I recently came across an article about Russia now using inflatable vehicles to try to throw off the enemy.  Why we're hearing about it is beyond me, kind of defeats the purpose if it's public knowledge, but that's not our problem!  Russia is currently in talks with a company that develop a range of inflatable decoy armaments that could be strategically placed to deceive the enemy and lure them into attacking cheap, inflatable pieces of equipment with million-dollar rockets.  The inflatable T-80 tank weighs just 200 lbs, compared to over 8000 lbs for a real one, cost a few thousand dollars as opposed to a couple million for the real ones, and inflate in just minutes.

Another great way to cash in on inflatables is by letting Motivators Promotional Products supply you with some great promotional beach balls which make perfect summer giveaways.

I have been away from the blog for a while and I thought I would make my return blogging about advertising.  I've always been interested in fun and unique advertising, but at the same time, become disgusted at some depending on the location.  A well-placed, clever, heartfelt, advertisement is great, but there are some places advertising just does not belong.  One of the strangest locations I have ever seen during my day-to-day was in a parking lot.  I was going to Sports Authority, parked my car, got out, and saw a Desperate Housewives advertisement.  It was not on a building, or a billboard, or a shopping cart.  This advertisement was adhered to the lines that seperated the parking spots in the lot.

Another interesting location for advertising, that I just came across today, is in the form verification areas when you register or sign up for things online.  Near the bottom of forms you will often see "Enter text shown below" followed by an image of letters that look like they a few too many hits of something.  The letters are often twisted and difficult to read.  This portion of online forms is to verify that you are, indeed, a human and not an automated computer program trying to spam these online forms.  In an online form today I came across one of these verification areas yet again.  Only this time, there was an advertisement for Expedia instead of the usual "rT4tHujf78" in the image.  Underneath the Expedia logo was some quoted text that you had to enter.  This is pretty genius advertising because not only is there no avoiding the ad, but you have to actually type in the tag line, making it that much more successful of an advertisement.

Another way to get your name out there is by using quality promotional products from Motivators.com.  With over 40,000 products to choose from, you're sure to find exactly what you need.  And even if you can't, just give us a call at 1-800-525-9600 to speak with an experienced consultant.  A great, inexpensive, and effective way to get your name out there is by using custom key chains.  Hand them out at a trade show as a trade show giveaway.

I was watching an episode of the Simpsons yesterday called "To Surveil with Love" and once I got over the fact that the intro was to a Kesha song (the Simpsons singing "Don't stop, make it pop, DJ blow the speakers up" is just weird) I enjoyed one of the scenes in Moe's Tavern where Duff Man bursts in the door to refill beers and give away promotional products.

It went something like this:

"Ooh yeah!  Duffman is here to refill your beers!  Okay.  Thank you.  Now, for the only thing better than Duff…  Free Duff stuff!  Oh, yeah!  Now, who wants...beer cozies?!  A shirt that says "Yo!" Sassy seat cushions!  And flash drives for your PC so you can take your data and back!   It!   up!  Whoa!  I need some of that.   And now, Duffman has a dinner date with his estranged daughter.  Must not bring up why she dropped out of college.  It's too sad!"

Motivators.com has a huge selection of promotional can coolers, promotional apparel, promotional stadium cushions, and even custom imprinted flash drives.

I also recently went to Universal Studios in Orlando and went on the Simpsons ride which was fantastic.  After the ride there was a store decorated as the Kwik-E-Mark selling tons of Simpsons Merchandise, aka promotional products.

Last year around my birthday I wrote a blog entry about an email I got from ING Direct about the ING Direct Shop which was interesting to browse because it's full of promotional products.  The original blog was written about the Emergency Wind Up Lantern Radio which I later wrote another blog about after I found it again in Pep Boys.  As the third installment in my exciting Orange Promo Products blogs, I am writing about the same email I got last year on my birthday, only this year they've expanded their selection a bit.  One item in particular that I noticed is the Eco Friendly Owl Journal which I noticed was a Leeds item, which we also sell known as the EcoSmart Owl 51% Recycled Writing Pad.  I realized the one available from ING Direct is 100% recycled which either means that it is a fully custom item, or they falsely listed the percentage of recycled content because 51% is the correct amount.  Being a fully custom item is very possible since the color is definitely custom, but it is always important to be sure you are buying from a trustworthy source like Motivators to be sure of accurate information and available tools like expert advice from our experienced promotional consultants or free virtual proofs.  With a selection of tens of thousands of promotional products, Motivators.com is sure to have what you need.  And if you can't find what you need, call us and we'll find it for you.

This may be one of the most practical and simple uses of solar energy I've seen.  Made by Yanko Design, this Some Shine Solar Energy Storage System is an eco-friendly way to re-juice your electronics.  Simply hang the panel on your window during the day with the battery base attached at the bottom.  At night, plug your electronics into one of the two USB ports and you're all set.  No information about options or pricing yet but this is certainly something I would be interested in purchasing for myself.

For plenty of other eco-friendly electronics, look at the selection of energy friendly promotional items available at Motivators.com.  Some items comparable to the ability of the Some Shine Solar Energy Storage system are the Solar Charger Pack, Leeds Lunar Solar Charger, Leeds OptiSol Solar Mobile Charger, Deluxe Solar Charger, or the Gemline Catalyst Solar Computer Backpack.

