From 1900 to today, this century certainly has had more technological developments than any century before. It seems to me that technology keeps taking leaps and bounds faster and faster. If I told you 10 years ago you would be playing video games without having to press a button, just by moving your hands and body, you would laugh at me. Here we are though, lead by Nintendo's Wii with Sony and Microsoft ready to carry the torch. Microsoft it seems may be looking to take this all to an entirely new level. Recently, Microsoft made official that they will be releasing an addition to their XBox 360 called Kinect. With the Kinect you will actually be able to control your system, your video games, without even holding a controller. The system will be able to recognize not just your body, but also your face, your emotions AND your intentions. And so, yesterday Microsoft unveiled the first ever "virtual human", Milo :

Milo, is a learning evolving person. Accrording to Microsoft, "No two people's Milos can be the same - you are actually sculpting a human being. Some of the things you are doing will change the course of his life." Don't kid yourself. The marketing impacts of this are tremendous. All of the information in Milo's head comes from a cloud server Microsoft controls. So certainly, as you get closer with Milo, and have conversations with him, Microsoft will be able to use him to let you know that "Coca Cola is so much better than Pepsi" or that he is "SO excited to see the new Harry Potter movie." Not to mention the obvious fact that I'm sure Microsoft will also be able to control what Milo wears, which would mean there is nothing stopping them from putting a promotional t-shirt or promotional cap that has say, a Mets logo or a Toyota logo on it. This person that you talk to every day and invest your time in every day will certainly have the potential to also effect your buying decisions. Lets face it, we are one step away from the next big thing in promotional products being promotional people.

You remember the old Ducktales cartoon when Uncle Scrooge would see something that could make him a bunch of money and his eyeballs would turn into dollar signs? That's pretty much the reaction of most sales associates in the electronics departments of stores, especially if they're on commission. It also goes for car salesmen and anyone whose job it is to sell high end items. So this weekend, as I casually wandered into the home theatre department at Best Buy in Westbury, NY and an associate approached me to ask if I needed help with anything, I could pretty much hear the *ca-ching* of the cash register going off in his head. I'd only arrived at the store to see if they had How I Met Your Mother Season 4 in stock since I had a gift card. I saw that they had it on Blu-Ray & I thought, what's the harm in just looking at the Blu-Ray players? It wasn't like I was going to buy one. I do have far more restraint than to go into a store to buy a DVD and walk out with a Blu-Ray player. At least, that's what I told myself 45 minutes before I walked out of Best Buy with a new Blu-Ray player.

 

I only asked where the Blu-Ray players were, but the associate did more than just point to where they were. He led me over to them and started immediately asking me what I was looking for. He spent a good 7 minutes telling me about each of the players, why they were priced the way they were. I learned that while the Insignia brand was considered the "no-name brand," all its parts were still made by LG, so if I was on a budget that was a safe bet. Rather than telling me straight up that *insert most expensive player here* was the best bet, he actually told me the complaints about said player and how it was rated in consumer reports. He explained that they had the most returns on that brand, but they were also sold the most so teh amount of returns could be expected. Still, he told me which one he used and explained that the biggest difference in pricing was that the most expensive models had the wi-fi cards built in and were wireless. When I explained that I was having FiOs installed, he told me that if the modem were going in the same room as the player, it was better to just get the less expensive version and hard-wire my internet connection.

Yes. An electronics associate pretty much tried to SELL me on the cheaper blu-ray player. To quote one of the most philosphic geniuses of our time, Homer Simpson: "I know kids. I'm scared, too."

As the conversation continued, Charles and I discussed everything from Facebook and Twitter to FiOs and Cablevision. He asked me what I did for a living and I explained promotional products to him. He mentioned that his friend's father was in a similar industry. Other customers approached to ask him questions and he answered them politely, but never once did those dollar signs appear in front of his eyeballs when he realized that they were in search of items much more expensive than a simple Blu-ray player. I wondered for a moment why he was paying so much attention to me, and yet not trying to upsell me on anything at all until he mentioned one thing: previously he'd interned at a PR firm in Manahattan. Suddenly, it all made sense.

