Name Brands

As goes retail, so goes the promotional industry.  For a long time the promotional industry did not quickly adopt the new styles and trends of retail.  In recent history, the lines between retail and promotional have blurred.  I think that this first occurred in apparel where the promotional industry began adopting styles, colors and then even brands from retail.  It is now common to be finding brand names such as Tiger Woods, Nike and Adidas in the promotional apparel world.

It might have started in apparel.  But the trend is thoroughly entrenched in bags where lines like Alicia Klein, Cutter and Buck, Case Logic and Built are now available.  Many of these name brands are designing pieces specifically for the promotional market which are not available in the retail market.

Case Logic is a retail brand which began in 1984 with the mission to create a line of storage cases for cassette tapes.  (Remember those old fashioned audio cassettes?  Asking the question, reminds me how my brother was walking with his son when they spotted a vinyl record in the street.  My brother asked my nephew if he knew what it was and my nephew told his father that is was most certainly a frisbee.)  So Case Logic has grown and expanded its offerings.  It uses innovative design to incorporate a high degree of function into each of its products.  Case Logic's product offering include organizers for the car and assorted types of carrying cases for technology products.

Built is a brand which is primarily creating innovative design and packaging using neoprene (the wetsuit material.)  It started with a couple of wine totes.  Their products have earned a few design awards.  You can see their story here.  Their designs are now available with your corporate logo imprinted on them.  The products range from bottle totes and lunch totes to laptop / tablet bags and sleeves.  They offer bright bold designs and contemporary styling.  Here we see a promotional Macbook case by Built.

You can expect to pay a premium for a brand name.  Is it worthwhile?  That really depends on who you are and what your goals are.  You can certainly get equivalent quality when using generic brands.  You typically will find more cutting edge design in name brands.  There are different reasons you opt to use the name brands.  Sometimes, there is a value to being associated with a name brand.  If you go to a business meeting dressed in a designer suit or carrying a designer handbag, you certainly are making a statement to the people you are meeting with.  The same is going to be true when you are associating your company or organization with a name brand.  Is price and value a concern?  Then you should probably stay away from name brands.  They are available but you will likely be paying a premium just like you would for the name brand in retail.

Say - is that laptop sleeve from Built - pretty savvy!