Marketing Articles

What Does a Messy Desk Mean?

When it comes to a messy desk, I will hold my hands up and admit my desk isn’t exactly the tidiest, as a matter of fact I prefer to use the terminology ‘organisation in chaos!’ If you are like me and have stacks of papers and books with pens, stationary and other random objects of interest sprawled across your desk, have no fear, thanks to a recent study it has been found that there is method to our madness. Messiness is traditionally mistaken as a sign of laziness, but the truth is it has actually been found (when it comes to your desks) that it could be linked to being a creative genius.

The study fundamentally tested two groups of people, one group operating in a disorderly working environment and the second working in a tidy environment. The results showed that although both groups of people produced the same level of work in terms of quantity, but when the quality was concerned, the creativeness and interesting elements were far superior in the work produced by the people in the disorderly work area. It wasn’t just creativity that differed, the same researched also showed that people with messier desks are more likely to takes risks, opposed to those with tidy desks who are prone to following strict procedures, and working in an orderly manner.

“Disorderly environments seem to inspire breaking free of tradition, which can produce fresh insights,” researchers said. This isn’t particularly a recent thought, it also resonates through history, some of the world’s greatest minds were famously known for having cluttered and unkempt desks; possibly because geniuses would rather concentrate on producing new and creative ideas, than spend time putting everything away in a complicated filing system. When you have everything on your desk it is all within arms-reach, allowing you to let your creativity run wild. But I totally get it, there are two definitely still geniuses with immaculate desks, I think ‘horses for courses’ is the best analogy when it comes to the tidiness of desks.

Like I mentioned organisation in chaos is my chosen desk strategy (that’s my argument and I’m sticking to it!) and although to outsiders, it may look messy, to me it is organised, and maintaining that organisation is important. On the promotional market there are some fantastic, desk organisation tools which would look amazing on all desks. A great example of these is the foldable smart cube as shown in this video. When fully packaged arrives in cube form then when unrolls provides you with small compartments, pen pots and sticky notes that would look fantastic on any desktop, messy or tidy!

You only have to visit www.charity-merchandise.co.uk to see just how much BTC Group are fond of working with charities. We always love to see fantastic, new and innovative ways charities use promotional products to advertise and fundraise for their amazing causes. This is a feat that we are regularly asked to help with, sometimes charities will have their campaign already drawn up and ask us just to supply the merchandise, occasionally a charity will involve us from the planning stages, using our knowledge and expertise on what promotional products to use, and which products work best in certain situations. One great strategy that caught my eye recently was the use of 200 colourful umbrellas suspended over Liverpool city Centre, creating a fantastic striking statement.

The impressive display has been created by Liverpool based ADHD foundation. Chief executive of ADHD Foundation, Dr Tony Lloyd, said: “The name for the project was actually chosen by the brilliant children who work with the foundation, ADHD and autism are ‘umbrella terms’ for a whole variety of neurodevelopment difficulties and we want to highlight that fact and challenge the stigma of what can be ‘invisible’ disabilities.” Local businesses are also getting involved, for just £250 they can sponsor one of the umbrellas, which in turn will pay for a whole programme of support for families.

Promotional Umbrellas are one of our most popular branded gifts; they provide a fantastic use, (especially in the UK!) and are used by a plethora of companies in pretty much every business industry we deal with. We have seen them used for all kinds of reasons, given out to all the players at a golf day, used by doormen at events to escort people from their cars to the front door whilst keeping them dry, we have even seen them used in the summer, distributed to protect people from the sun. With over 1000 umbrellas in our range we have an umbrella for all occasions!

The reason umbrellas are generally so popular in the promotional world is because when used the branding on an umbrella is generally at eye-level, and due to the size of the product, provides a very good sized branding area. In this country it is no secret that it rains a lot, so the umbrella is almost a comfort product that is almost a necessity during some months. Also ‘umbrella’ is a popular term used in businesses, charities and school, word association is a great way to come up with ideas for a merchandise campaign, with this case study being a fantastic example.

