There were a lot of victories on Sunday night at the Academy Awards; Avatar won a few, Hurt Locker won a few, there was even the first female Best Director winner. However, during the awards ceremony, there was an award for Best Animated Short, and the winner was promotional products. Well, no, the winner was a short called Logorama created by French filmmakers François Alaux and Hervé de Crécy et Ludovic Houplain. The short film takes place in a world of corporate logos, its inhabitants are the AOL guy, the BIC guy, the Pringles man and other logo'd people, the sunrise is the Malibu rum logo, literally everything in the city is a logo. The actual story has to do with Ronald McDonald taking Big Boy hostage and being chased by the Michelin Men police, but that isn't what is important. Where would these logos be, where would these filmmakers be, without the promotional products that these logos have been made famous on. We carry the promotional Bic pens that the Bic man has used to carry himself to fame. How many promotional auto accessories has the Michelin Man been on? While the real point of the movie may have been to show how much marketing is taking over our society, I say we look at it from another point of view. When you watch Logorama, and see how many hundreds of thousands of logos you recognize, remember, they didn't get famous by themselves. Sure, they all appeared in commercials along the way, but just as important were the promotional products they were printed on that were given to millions of people over the years that have been kept, used and remembered. So while you are watching Logorama, sit back, relax and pop some promotional popcorn, and think of all the promotional products you have had in your life with the logos you are seeing in the movie. 

I think it is safe to say that everyone reading this blog remembers the horrors we were told about....THE SWINE FLU. Yes, it was not that long ago that news outlets everywhere were warning us to get our flu shots because the H1N1 Virus was spreading and was going to make this flu season one of the worst ever. When the virus first hit the new, and effectively scared most of the world, Motivators was here to help.  We sold hundreds of thousands of anti bacterial promotional products to people around the world that wanted to be protected. Not just your standard promotional anti-bacterial gel, there were anti-bacterial sprays, packets, wipes and even pens. We were there to help people, kill the swine flu. 

  Well, today, Motivators (along with the Wall Street Journal) can officially call the war on H1N1 Swine Flu a victory! The Journal says :  
Now, I'm sure everyone has a different theory as to why flu levels are at just about record lows this year but I am going to throw my theory in the ring. More promotional anti-bacterial then ever before! Could it be flu shots? Maybe, but I say this year more than any other people were aware of the spread of germs and did something about it. So to all those who took part in helping to promote anti-bacterial items, you helped kill the swine flu and you, like us, are official Flu-Busters!

March really is a great month. It is the ending of Winter and the beginning of Spring. Its Spring Training for Baseball. It's St. Patty's Day as well as a handful of Motivators birthdays. It is also, however, Spring Break for many. Spring break may very well be the most wonderful time of the year. This year, my girlfriend and I will be going to Cancun. Specifically to an all inclusive resort the last full week of March. This is going to be my first real vacation in a very long time and to say I am excited would be a understatement. Now that it is less than a month away my mind always wanders to things I will be needing to go away. This is the time where promotional products can truly shine. First, I am going to have to go through my many travel bags and decide which one will be the best for me, probably will be one on wheels. I will also need to grab one of my promotional luggage tags I have collected through the years to help me get out of the airport quicker. I'm hoping I have a promotional travel pillow somewhere to get me through the flight. Still, thats just to get to the resorts. Once I'm there I will need some sunscreen, a towel, and a big promotional cup for my "all inclusive included" drinks. Right now, that stuff is just off the top of my head. I always say, the better a chance a promotional product will find use in someone's personal life the more successful a promotion will be. The great thing about travel related promotional products is they may not be useful today or tomorrow, but when the end user is scrambling to pack, that is when your promotion will have the big pay off. Cancun here I come! 

