The Burj Khalifa opened its doors to visitors only a month ago, boasting itself as the world's tallest tower. It is quite beautiful. Built as a major tourist attraction in Dubai, the tower cost over $1.5 billion. It's already drawn in the crowds and is the main reason for many tourists' trips to the Persian city. Over 12,000 residential tenants and offices are to move in this month and a hotel is in the works.

However, it's just been announces that the tourist attraction tower, is no longer open to tourists. This temporary shut down has been blamed on electrical issues- a very scary claim considering that electrically powered elevators transport visitors up the 160+ tower. Building owner, Emaar Properties, attributed the closure to both electrical issues and "unexpected high traffic."

Sorry guys, but when you spend half a decade building the world's tallest tower for over a billion dollars and advertise it's grand opening - you'd better expect, "high traffic." I'm hoping they get their electrical issues straightened out soon or I won't ever be able to purchase a, "I reached the top of the World's Tallest Tower," promotional t-shirt.

Things were different in 1959. NASCAR was only in its infancy, crowning its first winner that year and imprinting significantly less NASCAR promotional products. The plane carrying rock n roll legends Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper, went down and influenced one of music's most legendary songs, American Pie. And in the woods of Cuba, promotional hats and beards replicating Fidel Castro's signature look were worn by children - before the people grasped that he was oppressing them.
                   
Castro gained popularity among the people early on and promotional products helped to reinforce his power. In the same decade, Disney also used custom caps to promote one of their own leaders, Davy Crockett. While they were first made over fifty years ago, you can still find Fidel Castro hats and actual full masks. He was even a popular Halloween costume. And like all notable Disney character costume, a cool Davy Crockett hat is always available too.What other historic person or famous characters have cool hats? Try to guess these ones. I'll give you a one word hint for each.
                                                   
Penny

Dr Seuss 

Banana

Winner gets a dollar in the shape of George Washington with a hat on! Okay, I don't actually have the time to fashion it into a hat...so you just get a dollar.
                                                 

If the sneaky little cameras throughout the office creep you out, then you're not going to be a fan of Google's latest technology. Named, "Google Store Views," the service will be incorporated in the already innovative Google Maps product. Though Google has not yet confirmed, Barry Schwartz, Search Engine Land's News Editor, received a tip from retail store, "Oh Nuts!" about "Google Store Views." A woman entered the New York based store and snapped photos every six feet, making sure to capture some particular product pictures as well.
                           
If Google does release "Google Store Views" you can imagine the hype that will surround it. However I haven't heard how often the photographs will be edited and if they aren't edited regularly, chances are the images won't be extremely accurate. Stores change displays according to the season and holiday so if I want to see what's going on at Best Buy this July, I may virtually walk into a snowman iPod display. This could be a problem.
                            
One thing's for certain, "Google Store Views" will give tons of products free publicity. Logo items will be seen in every one of the images, but I wonder what items the woman was taking particular images of. I bet stores will be able to more easily keep tabs on competing business with these images. Have any ideas of how, "Google Store Views" will assist you? I'd come up with some kind of scavenger hunt to find particular logos. It could be fun and I'd most definitely include some sweet promotional products as prizes. Prize numero uno goes to Adam for finding this content. Good stuff.

A cop pulled over a suspicious car on the LIE that was driving in the HOV lane. After spotting the questionable passenger sporting sun glasses, with the visor down on a cloudy day, the officer pulled alongside the vehicle.

Its driver, Kathleen A. Frascinella of Mount Sinai motioned to the passenger to ensure the officer that she was rightfully in the HOV lane. The Deputy Suffolk County Sheriff Robert Howard, proceeded to pull her car over, approach the window and within seconds, identified the mysterious passenger. A dark haired beauty with sophisticated sunglasses and a fashionable blouse and scarf stared blankly forward as he thought to himself, "You've got to be kidding me." The pretty co-pilot? A mannequin.
                 
When questioned about her passenger, Frascinella argued that everyone used mannequins to get by in the HOV lane. Deputy Howard said that fake passenger attempts happen about half a dozen times a year but added that, "Usually, it's not so elaborate."

Frascinella was issued a $135 ticket for operating a vehicle in the HOV lane without a passenger. Perhaps her mannequin could use some more promotional apparel to make her more realistic. We could attach our custom imprinted ear buds and even slip a promotional pen into her ceramic hand.

Also, Deputy Howard said fake passenger "attempts" happen half a dozen times a year…but how would be know? That's only the ones that get caught! I'm sure there are mannequins and make shift passengers riding shot gun all over the HOV lane.

Have you ever spotted a fake passenger?
                  

From my daily observances around the office, there are three things people will be watching tonight. For the majority of you, it's going to be the season premiere of Lost. This is the last season and I'm going to try to catch up with season 5 episodes after work. For some reason, I watched up until the season finale but it deserves to be watched in full.Sarah will watch NCIS. And the rest of you are going to watch Groundhog Day.

I'm with you my friends. I caught the end tail of it a couple weekends ago and am always interested in some Bill Murray. It makes sense to watch Groundhog Day on this very brisk Groundhog Day, but I believe all my attention is going to Lost tonight. After re-capping the first few seasons in my mind I realized that the polar bear from season one should be delighted to hear that Punxsutawney Phil (the rodent meteorologist that we trust) predicted another 6 weeks of winter. Brrrr.
                     
