Do your promotions need to take a turn for the better – here are some interesting marketing ideas

We don’t think that enough use is made of the humble eyelet in the design of promotional marketing products. The simple task of eyeletting can add that extra bit of interest to any promotional print product which just might rescue it from being considered ‘average’. 

An eyelet could help create car wheels that turn, steering wheels, turning hands on a clock – all kinds of things – but for some reason we just end up with millions of requests for “Volvelles” or wheel charts! For one such example of a creative use of eyeletting in the manufacture of a promotional marketing product, you could take inspiration from our “Bobbing Duck” which simply consists of two internal eyeleted wheels which cleverly produce an irregular bobbing movement.

A rather more practical use of eyeletting is seen in the production of promotional swatch cards. Whilst they might lack the playful and amusing attributes of the bobbing duck, swatch cards are very popular indeed. The fact that the user has to rotate each card makes the action of moving from one page to the next a more interesting movement than turning the page in a leaflet. Promotional swatch cards are usually pocket-sized which tends to make them quite a tactile product as well as being user-friendly and informative.

Parking Discs are used by local authorities throughout the UK but have yet to be discovered by the advertising industry. Survey results published in Promotions Buyer magazine (May 2008) revealed that nearly two thirds of respondents could name a brand or company / organisation featured on promotional merchandise that is kept in their car. And almost 95% of respondents believe that branded promotional merchandise increases a company’s brand awareness. Almost half have purchased from the branded companies.

Parking discs present a brilliant opportunity for advertisers. There are millions of motorists in the UK who reside in towns where a parking disc scheme is in operation. Each day millions of motorists handle a parking disc at least twice and so each day that parking disc is seen by that motorist at least twice! That’s a lot more than a map, an ice scraper, a pen, a sun shield, a tax disc holder or any other form of in-car advertising!

Think of the opportunities for a whole array of industries allied to the car industry… insurance companies, breakdown services, motoring organization, petrol and diesel suppliers, windscreen replacement, car dealerships, tyre companies… parking discs can offer an inexpensive way of ensuring that you giveaway gets noticed more than any other form of in-car promotional merchandise.

Creative eyeletting - bobbing duck