Great Start to Every Day Sweepstakes Promotion

This promotion is open to any US citizen. No purchase is necessary to enter or win this lucky draw. The promotion began last September and will be over en of February 2012. There are a great number of prizes to be won, including complete Le Creuset cookware sets! To participate simply visit www.farmlandfoods.com or www.facebook.com/FarmlandFoods and follow instructions to complete the online entry form and submit your entry. The lucky draw prizes are divided into three categories.

25 Grand Prize Winners

The lucky few to win a Grand prize  get to choose between a Le Creuset 6-pc. cast iron cookware set or a Le Creuset 8-pc. stainless steel cookware set.

Promotional Gifts by Le Creuset : cast iron cookware set form Farmland promotion

Promotional Gifts by Le Creuset : stainless steel cookware set form Farmland Promotion

First Prize Winners 

Prizes in this category include a wide variety of Farmland breakfast meats. Winners receive one year supplies of these items!

Promotional Gifts - Farmland Breakfast Products

Daily Prize Winners  

Winners get to choose one prize :

• Le Creuset 9” cast iron skillet
• Le Creuset 8” stainless non-stick omelet pan
• Le Creuset 9” bacon press
• Le Creuset 9.5” square skinny grill
• A case of Farmland products.

Promotional Gifts - Le Creuset cooking utensils

This promotion is certain to please any fan of cooking or good food. The prizes are high end gifts that make great incentives for potential customers to visit the Farmland website and potentially order their products.

Check out other cooking related promotions here :

• Promotional Products for the kitchen
• Customized Aprons to Promote your Brand or Country
• GWP Promotion – Measuring Spoon Set by Lea & Perrins
• Farmer’s Union: Win a Promotional Cooler
• Knife GWP: Promotional Frying Pan
• Saucepan clock : the perfect kitchen promo
• Promotional gift ideas for the vegetable industry : Veggie Pens
• New Promo Ideas for Packet Drinks.
• Bertolli olive oil promotions

The French supermarket, Leclerc, has found a way of profiting fro this custom. For the Christmas season, Leclerc has launched a cheese package promotion. They have packaged together a tasteful selection of cheeses making a ready prepared cheese platter for Christmas dinner.

Promotional Gifts - blackboard by Leclerc

What’s more to make this promotion more attractive they have added an on pack gift : a high quality blackboard. The blackboard makes the perfect incentive for purchase. It would be a practical decorative object for any kitchen or hall. Keep this blackboard in mind for Promotional Products 2012.

Check out similar articles here :

• Promotional Products 2012
• Christmas GWP Promo by Brighton – Storyland Musical Snow Globe
• Tangs Limited Edition 2012 Promotional Calendar
• “Fete des Rois” Promotional Gift Idea, France
• Promotional Packaging – Fur Coat for Zubrowka Vodka
• Promotional Gifts for Girls – Nail Varnish Kit by Remington in France
• Christmas & New Year Promo: Jacob’s Creek Champagne Glass

Fete des Rois promotional favours

After Christmas is over in France, the tradition is to celebrate the “Fete des Rois” (literally “Party for the Kings”).  The “Fete des Rois” corresponds to Epiphany and takes place on the 6th of January.

On this day, Christians celebrate the arrival of the three kings of Orient to Bethlehem. They came to visit and bring presents to the newborn baby Jesus.  One the most famous French customs for the “Fete des Rois” is the Galette des Rois.

"Fete des Rois" promotional lucky charm gift

The Galette des Rois is an almond flavored pie that has one quite original particularity.  Hidden inside the pie is a “feve”, which is french for good luck charm. Once the pie is cut up, everyone takes a slice and whoever bites into the “feve” when eating is crowned King or Queen and even receives a paper gold crown!

This tradition has become so popular in France that even none christian French celebrate people this day each year. Each and every French school, company, and family will share a Galette at tea time, in the afternoon of the 6th of january!

Here is an ongoing promotion, held by Vahine, a french cake ingredient specialist.

For each packet of Almond filling bought, customers receive a free feve promo figurine. This promotion wins our approval for being both original and practical. No need to go feve hunting for hours, just get one free as you buy the ingredients for your Galette!

Galette des Rois

Please feel free to read other similar articles such as:

• Promotional Coins – Celebrate, Commemorate, Collect !
• Anniversary Promotional Products – Yellow Tail wine promos
• Promotional Wine charms by Yellow T
• Veuve Clicquot special bottle packaging for promotion
• Yellow Tail
• Hidden Promotional Products in Traditional Cake
• Promotional Gifts for Girls – Nail Varnish Kit by Remington in France
• Christmas & New Year Promo: Jacob’s Creek Champagne Glass

Promotional gift - soccer figurine set

Here is one of the interesting promo gift collections we spotted at the Canton trade fair : a collection of 24 football player figurines from FCB Barcelona.

