I am not now, nor was I before, nor will I be in the future a basketball fan. Baseball is my sport of choice followed by football. I'm a Mets fan and a Giants fan and thats it. I don't have anything against the Knicks or the sport of basketball, I'm just not that into it.

That being said though, I'm a sucker for a good underdog story. The Mets being a perennial underdog may be part of the reason. Recently though, the underdog overcoming all odds has been the spotlight story in sports. In football, the Giants have Victor Cruz who barely made it off the practice squad to have one of the greatest offensive seasons in Giants history. And now, there is Jeremy Lin.

Jeremy Lin is the 2nd player in NBA history that is a Harvard graduate. He is the first Asian-American in NBA history. He has been released by 2 NBA teams and was about to be released by the Knicks.

Then given the chance to start, he grabbed the bulls by the horns and never looked back. Even when the Lakers and the great Kobe Bryant came in, having never heard of him, they left having lost and having Jeremy Lin score 38 points on them.

The entire nation has taken notice, and did I mention it has only been 5 games?

You can bet, because of the Knicks recent Lin-ing streak, they are going to be selling a lot more tickets and certainly selling a whole ton more promotional apparel.

This isn't just crazy. This is Lin-credible.

You will have to excuse the Motivators Blog today. Sure, last night was the Super Bowl, which annually is the most watched television event in the US and in the World each year. Motivators, if you didn't already know, is headquartered in New York. So you will have to excuse the staff if we are all a little unusually excited about last night's game. In case you were living under a rock, our New York Giants beat down the rival New England Patriots. It was an absolutely thrilling game that literally came down to the last few seconds. Like I said though, this ISN'T just another Super Bowl blog. This is about the good people at Modells' Sporting Goods.

You see, moments after Eli Manning stepped off the podium in Indy with his Super Bowl MVP trophy in hand, I left to drive myself and friends home. On our way home, at about 1030 / 11 at night, we saw the lights shining through and cars going in and out. Thats right, they were selling the New York Giants 2012 Championship promotional apparel already.

So who was I to keep on driving by? With every staff member on hand it only took about 10 minutes to choose my promotional t-shirt and be on my way. There was every type of championship branded item you could imagine though.

And 50% off Jets jerseys. No joke.

So by 1130 I was home with my shiny new Giants Championship and in bed by midnight, right around the time many people were just getting to many Modells to purchase their apparel.

So to you Modells' in Douglaston, Queens thank you for opening up right after the Super Bowl and thank you for you fantastic service.

I think it may have been mentioned once or twice here on this blog, but if it hasn't been, this Sunday is the Super Bowl. It is completely fair to say that no other event during the course of a year captivates more attention than the Super Bowl. Due to this reason, companies choose this day to promote themselves. From the largest companies in the world, like Pepsi or Volkswagen to even the small businesses around the corner, everyone tries to get in on the fun.

                      This is the story of a small business that tried to get in on the fun.

One of the best BBQ places in Long Island, and maybe in New York, is Smokin Al's in Massepequa.  Fantastic BBQ food, without question.  Al himself announced via local news outlets this weekend that he will refund the cost of every Super Bowl platter purchased from him should the Giants win the Super Bowl. As word spread locals got very excited about the possibilities! Imagine your favorite team winning the Super Bowl and then getting the party you watched it during free.

So calls started pouring in. And then as it turned out the fine print came out. Minimum $200 purchase. One other thing, there was "limited availibility on the promotion." So by the time the story was announced, they were not letting anyone else join in. They say all publicity is good publicity. I say not if you excite the customers for nothing.

So if you are throwing a Super Bowl party yourself don't buy logo beer glasses if you can't get them for everyone, get promotional stadium cups for everyone!

The moral of the story, don't leave people out!

Who of us have not been a victim of an Internet meme that has gone viral? I know that I myself spend way too much time on Facebook and Twitter clicking on all the different links that my friends post. However, the latest YouTube video I have discovered that is going viral I actually found via News12 Long Island.

Now full disclosure, I would not be surprised if this is not real. It could be just a very well edited and animated clip. What the video shows, is a chameleon interacting with multiple pairs of customized sunglasses.  Within seconds, the chamelon adapts its skin to the color of the sunglasses placed in front of it.

If this is real, I must say, its very cool. We all grow up learning in school about quirky things in nature and the world around us, but so often we never get to see or experience these things.

That being said, Super Chameleon, has been viewed almost 4.5 million times with over 13,000 likes. So whether it is real or not, you can't argue that it is going viral.

Pass it on.

It is January 16th. You have officially, recovered from your New Year's Eve hangover, worked on or broke your resolution and now if you are lucky, you are off for Martin Luther King Day. Once that is over, it is time to change your focus on two important days. The first is Groundhog Day, and the 2nd, which is probably more important for many of you is Valentine's Day. Unless you happen to be a Groundhog lover or owner it is probably important to get started working on your Valentine's Day gifts now. Especially, if "you" are a company, there is nothing wrong with treating your favorite customers, or those not yet customers, as your Valentine's Day sweethearts.

