Over at Ads of the World I found this delightfully delectable promotion. It made me smile and I think if I ever saw it in real life, I really would take a picture with it. This promotion was done at an airport in Germany to promote the sumo sushi roll, which measures 10cm in diameter. Judging by the picture it just looks like a massive California roll, which is alright, but in my opinion I'd much prefer a massive spicy tuna roll. Employees of Tsunami Sushi bars were on hand to give out free samples (probably miniature samples) and it made me wonder if I'd be okay taking a sample of sushi in an airport. I mean tasting the orange chicken at the mall food court is one thing, but free sushi at an airport? That seems a little sketchy. I can't help but remember the backwards episode of Seinfeld where George says "Something's not sittin' right" and then it shoots to an hour earlier when he's at the diner and he orders clams casino. There are just certain times and places when you say no to certain types of food. What's next using sushi as trade show giveaways?

After re-reading Kishan's blog from Friday, I've come to one inevitable conclusion: I need magnets. I don't care what kind, I don't care what's on them, I just need magnets. The top of my desk has two massive cabinets and I've got magnets all over them. I've got pictures of my god-daughter up. I hung up a schedule of upcoming events so I know when I need what. I've got a picture of two of my best friends from college posing with our favorite professor. I've even got a picture of Dr. Kelso from Scrubs with the quote "This is not bring your problems to work day, this is just work day." I've even got a Chinese food menu, although that one really doesn't need to be there because my sushi place (which I have on speed dial) also boasts great Chinese food. But my point is, in order for all of this to be possible, I need magnets.

And if I had magnets at home, my Christmas cards wouldn't be littered all over my apartment. I wouldn't need to clutter my new Ikea table with various menus that I've collected. I could hang pictures of my god-daughter on my fridge and make it more fun. What I would really like is for some of these restaurants to have business card magnets, that way I could take one of them and not have to worry about having the menu right in front of me. Plus, it's pretty much like subliminal advertising. If I see a big ol' gooey piece of pizza, guess what I want for dinner?

I could just go out and buy magnets, but unless they're super fun magnets, who really wants to pay for them? So if anyone out there reads this, and wants to send me some promotional magnets, I'll be glad to take them off your hands.

Until one of the best comedies returns to the airwaves. I know everyone's been talking about trade show giveaways, and while I know it's that time of year, I just had to talk about this. I have been looking forward to January 6th for quite some time now, and it seems like every day that day just gets a little sweeter. Firstly, brand new episode of NCIS, my favorite show ever. Law and Order SVU will be back at 10PM for more crime fighting, murder solving goodness. At 11PM, I'll be switching over to TBS to catch up with Leslie Pool and the gang at Greens 'n Grains on the season premiere of 10 Items or Less. (Think The Office, but in a super market!) And while I'm super excited about that show, it's not what I'm talking about. And if you've paid attention, you can see that I'm free during the 9PM hour. Oh contraire mon amies. I am VERY much occupied. You see, at 9PM...

SCRUBS RETURNS TO ABC!!!!

Scrubs is a favorited show among several Motivators employees, but the biggest Scrubs fan has got to be Anthony in IT. You may think he's loyal to Lost, but when it comes to comedies, he happily turns to the staff of Sacred heart to provide him with merriment. Two years ago, when he was in the Art Department, and Mike was hired, he affectionately took to calling Mike "Newbie" (just like Dr. Cox called JD.) And he's been known to rant on occasion. (Anyone who reads his blogs knows that Anthony can talk!) And two Halloweens ago, no one was surprised when he walked in dressed at Dr. Cox. 

So for all you Scrubs fans out there, I headed over to CafePress to find some great Scrubs promotional items. Because CafePress is just like Motivators, except other people have already come up with the clever imprints so you don't have to! On to the promos and I've selected one for each of the true Scrubs fans in IT.

