in this whole "eco-friendly" trend, we have learned about the term "greenwashing."  This term is used when a company will advertise itself as environmentally friendly when, the actions taken, really arent significant enough, they are, in turn, doing more damage to the environment and just distracting attention, or a number of other reasons.  So, with these recent interests, Anthony and myself have decided to make the topic of a podcast "Greenwashing," discussing the term, and going over the Sins of Greenwashing.  During the discussion I became much more interested to find some facts and case studies showing examples of this.  The sad part is, it wasn't hard to find.  The one I decided to write about was committed by the Shell gas company in 2007 and info has been provided by the Green Idea Factory blog.

The campaign run by Shell showed a factory emitting, not smoke, but flowers into the air.  The explanation of which was that the factory's waste suflur, and CO2 were used to grow flowers and make concrete.  Although this sounds good and appears to be re-using materials and keeping pollutants out of the air, the reality was that only 0.5% of the factory's CO2 was used in Dutch greenhouses to grow flower and most of Shell's wasted sulfur was used for tankers to ship fuel.  Sea ships happen to be one of the biggest sources of sulfur dioxide pollution.  As a result of this campaign and exposing the lie, Shell was nominated for the 'Worst EU Greenwashing Award 2007.'

 

 

image from greenideafactory.blogspot.com

Here at motivators, we are committed to providing our customers with all the information about materials on a product.  Be sure to check out our selection of recycled promotional items for truely eco-friendly promotional items.

 

 

Mother's Day is an international holiday which came to fruition through the campaigning of one woman named Anna Marie Jarvis, who crusaded for the holiday after the death of her mother on May 9, 1905.  The holiday in modern times has become a commercially successful day for many businesses and here at Motivators we do have promotional Mother's Day products for the occasion; however, I would express that too often we fail to show the people we love how much we really care until it is too late.  Typically, mother's may only get a gift possibly three times out of the year, their birthday, Christmas, and you guessed it Mother's Day!  Well, this Mother's Day should be your opportunity to really shower mom with the love and appreciation she deserves.  The saying goes, "give me my flowers while I am still living".  Well, I urge you this year to give your mom her flowers while she is still living and still able to smell them.  In fact, let every mom, even the mother's you work with on your job, know just how much they are appreciated!  Business owners should perhaps take the time to acknowledge the mother's who work for them by giving them a nice promotional product such as a customized spa kit or aromatherapy product.  But, by all means, do show the moms out there that you care!  

Four-Tealight Tranquility Fountain 

        

 

Not too long ago each of us here at Motivators was asked to submit our favorite promotional items. I submitted mine but for me there was one very easy one, the Drinkabout Travel Mug - 16 oz.  I use it every day and for good reason. I should actually say for good reasons.  First of all it is acrylic and it is tough, however many times I clumsily drop it, it won't break. It also has a special rubber bottom so it never spills either. Secondly, it keeps cold drinks cold as well as hot drinks hot and whatever is in there won't make the outside cold or hot either. Most of all though, it is really cool. When it is closed, it is virtually spill proof but push the button and the top magically glides open. The push button opening is reason enough to use it. It is the only promotional product I know that doubles as a tumbler as well as desktop entertainment.   This piece is only one of the items I submitted to the staff favorites. If you are ever stumped for a promotional product idea check out the page as these are all items picked by real people for real reasons.

This year Mother's Day (May 10th) is so much earlier than usual - or at least it seems that way to me. Only 2 weeks away! So I have to get a move on it and make sure I get my mom something early this year and not put it off until the last day. Looking through Motivators.com, I got some great ideas of things I can get my mom. One of her favorite hobbies is gardening, so I figured what better to get my mom for Mother's Day than Green Thumb Gardening Bag. Not only is it great because it includes all of the essentials she needs to do her gardening but it's perfect because it allows her to keep all of her tools organized. And as an additional bonus gift, I can throw in some seed tins - and there you have a perfect mother's day gift!

I strongly feel that humorous advertising makes some of the best advertising, as well as some of the most difficult advertising.  To make a funny advertisement  or commercial is easy, to make it memorable is another thing.  Advertisers need to find a way to make the joke, as well as the brand stay in your mind for as long as possible.  The advertisement shown below, I felt, makes a good impact because you have to first examine the scene to understand whats going on and it is quite funny.  I do feel like they should have brought more attention to the brand that they were advertising so people knew the product before they even examined the article, but perhaps that's a trick of the trade, or this may have consumed a whole page spread in a magazine, in which case, the brand would be much larger than shown here.  Another way to make a great impact is to shop at Motivators.com!  So for your sake, for your daughter's sake, I suggest you buy a quality promotional item (such as custom printed water bottles, personalized tote bags, and customized stress balls) from me.