That means that snow may be on the way and those promotional ice scrapers are going to need to come back out. It also means that you may want to invest in the Mini Cooper. This ad illustrates that the Mini has, "Extreme Winter Performance." While it may just look like a custom impritned convertible stress reliever from the ground, it's actually a life sized Mini and does a great job of getting the point across.
                                             

Grab your promotional airline items and leap to the couch for your daily dose of reality television. Flip on the tube and get ready for a Gossip Girls meets The City with a hint of the Love Boat new series. The CW presents, "Fly Girls." The behind the scenes look into the lives of urban teen dance crew, "BlackTop." Never before has the reality of street entertainment been so dirty. Okay, I kid. "Fly Girls," is actually a reality series based on the lives of five female flight attendants for the high and operating Virgin America Airline.

                              
Porter Gale, the vice president of marketing at Virgin America said, "I don't want too much branding in the show -- it has to succeed based on the concept." That means there won't be segments devoted to seasonal flight specials or close shots of imprinted peanuts. Gale adds, "At the same time, I think this series can build awareness and drive sales, especially as we expand to new markets."
                                          
This show is going to have a lifestyles of the rich and famous vibe and I bet it'll be infectious. Well that- or it's in for a crash landing. We'll see, but in the meantime, enjoy a pre-flight cocktail in a promotional airline cup and snuggle up to those complimentary blankets.

 

Minnesota makes some magnificent mugs. The members of family owned, Deneen Pottery don't just imprint their mugs, they create them entirely from scratch. They've been doing it since 1972 and have 2,700 customers currently. The beautiful hand-thrown stoneware that they make is used to showcase engraved logos. These engraved logos are also created by the Deneen Pottery family through their trademarked process.
                
The second I saw the photograph of their intricate craftsmanship, I thought of a mug my father received a few years ago at a Renaissance festival. He participated in an ax throwing competition and won. He prize was a beautifully hand-made mug donning an awesome glazed engraved logo. To this day, if any of his daughters bring home a man, he's sure to fill up his special mug and share a story. "You see this?" he says while pointing to the logo engraved with, "Ax Throwing Champion" and continues, "I won it throwing axes." That's really all he has to say to scare the guy for the next twenty years- at least.

The majority of business at Deneen Pottery comes from bed and breakfasts, country inns, golf courses, restaurants and college bookstores. To my delight, Renaissance festivals earned an honorable mention as an important buyer of these great custom mugs.
                                       
Though one given promotional mug of ours hasn't been handled by 24 pairs of hands, like the Deneens Pottery mugs, we do put special care into every order. We offer our imprinted mugs at affordable prices that any ax thrower would be happy to have.
                               

The Highways Agency in the UK had some good advice to offer me. As a part of a new road safety promotion, multiple ads were created to urge drivers to be prepared. My favorite, and most relatable was the innovative advertisement that read, "For peace of mind, always carry an emergency kit."
                     
On Monday, when my car broke down on the way home from work, I thought that very same thing. Of course, I didn't have an emergency car kit - or even a cell phone. Thankfully I had some anti-freeze and was able to get it running again. I somehow made it back to Freeport in my spaceship and got it fixed up real nice. No one likes holes in their radiator.

                         
If you focus on the ad, you'll find a wide variety of promotional auto accessories. The sweet ad includes flashlights, a warning triangle, promotional ice scrapers, jumper cables, a thermos and a first aid kit. You can find all of these items in our promo emergency car kits and have them imprinted with, "I'm not Jenn, so I'm actually prepared for this car emergency."

Alice in Wonderland will take us all on a trip down the rabbit hole when it comes out on March 5th. In the meantime, some very lucky people will delight in the awesome promotional gift books the movie's creators at Disney mailed out. Earlier this month, various people in the industry received a very mysterious and even more special package.

                  
Once opened, a hard covered Alice in Wonderland book is revealed that pays tribute to it's author Lewis Carroll. Another book is housed inside of the larger book that included photographs from the film and sketches. Once a few pages were flipped, another book is reveled, hidden within the 2^nd book. This book contains more images and character information before revealing a fourth book. Inside this final book is an old fashioned key titled the, "The Key to Wonderland." If the awesome book inside another book concept wasn't captivating enough, the key is actually a promotional USB flash drive. Stored on each is the movie's trailer and additional photographs.
                                  
This fantastic promotion is definitely successful in creating excitement for the Alice in Wondeland movie premier and still some recipients think there's more to it. One recipient feels that there may be a secret message throughout the branded books and keeps investigating each page. Others find that these are among the most unique movie promotions available. Either way, I wish they sent me one. Anne Hathaway’s looking crazy as the White Queen!
                                   

For all you hooligans out there, the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa is only 136 days away. The major football, (or for the sake of us Americans) "soccer," event will be hosted in South Africa this year. Like all sporting events, promotional products are extremely important to each and every fan.

Sticking with tradition, a special crafted soccer ball has been created to represent the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Named, "Jabulani," meaning "to celebrate," the state of the art soccer ball incorporated 11 different colors to signify the 11 official languages of South Africa and 11 players on each team. 1,760 of these promotional soccer balls are being created daily with processes of frequency forming, vacuuming and thermal bonding.

The intense process makes for an awesome soccer ball that even the captain of the Chelsea and Germany team's, Michael Ballack said, "does exactly what I want it to do."

South Africa has already incorporated their culture into the innovative soccer balls, but now they've gone a step further. In African tradition, a customized helmet is worn by fans to show support. In Africa, many people actually make a living creating these items named, Makarabas. Like all of our promotional hats, they help to promote any given brand while allowing for a personal touch.
The intricacies included in the creation of each Makaraba makes it impossible to mass produce them. Therefore, special packages have been prepared to leave some customizations up to the recipient. Inserts and stickers are included to allow each owner to customize their Makaraba just how they'd like it. Goodness gracious, they've even created an inflatable Makaraba. My favorite thing about these promotional products is that the web-site you buy them from actually has a section titled, "Pimp your Makaraba." I don't know if, "pimp" is a word used in any of the official 11 languages or South Africa, but I'm happy to know they speak my language.