CORPORATE JEWELLERY
Friday, November 6th, 2009Cufflinks, lapel pins, brooches, stick pins, tie pins, tieslides, even earrings and other ladies jewellery. All types of corporate jewellery with a bewildering array of; materials, finishes, manufacturing techniques and branding options.
So if you’re looking for corporate jewellery for your promotion or marketing campaign and you’re faced with the myriad options available, how do you chose the right method to create the effect you require to meet your promotional aims?
The answer; don’t worry – let The Corporate Gifts Company advise you on the best way to translate your logo into metal and enamel. We have 20 years of experience of producing top quality promotional corporate jewellery; from budget solutions for a few pence to 24ct gold set with diamonds for thousands of pounds – and everything in between.
So how do we work? Well, we need basic information from you;
- Budget (either per piece or overall)
- Quantity Required
- When – what date are the items required for?
- Logo – we need to see the logo or design required.
Once we have this very basic information, we will assess what material, production method and finish is appropriate. We will then produce a full colour visual or representation of what we would propose to create for you. Of course, if you have something specific in mind then we would endevour to accommodate this. Often we will produce more than one visual option where appropriate so you have a choice.
The Corporate Gifts Company website has lots of examples of previous promotional corporate jewellery commissions we have done so you can get an idea of what’s possible and how your logo might look in 3D. So if you have a requirement for corporate jewellery, why not let The Corporate Gifts Company produce a no obligation visual and quotation absolutely free?
Leather Corporate Gifts
Friday, October 30th, 2009There’s nothing better than a swanky leather accessory to make you feel the business at work.
The Corporate Gifts Company supply their high quality range of premium leather bags, luggage and accessories to retail outlets and online to consumers in the UK as well as to the promotional market for corporate gifts and premiums.
Obviously the buying criteria and mindset are totally different for each market but there are obvious crossovers and synergies.
There is always room in the market for different styles and price points and The Corporate Gifts Company (CGC) are particularly good when buyers are looking for the design and quality of a big brand but don’t quite have the budget. Flexibility is key, and amendments to existing products and totally bespoke solutions at very small production runs and virtually no development costs are possible. Interestingly, during the credit crunch, customers have actually requested even more exclusive and quality items.
CGC’s most popular leather item across all markets; wholesale, retail and promotional, is our laptop bags – both the ladies Brescia style and the men’s classic Messenger style. One of the keys to its success is the ability to accessorize the bag with coordinated pieces from the rest of the range, from business card holders to passport wallets, and A4 folders to key fobs.
Branding quality leather goods can actually reduce perceived value, unless done discreetly; on small leather goods it is normally straight forward, but on larger more expensive and prestigious pieces it can be problematic.
This is where GCG’s flexibility really works; often advising on how best to translate a logo as there is a tendency for “corporate logo police” to insist on colours and sizes that are not appropriate. Thankfully, good sense and taste usually prevails and a discreet representation will then enhance the perceived value of the piece.
Recognition and Awards
Friday, October 23rd, 2009Any parade of winning sports stars always has one thing in common; they’re showing off their medals and trophies. While the medals themselves are worth relatively little in monetary terms, winners have described them as coming second only to family and friends in terms of what they mean to them.
The same is true of any trophy or award – again, the trophy itself was worth relatively little – it’s what the award means to the recipients that really counts. Nothing says well done more than a publicly received award.
While traditional trophies are still popular in some sectors, new technology and materials mean that the market is much broader and buyers are guaranteed to find something that fits their event and brand.
Those tasked with organisation recognition awards need to think about who will be receiving them and how they might be displayed, but also, more importantly, about their own brand and what the trophy says about them.
As with a lot of product areas in the promotional sector, there is a definite swing away from “off-the-shelf” solutions. With 20 years experience we have seen many changes in the market. A decade ago there was a definite move away from expensive, high cost, long turn-around time, proper bespoke trophies and awards in favour of more off the shelf solutions. Amazing to think that at that time it was difficult to find a glass award anywhere; now you can’t walk round a promotional trade fair without knocking over an imported laser engraved oddly shaped bit of glass on every corner. Like a lot of Far Eastern solutions to UK products previously manufactured in the UK, the sheer size of the options and the unbelievably low cost has provided so much choice it successfully replaced the need to come up with an original idea. However, as they say, it goes around, it comes around – and now the popularity of “off the shelf” solutions seems to have waned. Recently we have found a real hunger for something a bit more special and different, and we are once again being approached for bespoke solutions.