Can you feel it in the air? If you are in the Northeast, the answer is probably no. If you are in the Northeast all you can feel is snow. However, if you are in Florida or Arizona, there is something else brewing. That something else is Spring Training. This week pitchers and catchers begin to report to their respective team's baseball camp. Spring training is unlike anything any of the other sports can offer. Sure you can watch your favorite football team train and practice but spring training is an all encompassing experience that is very up close and personal and typically puts you within driving distance of who knows how many other teams in baseball that you may want to follow. I myself have made the trip a few times, the teams do an incredible job of replicating a true major league baseball experience. The stadiums for the most part are beautiful, not as large, but still very nice. Not to mention you can get all the same promotional products at spring training that you would at a real game. There are spring training versions of every teams caps, t-shirts and jerseys. What makes spring training even better is, there are less crowds and more players. This means it is truly your best opportunity for getting your promotional products autographed by the teams. So the countdown begins to get all of your baseball related promotional products ready for Opening Day, April 5th.  47 days and counting!

 

The great thing about promotional products is that they are literally everywhere. Any company that wants to compete and seperate themselves in their respective industry uses promotional products so that consumers can easily identify the company. We knew that already though. What many of us don't think about is that literally everybody uses promotional products, even celebrities!  9 times out of 10 any time a celebrity recieves a fancy gift bag from an award show or festival there is some promotional swag involved.  The latest example of this is in an order Motivators did for the company Beauty Biosciences who wanted to promote their brand of makeup called Lash Allure MD. They were invited to present at the Sundance Film Festival their line of beauty items. Needless to say it was a huge success with the celebrity crowd at Sundance, because who doesn't love promotional products? Well you may be asking who DOES? Well, to name a few celebrities that do are Mario Lopez of Saved by the Bell fame, Kevin Sorbo of Hercules fame as well as Miss Universe 2009 Mayra Matos Perez.

 

Yes, that is Motivators' item # 39821 that AC Slater is holding for all of the keen eyes out there. It just goes to show you, you never where or WHO a good promotional product will end up.

My first car when I learnt to drive was a 1991 Nissan Maxima, wonderful car but after about 13 years it was time to let it to. I sold the car, and then purchased my parents 2003 Nissan Altima off lease. I decided a few months ago it was time to get a car for myself. So I looked around and I thought about was important to me for a new car. Mileage was important to me as I drive to work every day, I don't need anything to fancy, I wanted something dependable. Well no car company had branded themselves better at being affordable and dependable then Toyota. All my research had indicated that the Toyota Corolla was the best car for me, for years considered one of the most dependable cars on the road.  So, thats right, this past weekend I officially took home my 2010 Corolla S. I figured I would be blogging about it this week, but I THOUGHT it would be a much happier blog. When I left the dealership I didn't get any promotional keychains, they did put on their promotional license plate covers,but I didn't get any Toyota promotional products as a congratulations for purchasing a new car. That was fine though, I loved my new car so it wasn't neccessary. Now, not even a week later, almost the entire line of Toyota's has been pulled from production and recalled. The gas pedals need to be replaced due to "sudden acceleration" issues. Many people are comparing this to the infamous Tylenol incident of 1982. Due to safety concerns, Tylenol recalled every single bottle, they then created the child safety cap. Tylenol looked horrible and suffered at first, but were eventually able to avoid their brand being decimated due to the strength of their actions. This is now what Toyota faces, they have done the recall but what will the action be that they take to avoid their customers forever feeling negative and distrustful of the Toyota brand? The answer is yet to be seen.

 

Where do you stand in the fiercely fought debate? You know, the one issue that is splitting America down the middle, not health care, the late night wars. A generation before me the Late Night Wars meant the battle for the Tonight Show between Jay Leno and David Letterman, of course Jay Leno won. Dave didn't do so badly himself and has had his own successful late night show on CBS for many many years now. Fast forward to 2010 and a new late night war has begun, between former Late Night veteran Jay Leno (current Prime Time failure) and current Tonight Show host Conan "Coco" O'Brien. Now, you may think this is a blog meant for Motivators TV, well maybe, but this transcends tv. This has become more of a presidential campaign then a battle for host of the Tonight Show. Don't believe me? Well take a look at this... 

