promotional apparel

Apr

2014

Oops! The RIGHT Way to Make the WRONG Impression

On the episode of Friends titled “The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance,” Ross has begun to teach his first-ever college course. He is intent on making the right impression, and starts his very first class by introducing himself with an English accent. The hilarity ensues when Monica and Rachel stop by class one day for lunch and discover the bogus accent. He insists the entire fiasco began all because he wanted to make the right impression.

In the promotional products industry, without careful guidance it can be all too easy to make the wrong impression. Our sales team shared examples of the right way to Make the right impression.™

Right: Hand sanitizer for the hospital or doctor’s office
Wrong: Food containing nuts for the hospital or doctor’s office

Right: Branded towels for the local gym
Wrong: Orca whale stress balls for the local gym

Right: A gift pack including sunglasses, hats and sunscreen for the luxury resort in South Florida.
Wrong: Heavy, customized fleece jackets for the luxury resort in South Florida.

Right: Ribbon reflector light for a cancer fundraiser
Wrong: Zippo lighter for a cancer fundraiser.

Right: Filtered water bottle for an alcohol treatment facility.
Wrong: Shot glass for an alcohol treatment facility.

Right: Customized cowbells for the local chicken fast-food restaurant.
Wrong: Customized chicken feet for the local chicken fast-food restaurant.

At Pinnacle Promotions, we know the right way to Make the right impression.™

Apr

2014

Trends for 2014: More, more, more

We have had numerous vendors stop by our offices in Atlanta. We’ve seen a few things stand out as trends for 2014.

Overall, the trend we have seen in every category is the ability for a product to be more than one thing! The keys for products to be more than one thing can be boiled down to three main themes: Security, Versatility and Stress-down.

Security: From bags to tech gear, the thing we hear over and over is “security.” The NFL Bag policy has not gone unnoticed by manufacturers. They are creating more and more clear bags. The requests for customized clear bags have come in every shape and size, and at various price points.

Security is not limited to bags. The iWallet is a perfect example of a branded product designed with “identity theft prevention” in mind. Not only are the cards protected from deactivation from the phone, but also the grip prevents card slippage or loss.

Versatility: The key to versatility is for a product to be more than one thing. The Gwee button iPhone screen cleaner is a phone stand and a cleaner. This mouse pad is also a screen cleaner. The In-Pillow travel pillow converts from a small pillow, (with a pocket!) to a basic tablet holder to a stand-alone screen mount!

Stress-down: The stress ball has been a hallmark of the promotional products industry as long as we can remember. However, the sheer volume of options in “anti-stress” promotional products has increased. You can now put your logo on everything from the traditional stress ball to Office Spa kits complete with lavender “stress relief” hand lotion.

Pinnacle Promotions takes the stress out of ordering your promotional products with our Rocketship 24-hour Rush Service. There are thousands of products that can be ordered with rush service and no rush charge. If there is anything that will take the stress out of your life, it is getting the right product at the right time the right way to help you Make the right impression.™

Pinnacle Promotions

New blog post by @PinnaclePromos – Trends for 2014: More, more, more

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Apr

2014

Technology: RFID Changing Promotional Products

21st century technology is making a big impact on the promotional products industry. The need for RFID security is changing the internal workings of promotional products. RFID, Radio-frequency Identification, is the wireless use of radio frequency to access information and transfer data. If you have stayed in a hotel recently and used your card to “tap” into your room rather than sliding your card, you are using RFID technology.

RFID has launched a whole new type of crime in the form of hacking. Wired Magazine has covered the increase and ease of theft numerous times since this technology emerged into the market. “They can steal your smartcard, lift your passport, jack your car, even clone the chip in your arm. And you won’t feel a thing.” Now, RFID technology, and the ability to block the RFID signal, is making its way into customizable products as varied as wearables, gear and promotional bags.

Promotional product manufacturers and suppliers have worked together to provide marketing professionals with quality and RFID-safe products. Here are a few examples:

You can customize the Travelpro Travelsmart Passport Wallet with your corporate logo. Developed with the airline travelers and professionals in mind, special RFID Technology encases belongings to protect them from ID theft. This deluxe Passport Wallet contains a flip up boarding pass holder, quick access passport pocket, three credit card slots, and a privacy mesh ID holder.

Not only does the Zebra Convertible Computer Messenger Bag come with padded, scratch-resistant 10″ and 15″ tablet pockets for protecting your technology, but it also has a zippered pocket with RFID-blocking technology preventing unauthorized access to personal information.

