Most Recalled Promotional Products
Promotional products have a high reach and potential for top-of-mind recall and are an excellent medium to increase and sustain brand awareness.
Unaided brand recall is a brand strength indicator as it depends on strength and
organization of memories and their accessibility. It is affected by:
- Interference of other product information
- Time since last exposure
- The number and type of external retrieval cues
How do People Recall Promotional Products?
- 7 in 10 consumers recalled receiving at least one promotional product in the past 12 months. A similar finding was observed in previous studies. Among those who recalled receiving promotional products, 70% recalled receiving two or more items.
- Recall of the advertiser and message behind the first promotional item recalled are very high. While 88% recalled the advertiser from a promotional product received in the past 12 months, 71% recalled advertisers on a newspaper or magazine read a week before, which speaks to the power of promotional products to support brand recall.
- Financial services, retailers, apparel brands and electronics manufacturers are the most commonly recalled advertisers of promotional products. The most often recalled promotional product categories include:
- Wearables (41%): Including Shirts (22%), Caps/Headwear (11%), Outerwear (6%), Other Wearables (2%)
- Writing Instruments (35%)
- Drinkware (19%)
Usage of Promotional Products
- Eight in 10 consumers own between one and 10 promotional products, six in 10 keep them for up to two years, and about half (53%) use a promo item at least once a week or more often
- The main reason for keeping a promotional product is usefulness. Ranking higher in usefulness are Computer Products (100%), Health & Safety Products (100%), and Writing Instruments (91%)
- Sporting Goods/Leisure Products/Travel Accessories (24%), Housewares/Tools (21%) and Wearables (23%) are more often kept because of their perceived attractiveness
- The top categories of promotional products kept because they can be used for contact information reference are Buttons, Badges, Ribbons, Stickers, Magnets (33%), Electronic Devices & Accessories (29%) and Computer Products (23%). However, promotional products are not often used for contact information reference. Only 35% have ever used promotional items for this purpose
- When it comes to frequency of use, Calendars/Planners (85%), Computer Products (85%) and Electronic Devices & Accessories (82%), take the top 3 spots
- Most promotional products are kept at home (54%) or on the person (24%). Promotional products that are not worth keeping are either filed away and ignored (42%) or given to someone else. Only one in 5 trashes non-wanted promotional products.
