Commentary

Ad Specialties Lowest Cost-Per-Impression

by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer, January 27, 2009

According to a new research study conducted by the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), among businesspeople over age 21, revealed that advertising specialties beat out all forms of TV, radio and print advertising as the most cost-effective advertising medium available. The average cost-per-impression of an advertising specialty item is $0.004, making it less expensive per impression than nearly any other media. According to Nielsen Media data, says the report, the CPI for a national magazine ad is $0.033; a newspaper ad is $0.0129; a prime time TV ad is $0.019; a cable TV ad is $0.007; a syndicated TV ad is $0.006; and a spot radio ad is $0.005.

Among key findings, results indicate that:

84% of people remember the advertiser on a product they receive
42% have a more favorable impression of an advertiser after receiving an advertising specialty
24% indicate that they are more likely to do business with an advertiser on items they receive
62% of respondents have done business with the advertiser on a product after receiving it
Writing instruments are the most commonly-owned advertising specialty, followed by shirts, caps and bags

Ad Specialty Items Owned (% of Respondents)
*Specialty Item*	*% Ownership*
Writing instruments	54%
Shirts	45
Caps	31
Bags	29
Glassware/ceramics	23
Desk/office/business accessories	17
Calendars	17
Wearables	4
Recognition jewelry	3
Recognition awards	3
Source: Advertising Specialty Institute, January 2009

81% of all promotional products were kept because they were considered useful.

Reason For Keeping Ad Specialty Item (% of Respondents, Multiple Response OK)
*Ad Specialty*	*Useful*	*Attractive*	*Information Reference*	*Other*
Bags	91%	34%	0%	20%
Writing instruments	91	12	5	18
Wearables	89	39	0	17
Glasswear/ceramics	86	26	6	24
Desk/office/business accessories	83	14	3	16
Calendars	77	31	6	16
Caps	76	37	1	32
Shirts	74	39	1	33
Recognition jewelry	31	38	0	54
Recognition awards	23	15	0	69
Source: Advertising Specialty Institute, January 2009

Additional findings included:

More than three-quarters of respondents have had their items for about seven months
Bags were reported to be used most frequently, with respondents indicating that they use their bags on average nine times per month
Bags deliver the most impressions, with 1,038 impressions per month on average

Number of Impressions Per Month
*Ad Specialty Item*	*Impressions/Month*
Bags	1083
Caps	476
Shirts	365
Writing instruments	363
Desk/office/business accessories	294
Glassware/ceramics	251
Calendars	227
Recognition awards	221
Other wearables	64
Source: Advertising Specialty Institute, January 2009

Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of the Advertising Specialty Institute, concludes that "... this research advises marketers and business owners to invest in advertising specialties now more than ever... Ad specialties provide measurable results for a... reasonable investment... (and) are gifts that break through the information clutter, reach consumers on a personal level, and provide real impact in a creative way."

Please visit ASI here for additional information and a link to the PDF file.

research

5 comments about "Ad Specialties Lowest Cost-Per-Impression".

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Amber George from Boundless Network, January 27, 2009 at 9:37 a.m.
As a salesperson in the promotional marketing industry, I am thrilled to see the results of this most recent survey. Promotional merchandise continues to be the least expensive and most effective way to advertise. Please contact me for your promotional merchandise needs: www.boundlesscollection.com .
Reply

Joey Macasaet from Media Impressions, January 27, 2009 at 12:16 p.m.

Everything does communicate. What makes this medium very efficient is its functionality.

Nicole Fiffe-bonadies from Top of Mind Promotions, January 27, 2009 at 2:30 p.m.

Premiums just make sense. You are exposed to the brand or company time and time again. The key is giving away something practical that you are guaranteed the end user will care to keep. You'd be surprised how far you can take $1 or less; no need to spend much. With experienced advise you can create excellent campaigns with a creative giveaway guaranteed to make people smile and be greatful. www.topofmindpromotions.net

Lea Kritzer from (Superpromostuff) Kritzer Marketing, February 3, 2009 at 3:15 p.m.

Promotional products are the quickest, easiest and least expensive way to put your brand out there. All business is dependent upon brand recognition, and personalized products with your corporate logo reaches a much wider audience than just the customer it is originally marketed to. Your product can be in circulation for years to come.

Mark Heap from PHD, February 3, 2009 at 9:21 p.m.

This is a very interesting study but the methodology looks extremely flawed.
For example, in working out the CPI for a cap, the total impressions are worked out as: worn 6 times per month, for on average 7.1 months and each time it is worn, an average of 79 people come into contact with it = 3360 inpressions for a single cap.
Using claimed recall for complex analysis like "on average how many people do you come into contact with each time you wear a cap" is going to have a huge error margin and from gut feel, I find it hard to believe that the average promotional cap is seen by 80 people every time it is worn.
Furthermore, the comparison of a single brand logo with a full commercial, especially audio-visual is very difficult as the impressions certainly aren't equal in terms of how powerful they are to evoke shift in behaviour. Your study is interesting in questioning respondents favor towards the companies providing promotional items, but they are only the single owner, not all of the exposed people you are measuring.
This is very interesting and good food for thought.