First up, Anthony. A classic Dr. Cox quote if ever there was one

For the other Sarah in IT...the double Frick shirt. She often utters this word when something goes astray... (like she just did)

 

For Mike...we all saw this one coming. (Note: this could also apply to Carolina, as she is just getting into the Scrubs obsession. That's what you get when you share an office with two Scrubs fanatics.)

For me...an homage to the classic episode. Because one hasn't lived, until one has witnessed a Cool Cats performance.

Really, the truth of the matter is that you can imprint a Scrubs quote on several different promotional items and the true fans will get it and understand. It'll be memorable and it'll be treasured. Just like JD's treasured pencil given to him by Dr. Cox. And I know that many of you out there don't understand that reference, but you all should. Because Scrubs is awesome and when it comes back on Tuesday night, I'll be ready.

There's really no better gift than moolah. Admit it...you know you love the birthday cards that are just a little bit thicker than most, and you love the long skinny ones most of all. This past holiday season, while I truly enjoyed unwrapping presents, I think I got a bigger kick out of the envelopes. But one envelope in particular got me to thinking. My aunt gave me a Bed Bath and Beyond gift card complete with 5 coupons. As a former Bed Bath and Beyond employee, I can attest that to the BBB fan, there's nothing more valuable than a coupon. BBB's coupons never expire and aside from some slight restrictions (Nautica items, Yankee Candles, All Clad products...the list goes on), they're accepted on pretty much anything in the store. And while so many people often toss those those coupons in the garbage, they can add up. 20% off an Aero Bed ($99.99) saves you 20 bucks. And those $5 dollar off coupons are quite beneficial when buying a $15 item. And now, with the economy in the state its in, everyone will be clamoring for a deal.

It made me think about how much more enticing trade show giveaways would be if there was a coupon attached, or even imprinted on it. When people think they're getting a deal, it makes it all the more desirable.

The day after Christmas is normally when the retail stores start pushing out the Valentines Day promotions. Won't be long now before you see a wide selection of candy hearts, chocolate roses and anything and everything imprinted with the words "I Love You" all over them. But in our world it's a little different. Sure we've got Valentines Day promotional products, like candy hearts and heart shaped stress balls, but that's really more of a Hallmark holiday. In our world January means one thing: trade show time.

In the next coming month marketing budgets will be handed out and you will all know just how much you can spend on this year's trade show giveaways. With the economy in the state it's in, I'm predicting that fewer companies will be spending their budgets on awesome trade show giveaways like MP3 players and custom USB flash drives. While this is a shame, because these are items that anyone would love to recieve at a trade show, it's understandable. That's why we offer such a large selection of cheap tradeshow giveaways. Promotional pens, jotters, lanyards, and even promotional stress balls are all available for prices that will fit your budgets. We even have a wide selection of promotional items under $1, for those with extremely tight budgets.

If you get someone a Papa John's gift card, you get a free medium pizza. Buying a certain amount of Applebee's or Ruby Tuesday's gift cards will result in you getting an extra one. And last Saturday, when I entered Old Navy, an associate tagged me with a bracelet which then led me to get a coupon at the register for $5 off my purchase. Everywhere has holiday deals. Motivators is not counted out, we've had our fair share of deals as well. Certain promotional products were tagged with free rush production, while others were discounted by a ridiculous amount. There's something about the holidays and bargain shopping that just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Maybe that's the reason I want to cuddle our closeout promotional items section. It's Christmas Eve and I'm feeling the love. I'm also feeling somewhat aggitated because I can't get Britney Spear's "Santa Can You Hear Me" out of my head, but for the most part, it's just the warm and fuzzies that are taking me over.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Approximately an hour and 20 minutes ago (1PM, EST) I walked out of Motivators cheery office building in Westbury. I commented to Aaron, a highly integral member of prep department, that I expected it to be much colder. Dan Link, an integral member of our art department happened to be walking in as we were leaving and he was sans jacket, it was that mild. We headed to Mama Theresa's a local Italian place for lunch. We ate some pizza, we drank some iced tea, it was a good time. And approximately 49 minutes after leaving the Motivators headquarters (Mama T's is about 2 minutes away), as we were getting ready to dump our garbage and head back to work, Aaron stopped short. I nearly slammed right into him and was confused by his comment of "What the?"

