It was a brisk Tuesday night when I noticed it.  Staring at me light a bad joke from the road, like a broken ... I don't know, moving along.  I found a nail in my tire yesterday, and thanks to the full roadside hazard coverage from Pep Boys, I just needed to bring my car in and it was repaired for free.  I'm very proud of myself for not buying any useless items while waiting a half hour for my car, but I did stumble upon something that reminded me of an earlier blog I wrote about an ING Direct Promotional item.  In Pep Boys, I notices a wonderful, yellow, multi-function flashlight being sold for $19.99 (also here for $29.79!) made by Allton (to the untrained eye at least).

When you're in the business of promotional items, you learn to look beyond the print and realize a different manufacturer most likely made these flashlights and Allton simply stamped their name on it for a reasonable setup charge.  As I stated in the previous blog, this flashlight looks alot like an item we have available on Motivators.com and is custom imprintable.  We have several of these available for you to choose from such as the Leeds Dynamo Multi Function Flashlight or the Emergency Windup Lantern Radio. However, if you're going for the "Allton look" and prefer a nice stand out color like yellow, I would suggest going with the AdvaLite 4-in-1 Turbo Radio Light which features 90 minutes of lighting power after only 60 seconds of cranking, an FM auto scan radio, alarm, cell phone charger, and included batteries.  Find this and other great promotional products at Motivators.com.

The other day, Google's logo was transformed into a bar code to celebrate the birthdate of the barcode.  This logo was so obscure that it made me thing of what if they introduced other objects into the logo such as ... I don't know ... a promotional item like the 11 oz Colored Stoneware Mug!  As a graphic designer, I immediately wanted to transpose this vision to the computer screen and it turned out very interesting.  Perhaps they should use it on the birthdate of the very first promotional item (I think it was a coin for George Washington's election or something). 

I also thought back to many of the logo history blogs that Anthony writes and I think it's funny that when you think about the history of the Google logo and maybe think "wow, they're been consistent with they're branding."  Well, they have, but Google is only 11 years old!  When you first think of it, it feels like Google came along with the invention of Windows 3.1.  Maybe it's just me that feels that way.  Anyway, I found that the original Google logo looked slightly different using a different font and having an exclamation point at the end mimicking the Yahoo! logo.  Less than a year later, the logo was transformed into what we know today.  Interesting fun fact, the Google logo uses a blue, red, yellow pattern in the logo, but they were sure to make the "l" green to show that Google doesn't follow the rules.  What a rebel!  

Hey guys so another week has past since my last post and since then a lot of tech news has happened but one of the biggest news of the week has been the confirmation of the price drop on the Nintendo Wii to $199.99 starting on September 27th 2009. Now with this recent price drop anyone that has not experienced the power of the Wii can actually get the console plus a game at the original price. Awesome deal I must say since I paid for the console and a game for a little over $300.00. If you can't use the Wii as a promotional item then I suggest that you use get some nice promotional toys hand those out and get yourself a Nintendo Wii.

If you would like to read more on the confirmation of the Nintendo Price Drop?

This past January in Maine, I interned with a radio station. For reasons of - well ultimately it was awful there - I will not say the stations name. At times, I prepared on-air text and handed out promotional keychains and promotional bumper stickers branded with the radio stations name to strangers. I got to hang with awesome Make-A-Wish kids and the cast of Disney on Ice too. But most of my days involved three huge satellite vans, two feet of snow, awful defrost systems, and the local gas station as my destination. I wasn't sure that I signed up for that. But like any good intern would, I did as I was told. I didn't even complain when they turned me into a pre-schooler and made me use a glue stick and construction paper to decorate a New Kids on the Block contest box. I didn't even sweat it when they made me set up and break down the guest musician room with folding chairs and banners. No I just kept on telling myself, this is a great opportunity. This is a great opportunity. This is a - sorry, I'm not getting paid, I've turned into a truck driver and I have a 45 minute commute. I'm going to have to cut this out of my daily tasks.