Today in the UK millions of people will be visiting polling stations across the country exercising their democratic right to vote for their chosen political party. Each party has their own manifesto, idea on how to run the country, and criticisms of the other parties. One thing they do have in common however is that they all have campaign merchandise! Here at BTC Group we’re always interested in the use of promotional merchandise for all kinds of reasons, with political use being one of them.

Earlier last year we came across an interesting article showing the differences of use of merchandise between the political parties in USA, with Donald Trump spending over 1 million dollars on his campaign merchandise with 268,000 dollars spent on caps alone! As if this wasn’t enough Trump last month announced he was launching a Swag Subscription Box, entitled the “big league box” containing a ‘handpicked bundle of trump merchandise’ for the price of 69 dollars a month. Now we don’t expect the UK campaigners’ promotional products to be as extravagant, but it is very interesting to see how each party uses merchandise, and where they place their emphasis on product choice. In order to do this I will be checking out each constituency’s merchandise shop.

Starting with the Labour webshop, the first thing you notice when you visit their products page is information, information, information. Almost all of the products on the first page of their shop are leaflets and posters containing information on their manifesto, education reforms and some leaflets containing information on why not to vote for the other parties. The promo product that did make it to page one are balloons, which is not surprising as promotional balloons provide an inexpensive way to visibly have your brand seen. In the world of politics even without seeing the printed logo, just the colour of the balloon can identify which party is being promoted. The labour party shop has 4 more pages with merchandise e.g. pens, stickers, mugs, t-shirts etc. totalling a healthy selection of over 80 products to choose from.

At first glance of the Conservative webshop it appears to be a bright, attractive page to buy merchandise from. When you delve deeper into the Conservative webshop you realise is it is actually a print on demand offering, which unless you were in the promotional product industry wouldn’t be easily identifiable. Print on demand websites definitely have their benefits as you can have a product with hundreds of different designs and choose the design you want. For the constituency it means minimal risk as they do not have to stock printed product and therefore do not need storage, or have to pay an initial outlay for the products. The challenges that a print on demand website has is there is a lack in diversity of product, under no fault other than the technology doesn’t exists just yet to personalise the 150,000+ products that are on the promotional market on demand. The other challenge is when you are buying products to stock you are getting a consolidated reduced price, therefore can sell products at a cheaper rate, with printed products on demand, you are not benefitting from economies of scale therefore the price of products is proportionately higher, unless there is a minimum order quantity to achieve a price point.

When you find yourself on the Liberal Democrat’s webshop you will notice their product offering is considerably less than the other parties, with 23 products in total. Giving a smaller range generally isn’t a bad thing. A Study by TED speaker Sheena Lyengar in 1995 shows that shoppers are more likely to purchase jam from a small selection of flavours rather than a large selection. We know that all studies are situational and may not work in every instance, but it might work here for the Liberal Democrat merchandise. The second thing I notice is their product range is very similar to the product ranges we put together for charities, containing products like badges, fundraising boxes, keyrings, pens, clipboards, balloons, flags and bags, all products we have actually stocked for a charity client of ours. These products are considered the essentials for campaigning; the one thing that I see lacking from these essentials is t-shirts. Campaigning t-shirts are at the forefront of the other stores but for one reason or another is not included in the Liberal Democrat offering.

It is very interesting to see how different each parties’ choices are when it comes to their campaigning merchandise, and how each party has placed emphasis on different products and how to sell them. No matter whom you’re voting for today, we implore you to exercise your democratic right, visit your local polling station and place your vote!

Behavioural Photobiology can be defined as the study of the link between identifiable colours and behaviour in animals and humans. In 1969 Dr Alexander Schauss developed the theory that since changes in human emotions are related to the endocrine system (collection of glands in your body that produce hormones that regulate growth, metabolism, sleep, mood, reproduction etc.) that colours could therefore be used to cause hormonal changes in humans.