The cornerstone Valentine's Day is of course promotional candy. It's the perfect way to make anybody, be it your loved one or customer feel wanted. There are many different possibilities. For example you can go the classic traditional route and give out imprinted Valentine's Conversation Hearts Sweetheart Boxes. However, maybe you want to make your message last forever. In that case, you can give out some custom small heart tins filled with your choice of candy. Then when the candy is done, your message is still number one! There are tons of options, so you better get looking now. Before you know it the Groundhog will see his shadow and time will almost be up!

One of the most popular phrases a company will use to describe itself, to attract new customers, is by calling itself "a one stop shop."It's a common phrase used by many, but is not always true. If a car care store calls itself a one stop shop for all your car care needs, can you get a paint job there? An oil change? If you actually needs to go elsewhere, then it isn't factual.

We here at Motivators pride ourselves on being a one stop shop for all your promotional trade show needs. Certainly, we can start with the obvious, we have a humongous selection of branded tradeshow giveaways. Whatever it is you could want to give away to your customers we are able to provide you.  However, we also have the branded apparel you need for the entire company to look its best at your trade show. Many would believe, that would be enough to call yourself a "one stop shop" but Motivators isn't done. We can actually provide your entire tradeshow setup, from trade show tents to trade show displays.

A "one stop shop" means you can go from having nothing you need to everything you need without going anywhere else. Motivators made sure that was covered head to toe.

Who could ask for a better Sunday? Monday was a holiday and there was a full slate of pretty important football games for the masses to watch. For New York football fans, you had two must win games, one for each team. Sure the Jets would need a little magic, but that didn't make their game any less exciting.The Jets didn't win, but it didn't matter in the end because all the magic Jets fans needed to occur didn't. For Giants fans, it was either win against the Cowboys and head to Met-Life Stadium the following week to watch the G-Men live while holding their promotional stadium cups or lose and go home to watch Dallas while drinking from their logo beer glasses they keep in their cabinets. It was a fantastic game that even had a bit of nostalgia in it with a play by Eli Manning and Victor Cruz reminiscent of "The Great Catch" from the 2007 Super Bowl. The Giants would of course come out victorious and now have a at least a chance to be the ones wearing the Super Bowl Champions promotional apparel when all is said and done.

If you ask the average person to describe what a promotional product is, they likely will tell you it is branded item to put in your customers hands. It is close, but really, not 100% true.  Sure most promotional products are made to fit in the palm of your hand, but they can also fit under the soles of your feet.  Many people do not realize or think of promotional floor mats as a viable branding opportunity.. The reality is it is a fantastic value option for every business in a retail or office space. The cost of a promotional floor mat ranges based on what your need is. Your basic 2" x 3" digital mat can start about $50 - $100 a piece. There are also higher end floor mats for those that may have a.....dirty or wet clientele. Our higher end mats can be either a branded Superscrape Floor Mat, which is made to literally scrape dirt and grime off people shoes, or a customized Waterhog Floor Mat which has been certified “slip-resistant” by the National Floor Safety Institute. It is a fantastic value option to have your logo seen by every person that enters or exits your work area. So take advantage of it, it is the one time when it is good to let people walk all over you!

It's almost over, you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. That's right its crunch time in the holiday season. That means within days you can stop worrying about secret santas and holiday parties and family gatherings and gifts for your significant other and gifts FROM your significant other, so on and so on. Remember, it is important to try to enjoy the season too.

One of the best ways to relax is to enjoy a personal spa day. Understandably, however, not everyone can afford the cost of enjoying a full service spa. If you can't make your way to spa, then you may as well bring the spa to you.

You can start with some Motivators promotional health and well being items. For example, you can start with a Leeds Aura Incense kit to create the mood and then add the Leeds Essential Spa Set for the full relaxation effect. If you really want to be accurate and get into the relaxation mood, don't forget a promotional towel to hang around in for the full effect.

Remember, its the holiday season, find some time to enjoy it and RELAX.

Typically, the goal for most marketing promotions is to increase sales or increase your customer base. So the first thing companies do is figure out who to target to have the greatest immediate impact. Maybe it is 18-24 year old males, or 45+ females, that is the group of people who would most likely become your customer and spend money with you. Those are the people that you would make sure receive your promotional products. The one group most forgotten about is the youth factor. Most companies forget to target the youth so often because children obviously don't have the financial capabilities or the decision making power. Or do they? If you turn your attention to the children, instead of the parents, you can build their brand allegiance and therefore pressure parents into going one way or the other. It's the reason promotional products have been in Happy Meals for years! That's why Motivators carries a huge variety of promotional products that will make kids love your brand. Such popular items like custom rubber band bracelets and promotional coloring books are always a big hit with kids. So next time you put together your marketing campaign...won't somebody think of the children??