                               

Which brings me to another “eh” radio story. Yesterday on the ride home I had 101.9 blaring. As I veered onto the Wantagh parkway I heard, "Caller number 9," and "Cruise to the Bahamas." I didn't hesitate to dial the number. In fact, I kept on dialing one busy signal after the other. "Ah this is my last call," I thought to myself as I heard the familiar and comforting sounds of a ring. "Hello!" the male voice on the other line said. "Hello?" I questioned him. "How's it going?" he asked. "Oh wonderfully! Are you still counting numbers?" I asked as my voice smoothly turned into an English accent. "I am!" the voice replied back with a mirrored accent. "Well what number are you on then?" I asked a bit more aggressively. "Well let me count and 1, 2, 3, divided by uuuuh times 3, and 4, 5, 6....oh yes you're number 9!" he shouted.

Normally this is where you'd get all excited. Scream a profanity. Slap the nearest person to you. Scream wildly into the phone. "Oh isn't that lovely!" I said, still in an accent. The conversation continued and he explained that I won a pre-released promotional product. The new Dave Matthews Band album. And that I was qualified for the 4 day cruise to the Bahamas with the band for an exclusive concert on an island to be chosen Friday evening. He had me say the phrase, "I'm with the Band," because it's the contests name and collected my name and address for mailing purposes. It wasn't until ten minutes later that I found out this guy was a jerk. Well, maybe not a jerk- just a cocky radio guy. He edited the sound bit and introduced me as "Some super giddy, lady" and then after I said "I'm with the band," he added that I was used to saying, "I'm with the band," for musical aaaand personal reasons. What??? So, basically he made me out to be some floozy groupie. Now I better win those damn cruise tickets.

Which brings me to another radio story where I was coerced into being an idiot. I was 16 and I can't even remember what I was caller 100 for...some concert. The radio jockey asked, "How old are you?" to which I replied, "16." The guy went on to say how I probably didn't want to go to the show since I was young and for whatever reason, I agreed. "Yeah, I don't have to go," I said. So they sent me a promotional T-shirt. A promotional tee with "Spice Girls" imprinted on the back. I'm a winner. But no worries, karma got me back when I guessed 111 dum-dum pops in a jar at a block party. Yummy. Yummy.

I live a wonderful life and love my friends and family, however, I am lacking an actual suitor. Many of you are indulging in some puppy-love, some of you are living with your stud-muffins and honey-bunnies and others have tied the knot, sealed the deal, badabing, no pre-nup necessary, got married. I, have not. And in the wake of another objectum-sexuality case, I think it's time I join the majority of you on the merry love boat. (Sure, sure you other single people can come to...if you bring along a hot promotional item.)

A Nigerian man just broke the news that he plans to wed his pillow after 10 years of snuggling and not even one night apart. Because of his stutter he finds talking to woman difficult. And so, pillow it is. Pillow will never laugh at him and never make him mow the lawn either. Now, I'm kind of interested in finding an attractive pillow.But after some consideration, I thought, what can a pillow do for me? Sure we'll have a great nightlife, but only in bed. I want to adventure everywhere.

                                                        

So after perusing the world of promotional products, I proposed to one of the most handsome custom aluminum water bottles I've ever touched, this afternoon. I'll fill him with water and admire his strong, durable body. He'll refresh me with water whenever I need it and let me fight off other men with just one swing of his custom water bottle self. (It was his extra shiny appearence that made him stand out from the other imprinted aluminum sport bottles.) I've got my gown and he's being fitted for a suit as we speak. (Gosh I miss him.)

After the ceremony we plan to visit the Eiffel Tower for our honeymoon, where we'll meet with Erika la Tour Eiffel, the ex-U.S. Army soldier who married the tower in 2007 and had her name changed legally. My darling personalized aluminum sport bottle will come up to the top with me where we can enjoy the view and purchase souvenir promotional keychains to commemorate our everlasting, binding love.

