Kudos to you if you’re rockin’ the tchotchkes. New research from the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) reveals just how much consumers want, love and keep branded promotional merchandise. PPAI is the largest industry association of its kind, and since 1992 has been assessing the effects of promotional merchandise on buyers’ perceptions, attitudes and behavior.
Multi-Generational Study
The 2016 Consumer Study tapped one thousand adults of all ages to “measure the performance of promotional products and enhance understanding of their role as an advertising channel.” Integrated marketers uncertain about the real appeal of promotional products will find the data compelling.
Metrics and Results
Here are five ways promotional merchandise excels as an advertising medium, according to study results:
Reach (delivering adequate exposure): 89 percent of those surveyed reported receiving a promotional product in the last six months, up 16 percent from 2012 and nearly 30 percent from PPAI’s first study in 1992.
Recall (remembering brand or message): Nearly 90 percent remembered the branding of promo products they received, while 80 percent recalled messaging from at least one product.
Resonance (transferring a favorable attitude): Eighty percent reported their impression of a brand positively changed after receiving a branded item.
Reaction (stimulate change in buying behavior): 83 percent said they are more likely to do business with brands that give them promo items versus brands that don’t
Relativity (effectiveness against other channels): Consumers across all age groups rated promotional products as the advertising medium “most effective at moving them to take action.”
Another data point, length of exposure, reveals that consumers typically keep a promo product from one to five years, but that women may keep an item for up to 10 years.