Happy 25th of July everyone! What significance does the 25th of July hold? Well it’s the world renowned phenomenon that is ‘Christmas in July!’ This celebration isn’t a new concept, in fact 125 years ago in the French Opera ‘Werther,’ a group of children are portrayed as rehearsing a Christmas song in July, to which one of the characters exclaims (in French) “When you sing Christmas in July, you rush the season.”
Being in the promotional products industry we think that Christmas should never be rushed… as a matter of fact we actively encourage companies to start thinking about their Christmas merchandise as soon as feasibly possible! We understand that many merchandise buying professionals are busy all year round, but what we want to avoid is something we see all too often, many companies leave their Christmas merchandise buying too late. This leads to them often panic buying, limiting themselves to products with short lead times.
So why think about your promotional Christmas merchandise in July? Firstly you can plan and outline a full Christmas based strategy, the promotional products market has hundreds of thousands of products, each ready to be branded with your chosen Christmas message. Obviously some products will be more Christmas orientated than others, and by getting your orders in early you’re making sure that your chosen products are in stock and leaving plenty of time for them to be branded and delivered to your customers. By placing your orders as early as July you may even obtain better pricing as products don’t need to be rushed logistically, and can be economically delivered.
I can tell you now bespoke products aren’t as expensive as you’d expect, in fact some of our silicon moulded options are budget friendly and look amazing. The factor that impedes people from this option is lead times, with bespoke products taking anywhere from 4-8 weeks. Undoubtedly the results worth every penny and every working week for them to arrive. Bespoke products are perfect for companies who are precious about their brand guidelines and Pantones, not only would they be brand unique, but will look superb with some creative branding options.
Whatever you choose for your Christmas campaign, even if it is too early, we definitively recommend avoiding the December rush and considering Christmas merchandise earlier this year (with some of our clients already placing orders this week!).