                                            

You're all invited to our wedding ceremony. It's to take place tomorrow afternoon at 12:30p.m. in the break room. All custom wedding favors are welcomed. I just can't wait to be Jennifer Mary Imprinted Aluminum Sport Bottles.

Oh and please respond with your dinner requests. Chicken, beef or fish. Thank you.

It seems that our previous blogs about the rain slowly killing us have had some affect on the weather. It hasn't been raining aaaaaaas often. But no worries, showers are expected all weekend! However, I don't really buy that weather map, forecast stuff. I just go with the flow. That's the kind of attitude Sophie Frost of Essex, U.K. had when she spent an afternoon in the park with her boyfriend last week...during a thunderstorm. They had no promotional umbrellas.

The 14 year old couple sought refuge under a tree and waited out the storm. But a lightning bolt stuck that very tree and searched for its fastest way down into the Earth. It just so happened that the iPod headphones hanging around Sophie's neck provided the best trip to the ground. The bolt traveled down her body through the headphones and left her boyfriend squinting to see. He managed to carry her out of the park and to a main road where they found a ride to the hospital. There, the doctors told Sophie's family that the iPod saved her life. Instead of traveling through her body and hitting vital organs, the bolt went through the metal wire headphones. Though she was burned on the chest and stomach, she had no life threatening injuries.

I don't recommend entering a park with promotional electronics during a thunderstorm, ever. But this girl got very lucky. When I head out to lunch breaks at the nearby Cantiague park (Where three people were struck by lightning last summer) I just bring along a custom sports bottle and some good friends for a wonderful lunch break. But thank you Apple, your headphones saving little Sophie made for a delightful tale.

This has to be one of the funniest pranks I have ever seen on Gizmodo and it might be something that I might want to try out in my own office. Check out the smallest cubicle on the world, if it were up to me in our office there would be tons of promotional items all over the desk. The intern would be sitting on promotional note pads, and had a promotional bag as a trash bin. And to top it off have some promotional pens scattered all over the desk itself. Hey if we don't hire any interns in the future I might just switch someone's desk and say here is your new office.

Are you a bull in a china shop? A pink elephant in the corner? The 800lb gorilla in the room? I've completely run out of awkward animal euphamisms here, but my point is this: Do you fit in? And by you, of course I mean you and your business, you and your promotional products?

This past weekend, in addition to my awesome NKOTB experience (that I think Anthony might be a little jealous of if you read his comments over at my Motivators TV NKOTB blog), I also hit up the Greek Festival in Glen Cove NY. It's an annual tradition, and a great reason to have delicious spankopita and gyros, but there's also plenty of booths to check out. However, and I'm attributing this to that wonderful economy of ours, the pickings were slim. There were no handpainted signs that I could have purchased for my place. (Come on, everyone needs Life's a Beach painted mini surfboard). There were no delicious smelling candles that take forever to burn (yes, I'm talking about you Primal Elements!) There was no hand made soap with cute little designs of flowers and race cars. And sure, maybe I don't *need* race car soap, but I liked having the option. There was however...Andersen Windows?

I noticed that they were giving out promotional pens, but I was too busy being floored that Andersen windows had a booth there. Standing out is one thing, being somewhere where people question why you're there is a completely different story. Like I said, I went to the festival for Greek food and handmade soaps, not to get an estimate for how much weather proofing will cost me. Promotional items or not, it just seemed awkward. And maybe you're saying to yourself, "But Sarah, you remembered them!" and that is true. But I remembered them for seeming out of place and weird, not because their booth was a rockin' good time.

At the bar show on Sunday, as Anthony and I made our way through aisles and aisles of bar related things: liquor, food, DJ equipment, and ID scanners, we hit one of these out of place booths. Stuck in between a booth that was hosted by women in floor length formal gowns and another hosted by two guys in ball caps were: lawyers. Their booth was simple, and they did have promotional products as well. And since they seemed so out of place, Anthony and I simply had to ask, What are you doing here?