So how do The Corporate Gifts Company go about creating a bespoke solution to an award or trophy? Here are a few basic scenarios to give you an idea;
SCENARIO 1
A county cricket award for a new one-day tournament requires a traditional, but modern trophy that will become the centrepiece of this prestigious new event
What would be great here would be a 3D lifesize cricket ball cast in metal and silver plated then mounted onto a marble or slate column. The combination of silver and marble will give a traditional quality feel. The design of the base would need to reflect whether the cricket clubs wanted traditional or modern and this is where The Corporate Gifts Company’s free design service would come in; as a matter of course we would design a number of options and present as visuals by email. The column would take an engraved plate with a space for individual plates or names to be added each year.
SCENARIO 2
A company wants to recognise its top 50 salespeople with something small that they can display in their homes. The gender split is 50:50 and the majority of recipients are in their 30s and 40s.
A corporate gift suitable for someone to display in their home is a difficult thing to pull off . If the award itself is prestigious enough, no matter how bad the design, then it will be used as intended (if you’ve ever seen an international footballer’s display cabinet of caps in a front room you’ll know what I mean), but generally if you want your award to be displayed at home, it will have to work a lot harder than normal. Here, then, something relatively small but precious would work; ie sterling silver, perhaps a contemporary modern design dish, bowl or salver with engraved details and most important displaying a feature hallmark to emphasise the value of the piece (this could be backed up by an official hallmark card from the assay office explaining the hallmark). Also, for relatively little extra, we can register the hallmark in a companany’s name and use its own hallmark to promote its own brand values.
SCENARIO 3
Awards for music journalists. The majority of recipients will be men in their 20s and 30s.
Unlike the first two, this award needs to be cutting edge and contemporary whilst still promoting quality and recognition; something like the Codemasters (the computer game company) Award presented to their game designers. Made from solid acrylic, the main body was clear with a thin strip of blue acrylic at the back. This and the black base meant the award appeared translucent with the colour gradients changing from deep blue at the base to almost clear at the top. The unusual shape and laser engraved detail made this a very successful award extremely well received by the recipients.
ENGRAVING YOUR CORPORATE GIFT
Friday, October 16th, 2009Most “everyday” promotional items are printed; from plastic pens and rulers, to bags and USB flash drives; but for a metal item, engraving is the only way to go. Often customers request a faithful reproduction of their logo in glorious “technicolor”, but this rarely translates to successful business gift. When you choose a silver plated item such as a clock or desk accessory you are looking for something that will communicate how much you value your customer or member of staff; a desirable gift with high perceived value that will have an immediate impact but also something that the customer will want to keep.
It’s important to deliver a real wow factor when the gift box is opened. Engraving will enhance and magnify the perceived value of the gift. Stick a three colour logo in blue, red and yellow on the product, however, and you have made a £25 gift look like a £5 giveaway.
There are two main types of engraving typically used for promotional items; diamond drag engraving and laser engraving. Both look great but have very different effects. Diamond engraving looks expensive and has a reflective sparkle that no other marking method can match; the diamond point literally draws on the surface of the metal and the result is a multi faceted reflection. However, this is also its weakness as fine detail (especially small text) can be difficult to make out. You are also restricted by the width of the diamond point so very intricate work sometimes needs to be simplified. By contrast, laser engraving is superb for fine detail. Its colour (normally grey) and finer resolution mean that text and complicated logos are very sharp. On the downside, in comparison with diamond engraving it can look flat and boring, almost cheapening the overall feel of the product.
On balance, we feel it’s more important to preserve the impact and desirability of the product rather than slavishly following corporate logo guidelines – most of our customers certainly agree. Our in-house engraving staff are experts at translating logos suitable for diamond engraving, although we do offer laser engraving when we feel it is more appropriate.
Even in times of recession, Christmas still comes once a year, and in the run up to Christmas the traditional feel of diamond engraving strikes the right chord when presenting Christmas corporate gifts as recognition and thank yous to customers and staff. A corporate gift is just like any personal gift, therefore it’s’ important that it conveys that you value the recipient.
In the present economic climate, companies are obviously aiming to get the most from their marketing spend and are looking for added value, so personalised promotional gifts are currently extremely popular and provide that extra individual touch important for any Christmas gift. After all, it is the perfect time to remind customers that they are valued and appreciated. A well thought out gift engraved with an individual name or message gives the impression that someone has really thought about and cares for the recipient. Individual engraving is easy to arrange and relatively inexpensive, but it adds that “sense of the special” that many “every-day” promotional items lack. Our customers tell us that the personalized engraved name is the single thing that their customers or staff most value.
