Anna Turchenko

As vaccination programmes are picking up pace across the world, companies are starting their scenario-building exercises focusing on safe return to work.  

The Government’s stage 2 of the roadmap out of lockdown gave some prospects of hope for businesses in UK:  

While some companies have pledged to fully transition to #wfh, like the IBM, Facebook, Shopify, Dropbox, Spotify and many other household names, other companies are considering adopting a hybrid workplace model, where employees would be able to split their time between the home and the office. 

Hybrid workstations 

The hybrid version seems to be one of the most sought-after options amongst the workforce. There has been many polls going around LinkedIn asking people to share their desired work patterns and the results are overwhelming. The majority has voted in favour of working at least one day a week from home.  

And it is easy to see why – this past year has highlighted the importance of work-life balance and for some, working from home has provided them with the opportunity to embrace it.  

The benefits of the office 

However let’s not discount the value of face-to-face human interaction (safety first of course).  

While organisations around the world have experienced great success in operating from a remote working set-up, some things happen differently while working from home. For example, the act of calling a spontaneous face-to-face meeting and jumping into a meeting room with colleagues to solve a problem or brainstorm an idea, becomes more of a process. Stopping by a colleague’s desk to ask quick question or simply to ask how their day is, previously giving staff a reason to move from their desks and be active, now happens from the other side of a screen. 

For employees in entry-level positions hoping to expand their network, working from home presents challenges in this respect. Attending the same webinar as the person sitting in another living room miles away isn’t always going to bring people closer. It’s a different story from networking over a cup of coffee face-to face and sharing inspiration with people attending the same event.  

Additionally, let us remind ourselves of the power of the watercooler chat. It provides employees with irreplaceable opportunities to chat with people from departments they do not necessarily work with on regular basis, building wider team morale and connections. 

The need for adaptability has never been greater than in the past year. We will need to be resilient and be prepared for the changes that are still to come. Luckily for us, humans are incredible at adapting to seemingly the strangest things. If someone had told us a mere 5 years ago that we would be working from home and doing it just as well as we would have from the office, we wouldn’t have believed it. But here we are, even though we are sad to think that the phrase ‘Can I make anyone a cup of tea or coffee?’ is most likely going to fade into history.  

Geiger is looking forward to their next team challenge of adapting to yet another way of working. And we are hoping your business is looking forward to coming back to the office, even if it is part time.  

We will be happy to help you with your back to work solutions. Ready when you are.  

#GeigerTeam 

The days are starting to get longer reminding us of what summer means to us. The Summer of 2021 is full of hope; a summer to catch up and make important memories. Businesses and individuals are feeling positive and optimistic for a summer of some normality as the restrictions are gradually lifted.

For some, summer is about enjoying outdoor family time, day trips, and holidays, for others it’s the amazing choice of sports we can partake in as well as the big international sporting events we can watch and for others yet it’s the carefreeness and freedom of festivals.

This summer will be extra special whether that is attending an outdoor event, watching the Olympics or the UEFA Champions League, or simply enjoying the great outdoors with friends and family. We have got the ideal branded products to help your brand enhance events, and be part of experiences and stories this summer. With a focus on sustainable and British-made promotional merchandise, we can help your brand to make an impact.

Outdoor Events – Leave It To Us

With the return of large-scale events permitted this summer, allow Geiger to take care of all your outdoor event needs from gazebos, hand sanitiser stations and point-of-sale such as barriers and flags, to recycled lanyards and tote bags.

Flags and other POS items are not just great for advertising! They are useful for communicating safe practices and they can help you create carefully curated spaces for customers and staff, as well as organising queues.

Company and Team Events – Together or Apart

Office summer parties may be different this year but whether you’re able to meet your colleagues in person or connect from a distance, our kitting concept is a great way to boost morale, create excitement and show staff you care. We understand the importance of planning ahead as well as keeping each other safe – our team is prepared to help you with your requirements.

Make a Personal Connection With Your Customers!

There’s still some level of uncertainty surrounding travel this summer, but we’ve got some great ideas for summer gifts for your clients and customers, whether they are home or away.

With sustainability as a focus, a wheatstraw speaker, a picnic blanket made from eco-friendly rPET, or a recycled frisbee will be a welcome accessory to accompany a trip to the beach or the park.

UEFA Champions League

With the postponement of the 2020 UEFA Champions League to summer 2021, football fever is going to be in the air! We have a fantastic range of football-related merchandise including chocolate footballs, football-shaped stress relievers, and lip balms, and we simply love this football, made from a combination of jute, natural rubber, and wood and part of the world’s first line of sustainable beach and outdoor sporting goods made from plants.