Sunday nights at 8pm can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. To some people for a few months during the year it means Sunday night football, for many others it is a time to cool down and relax before beginning the work week the following day, for millions of others though, as it has for 20 years, it means, The Simpsons. This past Sunday Fox officially celebrated the 20th anniversary of the animated family that inspired shows like Family Guy and South Park with a full length documentary on how much the show has impacted our society for two decades. The longest running prime time show in American history hasn't relied on catchphrases and guest stars alone to be successful, The Simpsons for the last 20 years have been the kings of promotional merchandising. They have succeeded in every promotional product market that they have put their name on, going well beyond Simpsons promotional t-shirts. Probably, the most famous promotion the Simpsons had done involved 7-11's around the country. It was a cross promotion between The Simpsons Movie and 7-11 when 7-11's all over were converted into Quik-E-Mart's from the show.  In the store, you could buy a variety of Simpsons themed goods - Simpsons promotional caps, Simpsons cups and mugs, and best of all Simpsons themed promotional food and drinks. In order for promotional products to be truly successful there needs to be creativity and a logical connection to your product. For the last 20 years The Simpsons have done that as well as anyone.

 

The beginning of the new year means the end of the holiday season. It is the end of one season, but the beginning of another season, one that many people may not neccessarily think of. January is tradeshow season! In the US it is estimated that there are over 2,500 trade shows that occur every year, many of them in the first few months of the year so that vendors can unveil new products or services. In fact, the promotional products industry has its own trade show ready to kick off in Las Vegas on Monday, January 11th.  Anyone that has ever been to a trade show can tell you they are full of promotional products, you could imagine the amount of tradeshow giveaways there will be at the largest promotional products tradeshow in the country there will be. It seems to me there are going to be two major themes for tradeshow giveaways this season, eco-friendly items and anti-bacterial items. Environmental concern has grown in our society for the last few years so that should be no surprise to anyone, however, since the H1N1 scare many people have been much more aware of how easily germs can spread. Especially at a tradeshow, people are shaking hands and exchanging business cards, picking up a product and putting it back down only to be picked up by someone else, there is a valid concern about the spread of germs. So should you be going to a tradeshow any time soon, while you will still see the standard promotional lanyards, and promotional keychains, don't be surprised if you also see promotional non-woven tote bags, promotional recycled water bottles and promotional anti-bacterial sprays too. Happy trade show season everyone!

 

Ahh the holiday season, Thanksgiving dinner with your family, Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa with all your loved ones, New Year's Eve with your friends and of course National Hangover Day well, with yourself. Of course there is National Hangover Day on January 1st, the day after New Years Eve, why else would January 1st be a national holiday? This year (or should I say next year) the most successful movie of the year, arguably one of the most successful comedies of the decade,will be hosting National Hangover Day parties all over the country. As far as I know this is the first promotional holiday I have ever heard of but it looks like Warner Bros is taking this the full mile. Nine cities across the United States will be holding free screenings of the movie, "The Hangover" on January 1st. The largest of the nine will be held at Caesar's Palace in Atlantic City. Attendees will have the chance to win "a number of “day after” treatments, with giveaways such as Blu-ray and DVD copies of the movie and other merchandise as well as hotel stay packages." I do hope these giveaways would include the promotional hangover kit , maybe also some promotional sunglasses to keep the light out, not to mention a drink of water either in promotional bottled water or promotional water bottles to get your own drink. Now don't worry, obviously not everyone can make it out to one of these screenings you can always follow the party on Twitter @ hangoverday where fast Twitters who can answer Hangover trivia questions can win a variety of promotional items such as promotional t-shirts, poster, gift cards, books and soundtracks. I guess there is no better way to celebrate a promotional holiday then with promotional products! So whether you end up hungover or not here is wishing everyone a happy and healthy new year!