Workaholics. Office Space. The Office. All modern office-themed TV shows and movies lauded for their workplace accuracy, but also all with sets missing one major detail—promotional products.
It’s true, just take a second to picture it. Sure, Office Space has the red stapler, and The Office had a handful of jokes about decorated mugs, but overall, where are the logoed items? Where are the pens, the notepads, the travel mugs? The folders, lanyards and calendars? The company letterheads, uniforms and mailing boxes?
Nowhere, that’s where. Whoever was responsible for set design on those properties left out one of the most critical design details of making them feel real, because a real office is absolutely packed with promotional products. A handful of decorated pens picked up from a sales conference two years ago. Some magnets from the pizza place across the street that have somehow spread to most of the company’s filing cabinets. Five or six stress balls rolling around desktops, gathered up from last week’s employee health and wellness meeting. Promotional products are always there in one form or another, whether Hollywood set designers realize it or not. Thankfully, there’s no need for us to follow in their mistakes.
Looking to add a little promotional realism to some offices? The next page holds a handful of pointers on selling items into office spaces.
Sticky Notepads
A sticky notepad is a cornerstone office product, especially in markets where there’s a lot of paper workflow that’s often annotated, such as publishing, research or academics.
There are a couple of things you should look for when picking sticky notepads for your clients. “[A] balance of properties is a key issue, so that a note removes cleanly and can stick and re-stick to a variety of surfaces the first, second, third times, then six months later,” said Tim Mogck, national sales manager for St. Paul, Minnesota-based 3M Promotional Markets. “The additional uses are what provides additional advertising.”
He also explained that notes should be flexible enough to bend without coming off the page. “Occasionally you have to bend a note, like when you turn pages in a book or shuffle papers,” he said. “Many notes give way under these conditions. Attach a note to letter-sized paper and ‘bend’ the sheet to see if the note will stick.” Another quality test he suggested was to quickly peel the note from the pad, then attaching it to a surface to see if it lies flat. “Some notes ‘lift,’ meaning they will angle up or curl, making them difficult to use and more susceptible to falling off,” he said.
A selling point: “[Notepads] generally last several months on the desk, but get used every day—[often] multiple times a day,” said Mogck. “The advertising printed on each sheet means that the user is seeing and interacting with that message multiple times a day for months and months while passing those sheets—and its message—on to others as part of the natural use of Post-it notes.”
Badges
From giant, clearance-requiring corporations like Lockheed Martin to small businesses that share a space with other companies, ID or key card access is often a necessity, making offices a major buyer of badges.
When pitching badges to an office client, know that they might be more interested in brand-friendly designs than other common badge customers such as hospitals or concerts. “In an office, more attention might be paid to the overall design and feel of the badge,” said Eric Johnson, MAS, vice president of sales and development for Halls & Company (ID Line), Brooklyn Park, Minn. “A buyer might be more concerned with how the badge matches their internal office designs.”
That difference aside, Johnson explained that badge orders share more or less the same considerations: size, content, readability and attachment options.
A selling point: Office-branded badges are often paired with office-branded lanyards. Knowing how your client intends to use the badges can help you pitch and select the right lanyard for them. “Many times in a large corporate setting [badges] are used for security or to know who can access certain areas,” said Johnson. “With this type of badge, you’ll want to utilize a badge reel or lanyard for the attachment. In a small office setting, there might be more customer visits or outside visitors that come into the office,” he said. “A smaller logo with a name is the appropriate type of badge with a magnet fastener would work great in this environment.”
Lanyards
The jelly to badges’ peanut butter, lanyards are another great office item. To make sure they get used and not stored in a cube drawer somewhere, Brandon Brown, director of marketing for West Jordan, Utah-based SnugZ USA, recommended giving users options on how to wear their badges. “Functionality is key,” he said. “People love having options when carrying or wearing their badge. Giving people multiple options increase use and functionality.”
A selling point: Besides allowing for what the customer prefers, consider how the badge will be used day-to-day. This will ensure you’re offering end-users the most effective way to actually use, and therefore keep, the products. “Opening multiple doors a day could be annoying if you had to constantly remove a lanyard and scan an ID badge,” said Brown. “A badge reel, or a badge reel lanyard attachment, makes it much easier to use throughout the day.”