Soon enough, RFID technology will be in wearables and gear. The ability to host a QR code on a branded tote bag has been around for a while. We’ll soon be able to insert an RFID patch into a customized reusable bag for a conference taking your swag bag to a whole new level by making it an entry ticket, attendance recorder, and participation tracker.

The possibilities are endless for the marriage of technology and promotional products!

Pinnacle Promotions

New blog post by @PinnaclePromos: RFID changing the world of #promotionalproducts.

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Mar

2014

Don’t Underestimate the Value of a Good Bag!

By Elizabeth Fenlon
Merchandising Specialist

The PPAI Expo in Las Vegas is the trade show of trade shows. Literally. It is the biggest trade show in the promotional products industry, spanning two full floors at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. With close to 3,250 booths and 11,500 industry attendees, you can imagine that this might be a tad overwhelming if you were a tradeshow newbie, like myself.

As a Merchandising Specialist for Pinnacle Promotions, it is my job to stay on top of industry trends and be ahead of the curve as new products launch into the market. Attending the PPAI Expo is a must. So, I packed my comfortable shoes and headed to Las Vegas for 4 days of nothing but talking about promo products.

Our team met at the airport at 6AM the day of the trip. I’d been packed for days, terrified of being late or of being the one to hold us up with my lack of business travel experience. Luckily, I’d recently gotten a Zoom DayTripper 15″ Computer Backpack and it turned out to be my most prized possession on the trip. Seriously, this bag has it all.

My backpack has a dedicated computer pocket, which made getting my chunky, old, Toshiba laptop through security a breeze. It also has a separate pocket to store an iPad. Want more pockets? This bag has them. There are two zippered pockets that are perfect for sunglasses, and two side pockets that also have zippers. Best of all, the back panel of the bag is designed to slip over the handles of my rollerbag.

Upon arriving we were able to check in, get a feel of the layout, view the exhibitor list and map and come up with a game plan to tackle all those booths over the next few days. If you’ve never been to a trade show, especially one of this magnitude, there are a few essentials you HAVE to have on you at all times:

• Comfortable Shoes – 8-10 hour days of walking and standing

• Refillable Water Bottle– Las Vegas is a dry climate. It is important to stay hydrated. They’ll price gouge you for bottled water at the show. So, being able to refill from the water fountain is a must.

• Pen/Notebook – Because you will NEVER remember everything.

• Camera Phone – There is no way you will get 2 floors and 3,250 booths of samples on the plane. Take pictures.

• Business Cards/ Business Card Holder – Again, you will never remember everyone’s name.

• Snacks – ok, maybe this is just me? Avoid getting cranky when it’s 5 o’clock and you realize you still haven’t eaten lunch.

Everything on my tradeshow essential list had a perfect spot in my bag, allowing me to be hands free and focus on the real reason I was there, to scout out the newest and most effective products to help your brand Make the right impression™.

Mar

2014

All I really need to know to Make the right impression™ I learned in Kindergarten

Based on Robert Fulghum’s wildly popular book, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, we have added our own twist on the “things I learned in Kindergarten” for the promotional products industry.

All I really need to know to Make the right impression™ I learned in Kindergarten.

Offer your attention and advice willingly.
Do what is right.
Praise in public, critique in private.
Leave a customer’s office the way you found it.
Try, and then try again.
Be kind. Apologize first.
Be on time.
Offer a clean, dry hand to shake.
Care more about people than they care about you.
Come bearing gifts, such as quality promotional products.
Confidently promise and over deliver.
Listen. Really listen.

All I really need to know to Make the right impression™ I learned in Kindergarten

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Feb

2014

The Fuller Brush Man’s Necessities

The Fuller Brush salesman is a legend in the outside sales community. The Fuller Brush man was the original traveling salesman. He went door-to-door, cold calling from city to city, state to state across the country. Movies have been made about him, from The Fuller Brush Man to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. He is a part of pop culture, and the ideal that salespeople strive to be.

While the Fuller Brush man-model has changed over the years, the role of the “traveling” or outside salesperson still exists. Whether a local person or across states or countries, the role of the salesperson has changed over the decades but there are some business essentials that every outside salesperson needs.

See if you agree with our list:

Business Cards: A must for any salesperson, inside or out. You can order online, or even print your own these days. Business cards are also moving out of the traditional-size mold and branching out into more creative shapes and designs.

Business Card Holders: Don’t keep your cards in your wallet. Instead, pull your business card from a classy holder.

Luggage Tag: Easily spot your luggage on the baggage carousel. Luggage tags make life easier for the seasoned traveler!

Messenger Bag: Many of our messenger bags have a handy laptop compartment.

Seat beads: A must-have for the salesperson who spends most of their life in the car!

