Product Spotlight: Swell Style Stainless Steel Bottle

Today's product spotlight features a high end, but affordable, stainless steel water bottle from a project for a hotel client. The bottle's capacity is 750 ml, or approximately 25 ounces, and can accommodate hot or cold beverages. Our field testing proved that the bottle keeps a drink hot or cold for almost a full day when the top is closed, thanks to the vacuum sealed dual wall insulation. The sleek design and modern construction are remarkably similar to Swell bottles, which retail for over $20 each for a lower capacity.

Our client's bottle, featured in our video below, was a bargain at under $10 each. The pricing included two multi-color imprints featuring the hotel branding on one side and their restaurant's branding on the opposite side. They chose the matte black option to make their colorful logos pop; however, there are several other colors and styles available to complement your branding.

Check out our video to learn more about the project.

Product Spotlight: 3 in 1 Lens Kit

Macro lens photo

In the age of social media, more and more people are considering themselves photographers, even if they're only armed with their smartphone camera. While most newer smartphones are able to take beautiful photos, especially with the help of filters and editing technology, there are some things a phone's camera just can't do, such as macro close ups. We found a great promo product that gives your phone's camera more capabilities. The 3 in 1 lens kit clamps over your phone's camera lens and turns it into either a macro lens, a wide angle lens, or a fisheye lens. The lenses easily screw into the clamp, so changing lenses is a breeze. The kit comes in a hard zipper case featuring your logo or brand message, but also includes a soft pouch that doubles as a lens cleaning cloth. The 3 in 1 lens kit is a fun and unique gift idea that we love.

Check out our video to see it in action!

Product Spotlight: Pitchfix Deluxe

Despite the recent snow here in Chicago, we know spring is just around the corner and it's the perfect time to start planning your spring and summer promotions. Last spring, we gave you an overview of our favorite golf promotions, and one of the products we mentioned was the Pitchfix Deluxe. This is a fantastic high end client gift, and a tool that every golfer will love. The set comes complete with a pro shop quality quick release divot tool and a set of three magnetic ball markers that attach to the divot tool. With the Pitchfix Deluxe, the tools are housed inside a sturdy metal gift canister, which can be branded with your logo in a dome label. Other packaging options are also available depending on the price point you want. Take a closer look at the Pitchfix Deluxe in our video below.

Product Spotlight: Travel Chargers

Some of the biggest sellers in the promotional products industry are tech accessories, such as phone chargers and battery banks. Today we're taking a closer look at two new dual use chargers that we really love. Check out our videos and let us know what you think of these new products.

The C300 is one of our new favorite items, because it doubles as a battery bank. We're a fan of most 2-in-1 products, and this is no exception. The dual functions make it perfect for traveling when packing space is tight. You can plug it into the wall to charge your phone, or simply use it as a portable battery bank when it's fully charged. We think it's genius!


The RK1000 is another great dual use charger that is ideal for travel. Instead of carrying your wall charger and your car charger, you can get both functions with the RK1000. The large imprint area is also a nice touch for promoting your brand; this would be a great trade show giveaway.

Product Spotlight: Dye Sublimated Embroidery

New dye sublimated embroidery techniques allow for amazing eye catching detail. Using dye sublimated ink jet printing technology, we can create unique and highly detailed designs that traditional embroidery can't replicate. With this technique, you still maintain the high-end look that embroidery provides while allowing high resolution details to stand out. Take a look at our video below to see an example of this new and innovative embroidery style.

Product Spotlight: Custom USB Drives

In the world of promotional products, USB drives have a long history. They are simple, yet effective. Because they are rarely discarded, your brand message lives on long after your client or prospect receives the flash drive. Even though USB drives are nothing new, manufacturers keep finding ways to upgrade or reinvent the flash drive. In the first video below, we show off some of our favorite unique designs. With everything from stock designs to fully custom mobile memory sticks, the possibilities are as endless as your imagination.

