It's always nice to come across promotional products in action. Each of us here spend our day processing who knows how many orders for different branded items, yet only so often do we actually receive them in our day to day lives.

Well it just so happens that a good family friend of mine works as a distributor for Hormel Foods. He works with supermarkets around the region to get his brands on their shelves. You may recognize Hormel itself as a brand name but they also distribute such brands as Dinty Moore, SPAM, Jennie-Os and Chi-Chi's.

Recently, Hormel proudly announced it had acquired the Skippy brand. The peanut butter everyone knows and loves would be joining the Hormel brands and family. 

So, in addition, to getting varieties of Skippy peanut butter what else did Hormel employees get? Why, peanut stress relievers of course!

It's a fun giveaway for employees and clients of Hormel to remind them in the simplest way of who Skippy is and what they do.

If they are lucky everyone will pass their giveaways around to family and friends -- the same way I received them -- and really get some nice brand recognition going!

Gentlemen, hold on to your seats and grab a few promotional stress balls because this simulation will allow you to experience what most of you have doubted.

There is a new video phenomenon that is making its way through the Internet. Ever wondered what it is like to go through childbirth? How much pain your partner endures through this miracle event is just unreal.

Luckily, doctors across the world have found a way! This child birth simulator allows you to feel all of the contractions your spouse does and hopefully allows you to have a stronger appreciation for all mothers out there. If you haven't seen it already, check it out below:

At Motivators, there is one item in particular that I can say we have in any shape, size or form you want: a stressball.  Any event, industry, holiday, fundraiser you may have, we have a stressball for it.

Recently an ENT office called and asked for an ear. AN EAR? Yes, an ear stress ball. Item # 46942, all I had to do was type it in the Motivators search engine and it came up. I was a champ! I thought to myself, if we have an ear stress ball, what other odd items could we have? I made a list. Could any of these help promote your event?

Brains, any animal you could imagine, an alien, fire extinguisher, a taco, poker chips, an egg, a steamroller, lego blocks, an oil derrick, a wine bottle, a shrimp and my favorite a curling rock (see below).  In conclusion they have thought of everything to make into a small squeezy version of whatever you may want to take your daily frustrations out on!

What is the best way to have a stress-free office, you may ask? Yes, stress relievers are great and stress management classes provide tons of useful information, but if you ask me the best way to decrease the stress level in any workplace is to get an office pet!

Our wonderful co-worker Elyse, was kind enough to bring in her adorable pet dog, Lily, during the month of November, and got all of us so used to her. Every morning, as we walked into the office, she would greet everyone, and throughout the day she would cuddle and play. Especially during lunch time, she was great at being extra friendly, so she could possibly get a taste of what everyone was eating. 

Eventually as she got used to us too, and she started venturing out and exploring what else was out there in the office space. Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago, Lily had to temporarily relocate, so every morning, coming in, we do not get to see her cute little face, bringing us cheer and happiness.

But we are all looking forward to the day when she is back in the town, and is here to greet us again every morning. Looking forward to that day, we all need to make sure we stock up on our promotional pet products so Lily has everything she needs and is entertained!

Stress relievers are so underrated. They’re just normally neglected. Some people tend to ignore them thinking they're toys that serve no purpose; dust magnets.

I love stress relievers. How could you not adore a round stress ball that smiles at you the moment you arrive at the office in the morning?

How could you disregard a turtle stress reliever that reminds you to slow down when everything seems to be really fast and things are getting unorganized?

There’s also the apple stress reliever that'll help keep the doctor away: 

Or, you can always go for orange, pineapple or strawberry stress relievers as your dessert alternative.  I'm not saying you should eat it; what I'm trying to point out is that it’s a good way to remind one’s self that fruits are better than other after-meal treats like chocolates, ice cream, etc.

We also have a lot of house stress relievers to remind you that after a whole day’s work, you have your family and loved ones waiting for you at home.

My whole point is that stress relievers are so effective in soothing one's physical and mental stress.  They come in different shapes, sizes, appearances and themes. You can choose to squeeze them to help you de-stress.  Even just looking at them makes one’s bad mood turn unto something brighter, cheerful and positive.

clout (noun) \klaut\: PULL, INFLUENCE. We all have it, albeit to varying degrees.  And if you have a Twitter or Facebook account, you probably have Klout, too.

Klout is a California-based organization that measures a person's influence across one or more social networks.  According to the company's Web site, one's Klout score is based on his or her "ability to drive action." For a (humorous) look at what Klout's all about, check out the video below:

All jokes aside, part of my responsibility at Motivators is to post on several social media platforms, so Klout has become an important resource for me.  According to Mashable, yesterday Klout began employing a new scoring model in order to more accurately report rankings.  When I read that some Klout scores may change dramatically, I was dreading the worst.

As I approached the office today, I couldn't help but think, "Wow, this is definitely a movie moment."  Let me paint a picture for you:  Skies were grey, the rain was pouring to the point that my promotional umbrella was barely able to keep me dry, and my imagination was running wild.  How far could my Klout score have dropped overnight?  I clocked in at exactly 9:00 a.m. (damn Long Island traffic), and nervously logged into Klout.com.