We could easily imagine all sorts of consumer goods brands using this kind of thing for a promotional gift on purchase campaign. Indeed, being a collection of 24 unique figurines would incite customers to repurchase the brand’s products so as to own the complete collection.

What’s more this promo item has many other advantages:

• figurines were of high quality: this makes them a valued gift by customers
• they could be co-branded with company or sponsor logo
• high  brand visibility when on display
• low production costs if made in polyresin

Of course this promo idea could be adapted to other sports (rugby, basket ball, volley ball etc.) or activities (historical figures for museum promos, film characters, cartoon characters etc.).

Promotional gifts - soccer figurine set

Check out the following related posts and website:

• Celebrate Sport Victories with Promo Figurines
• S’mores Tailgating Promo: A chance to win promotional gear!
• Promotional Gifts – NFL football promos by Castrol
• New promotional products Crumple Caps
• www.promofigurines.com

A Promotional Watch

Recently, I had the opportunity to head down to our watch factory in Southern China to conduct a factory audit with some clients. From inspecting each stage of manufacture you can gain valuable insight into the possibilities of product development and all the assembly process and the industry.

Let us take you through a step by step  process and things to look out for:

1. Inner Components of Analog Quartz Watch
2. Manufacturing the Case
3. Assembly & Packaging
4. Quality Control

Inner Components of Analog Quartz Watch

The inner components are the “brain” of the watch, controlling all of its function. The accuracy of analog watches is determined by how each precise each individual component is when manufactured and fitted together. These include:

Movement
The movement is the most vital aspect – the internal mechanism of the watch, made of many moving parts which run the clock.

The Different Parts of a Movement

In this Promotional watch factory 3 types of movement are used depending on the range of the watch:

• Swiss movement – most expensive of the lot, where the cheapest can usually last a minimum of 8 years
• Japanese movement – standardized movement which is used for most watches, considered good with a lifespan of about 3 years or more. Usually this movement is shipped from either Singapore or Japan itself.
• Chinese movement – the cheapest amongst all 3, used only for low budget watches – estimated to be around 1 year of lifespan.

Batteries
The lifespan of watch batteries (typically alkaline) differs based on your specified requests and budget. Our factory is using batteries mainly from HK(18 months), Indonesia (1 year) and Japan (2-3 years) for its mass productions.

Our factory generally boycotts Chinese batteries due to their low quality nature. However, some factories are still using them, to cut costs so do take note.
Often, these batteries are made to be easily replaceable due to its relatively short lifespan.

Dial
The dial is what makes your watch highly marketable with your brand logo/artwork printed fashionably along with the hours of the day.

Rubber Gasket
A rubber gasket is a part which keeps the watch water resistant. The factory will install one each on the front and back of the watch. When unscrewing the back cover to replace your battery, beware that this part is very vulnerable to falling off. If not put back in place properly, your watch may lose its resistance.

A whole pack of Rubber Gaskets

Manufacturing the case

It is essential to ensure quality in the manufacture in the case as it encloses and protects the movement and dial of a watch. To begin, untreated metal alloys retrieved from another factory are used to form the shape of the casing thereafter receiving treatment to look as good as new .

Moulds for Different Kinds of Casing

1. Attaching the different metal components together so that they are treated as a whole.

2. Scraping – The case will go through a huge machinery where it files and scraps off any unwanted material or flaw off the surface to create a smoother touch. Lubricants are used to accelerate this process.

A Factory Worker tending the Scraping Machine

3. Polishing & Shine – The case will then receive its shine after polishing treatment. This gives it a renewed look and is very important as some may not be cleaned properly and stains can still be seen. So it is essential that all parts that go through this process are cleaned thoroughly.

4. Drilling in holes for the assemble team to rivet smaller parts to the watch like the watch crown.

5. Now that the cases are all done and ready to go, the workers will then send them for colouring – through either plating or paint.

6. Glass placement to complete the whole shell.

7. For special requests on water resistant watches, a leakage test is conducted through this machinery right here – the test pressure will then be indicated as an equivalent water depth in metres usually.

Leakage Test Machinery

Assembly and Packaging

After all these have been completed, the case will be sent to the assembly team. The assembly team is responsible for putting together the inner components of the watch mentioned earlier, along with its strap and back cover.

Working with full concentration...

Usually, the assembly team has to be very experienced as fitting these tiny, fragile parts together can be very tricky. Not done the right way, it will render the whole watch useless. Therefore, members in the assembly team are chosen carefully, possessing nimble fingers as assembling a watch requires much dexterity…

Anatomy of the strap
The strap is easily customizable to any designs you want. Material of the strap includes:

• Leather
• Metal Bracelet
• Synthetic Rubber
• Plastic
• Cloth/Fabric
• Nylon

Besides the dial, the strap is often where you can work on your promotional efforts and designs, with the buckle on the strap usually showcasing your brand logo.