Top tips for Promotional Premium gifts this Christmas;
- Spinning Star Paperweight - New this autumn. Great “Christmassy” feel, bright silver finish, super fiddle factor, perfect executive gift, looks brilliant engraved, and it spins!
- Magnetic Puzzle Globe – A real jigsaw puzzle with magnetic pieces on top of a solid sphere. Looks fantasic engraved on the base. One of most popular items – any time of the year.
- Jensen Travel Alarm Clock in Leather Pouch – New this autumn. Clocks are always popular at Christmas, and this beautifully made travel alarm clock looks really great with a diamond engraved logo and with the leather pouch it really hits the spot.
SQUEEZE THE LEMON, GROW THE PIE – PART 2
Friday, October 9th, 2009Well, I hope you enjoyed the first part where we talked about squeezing the lemon. Of course, it’s rare that a sequal ever lives up to the original – but I’ll give it a go.
So this time we’re going to consider the pie; how to grow the pie, specifically. The first part talked about the lemon as your customer base, and the anology of squeezing the lemon was how to get the most juice (business) out of those lemons and not let the lemon shrivel up in the fridge.
So, squeezing the lemon was all about getting the most from your existing customers in a more direct and short term way, and growing the pie is about maximising profit and creating value for both customers and suppliers as part of a longer term strategy. This is done by;
- Differentiation – what makes you different/better than your customers? Look at; product, pricing, distribution, advertising and promotion, selling, core competencies, competitive advantage, USP’s
- Added Value – what aspect of your product/service adds real value for the customer?
- Value Chain – monitor and feedback performance up stream and downstream to continually improve.
The key elements of growing the pie are;
- Constantly strive to deliver value for the customer by improving your overall proposition.
- Understand the supply and value chains and learn how to leverage key aspects to create added value and differentiation.
- Change the mindset of both your company and your customer base. This is more important than immediate short term gains.
So what does The Corporate Gifts Company do to grow it’s pie? Good question, and a challenging one too. Well, we talk to our customers constantly about how they find our service and product, what they liked and what they didn’t like; we encourage testimonials (good or bad) and we have used that feedback over the past 18 years to hone our service and quality levels so that we give our customers exactly what is most important to them; reliable service, consistent quality (we have the international quality standard ISO9000), appropriate and quality promotional branding, and responsible business practices (see our CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility – policy.
Thanks to The Cranfield School of Management’s BGP (Business Growth Development) programme for inspiration.
SQUEEZE THE LEMON, GROW THE PIE – PART 1
Friday, October 2nd, 2009At the world famous Cranfield School of Management’s Business Growth Development programme they spend a lot of time talking about a couple of tasty food analogies; “Squeezing the Lemon” and “Growing the Pie”. As part of the marketing part of the programme these two ideas are at the heart of the growth of any business. So what’s the story behind these culinary concepts for success? Let’s start with the lemon.
The lemon signifies your customer base, and who amongst us can put hand on heart say we get the most out of all our customers? Do we sell as much as we can, are there other products or services we can sell to them, do we sell to all divisions and departments of our customers’ businesses? No, well that’s actually the story for most companies and to add even more zest to the analogy think of your average customer like this; if we’re using a lemon at home more often than not we cut into it and squeeze out what we need and then stick it in the fridge – great, the poached salmon tastes great. The problem is when we go to use the lemon again (sometimes after weeks sitting lonely and forgotten next to the eggs) it’s wrinkled and dried and all that juice has been wasted.
And that’s what happens to new customers; we fail to squeeze the maximum amount of business out of them. After the initial order is won, we don’t pay them enough attention until eventually they go and find another supplier. And if you didn’t know already, it costs up to seven times more to aquire a new customer than look after an existing one. So the moral of the analogy is; get squeezing - before your lemons dry up or someone else does it for you.
Of course, in the light of the above blog, it would be remiss of me not to mention that The Corporate Gifts Company supply a comprehensive selection of promotional items and advdertising merchandise that are perfect for communicating with your customers in a tangible and cost effective way. Whether you want to reinforce your brand values with items such as business card cases or clocks, or say thank you to key customers with an appropriate promotional desk item or personal accessory, The Corporate Gifts Company can help you squeeze your lemons.
Look out for “Growing The Pie” next week!
NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH
Monday, September 28th, 2009The Corporate Gifts Company are delighted to launch our new website.
The new design features a fresh clean look with easier navigation and useability.
More importantly, there are some fantastic new benefits for our customers;
1. Prices have been reduced significantly across the board.
2. Prices now include Engraving and Set Up (so no extras for branding)
3. All orders are now inclusive of standard UK freight/carriage.
4. We are offering a free pre-production sample on every order, so you can be confident your logo or promotional message will be just as you require it before we go to production.
