American Sol Jake 0519

May 2019 .PROMO

Inspiring Promotional Products Buyers with Imaginative Ideas

Tesla’s Branding Tesla’s Employees BUY BIG & Show Off Company’s Cool Stuff

Eco Products

NY State Eliminates Garbage Bags, Other States to Follow Huge Promo Bag War to Ensue

Pre-Summer Advice

Promo Sunscreens are NOT All the Same

Case Studies

How Sponsoring an Anti-Bullying Effort Can Win Big

New PROMO Merch Store

Enables Anheuser Bush to Collect Customer Data

Jake Wells American Solutions for Business jwwells@americanbus.com http://www.americanbus.com 314-477-7496

CONTACT THE PROMOTIONAL

L PRODUCTS DISTRIBUTOR FEATURED ON THE COVER OF IDENTITYEDGE.PROMO

Bringing You the Best fo

or Over 25 Years

COOL IT, KID

MILLIONS GRADUATE EACH YEAR

Elon Musk’s

Tesla Employees

BrandsAreHO

YOUR BRAND is the most important thing to your company. It’s image and how its viewed, distributed and worn is the way people identify with your company and its products.

But, when your EMPLOYEES start buying up your logoed merchandise then you know you’ve got the right stuff. That’s what happened at Tesla; their employees bought tons of their promo products at their Gigafactory and that’s making news.

Tesla employees told CNBC that they were stocking up on logoed merchandise at the employee-only store because they got big discounts even though the merchandise was still pretty pricey by all accounts.

Even in the face of stiff prices their employees still spent hard-earned dollars.

Every time we hear about these stories its validates the power of logoed merchandise.

Brands it seems--all by themselves--have value.

We already know Elon Musk is a genius at branding. About a year ago he started selling hats with the logo: The Boring Co. He was raising money to start building a new boring machine and we covered that in a previous issue of IdentityEdge. Musk raised a million dollars with that promo hat; shows how our industry scores yet another big success.

What items were big sellers at the Tesla store? The Tesla Corporate Jacket, Caps, a Leather Tote Bag, and Touchscreen Gloves

Tesla Employees Lining Up at the Gigafactory Company Store to Grab Company-logoed Merchandise

Tesla has 40,000 employees. Even if only one in 20 employees buy and wear their promo items Tesla will get over 1,400,000* ad impressions that are personal endorsements of the Tesla brand. Do the same with your employees--make them your walking billboards--develop one with really cool promo items. *Assumes 2,000 employees personally wear their promo item just five times a month for a year. Each item is seen by at least ten people durng the wearer’s day.

s Scoff Up Their Company’s Promo Merchandise

OT

Contents May 2019

Employees Love & Wear Tesla’s Promo Merchandise Because its COOL

20 NY & 200 Other Cities Ban Single Use Plastic Bags Huge Opportunity Looms for Branded Bags

Your Logo

Select, DON’T Settle--Create a Trend with Your Logo

28 New Trends

Reversible Sweatshirts Exciting New Promo Idea

Case Study

Eco-Friendly Products are Important to the Environment, Even Promotionally

34 Case Study

Anti-Bullying is a Great Cause to Support Corporate wide

Sunscreen

All Sunscreen Products are NOT Created Equally

42 Anheuser-Bush

AB Farms Data from Promo Products to Increase Beer Sales

Promo Pen Company Helps Apollo 11

After Ditching Tools on Moon, Space Pen Flips Switch for Takeoff

.promo

Tesla’s Branding

STOCK SHAPES

Honor Their Moment with

MAKE THE MOMENT M

the Finest Diploma Covers

MORE MEMORABLE

State-Wide Plastic Bag

Ban

Presents Huge Opportunity for Advertising YOU

Poly does beca arou thum good of oi non they tics.

We predict over time that many states--not just California and New York--will choose to eliminate disposable bags. As this happens many companies will smartly step in and take over that advertising void. If there’s ever been a good time to invest in nonwoven reusable eco-friendly bags its now!

And if you do you will reap the advertising benefits. When everyone in town is carrying your logo around from the grocery store to other outlets you will have achieved promo nirvana.

RIght now there are over 200 cities that have totally banned plastic bags. Its not a trend, its growing exponentially. The best alternative to plastic bags is putting your logo on a bag you can use more than twice.

Every material is different and carries a different footprint environmentally. Here’s the low-down on bags from best to worst.

Jute/Hessian--its a “10”. Made from naturally biodegradable vegetable fibers, Jute is a renewable source and plants devour carbon. When this bag is worn out you can add it to your compost heap...where it will break down.