Customer service...is PR, plain and simple. PR is about servicing your clients and catering to them. It's about being the face of the organization and being the best representation of the brand that you can be. You want a journalist to cover your story, you don't just send them a press release and hope for the best. You reach out, you make a connection. You cater to them and their needs. It's about helping them, while helping yourself. This simple PR lesson can easily be applied to sales associates everywhere. Charles took the time to make the connection with a customer. Did it take time out of his day? Yes. Could he have easily pointed me in the direction of the Blu-ray players and waited for someone who wanted to purchase a big ticket item? Yup. He was smart byu not doing so however, because not only did I walk out with a new Blu-ray player (I eventually went for the wireless enabled LG model) I walked out feeling really great about that. I know that if I go back to best buy to get a new TV, I'll go to Charles. If I decide I don't like my FiOs DVR and I want to go back to TiVo, I'll go to Charles. So he may have earned his commision on a simple Blu-Ray player, but he got a customer for life. And since the wonderful invention of this interwebs thing, you all can have my personal reccomendation of Charles as a great associate in the home theatre department at Best Buy in Westbury, NY.

PR. Plain and Simple.

 

 

When Facebook Fan pages first launched, there was a pretty large acceptance of them, but there were nay-sayers that choose not to go that route. These individuals stood by the wayside and didn't adopt fan pages for the simple reason that they were limiting when it came to cross-marketing opportunities. You see, an individual can become a fan (or "Like") a brand but they can't be friends with them. That brand can't go to someone's page and write them a message. That brand can't like a status update or even wish someone a Happy Birthday. The brand name is limited to its fan page and that's it. So, when certain brands decided that they needed to be more personal, they stuck to the original Facebook game plan: they would be an individual and therin they would be able to be more personally connected to their customers and clients. Good plan, right?

Well, there are downsides. Facebook Fan pages allow for customization options using the FBML (it's HTML for FB) coding. Fans can be directed to land on a specific page rather than just the typical profile. Contact information is more readily accessible and fan pages do have more communication tools available to them. For example, a fan page can easily send an update to all fans with just the click of a button. Also, should you ever decided that you want to integrate advertising, the fan page is the way to go. Additionally, Facebook's Open Graph platform has allowed for embeddable platforms so that brands can incorporate their fan pages right on their own websites. See that little box right over there? That's ours. You can click "like" and be automatically connected to our FB fan page without leaving the haven of our little blog. Not a bad plan either, since there's plenty more entertaining blogs to read along the way.  

That being said, we realize that it's not fair that we as a brand can't wish our fans a Happy Birthday or comment on their status messages. Speaking on behalf of the company, I can officially say that we're nice people. If you've spilled coffee on yourself on the way to work and Rebecca in prep did the same thing, we'd like to be able to comisserate with you. If it's your b-day, we'd like to wish you great wishes and perhaps offer you our promotional hangover kit the next day. After all, promotional products are conversation starters and it's kinda sucky that we can't be involved in the conversations. Therin lies the rub...except, not really.

You see, in order to run a Fan Page, one has to have a personal Facebook profile so that they can be the admin. So, I have one. If you search for Sarah Shepherd on Facebook, you may see that widely recognizable M and that's me. Well, not really. That's the M. I'm not actually shaped like a 3-dimensional letter because life would be more difficult that way and I'd most likely be employed at Sesame Street. But I made it my profile picture simply because that way you all would know that I'm the person behind the brand. Essentially, every one of our employees is a person behind this brand but I'm the one that's actually repping us out there on the interwebs. Crazy interwebs. It's nuts I tell ya.