There, through the glass windows, I saw it. Snow. Lots and lots of snow. It was coming down and it was coming down hard. Luckily it's not sticking to the ground, but it stuck to my car. My promotional ice scraper is buried beneath a pile of stuff in my backseat, and now's about the time that I should be looking for it.

I was not surprised to read in Terek's blog yesterday that 1 in 3 people write down their passwords for their computers. I am one of those 3 people. In fact I have two specific lists of all the passwords I need for work related things. Now these aren't my most important passwords, those ones I have committed to memory, but I have to log into several password protected websites every day and keeping track is sometimes just impossible. Some sites require a certain amount of characters. Some demand that you have a number in your password (I hate those). But with so many blog sites, article sites, and various other sites that I need to access on a daily basis, I really would be lost without my lists.

Now don't me wrong, my passwords are important, but there's not going to be a huge national security risk if someone hacks my eZine articles account. But for those of you that are working with super sensitive information, the Leeds promotional Password Manager is the perfect accessory. It can store more than 50 passwords to various websites and the software will automatically input your information when you visit the websites. It's like the perfect gift for the CIA! But be careful...the passowrd manager is password protected. So if you forget that...

Well, just don't forget that one.

Here's a fun fact about the motivators offices. Every year, when the temperature dips below chilly and officially branches into cold, the heat in specific offices in our complex sky rockets. We have had the building manager assess the heating system and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. It happened last year and Sarah and I were dying (to the point where we were bought fans for our desks). This odd barometric change is actually what gave our office it's name (affectionately known as the Bungalow.) It seems silly but my usual apparel during this time was t-shirts and sleeveless shirts. Probably explains the reason I got sick a few times.

I say this because it has once again happened and our office is 9 billion degrees. I'm currently rocking my Motivators sweatshirt (one of several that I own) and I'm sweltering. It's awesome. But I have tons of promotional t-shirts that I can wear over the next few months to get me through this heat wave. However, I do wish I had this Leeds Affiliate Weather Station Digital Picture Frame. It has the ability to tell you what temperature the weather is outside as well as the temperature of the room you're in. It'd be fun to see the difference. Plus, then I could upload pictures of places like the North Pole and Antarctica and long for cooler days.

Meet Alec Greven. He's a best selling author of the book "How to Talk to Girls" and Fox Studios just bought the rights to turn it into a movie. The deal was in the low to mid six figures. Books that turn into movies aren't that impressive and certainly something that's in the mid to low six figures isn't worthy of being front page news on Yahoo. So what's the big deal? You see Alec Greven...is a 4th Grader from Colorado.

According to the official story from Yahoo:

"Greven wrote "Girls" as a handwritten, $3 pamphlet sold at his school book fair; he wrote it after he noticed his peers were having some trouble talking to the ladies, though the book is geared for all ages. Among this advice: Comb your hair and don't wear sweats; control your hyperness and cut down on sugar if necessary; a crush is like a love disease that can drive you mad; it is easy to spot pretty girls because they have big earrings, fancy dresses and all the jewelry but are like cars that need a lot of oil."

When I was 9, I wasn't that productive. I certainly didn't do anything that would garner me a movie deal. Although now that I think about it, my 1st grade class did write an interesting cook book that probably would have made the NY Times best seller list. I still remember my mother being mad at me because I wrote that "My recipe is front my Aunt Sue because my mom doesn't cook, she just sits on the couch and watches soap operas." Also worthy, my class mate Michael forgot to actually get a recipe for Chocolate Chip cookies, so his page instructed future culinary connoisseurs to put balls of dough in the microwave and cook on medium for 7 hours.

Unfortunately, our little book did not become a best seller but I think I'm okay with that. Congrats to this kid for making it happen. Now if he can get some good promotional products made, he'll be golden.