Good Shoes: Enough said.

Sleep Mask: This Napoleon Dynamite sleep mask will keep other flyers from bothering you because they know you mean business.

A Good Book: Goodreads will help you find your next good book, and tell you what your friends are reading, too!

Hand Sanitizer: Stay germ free and safe while you travel.

Fun Giveaways: What a better way to make the right impression than to give your clients and potential customers something to remember you by. And if you can make them smile in the process, even better! Our clients loved their poppers! VIDEO

Stress-headache Medication: And lastly, do not leave home without relief for those long travel days, weather delays, or cancellations!

To be successful, you must always be prepared. So, make sure you don’t leave the office without these sales necessities!

Feb

2014

What does every cubicle need?

What does every cubicle need? When we posed that question to our team, we got some varied answers. Here are some of our top picks:

Ball chair: We were surprised to see how many people thought this belonged in every cubicle.

Sock Monkey: We thought to ourselves, “Sure, a playful toy.” Nope. People mentioned Sock Monkey by name. Is that a thing that we just aren’t aware of?

Stress Ball: Everyone needs one of these in their cube for the coworker who won’t read the entire email.

Dual-Monitor arm: Who uses just one monitor these days?

Favorite Coffee Mug: Duh.

Tech Toys: Our Social Media Manager is addicted to the Gwee™ Button touchscreen cleaning device.

Mouse Pad: Most agreed that a wrist-rest on the mouse pad is a necessity.

Phone rest: That way we can see each song change or text from our mom. This stand comes with a stylus pen!

We’ve made a Pinterest Board with some of our favorites. What would you add to this list?

Pinnacle Promotions

New Blog Post by @PinnaclePromos: Every cubicle needs a WHAT?!?

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Feb

2014

Pinnacle Promotions Named Best Places to Work by Counselor Magazine

February 6, 2014 – Atlanta, GA – Pinnacle Promotions, a leading distributor of promotional products and corporate apparel to some of the world’s most recognized brands, was recently named a Best Places to Work by Counselor Magazine, a publication of the Advertising Specialty Institute. This is the fourth year in a row that Pinnacle Promotions has received this award.

“It‘s an honor to be recognized for the culture that we’ve built here at Pinnacle,” said Mitch Weintraub, CEO of Pinnacle Promotions. “We’ve always felt that by hiring the best people that fit our corporate culture, empowering them to make decisions and giving them all the tools necessary to do their job that it will always lead to a higher level of job satisfaction and ultimately translate into outstanding customer service.”

Counselor Magazine partners with a third-party research firm, Quantum Workplace, to conduct the Best Places to Work evaluation in more than 40 major cities across the United States and among over 22,000 promotional product distributors. The companies are judged in 10 areas, from satisfaction to trust to team effectiveness. Pinnacle Promotions scored among the top 1% in all the measures.

“From the very beginning, my brother and I wanted to create an environment where our people walked through the front door and felt like they were having fun spending time with their close friends rather than just going to work,” said Weintraub. “That was 20 years ago and this type of recognition tells us we’ve been doing something right.”

It is this vision that has propelled Pinnacle Promotions into one of the largest distributors in the industry. By investing in its people, technology and key suppliers, Pinnacle has consistently outperformed its peers and been the distributor to watch. This year marks Pinnacle’s 20th anniversary, which will be celebrated by a year-long celebration and a move into their brand new office space and state of the art showroom.
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Pinnacle Promotions is a promotional marketing agency with expertise in design, sourcing, and production of branded merchandise and corporate apparel. Since 1994, we have helped some of the world’s most recognized brands and institutions Make the right impression™ by selecting quality promotional products that are flawlessly customized and delivered faster than ever thought possible. The company’s agency approach to promotional marketing makes our clients jobs easier and provides them with an unprecedented array of exclusive services. Our dedicated Account Teams and cutting-edge technology allows us to consistently deliver services with quality, speed and reliability that is unmatched in the industry. Please find us at https://www.pinnaclepromotions.com, call 800.351.4226 or follow us at facebook.com/pinnaclepromotions for additional information.

Pinnacle Promotions

@ASICentral Counselor Mag Names @PinnaclePromos #58 Best Places to Work

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Jan

2014

Promotional Product Hacks to Save Your Trade Show

We know how difficult it is to plan, prepare, and execute a trade show and that you’re looking for tips and tricks to make it easier. Storage is in short supply at trade shows. So, how can you make the most of it? We suggest doubling up the uses of your promotional items so that you don’t have to remember quite so many things. Some people call these hacks. We call them “imaginative repurposing.”