But, the look of USB drives isn't the only thing changing in the world of mobile memory. The latest in flash drive technology is the USB C drive. It's smaller than the traditional USB port, and new mobile technology is using this new C drive with increasing frequency. Since older devices may not support this new technology yet, DBP has a solution that allows USB C drives and traditional USB drives to access the same information using a dual port thumb drive. Check out our second video below for more info on USB C technology!

Product Spotlight: Power Pack X500

The world of promotional products is certainly not lacking in tech items, so it's always fun when we find something unique and high quality that we can share with our clients. We came across this fantastic dual use power pack recently and needed to spread the word! It features a 6,600 mAh battery for charging electronic devices as well as a portable LED lantern. It's perfect for camping, power outages and safety kits. Check out our video to see it action!

Product Spotlight: Hi-Power Magnetic Emergency Light

A new item that we are very excited about is this great multi-function roadside safety flashlight. It features three functions: a high powered flashlight, LED lights down the side, and flashing red safety lights. A powerful magnet holds it to any metal surface, such as a car for roadside emergencies. It's bright side lights are a perfect hands-free way to light a dim work area like a basement, under a sink, or under the hood of your car. Keep it in your car, take it camping, or stash one at home; it's uses are nearly limitless.

Laser engraving along the side make it a unique promotional item that your clients or employees will use on a regular basis that will keep you in their minds long after they receive it. Check out our video below to see this great product in action!

Let the Force Be with You - Advertising Speciality Items

Hi, it's Bob Kenehan, president of dbp|chicago. There is good reason why so many marketers refer to promotional or advertising specialty items as "trinkets and trash" or "tsochkes" (Yiddish for “trinkets”) First of all, from a moral and environmental perspective, it's really wasteful to hand out marketing trinkets that will be immediately tossed into the trash. Even items that are promoted as "green". Take those really cheesy mini desk calendars you get from your insurance agent for example. Your Agent selected the green calendar this year because it was printed on 100% recycled paper . . . but you still pitch it. (and I keep thinking of all of those kids chucking their unopened McDonalds Happy Meal toys into the trash that end up in land fills . . . one of my pet peeves )

I think of all of the unwanted, cheap or unnecessary promotional items as "the dark side", whereas the really impactful items are the "force". And what a boon it is for your sales force or your marketing effort when you develop a campaign around the "perfect" viral giveaway item that creates a wow factor or a buzz. The ROI on great giveaway items is HUGE. My feeling is it's your moral marketing responsibility to hand out useful promotional items that people want . . and want to keep.

In my experience, there are three things that make for a high ROI ad specialty program. (1) Quality, (2) Uniqueness and (3) Relevance to your target audience.

We have created many memorable programs for our clients. And the funny thing is that budget is not the driver between a good promotion and a bad one. There are many super inexpensive items that are still unique, high quality and speak to your tarket market.

A really great example is from a company called Image 3D http://www.image3d.com/ Image3D is the premiere producer of custom View-Master style viewers, reels and 3-D promotional tools that help companies communicate their marketing messages in unforgettable ways. For about 6 bucks you can create a great giveaway that is fun, unique and of high quality. Here is a link to some great sample success stories http://www.image3d.com/viewmaster_profiles.php

Another successful promotion that comes to mind was with one of our clients, SPSS, who are leaders in predictive analytics software. http://www.spss.com/ Their target audience are highly educated marketers, social scientists and statisticians, (mostly male) Very techie types. We found one of the most successful and coveted items have been the SPSS white retro plastic pocket protectors. Super inexpensive item. Go figure, but they love them because (1) they are high quality (2) they are unique (where do you go to BUY a pocket protector?) and (3) they are relevant and useful to the target audience. When I say love, I mean the SPSS clients LOVE the pocket protectors. (And we love thinking up this stuff)

If you are interested looking for ways to help find the next cool giveaway item for your company, please call us at 312.263.1569 or to start your own search you can go to http://www.dbpchicago.com/promo.htm Cheers, Bob