Olympics

The much-awaited 2020 Olympics now scheduled for late July and early August 2021 will create a worldwide buzz! Brands will be supporting and commemorating the Olympics directly and from afar and we have a great choice of branded products to mark the occasion!

Festivals

As music festivals return this summer, make your brand part of the memory through promotional products. A wheatstraw RFID cardholder can provide a convenient way for your clients to carry their credit cards while also can protecting them from fraud. Festival goers will be appreciative of antibacterial products such as a useful hygiene key and hand sanitiser which can be branded with your logo and personalised message. And the most essential item for festival fans must be a water bottle, and this Ocean bottle has a great story behind it – read more about it here!

If you’re looking for ideas on how to connect with your stakeholders this summer, get in touch with one of our friendly team who will be happy to assist you with your promotional merchandise needs!

A sustainable revolution?

There have been some inspiring changes taking place across the branded promotional products industry over the last few years. Sustainability has moved to the heart of the conversation. People are thinking about where the product comes from, what it’s made from, and whether or not it is going to end up in the landfill at the end of its life-cycle.

Eco movement is here to stay. It is not just a short-lived trend, destined to fade into history. Geiger is fully committed to supporting this movement, which is why we will always try to offer you an eco-friendly alternative whenever possible.

We’ve been listening to what our customers want and what their end-users want. We have also been reflecting on our values, those of our employees, and how they motivate us to lead the way in acting on those beliefs.

Our industry is constantly expanding its eco-friendly efforts — and people are responding extremely positively. This recent ASI study demonstrates a fundamental shift in consumer behaviour towards basing their view of a brand on its green credentials and buying more environmentally friendly products.

46% of consumers have a more favourable view of brands that supply them with environmentally-friendly promotional products
(Source: ASI Study).

This isn’t just a shift in our industry, either. It’s an important change across the globe as businesses actively embrace sustainable values and methods, driven by the same reasons as us.

Young and old

One thing’s for sure: This isn’t a trend or a temporary craze based around popular buzzwords, it’s an authentic shift in the way we as humans think about the world around us. It’s occurring across all age groups too.

A recent UNiDAYS survey found that an astonishing 93% of Gen Z’ers (those born in the late ‘90s/early ‘00s) believe that brands have an obligation to take a stand on environmental issues. It’s an impressive position held by a generation with a buying power of $140 billion.

An astonishing 93% of Gen Z’ers believe that brands have an obligation to take a stand on environmental issues.

Furthermore, the above ASI study had also found that nearly a third of people aged 55 and over are buying more environmentally friendly products than ever before. What’s more, more than half of the same group also said that they would have a higher opinion of brands who supplied them with green products.

What’s great about this shift is, first and foremost, it benefits our planet. In its broadest sense, sustainability means that a product has been made in a way that minimises its environmental impact — it may have been made using recyclable materials or be biodegradable.

The wonderful thing about the move to sustainability being society-wide is that it is now easier to embrace and implement. Nowadays, any one of us can and should make a difference! It’s a positive change with a message of hope —  who doesn’t want that feel-good factor from knowing that they’re part of hopeful, sustainable change?

There’s always an ECO alternative

From home-based start-ups to multinational corporations, forward-looking entrepreneurs and innovative businesses have always sought out new, improved ways of doing things. It is the same when it comes to sustainable practices. Nowadays people prefer recycled, upcycled, biodegradable and the most ethical solutions possible.

They want items that reflect their beliefs. At the same time, they still want those items to be aesthetically attractive, practical, and durable. This in itself can help to reduce environmental impact. Research shows that when people had a product that ticked all these boxes, the vast majority were highly likely to keep it for longer.

We’re moving beyond the disposable society of recent decades and coming back to the idea of a few high-quality, built-to-last products, but with the new bonus of mindfulness around where they came from and how they were made.

As such, the last few years have seen a definite, and hopefully permanent, shift away from single-use plastic. Even some of the most recognisable brands on the planet are shaking things up, from Coca-Cola testing paper bottles and pledging to recover three-quarters of the plastic from its existing bottles to Starbucks eliminating their straws altogether.

The clear message here is that whatever the item is, there is always an ECO alternative!

Geiger is also embracing this movement – we have already started to offer alternative eco-friendly promotional merchandise options to our clients in every enquiry we get – just look out for our (+e) sign!