He then went on to test this study in 1978 alongside Dr. John Ott, together they experimented with a certain shade of pink, and had incredible results exhibiting that this shade of pink now known as Baker-Miller Pink did consistently show reductions in hyper excitability. The colour is called Baker-Miller pink because when doing the tests at the Washing State Department of Corrections, only Commander Miller and Warden Baker were willing to have their rooms fully painted in this colour to allow the tests to proceed.

It goes without saying that the hoodie definitely the ‘go to’ comfort clothing item, the garment just seems to be synonymous with feelings of cosiness, snug and softness. It is amazing how scientists can take natural feels one step further engineering products to increase those natural benefits. I believe it’s only a matter of time till a product like this, which has been technologically engineered for comfort, finds its way onto the promotional market.

It is hard not to notice the fact that fidget toys are all the rage at the moment, they are absolutely everywhere, on the high street, on the internet and more than likely you or a family member own one, or have at least seen played with one. History tells us that fads do not need to make sense to become prevalent, I mean do you remember how popular the Crazy Frog was? Fidget toys on the other hand at least have an underlying justification for their existence.

Fidgeting is socially related to nervousness, impatient tendencies, and possibly lack of interest. Several times in the day you will find yourself fidgeting for absolutely no reason, in fact people have been observed fidgeting since the early 1800’s, so it’s not like it is a modern concept. There is some research to show that fidgeting is a technique the brain uses to keep itself occupied or interested in something, it encourages the brain’s cognitive functioning to kick start through the movement of fingers and/or feet. This theory is similar to the way computers work, is known as the cognitive load theory, that exclaims a brain finds it difficult to take in a lot of information at the same time, and by fidgeting it maintains focus. Although the theory seems completely feasible, apparently it is not the applicable across the board, in fact some research shows that men tend to fidget twice as much as women do, not only this but men’s concentration benefits more from fidgeting than women’s do also.

In a study into the condition ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) it actually showed that young boys with this disorder performed better in memory tests if they were allowed to swivel in their chair. As a matter of a fact the ever so popular fidget spinner was initially created as a soothing toy that could help children release pent up energy.  Catherine Hettinger originally applied to patent her fidget spinning device in 1993, and pitched it to several toy companies. After Hasbro decided not to pursue the idea, Catherine let the patent lapse in 2005. From this point it is unclear where the resurgence in the fidget spinner came from, but it got to the point that in December 2016 it was identified as the must have office toy for 2016.

In fairness it wasn’t the mass adoption of spinners and cubes that kick-started fidgeting, if you’ve ever clicked and unclicked a pen repeatedly, or fiddled with a paperclip, even throw a stress ball from hand to hand, these are all fidget items, saying this, these products really haven’t hindered the popularity of the latest fidget mania. With all this popularity, as you can imagine there are several more fidget devices in the pipeline, potentially within a few years fidget can become a whole toy category of its own.

With more and more companies using and producing great promotional merchandise, it began to become hard to stand out. Companies found it essential to be the ones with the most innovative promotional tools. This movement lead to a whole new niche in the market which was the need for promotional merchandise suppliers. Companies would no longer produce the merchandise themselves, they would go to these companies and give a list of what they want, and then it was on the shoulders of the promotional merchandise traders to make, source and brand the desired items.

The number of suppliers kept growing and in 1904 12 manufacturers of promotional merchandise decided to unite and formed the first the first trade association in the industry. This establishment carried on growing into the organisation now known as the Promotional Products Association National.

It was only during the late 1950’s that promotional merchandise first emerged amongst the companies in the UK and Ireland. People would be given occasional gifts from their companies as a good will or a congratulations gesture. It was during this time period that the two main bodies of UK promotional merchandise were founded. The first Promota founded in 1958, and the second the British Promotional Merchandise Association.

