The Promo Column


Carry on promoting T


here’s a lot of uncertainty out there, which means that businesses must remain fleet of foot. One businessman who is always ready for the main chance is Donald Trump.


Fresh from a Lazarus-like recovery from the coronavirus, the President has been lionised with an amazing piece of merchandise.


The White House Gift Shop (masks must be worn. Six customers max) has added a commemorative coin celebrating ‘President Donald J. Trump [defeating] COVID with icons of his entire first term’. No, it’s not at all presumptuous, and the first 1,500 people who buy the $100 coin will also receive a Presidential Blue PPE mask, as not worn by the Pres. Trump may think that it’s cissy to wear a mask, but most people are getting used to them, which is just as well because it doesn’t look like they’re going anywhere soon.


Masking up


Goldstar – better known for its pens – is the latest merchandise company to mask up. Its full colour decorated face masks are an addition to its new range of protection and wellness products. It is offering two products, the Urban


Value cotton mask and the Urban Premium anti-microbial mask, which are decorated with digital full colour transfer print techniques. They are washable, reusable and made with two structured layers of 100%


Listawood’s AntiBug range


Goldstar’s Premium Mask


cotton, so they are soft, comfortable, breathable, and durable. Anti-microbial is the flavour of the month with other products too. Listawood reports a surge in demand for a range of anti-microbial drinkware, sold under the AntiBug trademark.


This range has been around since 2012, but given the current situation, it has received a bit of a boost. Since then, Listawood has expanded the


comprehensive range to include the most popular drinkware items including ceramic mugs, stainless steel


thermal bottles, and coffee-to-go cups and tumblers.


AntiBug coated surfaces start to fight bacteria as soon as they come into contact with the product and the process has been clinically proven to kill 99.9% of harmful bacteria within a 24-hour period. Furthermore, they withstand repeated cleaning cycles while maintaining anti-bacterial effectiveness.


Meanwhile, Jutebag claims to be the first UK supplier to offer an anti-microbial cotton bag, fully certified and tested to stringent ISO 20743 standards. Developed in conjunction with partner Addmaster, this 5oz bag has the Biomaster additive incorporated into the


| 56 | November 2020 Smelly items


An additive of another stripe comes from Stress Planet, the supplier of a multitude of stress toys. With anxiety levels high at the minute, what’s not to like about these squeezable items? And they now come with an added dimension – smell. The company can offer 12 scents to choose from and more than 1,000 standard shapes and toolings. The company suggests you can have anything from strawberry scented stress tennis balls, to coconut scented stress suitcases. With sense of smell being one of the tell-tale signs of COVID, they could even perform a valuable canary in the coalmine role. Speaking of smells, are those my feet? Blimey! It seems that I need a pair of Kingly’s new odour-free socks. The purveyor of quality foot attire has royally impressed by being awarded a certificate of analysis 14060 for its range.


The company uses a treatment that inhibits the growth of odour-causing bacteria, allowing you to wear your socks longer and wash less, thanks to their Polygiene innovation. Kingly claims this helps the socks last longer and cuts down on the number of socks required when you’re traveling. This should be really handy when we’re allowed out of our houses again. Now if someone could just get started on underpants.


The rise of the QR code


One of the interesting things about recent months has been the way that we’ve gone back to ideas that haven’t been utilised for a while. Anyone who bet the farm on medical masks 12 months ago will be a very satisfied person – who’d have thought it? And who’d have thought that QR codes would have a day in the sun again? Now they’re popping up everywhere, issuing instructions, offering promotions, helping with track and trace, and pointing towards useful websites.


Jutebag’s anti-microbial cotton bag


Sweet company Delvaux has launched an extended range of attention-grabbing, mouth-watering chocolates and sweets specially printed with QR codes. Each individually wrapped sweet can now be printed with a QR Code, branding, logo, and messaging. It’s a fast, low cost, effective method of communicating, and tasty too. Finally, let’s remember that there is some light ahead of us, in the shape of our festival of lights, Christmas. Whether we’ll be in our little bubbles, or hopefully, among friends and family, it looks like being a particularly poignant time this year. What better way to inject some hope for the new year than with a festive gift? Sow Easy is one company that has just released a Christmas catalogue containing a range of unique Christmas and winter-themed products, including its Seedsticks. Sustainable products like growing greeting cards and grow your own Christmas tree kits are ideal to send via post. Plus, planting and tending to the seeds can serve as a simple way to boost mental well-being.


Sow Easy’s Christmas catalogue www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk


Two steps forward and one step back. Having thought that we were on the way out of the COVID slump, much of the country is back under its yoke. Still, we go on. Promotional products commentator, Stuart Derrick, reports on what’s new in the world of promoting.


fabric, providing lasting anti-microbial protection. The bag can be washed up to 50 times without affecting the efficacy of the Biomaster additive.


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