Advertising, Promotional Items, and an Interesting Opportunity
Custom Promotional Items  | Ah, summer! Our minds have turned to backyard barbeques, the cottage, family vacations, and hopefully a more relaxed pace of life. At work we usually enjoy a bit of a reprieve in our schedule, lunches on patios with colleagues, or business meetings on the golf course.
If you are in the marketing or promotional functions in your company this is the time of year to plan for September and the fall season. Did you know that overall advertising spending for North America in 2008 was $301.4 billion dollars? (Source: CMDC Median Digest, TVB) That probably fell a bit in 2009, but however you slice it, we invest a lot in growing our businesses through promotion.
Have you ever wondered about the effectiveness of the promotional items and gifts that you are considering for the fall? It turns out they are a reasonably significant tool within the overall marketing and advertising toolkit. According to a study commissioned by the PPAI and the PPPC, (Promotional Product Association International, Promotional Product Professionals of Canada), 2009 promotional spending was just over $19 billion dollars. To place this in context, that means that promotional product spending in Canada was second only to television advertising, and on par with magazine, radio and internet advertising in the United States.
Why such a focus and so much spending on something we have often heard called "Trinkets & Trash"? It turns out that these giveaways have demonstrated effectiveness in achieving our marketing objectives. According to the PPAI study, 35% of people surveyed, still had promotional items in their possession after 2 years. Over 52% did business with the company from whom they received a gift item. In addition to that an astounding 71% of people could recall the name of the company that they received an item from in the past 12 months.
So perhaps it is good business, but is it wasteful or conspicuous consumption? It is a good question, and the answer I guess depends on how the items are produced. For example, how much energy is consumed producing a single television commercial? We each have to wrestle this issue to the ground for ourselves.
In every industry there is an opportunity for social impact and good business. Certainly in an industry as large as this great impact can be achieved when we source as much as we can in a socially and environmentally responsible fashion. Perhaps over lunch on a patio this summer, it could be fun to blue sky the possibilities?
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The AFP Triples the Impact of Their Conference Gifts
Custom Made Coasters for AFP  | "Perfect timing, I needed these for my desk!" AFP member upon receiving the gift set of coasters at the recent conference in May. Cynthia Quigley, Manager of Administration at the Association of Fundraising Professionals Toronto Chapter wanted to give a special gift to members to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the chapter. "I chose to give the coasters made by ZOË Alliance and their business partners in Guatemala because it was a fit and I felt that our members would really appreciate them knowing how they were produced and who benefited." "Some of the delegates commented that they were actually grateful that the AFP did the research and decided to give a gift like this." Cynthia went on to say. It seems like a small thing, but the impact was not just felt at the Congress Centre during a big conference. It started 6 weeks earlier in Lake Amatitlàn, Guatemala, where Irma, a woman with exceptional needs, was working alongside others diligently cutting coasters, pasting the backing, debossing the logo, and placing them in a carefully sewn drawstring bag.  With her developmental challenges, there would be no other work opportunities for her. Through this project, she was able to provide real value, work in good conditions, and receive fair compensation. She, and all those who worked on this order were able to provide for themselves and hold their heads high.
On their behalf, thanks to the AFP for choosing to make a difference even with this seemingly small decision - it was not small to Irma and the team. Not only did your members receive a great gift, Irma and her colleagues were employed, and 10% of the order is donated toward the ongoing delivery of technical training programs in Amatitlàn. Now that's stretching your giving! For more information on the Guatemala project page visit our website.
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PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT:
New Items & Machine Stitched Portfolios
NEW! Machine Stitched Portfolios and Other New Items  | Consider contacting us to explore hand made fair trade solutions for your fall promotional, employee, conference or speaker gift requirements. We've just launched our new line of portfolios with a nice clean machine stitched edge. We also have a growing assortment of items from $0.85 to $99.00 including pens made with recycled paper, hand woven grass key chains, laptop cases made from organic textiles, shoe bags, custom leather products and many other items.
Contact us at 647-477-4377, info@zoealliance.com, or online www.zoealliance.com and let our team develop a socially responsible solution for your next event.
Please note that our website is growing again. For the full picture call or email us.
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Recent Blog Posts
Have you been following the ZOE weekly blogs? It's a great way to keep in touch with the current activities of both ZOE Alliance and our founder, Angie.
Here are a couple of her more recent blogs that we think you would enjoy: A Key Purchasing Criteria for Consumers 35+ and G8/20 Leadership Lessons from the Village.
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Who is ZOË Alliance?
ZOË Alliance Inc. is a social enterprise that harnesses what we spend to help developing nations break the cycle of poverty.
ZOË Alliance helps people and companies transform impoverished
villages with their regular purchases. We stretch each dollar spent on
a personal or corporate gift three ways: to purchase a gift that tells
the story of hope; to create jobs with dignity in villages; and to
donate funds toward a school or village project.
We also help companies link their Corporate Social Responsibility
initiatives to the bottom line by making it easy to source high
quality, profitable products from producer groups in villages around
the globe.
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Contact Us
ZOË Alliance Inc.
15-75 Bayly Street West, Suite 279,Ajax, ON Canada L1S 7K7
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