Canvas/Calico--Cotton bags can be used hundreds of time, remain washable and

Bans--HI has a de facto statewide ban Fees or taxes Labeling, recycling or reuse programs CA has both a ban and labeling, recycling or reuse programs Pre-emption

are biodegradable. If you want to take it one step further, look for organic cotton options. Cotton farms use a lot of water so make sure this bag is made to last.

Non ric-li chem light man pret a lon and style good logo

Reusable Paper--Paper bags are great because they can be recycled or composted but they are not durable and for us don’t pass the two plus use test. They are eco-friendly for sure and that’s why we consider them in the top ten.

American Ad Bag

ns

UR Brand

ypropylene “Green” Bag--Green sn’t mean good in this case but ause these bags can be used for und two years we give them a slight mbs up. Additionally there’s more d news. These bags are a by product il production and as such are from a n-renewable source, but two years later y can be recycled with other soft plas.

n-Woven Bags--are made from fabike material bonded together by mcial, heat or solvents. They are t-weight, strong, colorful and come in ny different styles. We rate them tty high because they stay around for ng time, have a HUGE imprint area can basically mimic many other bag es that are more expensive. If it looks d people will use it...just add your o.

ECO-PRODUCTS

YOUR

LOGO

When it comes to branding your promo merchandise, don’t ever settle, select.

That’s why it’s so important for you to know all about the available decorating techniques. There are so many different ways to put your logo on a product; many more than you’ve heard of. So let’s begin on this sometimes confusing journey to define and talk about dozens of different “decorating” techniques.

Choosing the right logo decoration technique is where we--your Promotional Products Distributors--are experts. Think about this for a moment. You have a really cool logo. You want to print it on a t-shirt, but you also want to put it on a leather bag, and five other products.

Each product can require a different printing method. Many times designs, sizes and techniques don’t translate between materials.

We know these things because we live eat and breathe promotional products. To begin with there are six basic ways to put your logo on virtually any product.

Screen Printing Embroidery Heat Transfer Etching Engraving Pad Printing Laser Engraving

There are hundreds o

Below are the less well-known techniques for logoing products. But without a doubt there are some really good ones. And if you combine techniques you just might be able to start the “next new hot trend”.

Bling Digital Printing Dye-Sublimation Dye-Fusion Trapunto Debossing Embossing Laser Applique Cut Vinyl Decoration Direct to Garment (DTG) Reverse Applique Tackle Twill Decal Transfer Die-Casting Die-Striking Embedments Hot Stamping Offset Lithograph Laser Etching Woven Threads Puff Printing Puff Embroidery Combo Embroidery & Screen Printing PVC Flexible Labels

Combine screen p with embroidery f depth.

Use bling and scre ing together.

Puff print the left silk screen the slee your shirt program

As you can see, th hundreds of choic

Be creative, own t hot new trend in l your products!

of different logoing techniques. Choose a really cool one.

Make Your Brand

printing for visual

een print-

chest, but eve of m.

here are ces.

the next logoing

Stand Out Screen Printing Embroidery

New Trend

Just before press time we saw this really great item and wanted to share it with you.

Imagine this: A sweatshirt that is reversible with two different materials and two different logos on each side.

How cool is that? It is.

The product is very well made. If there’s any product that deserves a special mention, it’s this one.

New Craze Reversable

Sweatshirts

Case Study OK, so you want to do something to promote your company and help save the planet. You’ve already taken as many steps as you can to recycle just about everything in your office. Now its time to venture out and see what you can do to impact the market, make more sales and get more brand impressions.

With that being said there are a ton of ways to brand your company which will let your community know you’re on board with eco-friendly products.

Do some eco-friendly products cost more?

Yes, but for the most part they are on par with non-eco products. So that makes even more sense to try and use eco-products whenever you can.

And make this part of your program, kick it up a notch: Encourage employees to bike or use public transit for their commute. Involve them in revamping office recycling practices using green materials like recycled paper. Start reducing overall paper waste from printing (not everything needs to be printed!)

And protect your employees work environment by only using non-toxic cleaning products.

Eco-Friendly Products Score Big in Creating Branding Impressions Recycled Paper USB Drives

Re-cycl

Bento Boxes

led Wood Barrel Pens

Jute & Cotton Bags

Re-usable Can Coolers

Wooden Drink Coasters

Plastic Corn Golf Tee’s

Reusable Metal Straws

Case Anti-Bull Study Be prepared. Before it happens, know what you’re going to think, say, do and feel if you are being bullied.

That’s the kind of things being taught by schools but they need your corporate help to expand these programs. You can make a big impact in your community by assisting the schools in your neighborhood by developing an anti-bullying program with them.