I let out a sigh of relief; Motivators' score only dropped by a few points.  Phew!  This is nothing I can't handle!

But others weren't as fortunate.  Take Twitter user @allauremkt, for example.  She Tweeted this morning, "Wow has @klout gone crazy! I went from a score of 58 to 47 in one day..."  Eek!

The good news is that with the new scoring metrics, Klout also offers information on how to improve one's score.  "When your Klout Score changes you will be able to match it to a corresponding change in one of these subscores and understand why the change has occurred," said Klout CEO Joe Fernandez.

So if you're one of the individuals or companies whose Klout score has changed drastically, don't fret.  You'll get out of this alive!  And if at any point it becomes more than you can handle, squeeze your promotional stress ball tightly and think happy thoughts.

This weekend was hectic with all the moving to the new apartment. I sure couldve used a few promotional stress balls to melt the nerves and stress away! My favorite stress ball currently is the yoga girl stress ball. Despite all the stress, it was a very exciting weekend because I love to organize, sort and get rid of useless items (ofcourse to make room for new stuff). The only thing that was missing was our coffee maker and our personalized coffee mugs. I like the 11 oz size, I dont need much coffee just something to get my day started. Promotional products are a part of my life!

I recently met up with my college roommate for some down time at the beach. It was a gorgeous day, perfect for promotional can coolers. One thing you can recognize right off the bat about my roommate is that he loves his funny promotional t-shirts. Whether its his famous "Manure Occureth" shirt or the "Made in Ireland" shirt that might as well be glued to his chest, he always has a promotional t-shirt with a witty comment on it.

We got to talking about his shirt and started talking about Texts From Last Night, a website where people submit their funny text messages. These messages can then be printed onto a promotional t-shirt. The two of us have successfully gotten text messages published on the website and thought about getting a t-shirt from TFLN. But then we had an even better idea - finding other websites with funny phrases and printing these quotes on promotional t-shirts. And there is no better source for funny phrases than Twitter.

I recently came across an article compiling the funniest tweets from the day of the earthquake on the East coast, which was more of an inconvenience than anything. There are too many on here that keep me laughing and would surely make a great promotional t-shirt. And there are some hillarious Twitter accounts such as @Shitmydadsays and @Oprahreadsnews that I can totally see spark converation if found on a promotional water bottle.

But there are infinite opportunities for funny promotional products. Twitter isn't the only source for quotes - other websites on the Internet or inside jokes around the office can make perfect imprints on just about any promotional product. (not just promotional t-shirts) I've seen some very hillarious custom imprinted awareness bracelets, promotional tote bags and custom imprinted stress balls around the office.

Investor or not, the state of the stock markets this week would be enough to give anyone grey hair and wrinkles. As Brandon had pointed out (as well as the Kansas City Star, Bloomberg, CNN and New York Times - just to name a chosen few) there are a wide variety of factors affecting this. (the chart below is the market stats over the last 5 days) All I know is that in times of crisis (as it has been done in the past), I turn to humour and comedy as a way to promote awareness and see the lighter side of things. But I am not alone in this. 

Motivators has a wide-array of humourous promotional products that can help anyone out of a financial bind. Just imagine the laughs you'll get with the Promotional Shocked Mood Dude Stress Reliever or the Custom Imprinted Devil Stress Ball with a witty imprint logo as opposed to a more traditional promotional stress ball. Or perhaps a promotional t-shirt with some witty (or even derogatory) comment about the current state of the market is more of your style? I can see it now: promotional umbrellas that read "Watch for falling stocks" or "I had to sell my chalice." on a promotional mug.

Feeling down and out? It's not your fault; it's just another case of the winter blues. Symptoms include not waking up for your alarm, over drafting your bank account and possible fender benders. While these things can happen all year long, the holidays enjoy heightening the woes they bring in fascinating fashion. For instance, while you may have snoozed twenty minutes to long, the winter will provide you with a snow covered car to tally up the late minutes. The bank charging you $45 dollar overdraft fees for those five buck purchases at 7-11? Well, this winter they're exclusively offering late fees as well - ta da! $45 becomes $75. And don't think the winter blues were just being friendly when that guy ran the red light and smashed your bumper - a special offer is in place all winter long that guarantees a totalled vehicle with every dent.
                              
Now you may think you're alone with this wintery woeness, but you're not. Thousands of other Americans are suffering similar symptoms like identity theft, death in the family and red light camera tickets. While recuperation times vary, we ensure a stint of good luck in the up coming year if you take the correct dose of medication. Just select the trade show giveaways that best represent your hardships and have them imprinted with excellence. Surely car shaped promotional stress balls will cure the pain of your brand new hiked up insurance premium. And lovely logo travel alarm clocks will look just smashing imprinted with "You Snooze You Lose."
                             
Healing your winter blues is entirely up to you, so take the time to really consider these trade show items and your imprint. One last minute change in font could prolong your illness so you'll want to think long and hard about your ultimate decision. I'm interested in any home remedies you have as well - the winter blues sincerely love originality.

As the curtains close on 2009, be confident that your winter blues will follow you long into March. With only one blizzard so far, you can bet your snow shovel and gloves that the winter blues has something up its sleeves.