As you know, people usually like free stuff. And as you also know, I especially like free stuff. You can find me going for thirds for the latest bagel sample at the market or grabbing that extra mint on the way out from the restaurant. But the coolest types of free stuff are promotional items. These can include cups, mugs, pens, t-shirts, mints, key chains, and little stress balls. Even among promotional items, there are a couple that top the list for me. These would include USB drives (which is so cool for young people!) and promotional umbrellas. Actually, I would say promotional umbrellas may actually be the best item that perfectly balances usefulness and value in one promotional item. I especially appreciate it when the promotional umbrellas are well constructed. It doesnt matter if the company logo is splashed all over the top of it as long as it keeps rain off of you consistently, I dont mind what my umbrella looks like to the dark rain clouds above.
Promotional umbrellas are especially useful as a promotion too. Usually, other promotional items like key chains and cheap lights get tossed out easily or get buried in the back of a kitchen drawer, only to briefly see the light of day as it passes from the drawer to the trash bag as youre moving out of your house. Promotional pens and t-shirts are a little higher up the usefulness totem pole, but still fall by the wayside as time goes by or, more often, as they rip or break or run dry. Promotional umbrellas, however, tend to last a long time because you could always use another good umbrella. You can always leave an extra one in your house, car, work, or school. Also, unless you are using your umbrella every single day, chances are youre only using the umbrella on those select days that it rains. And even then, you may be using a different umbrella and not your promotional one. In effect, you end up using one of your promotional umbrellas not too frequently, so you can preserve it better. But unlike promotional key chains, you will still use your promotional umbrella often and keep it for a while.
And each time you use your promotional umbrella, youll briefly see the company logo on it. Some umbrellas have the logo discretely in the corner while others splash it across the entire span of the umbrella. In either case, promotional umbrellas seem to last for both consumers and advertisers.