I went to Autozone the other day to get some new wiper blades, while there picked up a five gallon bucket for $4.99. A few days later I was carrying the bucket to my local service station when I realized that I'd become a walking billboard for Autozone. The Autozone logo is printed around the entire outside of the bucket in their bright orange color, every person I pass carrying that bucket is exposed to the Autozone brand. The beauty of it for Autozone is that instead of paying me to market their product, I actually paid them.
We recently published an article about Jason Sadler and his company IWearYourShirt.com. He created the ideal job for himself, he gets company's to pay him for wearing a T shirt that promotes their brand. Granted he does a bit more than just wear the T shirt, he also blogs and tweets about the brand while wearing the T shirt, but the bottom line is they pay him to wear a T shirt and become a walking billboard. Autozone does the same thing with their five gallon buckets, the difference is I paid them to promote their brand.
I didn't think about it at the time, I needed a bucket and they had one. Marketing, advertising, and branding are about exposure and multiple impressions that create name recognition. What better way to create multiple impressions than to put your brand on products people use every day, and if you can actually get customers to pay for those products you might be able to change marketing from an expense to a profit center.
This is the beauty of promotional merchandise, promotional products, and printing for that matter, they are great ways to promote your brand and get your message in front of a targeted audience. If you give a customer a promotional mug, a personalized mouse pad, or even a well designed pocket folder, not only do you give them something they can and will use, but you're also promoting your brand to everyone they come in contact with.
Promoting your brand with everyday products that people actually use is like free advertising. You expose your message to everyone they come in contact with, and the longer your promotional merchandise is used the longer your message stays alive.