I dont know about any one else but my desk has tons of different items scattered all over the place. I wanted to introduce you to my latest find this week and it is the promotional multi-function "Desk Buddy Highlighter". This is one of my favorite items and it is great for keeping my desk tidier. My desk buddy has 4 neon highlighters, a retractable brush for cleaning the key board and a computer screen cleaner. Not to mention, the desk buddy looks alot like two of my co-workers, what do you think?  :-)

My wife and I just got back from a mini vacation to Lake Tahoe, CA.  We went snowboarding at Heavenly Mountian.  It was a great time even with the lack of snow.  The " Tahoe " sun was out all 4 days.  A suntan was the last thing I was thinking about when I went snowboarding, so I was not prepared.  As lunch time rolled around.. I took a look at myself in the mirror and realized I was going to be in for a world of hurt.  I headed directly to the shop and picked up some promotional sunblock.  They were cool they were branded with the mountain logo and cool image of a snowboarder and they had a sport clip so I could clip it to my board bag and never be without it.  and of course I paid a premium being @ 10,000 feet.  The good news is they even threw in some promotional candy to help heal the pain of the sunburn.

This morning at Motivators was an exciting one!  We had a visit from John Cudahy, a representative from one of our warehouses.  He brought in many interesting promotional products that will sure be a hit with our customers.  We saw new promotional flashlights, promotional cutlery and many diffrent types of promotional drinkware.  The one item that really stood out was the hand blown glass pilsner mugs.  They were extremely light and gave the liquid inside them a "floating" look.  These are sure to be a poplular seller for a wide array of our customers.  I also think our whole team is looking forward to getting a few samples for the office! 

Foxnews.com is reporting today that Twitter will be putting a harness on its privacy settings.

The announcement comes shortly after the social media giant admitted that they copied entire entries in smartphone address books and saved them to servers - without the knowledge of the user.

When one uses the Twitter iPhone app and clicks on "Find Friends" the app copies the entire entry, saves it to its server and then proceeds with the search. According to the Los Angeles Times, these entries are held on a server for 18 months. This completely goes against Apple's policy on applications, stating exclusively that transmitting a user's information without their knowledge is illegal.

To better understand the process, Twitter Spokesperson Carolyn Penner said that language such as the current "Scan Your Contacts" will be replaced with "Import Your Contacts" or "Upload Your Contacts." By doing this, the Twitter user will be giving permission for these entries to be held online for the aforementioned amount of time. No word on when these changes are supposed to take place.  

While you can't keep your smartphone, tablet or computer safe from everything on the Internet, you can protect these devices from scratches and bumps with promotional iPod covers, custom imprinted iPad cases and promotional computer bags.  

With yesterday being Valentines Day many treats were going around the office, and ofcourse many are hesistant on eating that 2nd piece of promotional chocolate, trying to hold onto their New Years resolution.  Well not my daughter! She indulged in Valentines Conversation Sweethearts, , chocolate truffles and cupcakes. What was even better is that she wanted to share these things with her little cousin, ( I believe that was partial to me telling her about the dentist and what happens when you dont take care of your teeth). All in all, we had a great day! We learned to share, try delicous treats, and learned about the dentist.

One of my best friends during work here at Motivators is my pen! I use my pen throughout the day and it is very important that it can write well and it must be blue ink. My favorite one that glides while writing at the gel pens. They are just so much easier to use than your ordinary click pens and your writing is much more legible (or so I think). Even though no one sees the notes I take or the scribbles I make, it makes me feel good to know that I use blue ink. Especially when I don't have to try to write and the pen just does everything for me. Makes me feel all that better. 