Victorinox, creater of the popular Swiss Army Knives, have recently added the option of a USB drive in your pocket knife.  Known as the Presentation Master, this Swiss Army Knife comes with actual knives, without knives, with laser pointer, without laser pointer and so on.  They've created a version with nothing more than a flash drive as an airline friendly travel option.  Very recently, Victorinox has released a new version of the Presentation Master which, they say, in completely un-hackable and the most secure device of it's kind.

This new Presentation Master sports a fingerprint scanner, thermal sensor, and self destruct feature (Chief?  You're where??).  The fingerprint scanner is a great feature and has been around for some time, only recently added to flash drives to make them more secure. Victorinox took this security one step further and made the fingerprint scanner also a thermal sensor which means that the finger scan will not work if the finger is not attached to the body.  Additionally, if too many failed attempts are made to access the data, or someone tries to pry open the device, the flash drive will self destruct. 

Pricing on these Presentation Masters range from about $75 for 8GB up to about $270 for 32GB.  Aside from what has already been mentioned, The Presentation Master sports an LED light, retractable ballpoint pen, a blade, a pair of scissors, a nail file, a screwdriver, and a key ring (no news yet about a built in cell phone, MP3 player, and automatic car starter, but if I know Swiss Army, and I don't think I do, they'll have all those features soon).  On some models, there is even a bluetooth remote for presentations and a laser pointer.

Motivators has over 250 styles of custom USB flash drives as well as dozens of Victorinox Swiss Army Knives to choose from.  In to keeping your electronics safe and secure?  Check out the Leeds Technology Security Lock Set for peace of mind. 

Protecting the environment may start with eco-friendly promotional products but don't think it stops there!  Save the trees.  When you construct a home, put up a fence, or install a pool, build around those trees, don't knock them down.  Mother nature wants us to live comfortably, but not if we have to start cutting her limbs off.  For some design inspiration, I found these images on a great blog known as ThereIFixedIt.  

And when it comes to promoting your business, go easy on the environment by promoting with eco-friendly promotional products.  

As someone who has worked at 2 sign shops, I definitely have an appreciation for some good vehicle graphics, especially full wraps.  This advertisement appears to be for a zoo and is shown below on a city bus in Denmark.  Jobs such as this one can get pretty pricey at up to and even exceeding $15,000.  I always felt like these would be worth every penny because they move around so much.  One that catches the eye like this city bus would really give the company a good return on investment.

Looking for a great promotional item that catches the eye?  How about a custom imprinted print umbrella?  The Casino Automatic Folding Umbrella is a great eye catching promotional item because of it's size and bright colored print.  Bring customers into your casino by printing your company logo on the umbrella, just don't twirl it too fast or people won't be able to read it!

QR Codes are a new development that are already being used widely by Google.  Recently, The Weather Channel actually used one of these codes during it's broadcast.  For anyone who doesn't know what these codes are, they look like the one below and are used to link to either text or a URL.  If you have a phone where you can download a QR Code reader application, try it out with the one below and find out which amazing promotional items site you end up at.

The Weather Channel used this new technology to display a code which links to the download page for TWC phone application.  During the broadcast, a countdown, starting at 5, showed on the screen alerting you to ready your QR scanner.  After this, the code is displayed for 8 seconds so you can scan it.  I think this is a great idea, but should probably be up on the screen for a bit longer.  I also feel like they could use the codes to link to pages about the broadcast itself.  Kind of like at the very end, the newscaster(s) could say "Miss any of our broadcast?  Maybe there's just something you'd like to check out again.  Scan the code at the bottom of your television for more information."  Or Mybusters as another example.  During every episode they tell you to go to Mythbusters.com for deleted scenes and more info.  That could also be done by displaying a QR code with a link to their page for that particular episode.

Here's a great example.  To see Best Selling Promotional Items scan the code below.

Today I came across a site called One Billion Bulbs.  One Billion Bulbs is a division of Energy Trek, a company that aims to inform people on how to use less energy in the home.  One Billion Bulbs focuses on the lighting aspect of energy saving, specifically, changing to compact fluorescent lighting in the home.  This site encourages people to replace their bulbs by providing them with energy and money saving information.  So far, One Billion Bulbs has helped to change 169,036 bulbs to CFL in the United States.  When you think about the fact that there are over 100 million households in the United States, lets say there are 10 bulbs per house (although I'm sure that number is more like 40), that means there are one billion bulbs (hence their goal) in the country.  Unfortunately, 169,036 bulbs is less than 0.02%, but that is definitely a start, and also over 37 million lbs of greenhouse gas reductions.  I enjoy seeing a goal oriented group such as this that tries to make changes to the world in small, realistic ways, and they are certainly succeeding.  I believe they should succeed even more via the use of promotional items!

Ok, here's my vison.  Mail out the following Light Bulb Stress Reliever to the selected households...

Then a week or two later mail out an Energy Saving Bulb Squeezie Stress Reliever ...

The hope is that, even though they may throw it away because it says "throw this away", it should definitely be something they will think about and remember.  Two weeks later when they recieve the next item, they'll think back to the original mailer and realize the connection.  Then they will say "oh boy!  This is the most well thought out mailer I've even received!  I'm going to go change all of my incandescents to CFL's right now!"  Perhaps that reaction was exaggerated, but I think it would work out well.

Another great way to save the world one item at a time is by the use of eco-friendly promotional products from Motivators.

Information for this blog taken from One Billion Bulbs, Energy Trek, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration.