THE PROMOTIONAL PRODUCTS industry is a hungry beast. It feeds on new ideas, designs and innovations. It is insatiable. One product enters the scene, only to be greedily consumed and fed to end-users in an endless attempt to set a logo apart from the crowd.
This is hard work for suppliers of promotional products who must continue to fulfill a demand for products possessing nebulous adjectives, such as “new,” “hot” and the oft-cited “unique.” Many suppliers are left waiting to hear of new inventions, which can then be added to a line, but a few suppliers are taking a different approach. This rebel bunch goes beyond merely supplying products but is actually inventing them. The results are product lines that practically drip newness from wet ink on freshly printed catalogs.
At January’s ASI show in Orlando, Fla., a group of young women in lab coats stood smartly along the side of one aisle. The company they represented was Design Lab, Florence, Ala., and the show was its launch into the promotional products industry. One of the lab coat-clad ladies was Brandi P. Stokes, vice president of sales and marketing. “Design Lab is actually a sister company of a design firm,” Stokes explained. Having prior experience in the promotional products industry, she felt confident the company could stand out and deliver products that stood out as well. “Design Lab was born out of that,” she said.
The ideas that brought Design Lab to the industry are similar to those that brought a well-known success story to fruition more than 14 years ago. Logomark, Tustin, Calif., was founded by Trevor Gnesin in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1993. Today, the company has more than 4,000 products, said Damian Want, senior vice president. “We’ve never tried to do what everyone else is doing,” Want stated. “We’re always focused on something new, something that we can do better.” To aid the process, Logomark has invested heavily in design. The company staffs designers from the San Francisco School of Design and supports them with sophisticated design software. The company, though established and successful, has not lost site of its origin. Want said Gnesin, who still owns Logomark, continues to seek out new products and conduct product research, often traveling extensively to find innovative ideas and solutions to problems.
At Design Lab, similar methodology ensures the pipeline of new products is always full. Stokes said the design process can begin with any team member stating a problem or idea. “We always have our eyes open and looking for things … that we don’t have that could help make life easier,” she said. The ideas grow into solutions and thus products, but product creation is no simple matter. The ideas become sketches, the sketches become prototypes, then testing begins. “We’re constantly evaluating [the product] to see if it can be done better or in a different way,” explained Stokes. From concept to completion, a product may take six months. The time may be doubled if it is a very complicated product. “In the end, we feel like we come up with a product that’s a very well made product and a very unique product, as well,” she said.
Logomark’s products must go through the same process. In order to reduce the time needed to bring products to market and in an effort to create timely models for the company’s distributor customers, Logomark invested in a 3-D rapid prototype machine. This can be thought of as a kind of three-dimensional printer. Instead of adding ink to paper, the machine subtracts material from a block of foam or plastic, leaving only the desired shape. The creation time is cut dramatically. “We can design and deliver a prototype in about a week,” Want said.
Innovation and design count for more than just style points. Design directly relates to the usability and comfort of a product. Want cited the Nerva tumbler, which he described as a “breakout success.” He said many people were skeptical of the design of the product because it seemed to be too stylish, but the stand-out shape as well as the utility brought sales. Want said the lid of the mug went through 22 iterations of testing and refinement before it was final. He said good design is part of the “subtle things that make our products better.”
Design Lab prides itself on functionality as well as creating objects that contrast boldly among many other industry items. “Our products are used everyday,” said Stokes. As a result of Design Lab’s image and products, Chef’n, a kitchenware company known for innovation, design and durable cooking tools, recently paired with Design Lab to bring the favored retail items to the promotional products industry.
Of course, building a reputation on innovation means one must continue to innovate. “We’re going to have two launches a year, so we’ll constantly be keeping things fresh and exciting,” said Stokes. Want summarized Logomark’s design philosophy nicely: “We’re very focused on simple and better,” he said. “If you want a product that’s better and you know how to make it better, then it makes sense to go ahead and make the product yourself.”