Why should you promote this program? Bullying doesn’t just happen in school, or during the school years; it is something that can continue on throughout adulthood. It’s very important for kids to learn at an early age how to act and react to create happiness in their own life, regardless of the actions of others.

There are so many different things you can do that we can’t possibly list them all.

There are prevention programs for grades 6-12.

You can provide a place to hold those sessions and in addition provide promotional merchandise that supports your sponsorship.

“Don’t Laugh at Me” is a program that enables respect and is used for elementary to middle schools.

“Kids Against Bullying” teaches both kids and adults about bullying.

“The Bully Free Program” is one of the biggest in

terms of its scope. It involves a lot of planning to develop with admin/teachers. It requires a fair amount of plannning and developing strategiesfor all grades preschool through high school. The most important element of this program is the communities involvement and when you sponsor this promotional program you will reach the hearts and souls of your consumers with your generosity. The results from running this promotional program are, well, pricesless.

“KiVa” is one of the world’s most effective anti-bullying programs according to Janna Juvonen, lead author and professor of Psychology at UCLA. Supporting a program like KiVa can combat bullying in a big way.

What’s the pay back for supporting a promotional program designed to stop bullying?

These kids will show vast improvements in self-esteem, mental health, perception of the school’s environment, and kindness towards other students. Those are just a few of the things you’ll do when you support one of these programs.

What’s at stake? According to Juvonen, nearly half of the sixth graders she interviewed were bullied by fellow classmates during a five day period. Think that bullying isn’t epidemic? It is.

What products will you use to promote your company and the anti-bullying effort? Posters, banners, wristbands, COOL t-shirts, and other wearables do a great job.

Pro Pro

lying

omo ograms

ALL

Sunscreen

It can be quite a puzzle figuring out which promo products you can trust and those you’d better avoid. We know the difference and can guide you. There are over 1,000 promotional sunscreen-related products available with your logo on it.

We are going to talk about the ingredients in high quality sunscreen. But let’s talk about the SPF ratings first...which are all important when making your decision.

SPF--Sun Protection Factor--is how the industry measures the product’s ability to protect from UVB rays damaging the skin.

So, what’s the difference between SPF 5 and SPF 100? A lot without zinc.

Without zinc you’re still going to get tanned. The zinc content is all important to preventing sun damage to the skin. With that being said, there’s not one sunscreen

is NOT Created Equ

that bans sunscreens that have been reportedly leading to bleaching the coral reefs. So any product containing Oxybenzone or Octinozate won’t be allowed. Apparently those chemicals damage the DNA in coral.

So you can see its not just about picking a pretty looking package anymore, there are consequences both to your client’s skin and to the environment to consider.

Again, ask us. We know the right brand with the right level of protection.

made that can eliminate ALL of the UV rays. But you can do your best and ask for Broad Spectrum-based Sunscreen products.

With two types of sun radiation to deal with--UVA & UVB--Broad Spectrum provides protection against both types of radiation.

Here’s an interesting fact and a real threat that’s only recently been reported.

In Hawaii their legistlature passed a bill

The way the government mea screen quality is based on th SPF 15 eliminates 9 SPF 30 eliminates 9 SPF 50 eliminates 9 SPF 100 eliminates

ually

asures sunhis formula: 93% 97% 98% 99%

SnugzUSA

AB ANHEUSER-BUSCH

Collects Customer Data

Anheuser-Busch, and Anheuser-Bush InBev, as Ad Exchanger reported, are gearing up significant “cloud commerce capabilities to increase and centralize shopper data.”

Their use of promo products is KEY in creating data for its beer sales.

Yes, you read right.

AB InBev is selling promo merchandise and closely following their customers in the process.

Their purpose: Be profitable and garner shopper data to grow their beer sales.

Capturing all of this transactional data and sales provides the ability for them to appeal to their consumer-centric business. We think that’s a fancy way to say, “know thy customer.”

WIth this centralized customized data base AB InBev was able to drive traffic to stores that needed an increase in sales. That’s just a simple application, you can imagine how many other metrics are captured.

USING PROMO PRODUCTS

HOT SPORTS GRILLS

Promo PenCompany It was a story not heard outside the US Space program, but the Fisher Space Pen (silver edition shown) helped them return to earth. One of the astronaunts brushed up against and broke a switch that would activate the Lunar Module engines to return to the mother spacecraft.

To conserve on weight, they had to leave their regular tools behind. Using their Fisher Space Pen the astronaunts were able to use the pen to activate the switch for a safe lift-o from the moon.

Helped Apollo 11 Mission

Fisher Space Pens Work in Harsh Environments Available with Your Logo...Where No Other Pen Can Go!