Anyway, my status on the FB friend thing is this: if you friend me, I'll friend you back, but I'll never friend request anyone. If you think I'm cool enough that you'll want to connect with me outside of our fan page, great. That way I can say congratulations on your commencement and Mazel Tov on the new baby. We can talk about our mutual love of Phil Collins and if you don't like Phil Collins...well, I'll just have to re-evaluate our FB friend status. My personal page will include Motivators updates but for the most part, it's me. I do talk about things other than promotional products. Heck, I've been talking about promotional products for the past 4 years. I've written over 1500 blogs about them, I tweeted about them, I've talked to random strangers at TGI Fridays at Penn Station about them. I do have somewhat of a life outside of them, even though those last few comments probably made you doubt that. So yeah, friend me and I'll friend you back. Just look for the M.

 

Here at Motivators, we aren't happy with just being "up to date" we constantly strive to a leader in the promotional products industry in new products and new technology. That is why our Marketing and IT Departments work long, hard hours deep inside the Motivators Hatch (which really, is only partially a joke) coming up with new products and new ideas. So while you can always check out our Hot New Promotional Products category for new items, our homepage this month features two things that puts Motivators ahead of everyone else. First and foremost, in case you didn't know, we have an iPhone app! Download the Motivators App to your iPhone or iTouch and wherever you go you will be able to check out our hottest promotional products in our most popular categories. You can check pricing, look at pictures of items and even email yourself, your colleagues or your friends with your favorite promotional product finds.

Also, Motivators now carries promotional rubber band bracelets! Over the last few months, these have taken off with kids and teens around the country. Kids will have two arms full of these and trade them back and forth all day. In case you didn't know, these are rubber bands created in different shapes, they are elastic enough to wear as bracelets, but they never lose their shape! This is the PERFECT piece for any promotional product for kids and teens right now. It's also a great piece to give away at bar and bat mitzvahs, sweet sixteens, kid's birthdays, any event with kids!

So remember to bookmark Motivators.com as well as the Motivators Company Blog because you never know what those folks in the Marketing/IT Hatch will come up with next.

This may be one of the most practical and simple uses of solar energy I've seen.  Made by Yanko Design, this Some Shine Solar Energy Storage System is an eco-friendly way to re-juice your electronics.  Simply hang the panel on your window during the day with the battery base attached at the bottom.  At night, plug your electronics into one of the two USB ports and you're all set.  No information about options or pricing yet but this is certainly something I would be interested in purchasing for myself.

 

 

For plenty of other eco-friendly electronics, look at the selection of energy friendly promotional items available at Motivators.com.  Some items comparable to the ability of the Some Shine Solar Energy Storage system are the Solar Charger Pack, Leeds Lunar Solar Charger, Leeds OptiSol Solar Mobile Charger, Deluxe Solar Charger, or the Gemline Catalyst Solar Computer Backpack.

 

 

I've shared my thoughts on smart phones and know that I may just be the minority. But today I can share with you an electronic device I AM interested in purchasing. Only a few days ago I mentioned to a friend that I needed a chip implanted in my arm. While I consider myself responsible, I have a great knack for misplacing my driver's license, bank card and other vital components of anyone's life. In fact, when I'm not at work the phrases, "Have you seen my keys?" and "Where's my phone?" spew from my mouth like a bad habit. And jeeze, it really is an awful habit. I even left my sneakers at the gym yesturday - twice.
                                 
I enter the living room, lift up my niece, do a little dance, toss down my keys, soiree into the kitchen, put down my niece, take a quick bathroom break, wash my hands, transfer my laundry in the basement and come back up to check my e-mails. In those ten minutes, I completely lose all conception of where my keys could be, so after I check my e-mail and am ready to set out for my next destination, I generally have to search every room in the house like a mad woman. Yes I can be a mad woman.
                 
While this new invention can't help with my keys or IDs, it will definitely make holding on to my cell phone easier. I introduce, Skinput. Stomp on your BlackBerry, toss your iPhone in the toilet and run over that Droid with your uncles pick-up. You will no longer be needing these smartphones. Because Skinput is a revolutionary system that turns your forearm into a touch screen. A tiny pico projector is embedded into an armband so that an image appears on your arm and an acoustic detector is used to calculate and relay the location the user "clicks" their arm. Essentially, your forearm is transformed into a touch screen flesh phone.
                         