An explosion of promotional merchandise occurred in 1970’s UK, Companies were recognising the great benefits that incorporating a promotional merchandise strategy had. It showed them how to build a corporate identity and introduce brand strengthening. The range of promotional merchandise at this time was still quite limited, which led to the famous promotional product catalogue being launched in the 1980’s. With this useful tool companies could search through pages of items selecting those they want and how they want to brand them.

The 1990’s saw the creation of catalogue groups. These groups offered people in the local geographical locations unique catalogue distribution. Being a member of these catalogue groups had their benefits, not only did you have access to these unique promotional products that couldn’t be seen elsewhere but being a member improved your networking with other companies, and gave you better buying terms.

The early 00’s saw the influx of use companies setting up websites for their promotional product business and by 2008 almost all promotional merchandise companies were set up online. With the recession in the late 00’s the promotional product industry took a slight dip in turnover, but has since recovered and is now worth almost a billion pounds in the UK alone.

Predictions for the Future of Smart Phones

Ever since the conception of the mobile cellular phone, the promotional product industry has been there to create accessories for them, from phone branded fascia plates for your Nokia 5110 to flashing stickers with company logos that flash every time it detects mobile signal. It is incredible to see just how far this technology has come in the last few decades, and crazy to think only 10 years ago smartphones didn’t really exist. Now you will notice the smartphone has become a necessity with conditions such as nomophobia being coined for people who suffer from anxiety of being out of cellular contact. The question on the lips of many is what’s next? What is left for mobile phones to do?

Well according to second hand media trading website, Music Magpie, there is talk that mobile phone companies are creating the technology to have control over our smartphone with simple movements of our eyes, because obviously navigating around smart devices has become too taxing for our humble fingers. An impressive retinal related feature that is being looked into is the ability to capture an image, directly from the surface of your eyeball literally at the blink of an eye, never missing the chance to capture a moment ever again, throw in recording and there you will have an absolute abundance of comical moments finding their way onto YouTube.

One technology I definitely think we will see in the near future is flexible screens, we have already seen this briefly with the curved smart phones, but imagine a smartphone that can fold open into a larger screen. Working with some of the largest technology companies in the world at BTC Group we have seen some of the phenomenal advancements in paper thin bendable screens, it is truly amazing how such vibrant quality image can be produced from a screen no thicker than a pound coin, and have the ability to be rolled up!

In a the technological security conscious era we live in, biometrics is not an unfamiliar concept, smartphones have had finger print scanners for a few years now, with some devices incorporating iris scanners also, but what about vein mapping identifier? One of the largest smartphone suppliers in 2015 patented this technology, creating the possibility that even just with the smartphone being in the person’s hand, it knows who the user is.

Of course with the future of smartphones comes the future of smartphone accessories, products like “vein mapping friendly” gloves will need to be researched and developed, similarly how the introduction of  touch screen gloves led to its popularity in the promotional market, one thing is for sure, for as long as there are smart devices, there will be promotional accessories to support them!

We shall start with the foundation that the world of promotional merchandise was built on. Promotional products originate from 18^th century USA. The year was 1789 and the United States of America was going through vast transformations. The war for independence against Britain had ended only 6 years before, and the great commander in chief George Washington had since retired to Mount Vernon Virginia. But this retirement was short lived when persuaded to attend the Constitution Convention in Philadelphia. It was here that he was elected president of the convention, which thus led him to be the President of the United States of America.

People started to redesign their clothing buttons to show their support for their president, displaying his initials with slogans such as “Long Live the President.” It is these items of support that gave birth to the idea of promotional merchandise. George Washington was a highly respected and supported individual and people would like to show their support with him through these badges showing the first evidence of what we know now as brand allegiance, which is a very big issue when it comes to promotional merchandise.

This idea then took off, businesses started realising the real value that these simple buttons had, and created the term Novelty items. In the early 18^th century some companies started to distribute basic novelty items, such as calendars, rulers and other forms of stationary, this was on a very small scale.