Embracing change

We’re living in an exciting time where new, innovative eco-solutions are constantly being developed. As such, we now use words like recycled, reusable, renewable, and biodegradable pretty much every day; we know what the sign for recyclable looks like and that Fairtrade products ensure that the people involved in making them are treated and paid fairly.

We’ve also got new materials to embrace. For example, not all plastic is bad! There’s rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate), which is created from plastic bottles and containers that have already been used. There are also bioplastics, obtained from renewable sources like wheat, corn, and potatoes. And some plastics are now labelled BPA-free (BPA being a harmful chemical used in some plastic production in the late 20th century).

Many products that have typically been made from plastic can now be made from bamboo, meaning they not only come from a 100% renewable source, they’re also fully biodegradable. There’s a brilliant material called jute too, a strong vegetable fibre that’s CO2 neutral and also totally biodegradable.

Social Enterprise and Products That Give Back

Change rarely occurs in a vacuum. The fact is that true, lasting change can only come through cooperation. Many brands have been using their status to help give back and facilitate upstream and downstream change through social enterprise initiatives.

Social enterprise means applying commercial strategies to make a positive difference for social benefit. The social impact is partially or fully funded by reinvesting profits made to create social capital. Geiger is committed to improving the environmental and social wellbeing of those around us. It’s something that we feel passionately about and are proud to champion.

In recognition of Social Enterprise Day 2020, we launched our Products That Give Back Series – a selection of promotional products that do a good deed and have a great story behind them!

In addition to having all the promotional power you’d expect from branded merchandise (such as having a great ROI, low CPI and tangibility), these products have a powerful story to tell and potentially life-changing benefits for those who need them the most:

The journey continues

For us, the environment, social enterprise, and Corporate Social Responsibility are all inextricably linked and will continue to be at the heart of our mission statement.

With more and more companies embedding sustainability into their practices and with consumers worldwide becoming increasingly interested when it comes to where products come from (and where they’re going after they’ve been used), continued innovation is as inevitable as it is necessary. Our expert procurement team is always searching the globe for the best sustainable alternatives to give to you.

We pledge to help your brand to endorse the same sustainability values when presenting your clients and potential customers with great promotional merchandise that has the added value of a positive story to tell.

Digital transformation has been an evolving part of our everyday lives for many decades. Covid-19 has become a catalyst of change for many businesses. Due to the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, new practices that would have gradually been adopted over many years, have been established and accepted much quicker. Businesses that were unable to adapt to the fast-paced changes ended up being left behind.

The way businesses connect with their customers, and vice versa, has also changed and will continue to evolve. The future landscape will combine the best elements from both worlds.

A Positive Evolution

In many ways, the changes were already in the air, the pandemic has simply fast-tracked them. Digital technology is, of course, nothing new, but it has now been deeply integrated into every aspect of business. From processes to customer experiences to workplace culture, digital technology has been embedded into every mode of communication, rather than being one of the alternatives.

Digital transformation brings a positive evolution for businesses because it means brands have more options than ever before when it comes to marketing strategies and getting their names, products, and messages in front of the right audiences.

A New Way of Working

We spent 2020 talking about working from home being part of “the new normal”. In 2021, the new normal is now plain-old normal. We are hoping that 2021 will become the year of improved normal, where we leave outdated practices behind and adopt new, better ways of working.

For example, the idea of “the office” as a physical space that people travelled to in the morning and left in the evening, disconnecting until the next day, is a thing of the past. Digital transformation has blurred the line between where work starts and stops. According to McKinsey, 80 percent of people questioned report that they enjoy working from home. Forty-one percent say that they are more productive than they had been before and 28 percent that they are as productive.

With platforms like Teams, Slack, Zoom, Discord and many many more, the idea of the office has become less fixed than ever. We’re always finding new ways of sharing information – just have a look at this innovative NFC pen that allows you to upload your website, business card, or the latest offering and share them with those who matter to your business. 

Refining how and where we work has led to a generally more philosophical state of mind. People are starting to take more care of what they buy and which brands they invest in — they want to connect with brands that embrace the same values as them. This has made the global shift to sustainable practices across industries, both upstream (for everything from workers to the environment) and downstream to consumers. 

Embracing Cultural Change

We are in the midst of a huge culture shift. The certainties of old have become more fluid, bringing both challenges and advantages to companies. Businesses have had to find ways of maintaining a coherent corporate culture and keep team morale high when everybody is physically separated. 

At the same time, the work culture has become more personal in certain ways. Our children and pets have become a visible part of everyday working life, blurring the boundaries even further.