Watches for Kids on their way to be worked on. Notice the artwork on the strap

Once the back casing is secured to the timepiece, the whole process is completed by placing another layer of protection on both the front and the back.

The completion of the watch brings us to reviewing packaging options. We will be writing another specific post on this, so stay tuned!

Quality Control

Usually most factories conduct Quality Control inspections for at least 3 times – the minute parts of a watch are delicate so most watch factories will designate a whole department for QC to ensure quality.   ODM take random samples during the production for testing both for functioning and for lab tests such as Rohs & CE.

QCs are done when:

• The case is completed and a first round of QC is done to ensure they live up to expectations.
• The watch is assembled – the watch is tested to see if it is able to tell the time accurately.
• After packaging – random checks are made to make sure one final time that everything is good and ready to deliver.
  

  Girls checking meticulously for defects

• Polyester (PES) – Mainly used in textiles
• Polyethylene (PE) – Supermarket bags and plastic bottles
• Polypropylene (PP) - Bottle caps, drinking straws, containers, plush toy fillings
• Polystyrene – Food containers, plastic tableware, disposable cups, plates, cutlery
• Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) – ODM’s Octopus Suction Coolie

When it comes to hard plastic, acrylic and polycarbonate (PC) are the two main plastics used.

Examples of Acrylic

Acrylic – Popular Use:

• Motorcycle helmet visors
• Helicopter windows, submarine windows
• Spectator protection in an ice hockey arena

• Less impact resistance
• Less likely to scratch.
• Does not turn yellow after time
• Better clarity. Acrylic can be restored to optical clarity by polishing.

• Compact discs, DVDs
• Lighting lenses, sunglass lenses, safety glasses,
• automotive headlamp lenses
• Drinking bottles

Key characteristics of Polycarbonate

• Resistance towards impact / chipping
• More likely to scratch
• More costly
• Used mainly for industry applications
• Yellows over time
• Easier to work with in terms of cutting as they are less likely to break
• Poorer clarity, diffuses light, can lighten (could be positive)

Not sure which plastic to use for your next production? Contact us and will have experience advises coming along!

The advantages silicone rubber allows for space savings on the container

Containers utilize the natural properties of silicone to create a microwave and dishwasher safe containers which are also airtight. This ensures food stored is fresh and provides convenience to users due to multiple roles. In addition, the silicone container can collapse unto itself to create a smaller container for greater space savings. This allows for easy storage when not in use by customers.

The silicone containers also come in compartmentalized lunch boxes. These containers are completed with full sized forks and collapsible chopsticks allowing for a meal to be enjoyed on the go. When the meal is finished simply collapse the box for ease of carrying.

promotional silicone lunch boxes allow for fast and easy meals anywhere

The useful properties of silicone and the ability to customize according to fine unique colors allows for these containers to make exceptional promotional products.

In addition, these silicone products can be customized with logos via etching, allowing for advertising and marketing benefits.  Try these for a gift with purchase campaign or even as corporate gifts for promotional events.

For more foldable products check out Chinelas folding shoes.

Ceramic knives are much sharper then metal or stainless steel ones and they don’t need to be sharpened. They are also sixty times stronger then conventional stainless steel knives. The unique properties of ceramic make it the best material for cooking utensils because the surface of ceramic knives are non sticky and any food can easily be washed away with a stroke of a cloth or splash of water. Ceramic knifes are much lighter then metallic knives, this product will offer significant advantages to your clients over traditional metallic knives. Other products can be made from ceramic such as a potato peelers and scissors.

Ceramic Knife Set Product

This knife set pictured here comes with four ceramic knives of different sizes, they are each used for different purposes. The set comes with an acrylic stand with glass  on one side which displays the ceramic blade of the knives. In the set there is a Chef knife, a carving knife, a utility knife and a paring knife. Each set can be completely customizable with different types of knife sizes and with different number of knives per set. Some knife sets can be made for two-three products or more. The knifes pictures here have a rubber handle, this can be changed in terms of color or material, possible to have a wooden material to have a more classic knife look. The knife set can also come in a box set instead of a stand, the stand will be more practical for kitchen use.

All of these products are entirely customizable as mentioned above. A logo or brand name can easily be printed on the handle or on the blade. It is also possible to print a logo or your company‘s name on the acrylic stand on the glass part and on the cover of the box set. All of these placements offer great layout to print logos and brand names. This is a great product to offer as a promotional product or for a GWP campaign. This kind of ceramic knife set can be offered with the purchase of a new fridge, a dishwasher or any kitchen appliances.

Lots more high end Gifts & Premiums at the show this week.

