Promotional Industry Research: Products Popularity

The Advertising Specialty Institute, our favourite source of information about the promotional products industry state, has recently conducted its annual ASI Ad Impressions Study — a cost analysis of promotional products versus other advertising media. For this specific research, thousands of in-person and online interviews have been conducted with businesspeople and students in key cities around North America, Canada, Europe and Australia. 

U.S. consumers were asked which promotional products they currently owned. As the image below reveals, T-shirts are the item that is most often owned by promotional product recipients in the U.S., followed by drinkware, writing instruments and outerwear. In fact, all promotional products have strong ownership, with one-quarter or more of recipients owning each.

Also, the respondents throughout the world were asked to rate up to three promotional items they had received in the last 12 months — you can see the results on the graphics below. For example, 53% of the consumers in Rome own branded shirts — the highest percentage of any of the 21 metro areas in the survey. In London writing instruments gained 56%, and in Mexico top promotional product is drinkware.

Above are the most popular items, but what are the products which consumers want to receive as a gift? The Top 5 most influential products in the opinion of advertisers are:

More useful facts:

• Bags generate more impressions in the U.S. than any other promotional item.
• On average, consumers report keeping promotional calendars for about 12 months - that means a year's worth of branding.
• Younger consumers are the most likely to own a promotional desk accessory.
• 42% of U.S. consumers who keep promotional hats do so because they are attractive, second only to outerwear. Hats need to look good!
• 60% of consumers state they would be more likely to do business with the advertiser who gave them promotional Power Bank
• In the U.S., 91% keep USB Drives because they are useful, and 7% keep USB Drives because they are attractive.

We would like to thank ASI Central for the provided information. If you're interested in knowing more about this topic, please visit the Advertising Specialty Institute website. The full report can be found here.

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