After beeing an official sponsor of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, this year they came back again strongly sponsoring the Shanghai World Expo, providing it diary products.

Here is a gift with purchase we spotted recently. For the purchase of a carton of milk at 46.80 RMB (about 7 USD) get this branded water bottle / flask. This promotional item will enable the clients to conserve their drink at the correct temperature and carry it around.

We really like this promotional gift since it can be used at different occasions and it will promote the brand with the big logo imprinted.

If you are looking for a good reminder of your brand to give to your clients, please contact our sourcing office in China. We will be pleased to help you customize and source the best promotional products for you.

In promotion with their bottled concentrated soup stock, each purchase entitles purchaser to a free spoon! Available in 2 different designs – soup spoon and table spoon.   The black/white/silver contrasts nicely with the colourful sauces making this GWP promo really stand out in the store.

For such promotions logos can be engraved onto the spoon, serving as a constant reminder of the brand. Tote bags are also good tie in promotion with food promotions as they not only promote green environment but also provide good logo positioning.

These materials consist of mostly storybooks catered to young children. ODM can also help develop and manufacture such educational materials. Some interesting developments we have launched include the South African Board Games, Fetch card games, etc..

Each key pouch is printed with an ABC logo, serving as a brand reminder to their customers whenever they take the pouch out.

Offering such promotion when placed at the same display area as the rest of the beer brands allows ABC beer to appear more appealing compared to the others.

Other interesting promotional gifts to tie in with beer promotions : Coolzee, Beer opener,etc..

A display of the bag can be found on the shelf along with more information with regards to the promotion. Available in 4 different colors, each color bag is given out with the purchase of different fragrance of Lux body foam.

With so many compartments, this bag can be used as a desktop promo as well. Such bag can be customized easily based on different requirements.

Our Singapore invention incubator will be closed tomorrow, 9th of September. For any urgent matters, please kindly contact our Hong Kong office.

See also the full list of 2010 & 2011 public holidays for China, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Simply spend SGD$188 (US$140) on Martell products and you can get a free document bag as a gift with purchase. The bag does not really look all that attractive but we like the addition of a lucky draw to win an Apple iPad.  We like having 2 promotions together allowing for small instant gratification and chance to win big price.

See also other gift with purchase promotions spotted at duty free shops recently:

• Benedictine D.O.M Promotional Product
• Johnnie Walker Promotional Product
• Ballantines Gift with Purchase Promotion

Simply purchase any bottle of D.O.M and you are entitled to a purchase with purchase promotion foldable bag for just SGD$5(US$3.70).

Bags can be easily customized with logos and tie in easily in almost any form of promotions. Some other duty free bag promos we spotted:

• Duty Free-Johnnie Walker Promo
• Duty Free- Jurlique Tote Promo

See also our newly developed bag, the Sarobag

Conducting inspections under natural lighting makes it easier to spot the difference in color of an approved sample and to check for small or minor defects in mass production of products.   Some key reasons why QC should not be conducted at night:

• Cost of QC will be more expensive as overtime charges have to be paid
• Lack of natural light hinders accuracy of inspection
• Poor lighting may cause some details to be missed out during the inspection.
• Different shades of color may not be spotted during inspection due to the poor lighting.

To ensure that all goods leaving China are of good quality, an inspection should always be performed before shipping out the goods.   The ODM Group offers QC as a standalone service to new clients.

* Electrical outages during the peak daylight hours due to factory production and air conditioning forces authorities to ration power and makes some factories operate only at night.

HS codes help the customs agents of the importing country to determine the amount of duties that have to be paid along with VAT (Value Added Tax) for this particular product. Declaring the wrong HS code could lead to an inaccurate tax declaration and identifying the right category can be a matter of debate..

These codes are also used to assess if there are other controls on the import of products, whether they need special examination and other requirements.  For example when ODM export wooden products to Australia they are subject to fumigation or other controls and the HS code can flag this to customs.

A HS code consists of a minimum of 4-6 digits.   The code starts with the Chapter, followed by the heading and then lastly the subheading of which the item is categorized. Further subdivisions are made in individual countries and trading blocks according to their standards.

This tool on the DHL website is quite useful for checking the HS codes of a product.  Be careful when assigning codes to product as these can get quite complex.

Below is an example of how we can classify a “knife” – first number being the 4 digit HS code.

• 8465: Machine tools (including machines for nailing, stapling, gluing or otherwise assembling) for working wood, cork, bone, hard rubber, hard plastics or similar hard materials
• 8441: Other machinery for making up paper pulp, paper or paperboard, including cutting machines of all kinds, and parts thereof
• 8536: Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, relays, fuses, surge suppressors, plugs, sockets, lamp- holders and other connectors, junction boxes), for a voltage not exceeding 1,000 V; connectors for optical fibers, optical fiber bundles or cables
• 8535: Electrical apparatus for switching or protecting electrical circuits, or for making connections to or in electrical circuits (for example, switches, fuses, lightning arresters, voltage limiters, surge sup-pressors, plugs and other connectors, junction boxes), for a voltage exceeding 1,000 V
• 8215: Spoons, forks, ladles, skimmers, cake-servers, fish-knives, butter-knives, sugar tongs and similar kitchen or tableware; and base metal parts thereof
• 8211: Knives with cutting blades, serrated or not (including pruning knives), other than knives of heading 8208, and blades and base metal parts thereof
• 7228: Other bars and rods of other alloy steel; angles, shapes and sections, of other alloy steel; hollow drill bars and rods, of alloy or nonalloy steel
• 7226: Flat-rolled products of other alloy steel, of a width of less than 600 mm (23.6 inches)