One of my favorite parts about my job is talking to my customers about what they do, and why they are ordering. Last week, I spoke to Jayson who is an export service representative at Rosenbauer America. But what does Rosenbauer America do? They make fire trucks! They also made the truck that is Sentinel Prime in the Transformers movie! When I was told that, I was blown away, and needed to ask for some swag. Jayson was kind enough to send me a huge package of their custom imprint promotional products that they have ordered. Below is an image of what I was sent: A custom imprinted lapel sticker, customer imprinted patch and lapel pin, promotional golf tees, personalized calendar, a screen printed T-Shirt, and an engraved bottle opener (reason they called to re-order). I am so excited to have received all of these amazing giveaways!

February 22, 2012, at the Prudential Center - Newark NJ, I will be attending my first professional basketball game. The two teams playing are the New Jersey Nets against the Orlando Magic.  I do not know much about basketball or the teams, but what makes this game so much more interesting for me is that, there is a turkish player on each team. Being a turk myself, this is a tough situation. I don't know which team to chear for! Do I go for Mehmet Okur - on the Nets or Hidayet Turkoglu - on the Magics. What I was thinking of doing was buying myself a pair of the promotional #1 Foam Hand from Motivators and printing each ones name on both sides and who ever scores go with that! I hope to have a blast and will update you guys that following week. Keep reading!

    "A chalice is not a glass, it is a chalice"

     That is one of the many lines you will hear from the latest promotion by Stella Artois. It was a simple promotion that involved people becoming the lucky recipients of the ever-so-coveted chalice. The chalice is a cup that was specifically designed for the Stella Artois beverage. Its gold rimmed elegance makes it highly desirable, giving the holder of the chalice an aura of class and sophistication. The chalice is so detrimental to Stella, that even at a bar, Stella Artois will be served to you in a chalice.

     The promotion is simple. First, you must go to Facebook and "Like" their page. You need to do this so when Stella posts a status giving the number you need to call for the chalice, you can see it. Then visit the page and call the number that Stella posts. Now when you call this number, feel free to listen to the automated voice on the other line listing the options available to you. The options she says are quite humorous.

     Now I must warn you, you will have to either wait on hold for a while, or keep calling back. I had to call over 20 times to finally get through. A free chalice is not an easy item to come by. Now when you do eventually get through, all you have to do is give them all your mailing information, and email address, and you will get a free Stella Artois chalice in the mail. That's it!

     This is a great promotional campaign. It is simple to participate, and gives Stella a chance to get new customers, plus vital marketing information. I found it so easy to do that I told a few of my co-workers about this and they called too. This was also a great opportunity for Stella to push their La Societe de Stella Artois, a campaign where you can win prizes by being a member of La Societe. When you called for your chalice, you are asked if you want to join La Societe. This is a perfect way to get the consumer engaged and interested in your brand.

     So several weeks go by, and one by one, each of my co-workers and myself begin receiving our promotional drinkware. They come packaged in very sturdy cardboard boxes, and have a thank you letter enclosed. I also received my membership into La Societe, which made my other co-workers very jealous. It came in an elegant black envelope, with a handbook, membership card, and invitations that I can give to people so they can join La Societe.

     Isn't she beautiful. Her hourglass figure and golden top make the chalice look stunning. Everyone is enjoying their chalice. My co-worker and friend Nicole, loves hers so much that she even drew a picture of us celebrating our chalices. Isn't the drawing amazing? (I am the handsome one in the picture)

Not a day goes by here at Motivators when I don't find myself using my trusty promotional 3 in 1 Tool Kit.  It is a funny story on how I came to acquire this promotional item.  Before I began working for Motivators, and I had no idea about the industry, my sister knowing my love for tools gave me this 3 in 1 Tool Kit.  She acquired it from her company as a promotional giveaway.  It must have been fate!  Now I find myself here at Motivators 3 years later selling the exact same products to companies like my sisters. I use this tape measurer every day.  I measure products, and imprint areas, and I even measured one of my co-workers one day.  Also when we moved office spaces the screw driver attachment came in handy to fix our bins! This is great product, and I recommend it to everyone who wants a fun promotional giveaway!