Let's Have Some Skele-fun!

While it may be too late this year, Halloween is often an overlooked holiday in terms of promotional opportunities.

Custom candy bags to hand out to all of the ghouls and goblins is an excellent way to get your brand involved in the local community. If your in an industry that provides safety, security or engages with families this type of promotional campaign would be one to add to your calendar for next year.

Sure you can buy candy from the store, but have you ever thought about putting your brand on the candy package? Logos can be placed on the packaging and sometimes directly on the candy. This pillow package comes with numerous popular brand name candy options such as Jolly Ranchers, Tootsie Rolls, Double Bubble Gum, and Hershey chocolate, ensuring everyone gets the same amount of candy.


Maybe you want to go the nontraditional route by handing out something besides candy. Pumpkin spinners are a great option that will be sure to capture the interest of your trick-or-treaters but won't add sugar to the diet and sticky treats on braces!

Perhaps have fun with an alter ego for the day. Did you know we can provide masks, mustaches, capes and many other items that would make you SUPER to others? 

Being prepared to have a little fun it's hard, it simply takes planning ahead. Lucky for you, we have hundreds of calendar dates to incorporate into your social media, community outreach and employee engagement for next year. As the year winds to a close, make a resolution to have more fun this year.

Kit It Together

Whether you are looking at the last minute or you are just so busy you don't have time to consider a ton of options, we have you covered. A pre-made gift set branded with your logo is a great solution! Gift sets offer a wide array of themes from technology to food items. Choosing a gift set that will prove to be useful would be best - it'll help keep you top of mind and will increase brand exposure.

Technology gift sets are a great option. Everyone has a smartphone that they need to keep charged - consider this kit that comes with a powerbank and a RFID wallet to protect their identity. Each item, including the box can be personalized with your logo. Crafting a well designed box will set a positive tone before they even see the inside!

A set featuring drinkware is another option. On average, promotional drinkware is kept for 12 months and can generate 1400 impressions. These gift sets can include one or two coffee tumblers and even have an option to do wine tumblers. If tumblers seems ordinary, enhance the value by offering a food insert or have us design a custom kit.

Regardless of the direction you are thinking of going for the gift sets, you can't go wrong. Kitting and gift sets are on the rise in popularity because of the ease of distribution.We can drop ship each individual items for you or considering the ease of being able to pull a ready made kit out of your bag when visiting your clients!

Looking for ways to make your holiday distribution easier?

Attend our event next Thursday for additional ideas or simply reach out to our team for help.

Thank You, First Responders!

National First Responders' Day is today. Take a moment to thank a first responder for all of the amazing, life-risking work they do to keep you and the community safe!

We have had the honor of working with our local First Responders on multiple occasions to promote safety within the community of Apex and surrounding areas. We couldn't be prouder to call these brave men and women friends. Outreach and awareness about programs that keep us safe is a critical part of their service in the community- branding is a part of those key messages.


Check out some of our favorite moments featuring both police and firefighters!

Apex Police Department

The Apex Police Department was faced with a challenge. What was a promotional item that was fun for employees but engaging in the community. The solution? A stress squeeze shaped like a donut - police need their crime fight fuel, right? The officers loved it! The donut was a great gag item to pull pranks with by placing them in a real donut box, not to mention they were a hit on social media!


Apex Fire Department 

If you follow us on social media, you may have seen this photo of Miranda and I with David Dillon, Apex's Deputy Fire Marshal. We have the opportunity to work with David and the Apex Fire Department on various projects, such as their fire safety program. We are always on the lookout for fun and engaging ways to help the fire department educate children on fire safety.

One of our favorite things about working in Downtown Apex is seeing the friendly faces of our First Responders. These brave men and women have a very serious and important job but they are still everyday people who enjoy having fun. We love that they take the time to come visit us, whether it be to take goofy photos or just to see how our day is going. They are part of the fabric of our community and we are thankful to know them. #communityfirst!

How Embarrassing Stories Can Boost Your Creativity

I love a good story and the genre doesn't matter. Give me suspense, mystery, humorous, sad, inspirational stories and I'll be hooked. Stories are easier for me to remember than people's names because they are personal. By sharing stories, your unconsciously allowing others to learn more about you. You could say those are story-TELLING. A recent blog post from an industry blog I follow captured my attention, so I'm sharing it with you today. 

Most people aren't exactly forthcoming with their embarrassing moments. However, research shows that sharing your cringeworthy moments with colleagues can enhance individual and team creativity. That's because when you only hear about colleagues' successes, it can be motivating but also intimidating enough to stifle creativity and performance.


Instead of only sharing the good stuff at work, Leigh Thompson, a professor at The Kellogg School of Management, encourages professionals to talk about their embarrassing moments, too. In her research, she found that people who recounted an embarrassing incident generated almost 28 percent more ideas and more than 20 percent greater variety of ideas than those who shared a prideful moment. 
 

In a second study, Thompson examined the link between embarrassing stories and innovation in a business-team setting. Researchers asked 93 managers in an executive education program to share real-life stories of embarrassment or pride as members of randomly assigned three-person teams. Afterward, the teams completed a creativity task: generating unusual uses for a cardboard box. 

Again, the embarrassment groups generated greater creativity: 26 percent higher volume of ideas and 15 percent greater variety, on average, than the pride groups. Thompson says that the groups sharing blush-worthy stories also seemed to enjoy themselves the most, as their uproarious laughter suggested.



In this issue of Promotional Consultant Today, we discuss Thompson's ways to leverage your embarrassing stories to develop your most creative ideas.
Share embarrassing moments. For leaders, the most obvious takeaway is that there's a lot of value in encouraging people to share tales of embarrassment. Whether you're conducting an offsite event, team kickoff or sales meeting, encourage your team to be open with their shortcomings. It's not just about being open to the idea of failure or self-deprecation, Thompson says. It's about being willing to share past foibles. This practice goes well beyond team-building to demonstrably boost creativity.



Tell the story. Stories are powerful. Evidence shows people remember and respond best to a narrative with an actual beginning, middle and end. Much of the value is in the details, so stipulate that people provide them, notes Thompson. For example, saying "My colleagues heard me yelling at my daughter" doesn't qualify. This does: "Last month I was on this critical taskforce call for work, with our VP on the line. My daughter knocked on the door and asked to borrow the car, even though she was grounded. I thought I hit the mute button before talking to her but ..."
Stay in the present. Thompson says any stories shared should be recent, ideally from the past six months-or even yesterday. That way they feel more immediate and relatable, and the recency makes it easier to remember key details, as emphasized above. 

Reciprocate. If a colleague offers up a foible or faux pas, respond by offering up one of your own. This way, the entire group can benefit. 



How you present yourself matters. If you only share your proudest moments with your coworkers, don't expect to come up with your most creative ideas. When you open yourself up to sharing your real, authentic stories—even the embarrassing ones—you can look forward to more creativity, both individually and within your team. 

Compiled by Audrey Sellers- Promotional Consultant Today
Source: Leigh Thompson is a professor at The Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University and author of Creative Conspiracy: The New Rules of Breakthrough Collaboration.