1. Silicone wristbands make handy rubber bands when you’re overwhelmed with loose pens or pencils and short on bundling methods.

Not only are these handy customized wristbands going to be utilized over and over by tradeshow attendees (because you just gave them a new idea) but will also allow you to be organized at the same time.

2. Reduce the number of office supplies that you need to take by leveraging your promotional items for your booth staff.

These will be handy for your staff to jot down notes to hand to attendees. Branding and personal contact reminder all rolled up in one.

3. Got a tablet or iPad to display but can’t get a new case or stand?

Order the Windsor Reflections Promotional Jotter and use it to double as a display stand.

4. Cups are a great tradeshow promotional item because they are likely to be used again; they have a long “shelf life.” However, cups use up a lot of space, but really most of it is just air.

So, how do you take advantage of this? If you will be shipping your giveaway cups, use the cups for storage or stuff them full with other essentials that need to go to your trade show. This will reduce the number of boxes that you would need to ship and reduces clutter at the actual booth. In addition, many booths will use music to create the ambiance within the booth. Think you need to take along extra speakers to be heard? Think again. If playing music from your phone, place your phone’s speaker inside one of those snazzy promotional cups to amplify the sound.

5. Traveling with fragile tradeshow items and need cushioning to pack your valuables in? Have you ever thought of using a 1/4’ mouse pad, imprinted with your logo to cushion your precious delivery?

Mouse pads come in all shapes, sizes, and thicknesses and can be used not only to ensure your mouse works correctly, but can be used to take up extra space in the box and absorb any shock that your shipping boxes may incur.

So, when you get ready to pack up your trade show tables, displays, and promotional items, recall these tips to save space, time, energy, and keep you organized. Well, at least make you look smart by knowing the hacks.

Got any good hacks of your own? Let us know!

Dec

2013

Trade Show season is coming!

Tradeshow season is coming!

When the holidays come to a close, most businesses can count on one thing: the start of tradeshow season. January brings with it some of the largest and innovative tradeshows of the year. Starting with CES and PPAI in Las Vegas and rolling into car shows, boat shows, and wedding shows that will eventually dominate the spring. There are almost 1,000 tradeshows in January alone across the United States.

Ido Leffler recently wrote a stellar blog post on tradeshows, “How to Dominate Any Tradeshow, and Why Even Solo Entrepreneurs Should Try.” Leffler focuses on two main points:
…People want two things:
• They want to be entertained.
• They want free stuff.

Leffler explains that you can entertain people in a number of ways. First, by exhibiting a creative booth space. Something more than just a folding table. And then, it is imperative that you give people your time.

As for the free stuff, Leffler states that this is “Manifesto Rule Numero Uno.”

“Turn the convention hall into a walking billboard about you and your brand. Conventioneers love tote bags. Why? Because there are tons and tons of free stuff to be had, and after about two hours they are going to need something to carry the swag in. We always order thousands of great tote bags. No cheap paper or thin cotton for us. Our bags are big, bright, and unique, and by day two we try to make sure that every single person in the hall is carrying one. Be shameless and be fun. Slap your logo on the bag, add some bright colors, and make sure that people instinctively smile when they see it. Have tons of product to give away at the booth, and give it away freely. Don’t be one of those guys withholding the good stuff for the “big guys.” Instead, be the guy with the product that everyone is using and talking about. Freely distributing swag (even if it costs you) is in your best interests; you want those walking adverts wandering the convention.”

Last year, promotional reusable bags and customized cinch bags were top-sellers for Pinnacle Promotions. They are great surfaces for your corporate logo, and you can guarantee that all the other items that people collect at the tradeshow will then be stuffed inside YOUR bag. As Leffler states, they are going to need a place to keep all the other swag!

Humor is another way to get people to remember your name. The Learning Revolution, by Gordon Dryden and Dr. Jeannette Vos explains that one of the keys to memory is emotion. Make them laugh, make them smile, and they will remember you. The blah blah blah is always popular for every type of tradeshow because it makes people smile, and could possibly help to spark a conversation.
This is a stress ball AND a device holder!

Are you headed to a tradeshow this January? What’s the best promo item you ever received at a tradeshow?

Pinnacle Promotions

Tradeshow season is coming. Are you ready?

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promotional apparel

Oops! The RIGHT Way to Make the WRONG Impression

Technology: RFID Changing Promotional Products

Don’t Underestimate the Value of a Good Bag!

All I really need to know to Make the right impression™ I learned in Kindergarten

The Fuller Brush Man’s Necessities

What does every cubicle need?

Pinnacle Promotions Named Best Places to Work by Counselor Magazine

Promotional Product Hacks to Save Your Trade Show

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