Promotional merchandise provides the ability to make the transition easier. It has the power to create emotional connections, generate goodwill and increase loyalty.

Making A Tangible Connection

The last year has also highlighted the importance of the physical presence or rather its absence has forced us to realise the impact it carries. Digital transition has been a lifeline, but now more than ever, we appreciate a tangible connection with people, be it a hand-written letter or a thoughtful gift. Corporate merchandise can help your business to make this connection.

Back in what seems like another world, many of us would connect with potential business clients at exhibitions, meetings, and industry events. We would custom build eye-catching exhibition stands, and give away goody bags while networking through face-to-face chats, exchanging details, and then maybe connecting online.

In the absence of face-to-face events and the rise of digital events, there are many inventive ways of connecting with customers and future clients. With so many networking events and meetings currently being held virtually on platforms such as Zoom, forward-looking brands have been nurturing a tangible connection by sending out pre-event and post-event packs, and even packs designed to be used during an event, for example, a cocktail making kit for a “happy hour” or a ‘See You Soon’ kit ahead of your meeting.  

Many people may be experiencing ‘webinar fatigue’ and these special touches can help to bring an event to life and encourage attendees to participate. This can work for launches, annual events, celebrations – you are only limited by your imagination.

With so many people working from home at the moment, branded products can also help maintain workplace culture, boost morale and increase loyalty and productivity. Building these close connections with employees can make them feel valued and appreciated. A personalised welcome pack can help new staff feel like one of the team while a bespoke thank you pack can help reward and recognise staff for their contribution or achievements.

Promotional merchandise bridges the gap between people while they’re apart. 

Marketing Superhero

Branded products are a powerful addition to any marketing strategy. The British Promotional Merchandise Association (BPMA) has done plenty of research that shows just how powerful it can be:

• 79% of consumers are more likely to do business with a brand after receiving a branded gift from them.
• 83% of consumers who receive a branded gift can remember the brand’s name 12 months later. 

Branded promotional merchandise offers a tangible and lasting connection with people, as well as great ROI and low cost per impression (CPI). It can build brand loyalty three times more effectively than web, print, mail, or TV advertising can on their own.

New Beginnings

Spring is in the air, and we now have a series of dates in place for when, fingers crossed, we can embrace pre-pandemic levels of closeness again. Help your stakeholders embrace this sense of renewal and hope by sending them a personalised branded gift that carries a message of hope, purpose and support. Get in touch with us now to discuss your requirements. We’ll be happy to help you find the best way of connecting with clients, potential customers, or your employees.

Environmental responsibility is of paramount importance right now in business. Increasing numbers of customers are interested in a company’s green credentials, favouring sustainable, eco-friendly approaches over single-use plastics and wasteful packaging.

At Geiger, we’re fully committed to conducting our business sustainably — and helping you to do the same. We believe strongly in giving back as much of what we take from the Earth as possible — and we only source our products from similarly responsible suppliers.

That’s why we’re so excited to present the Impact Collection.

MAKE AN IMPACT!

The Impact Collection is a stunning range of accessories made using recycled cotton, recycled PET plastic, and other sustainable materials. It’s a collection that truly cares. There’s no greenwashing here.

There are some fantastic promotional products available, all of which we can brand with your brand identity. It’s a brilliant way of showing your customers and competitors that you’re truly concerned with a 360° sustainable approach. Who knows, they may also inspire others to up their eco-game!

The collection includes a host of stylish bags and cases, from weekend bags to bound notebooks, available in classic corporate shades of blue and grey.

There are also water bottles made from recycled glass and bamboo or stainless steel. Perfect for quenching your thirst on a hectic day!

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE…

The collection’s aim is both to save water and raise money for leading water and sanitation charity Water.org — 2% of the proceeds from every sale are donated to them.

By using recycled materials, the Impact Collection is able to save an average of 1.8 litres per product — that’s more than 3 pints worth! To date, they’ve saved nearly 90 million litres of water and re-used nearly 6 million plastic bottles.

…AND THERE’S MORE!

The Geiger team is here to help you communicate with your clients in ways that are personalised, stylish, and practical — who doesn’t love receiving a complimentary goodie that saves them time and money.

The best part of it is that the Impact Collection is just one of the great ranges we’ve got available. Whether you’re after that certain something or you don’t know where to begin, reach out to our friendly team. We are the world’s leading family-owned, one-stop-shop for promotional merchandise, and we can deliver worldwide on a next-day basis from our HQ in Hayes, Middlesex.

Get in touch with us now with your brief, and let us make your brand our inspiration.