It wasn’t until the late 18^th century that this small distribution of novelty items took off on a larger scale becoming an industry. From this point on the only way was up for promotional merchandise. Companies really started to see the benefits of promotional merchandise, in a world without television and radio advertising; promotional merchandise strategies really did seem the perfect way to advertise their company.
At first these items were distributed to customers, to gain and keep customer loyalty. But when these customers were seen by other members of the public with their promotional items, this exposed the company to potential customers. What started as just a small customer distribution soon grew swiftly.

With the continuous growth of this industry, incorporating new advancements in technology, companies were able to start getting creative with their promotional merchandise. No longer were they just a small novelty item, companies were now able to build whole promotional products incorporating their whole identity. Businesses around the world were catching on and producing great eye catching promotional items.

When it comes to knowing the future technological trends, yes there is an element of educated guesswork and judgment, but the majority of the information is gained from field and digital research. For example when I was compiling information on what technological trends would be successful this year, I based my information on news stories, marketing data, articles, and one massive source was conferences and exhibitions from the largest global technology companies. It is conferences like the F8 conference hosted by Mark Zuckerberg himself which took place earlier this week, that gives you a flavour of what tech companies are up to in the following months. The great thing about conferences and exhibitions in April is they are a great indicator as to whether or not trends determined at the end of last year or earlier this year are actually being worked on, because chances are if the largest corporations aren’t investing in those trends, the possibility of them hitting the mass market is significantly diminished.

One of the biggest things coming out of F8 is that Facebook are placing a significant amount of interest into the world of augmented reality. As described in my technological trends piece, augmented reality started gaining wide attention last year with the introduction of one of the most popular mobile games ever made, which had an augmented reality element. Facebook’s F8 conference’s big message this year was that your mobile device camera is destined for so much more than just taking pictures. What Facebook are aiming to achieve is a secondary augmented layer that, using your camera, is overlaid when looking at your smartphone screen. An example of this could be holding your camera up to the front of a restaurant and you are able to see other people’s reviews, access to the menu and book a table at the click of a button.

So why are we so bothered about augmented reality, the truth is at the moment at least, augmented reality needs a visual trigger in order for the augmented layer to kick in, now this visual trigger can be anything, a painting, a magazine, a screen print…. You can see where we are going with this, we are in the printing and branding business if our products can be used as triggers for augmented reality not only does that work fantastically for the world of augmented reality, but if gives promotional products another layer of depth. The example Mark used when talking about augmented reality involved coffee mugs, now imagine if these coffee mugs were branded, you are taking a simple affordable promotional product, and using it in a technological revolution.

BTC Group presents to you our brand new Octopus 2 smart device charger, providing you with the ability to charge 99% of smart devices with just one item!  The new and exciting addition to the already innovative design of the original octopus is the introduction of the USB Type C charging connector.

If you haven’t seen what USB type C is yet we have a great article regarding the how we think this is going to be a trend in technology this year you can see this here. Just to give you a brief idea USB Type C is a new connection standard introduced to theoretically replace all over connections. It’s new reversible design (can be inserted front to back and back to front) can be used in the traditional way USB was used before as a communication cable between devices, or as a charging cable for smart devices. This cable does all this plus more, it is also able to transmit visual information, thus replacing HDMI cables, audio information, replacing AUX cables and its power carrying ability is scalable up to 100 watts so will be able to power items like laptops, computers, televisions etc.

This all seems great, but why include it on our new and updated octopus charger, USB Type C seems to be past early adoption phase, and a great percentage of flagship phones will come with this port as standard this coming year, with some early adopters releasing it last year. The USB type C is also the new charging port on the latest Apple Mac books, so at the moment or at least in the very near future, there will be a gradual uplift in the want and need for USB type C chargers!

If you’d like to order an Octopus 2 for your next promotional campaign please call us on 020 8569 2250 or e-mail us on [email protected]