Unfortunately, in its present stage, Skinput does not yet have a telephone call feature. The designers at Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft Research are still working on the item and stress that this is only a prototype. Check out how Skinput works here. While its an awesome idea, I wouldn't actually want one of these strapped around my arm. I assume the arm band will be made more sleek in the future but I might as well just rubber band my cell phone to my wrist. Actually, many of our promotional cell phone accessories can be used to mimic the phone on arm technique.
                                           
For now, try not to laugh too hard at my homemade Skinput and look out for updates of this sweet product.
 

Hey guys back with a tech update for you today. I know that majority of us have used a PC one time or another in our lives. I know that when I was growing up my first machine in the house was a Tandy Computer, and then I got a custom rig made, next was a Dell, and finally just yesterday I built a custom PC. Along the way Windows has upgraded its OS, different looks different feels but one thing that has remained basically the same is MS Paint. No matter what version of Windows since it started MS Paint has always remained the one constant with the least amount of change, until now. Code named Project Gustav, the new paint program looks really good with a 3-D feel to it along with multi-touch capability I think this might just be the future of graphic design. And no guys I don't mean like picking up a Custom Bic Pen and start drawing in the air which would be pretty cool but check out the video below and see what I mean.

 

 

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to sail across the ocean to different countries on a garden vessel? Well it actually might be a possibility in the future, Vincent Callebaut has created a whale like floating garden designed to ride through the world's rivers and purifying their waters. The floating garden is a full eco-system that generates all of its energy from the sun and purifies the water through bio-filtration. One man’s vision may someday reduce the amount of energy that consume in a day or even purify the rivers that we take for granted. We can also make a difference one company at a time with purchasing promotional items that are good for the environment, environmentally friendly promotional items.

 

Well we knew this was coming, not too sure if we actually knew it would be so quick, but here it is the new iPhone App from Bing. The official Bing App actually seems pretty well thought out all of the features that you would expect from a search App is available. The App features some very nice features like Bing's image of the day background, voice search, tips, search help and an awesome image search. See some of the screen shots I took from my personal iPhone running the App, be sure to check out our line of promotional cell phone accessories. If you do download the App let me know what you think or how it measures up to the Google search App.

First off yes, this blog is partially inspired by the blogging of one Jenn Jimenez, blogger extraordinare. Recently, Jenn wrote a Pulitzer worthy blog about the newest technology Coca Cola has created in vending soda, the Coca Cola freestyle. Well, recently while at the local Roosevelt Field Mall I came across a Coca Cola machine. Now, it is not a new machine, I have seen it there before. It is a very technologically advanced machine, it operates entirely via digital touchscreen.

In the past it has always shown Coca Cola commercials and Simon mall gift card commercials when not in use (ironically I have never seen it show the Coke commercial that is supposed to take place INSIDE a vending machine!). However, during my last visit to the mall, and this machine specifically, I noticed something different, an additional sign on it. Now, when you purchase a Coke Zero you can "unlock" exclusive clips from the upcoming movie Avatar. For those who are not familiar,Avatar is supposed to revolutionize the movie cinema with its state of the art special effects while Coke Zero is a brand new diet soda.

Well I say, touche to Coca Cola for always knowing how to take promotion to the next level. I'm sure there are many thirsty people in the mall curious about the movie Avatar, why not sell your new experimental drink to them! Excuse the cliche, but the future is now. Take a tv show, say...I don't know...Heroes wants to attract more viewers. This Coca Cola machine could offer a free promotional bottle opener for everyone that buys a soda, answers a trivia question correctly and puts in their address. The possibilities are endless with a completely customizable interactive soda machine. Congratulations to Coca Cola for taking promotional soda-vertising to the next level.