They explained that while they knew the show was more for companies that wanted people to buy their awesome DJ equipment (note: the lawyer didn't say awesome, I'm paraphasing) or their ID scanner, they knew they could help bar and restaurant owners. Everyone, especially bar and restaurant owners needs legal representation at some point in their life. So they realized that if someone took their pen, maybe, MAYBE someone would remember them and call them should they get into a jam. And that made sense to me. Andersen windows at the local Greek festival...still no idea on that one.

If you're going to a trade show, conference or a fair, make sure that it's one where you will fit in. And if you don't make sure your booth is a rockin' good time. As the saying goes, you attract more flies with honey. Anderson windows could have attracted more people with some sort of game to engage them, rather than just a product sample. Don't get me wrong, it was a nice window from the look of it, but if they had more of a draw than that, it wouldn't have seemed like Andersen windows was the kool aid man in the court room.

I don't go out of my way to avoid promotional products. I mean, having worked here as long as I have, I've developed a weird 6th sense of just paying more attention to them when I encounter them. So yesterday, when I went to join Planet Fitness I immediately noticed the custom t-shirts, custom pens, and promotional stickers they had readily availabe. I even overheard a guy say "Oh look honey, we get free t-shirts!" to his wife. Sadly, I'm not making that up. Just shows how much people love free stuff. Since I was joining with their special deal of $1 down and $10 a month, I figured the luxuries of promotional merchandise would not be tossed my way. I mean seriously, it's a great deal but we are in a recession here. The gifts would be tossed by way of those getting the more expensive plan. But just like Ozzie's encounter at Planet Fitness I too received the t-shirt, and pen. Although I received a sticker in lieu of a keychain.

Then, when I was at Blockbuster I noticed that anyone who rents Marley and Me receives a free promotional frisbee. I wasn't going to rent it, stuck with Season 3 of Bones instead but I did snap a pic. Because when I try to not pay attention to all the promotional items that are floating around in the world, that's when I get smacked in the face with them. But not litterally. Because that would hurt.

I was reading the news today and learned that an Asteroid nearly missed Earth yesterday.  I can see how no one has been talking about it, I mean, the possibility of the end of life on Earth as we know it is no big deal.  Although this asteroid missed Earth by over 44,000 miles, to put that a bit more in perspective, that is 1/5 the distance from here to the moon and only about double the altitude of satellites.  Accoreding to BBC news, an asteroid of similar size exploded over Siberia in 1908 and flattened 800 square miles of trees.  This story prompted me to do a little more research about asteroids since, for some reason, I find "end of the  world" possibilities incredibly facinating as long as they are restricted to fiction.  I found a good amount of information on HowStuffWorks.com.  Turns out a typical asteroid (about a mile across and traveling about 30,000 mph) hitting Earth would pretty much end all life on it.  To understand the impact of different sizes, they exmplain different scenarios as well,  For example, an asteroid the size of a house (incredibly small compared to most asteroids) would have a similar effect to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, flattening most structures within a mile and a half.  An asteroid the size of a 20 story building would destroy an area the size of most major US cities.  Finally, one about a mile wide, if the impact were in New York City, would do extensive damage and cause deaths to areas as far as Chicago or about 1000 miles.  However, the real impact would be more long term as the amount of dust and debris thrown into the atmosphere would likely block out the sun and eventually everything and everyone would die (this of course being a worst case scenario).  To reassure people that may be on the verge of tears right now, the detection equipment we have is so advanced that we even know that nearly 20 years from now, an asteroid titled 1997XF11 will come extremely close to Earth but will not hit us (so be sure to remember ... in 20 years ... duck!).  On a brighter note, let us enjoy all that this planet has to offer including quality promotional products from Motivators.com such the Earth Stress Reliever and the Bendy Earth Stress Ball.  Let the scientists worry about protecting our planet from asteroids and be sure to use these great promotional items to help spread the word about protecting it from everything else.