 

As usual, we here in the Bungalow are on opposite temperature schedules than the rest of the office. As you can see from Laurie's blog, it's pretty hot outside. And by "outside" I mean outside this office. I'm currently wearing a sweatshirt just because it's apparently summer and that means one thing in the Motivators headquarters...this office will be freezing. Currently everyone's sweating on the other side of this door. But this is how it happens. In the winter, we're dressed for summer because its so hot in here. And now, I'm sure I'm going to be bundling up the minute I step foot in here come July. There is no happy medium in the Bungalow, which coincidentally received its nickname when someone commented that while it was freezing outside, it felt like the islands in our office. And this is making me think that we could so capitalize on this...

We could offer hot cocoa on winter mornings. While I'm sure a fire pit would get us in trouble (that's gotta be against some fire department code), you could roast marshmallows on the heating ducts. And in the summer, we could sell lemonade and ice pops. We'd even have a gift shop (located in that corner between my desk and the wall) where we could sell all sorts of Bungalow promotional products. Of course the real money would come from the visits.

5 Minute Visit: $1.00

10 Minute Visit: $5.00

20 Munutes: $10.00

The Lunch Break Special (1 Hour): $24.95

Please note, prices are subject to space, availability and admission provided on a first come, first serve basis. Taxes do apply.

This weekend was FINALLY nice out! And while I enjoy coming into work, I would have loved to spend another day oustide. As I came into the office today ready to celebrate Ozzie's birthday, I got hit with a wave of hot hair. For some reason our office was very warm from over the weekend. I thought to myself that I could really use a hand fan at my desk. They are exteremely useful in the summer for parades, sport events, or if the AC goes out! Thankfully the office is cooling down, but one should never neglect the good old fashion hand fans!

The biggest event of the NFL offseason is tomorrow - the 2009 NFL Draft! Mock drafts abound, trade rumors are flying... there's no time to be more optimistic about your team's prospects for the upcoming season.

If you've read my blogs, you know what "draft" and "NFL" mean to my friends and I: Golf and BBQ! We usually do the golf/bbq thing for our Lightside Fantasy Draft, but this year we're expanding to the actual NFL Draft. I'll have my golf promotional items and promotional barbecue sets ready to go. It's going to be a good day.

So Giants fans, who are we adding to our roster? Wide receiver rumors are out there. Braylon Edwards? Anquan Boldin? Hakeen Nicks? Kenny Britt? We definitely need one of these guys to join Big Blue. Then it's back to the Super Bowl! If you're looking for a cool draft=related giveaway, why not check out some personalized tote bags? The NFL has the right idea... who wouldn't want one of these:

 

Every year, thousands of women are diagnosed with breast cancer. As the Team Captain for Motivators at the annual Making Strides against Breast Cancer Walk, I try to know as much as I can about the disease, including all the latest statistics. So it's not surprising that I clicked a link to a CNN story entitled "Army of Volunteers Saves Lives with Clipboards, High Spirits." I was happy to learn that it was about a group called the FBHI: Florida Breast health Initiative. Run by 50 year old breast cancer survivor Andrea Ivory, the group works to spread breast cancer awareness. In addition, they provide mammograms to those who cannot afford them.

The story about their group was inspiring, but as usual one thing caught my eye.

"Every weekend in the spring and fall, she and her volunteers -- who include college students, senior citizens and suburban moms, all wearing matching T-shirts -- fan out across low-income communities in southern Florida, educating women about breast health."

All wearing matching t-shirts? Of course they were! Because everyone knows that promotional t-shirts are an easy and affordable way to showcase that you are a part of a group. Motivators always wears promotional t-shirts at the breast cancer walk in October. And all year round, the IT department can usually be found rockin these bad boys:

It's great to see that breast cancer survivors are banding together to help educate others. To read the full article, click the link below.

Army of Volunteers Save Lives with Clipboards, High Lives

With the state of the economy an increase in crime is a concern.  Along with the unscrupulous, we must be aware that there are some who are feeling financial pressures and unfortunately have resorted to criminal means as a way of escape.  A common way which one commits check fraud is by check washing; what happens is the perpetrator erases the ink on the check with chemicals found in everyday household cleaning products, then increases the dollar amount of the check, and re-writes it to him or herself.  Motivators' has a promotional pen that helps to eliminate this practice.  The Uni-ball 207 Gel Clear Barrel is filled with waterproof ink which prevents check washing.  I believe this is the perfect promotional item for banks and other financial service companies who are looking to do a promotion which emphasizes protection against banking fraud.

 

 

        .