Matching Branded Giveaways and Sporting Events

Few things lend themselves more readily to branded giveaways than sporting events. Think about any sporting event, from rugby to golf; from chess tournaments to round-the-world yachting. As long as there is any form of media coverage, you will see brand names plastered over banners, sports kits, spectators’ caps- virtually over every living and non-living object.

Firms dealing in things that naturally blend in with sports such as those that make soft drinks and energy drinks are always on the lookout for such events in order to put themselves in the limelight and stimulate demand for their products. But you don’t have to have any connection with sports to take advantage of the interest that sports events generate. Take for instance the banks that sponsor marathons the world over.

To be able to have your branded giveaways in time for sporting events, you need to plan ahead. First you need to know how big a slice of the budget you have to play around with. Having this figure at the back your mind, you can go about getting a calendar of sports events that will be happening throughout the year. From this you can zero in on the ones that are potentially of the greatest benefit to your firm in terms of public awareness and increased sales.

Target high profile events that will generate the most media interest for maximum visibility. Granted, getting a spot to put up your promotional stand and hand out branded merchandise may not be easy for such events, particularly those with a global audience. But there are ways you can associate yourself with the event without having to pay top dollar to be there.

You can sponsor a trivia show on the event ran by a popular TV station and give winners branded merchandise. Or simply give away freebies of merchandise with the event’s logo and yours side by side to customers who shop at your store. Do this in the build up to the event, say from a month or two before the event begins and during the event. This will help your clients and whoever sees them wearing the branded caps or t-shirts associate your company with the event that’s taking place.

The ultimate aim of all this is to convince the sports fanatics, and even those with less of an interest in sports, that you care about what they care about. In this day and age of tooth and nail competition, it pays to establish such a bond with you clients and potential clients. Then there is the question of who will make the branded giveaways for you to use at sporting events.

You need to engage a company with a reputation for making quality merchandise affordably. Most firms, after the global financial crisis, are more cautious with their purse strings and yours is probably the same.

So it is important to be able to find a promotional gifts company that will make you your shirts, caps, water bottles or whatever giveaways you have in mind, affordably.