5. We are guaranteeing 7 day turnaround on branded items from stock – so that you can be confident your promotional items will get to you on time.
FIVE good reasons to chooseThe Corporate Gifts Company for your business gifts this Christmas.
The new webiste also incorporates our new items for Autumn 2009 (perfect timing for the Christmas executive gifts, staff gifts and customer thank yous) with exciting items such as the spinning propeller letter opener and the F1 car paper clip dispenser. (see all our new products here ).
Call our sales team today on 0845 430 2902.
Start thinking about your companies Christmas giftware needs.
Friday, September 18th, 2009After the difficult year we’ve all had maybe as we come out of the recession it’s time to say thank you to your staff and clients for helping keep you in business… Our Corporate Giftware range is perfect for Christmas orientated products. The silver products give even the dullest office a great Christmas feel. Particularly the Barware section is great for Christmas giftware, perhaps a wine bottle stopper or a hip flask would be an appropriate products for your hardworking staff. What about giving your best clients a thank-you gift this year, it’s been so tough out there in the business world that its about time to celebrate still being in business.
And perhaps… with all this potential giving going on that the hard done by promotional giftware market will see a lift 
4 Steps to Better Promotional Product Marketing
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009The first step in this process is to assess why people don’t buy from you or use your services. To determine why people don’t use your products or your services you can use surveys, focus groups & interviews to ascertain all of the possible reasoning. The general first answer why a customer doesn’t buy or use your product/s or service/s will revolve around unacceptable price, personal taste, the quality, availability, or bad awareness. It is the following answers that become more subtle and more revealing. The answer to understanding why people don’t use products & services sometimes lie in the reflective answers of the few than from the first and obvious answers of the majority.
The second stage is to attempt to appreciate why people do purchase a service or product from you. Whilst focus groups, surveys and interviews would seem useful here, they are actually less appropriate. The purpose of this exploration is to produce insights into your business, these blunt tools often don’t work. Frequent responses to the question of why a consumer purchases, such as “quality” or “price,” do not begin to explain the deep fundamental psychological and emotional reasons that persuade buying decisions. It is believed that to precisely determine why customers buy certain products & services, leading must be used to scrutinize the underlying motivators affecting buying decisions. Leading is an sales & interview technique that seeks to get to the heart of the motivators of buying decisions, buy asking open ended questions that the interviewee has to fill the blanks in. the answers are thought to be more factual.
The third step is to recognise the perfect customer for a particular product or service. While it is not rare to hear marketers say that “anyone with money their pocket is a possible customer,” such thinking reflects a mentality and not a marketing mind. Key marketing insights are best obtained when an individual thinks in terms of individual customers and in terms of what would particularly attract them. Customer prototyping is a quick but effective way to envisage an ideal customer for a product that typically represents or closely resembles a specific segment of the real populace. By using your imagination, the prototype becomes more vivid and develops specific qualities as opposed to the non-descriptive data that can be provided by demographics.Finally, armed with the knowledge of who the perfect purchaser is and why they behave the way they do, you will be able to utilise this information to choose the perfect promotional product to further entice them to use your products and services.
Finally, armed with the knowledge of who the perfect purchaser is and why they behave the way they do, you will be able to utilise this information to choose the perfect promotional product to further entice them to use your products and services.
BESPOKE USB FLASHDRIVES
Friday, September 4th, 2009BESPOKE USB FLASHDRIVES
The flashdrive is the promotional product of the decade; it has gone from a few megabytes (16mb at £20 plus just a few years ago) to unbelievable memory away; it’s a modern classic universally welcomed by the recipient as something size (many gigabytes) now! It is a promo give – away that certainly never gets thrown really to match any other corporate gift. useful they’ll use every day. Instant wow factor, genuine desirability, and longevity
The new larger memory sizes also mean that there’s more scope to upload content such as brochures, multimedia and other data.
Recent developments have broken away from the restriction of the standard designs which are normally simply engraved or printed with a corporate gift logo or promotional message.
Bespoke designs are now within easy reach with relatively low minimum quantities (just a few hundred) and affordable development and tooling costs (a few hundred pounds subject to design). Spread over a few hundred pieces, the bespoke flashdrive is now no more expensive than a bespoke lapel pin or a pair of cufflinks.
And design is only restricted to your imagination (or corporate guidelines, of course); from cars, planes, lorries, cartoon figures and licensed characters, to blinged insects, logo shaped flash drives and musical instruments. All incorporating your logo or corporate message for any promotion or event.
Call our sales team today and get free, no obligation visual for your bespoke flashdrive design.
