Promotional products - the only advertising medium that is not considered a "nuisance" by the target audience.
No one ever asked an advertiser to "Please place a second ad in tomorrow's newspaper . . . one wasn't enough." But nearly everyone, if given the opportunity, would love to have a second promotional product or custom imprinted item!
No one ever asked an advertiser to "Please place more ads on the radio and provide twice the interruptions to the music or news I'm trying to listen to." Most advertising firms pay hundreds, thousands, even millions of dollars for ads that are impressive to them, but nothing but interruption and nuisance to the targets they're trying to impress or motivate. Not true for our esteemed industry!
Just go to your favorite shopping mall and see retail stores that sell mugs, pens, calendars, photo frames, polo shirts, t-shirts and everything else from the classes of products available for your imprint and unique message. This indicates that there exists a real desire for the products McKinley, Inc. offers.
In other words, Americans are speaking with their wallets: "If you, the advertiser, don't provide me with your imprinted calendar or mug, shirt or pen, I'm actually going to go out to a store and purchase one for myself, with my own good money."
This is a testament to how much promotional products are appreciated and needed. I have yet to see a retail store that sells copies of recent newspaper ads or CDs of radio ads or DVDs of television ads. Why? Because nobody wants them. Such advertising media are not considered valuable to the audience, but a promotional item has that value.