Silicone Pan Holder Product

The silicone pan holder is a very simple square shaped silicone mat that is used to handle hot pans and lids while cooking. The heat is not absorbed by the silicone mat, making it a very safe tool for use when cooking at home. and handling hot items. This silicone mat can be used for several purposes such as opening bottles and canisters. It can also be used as a way to protect counter tops and table surfaces when serving hot pans and dishes at the dinner table. This item can be found in many shapes, such as heart, fruit shapes, or other geometric figures. Any shape and size of silicone mats can be easily manufactured.

Silicone Oven Mitt

The silicone oven mitt is a more advanced product for oven mitts on the market, since the material can withstand such high temperatures & the mitt will not burn and deteriorate. It can be used on either side with the same heat resistant capabilities.  Usually oven mitts were made with some kind of heat resistant material, but after extensive use some of them lose there heat resistant capabilities and start to deteriorate. This will not be the case with the silicone one which will be very useful for handling hot trays coming out of the oven!

Pot Holder Animal Shape

Here are some other silicone grips that are more orginal – shaped like animal heads. On the picture you can see samples with the head of a shark, a frog and a pig. All types of animal shapes can be made for this product. Making a mold for silicone products is very easy and many shapes such as Mascots could be made. This is a highly customizable product idea. A kitchenware company can offer a unit of this silicone holder as a GWP campaign for the purchase of a frying pan or other cooking products.

Silicone Lemon Squeezer Product

The lemon squeezer is of great use when needing to extract juice from a lemon without getting your hands covered in lemon juice. This silicone cover is very practical as the lemon is cut in half and is placed inside the silicone product. At the bottom small little holes let the juice flow out of the silicone squeezer. Great kitchen product so that your customers don’t ever have lemon juice on their hands again.

Silicone Garlic peeler product

A very similar type of product is used to peel off the skin from garlic cloves. The clove is places inside of the silicone product, the skin will automatically peel off by repeated friction against the silicone material.

This is an easy way to peel the skin off garlic, much simpler then letting customers use there finger and fingernails. Don’t let your customers have a hard time cooking make it wasy for them by offering these great silicone promotional products. Make cooking easy for your customers with all these fun products.

Silicone Cake Mold Product

Silicone cake molds are the best in the market, any shape can be made to make fun and cool looking cakes. The mold is very easy to use numerous times as it cleans very easily by hand or in the machine. No problem baking cakes or cupcakes with the silicone since the material can withstand temperatures up to +300°C. These cake molds are more practical because the nature of silicone will prevent the cake from sticking to the mold, unlike with paper or other material molds which can sometimes be quite difficult to separate once the cake is ready to eat!

Silicone products can be made in infinite amounts of shapes, sizes, colors and designs. Customize kitchen silicone products to match vegetables, fruits, animals and corporate or sport mascots to offer as gifts to customers. These products will be a hit when bundled as a GWP campaign with kitchen accessories.

Contact ODMasia for any requests for manufacturing and designing all types of silicone products.

Mini Pumpkin Speakers

Mini Pumpkin Speaker

Halloween is never complete without mischievous-looking pumpkins, and here is one idea to bring some of Halloween to the table – mini pumpkin speakers.

This could be a fun promotional product to do for the season. Being compatible with every device you could think of (MP3, MP4, Mobiles, MDA..), it consists of a built in rechargeable battery with 3.5MM AV input. It even features a Micro SD card input which is not seen in many recent speakers.

This mini speaker is portable, allowing your customers to enjoy music on the go, making it a very nice GWP or promotional product.   Your brand logo could be imprinted on the bottom of it so that it does not destroy the overall vibe of the speaker. Most importantly, the pumpkin speaker is the perfect complement to create a much needed spooky atmosphere since it covers both visual and sound effects. It is available in a variety of colours – red, orange, white, green, blue and black for every occasion.

Optical Ghost Mouse

Optical Ghost Mouse

This ghost mouse offers the basic technology you can find in a regular mouse. But one thing it does which other mouse do not is that it adds a touch of Halloween to your recipients’ desktop. With its unique yet functional appearance, it can be a very attractive promotional product for people always on the lookout for something unconventional or exotic. This particular product could be the perfect GWP for companies specializing in computers, tech-based products etc during Halloween season.

USB Skull Drive

Skull USB Drive

Tired of the typical USB drives? At the Hong Kong Electronics Fair, we were astounded by the versatility of a USB, the ever-changing shapes that it can adopt. We came across this USB Skull Drive, perfect for Halloween. Your company’s logo can be imprinted at the back of the skull, thus not compromising on visibility with its design.  The skull USB is definitely going to attract some form of attention with its rare design and thus increasing the exposure your company could get. It can be a very nice promotional gift to your customers or corporate clients in this season of trick or treat, value-adding your product/service at the same time.

Silicon Devil iPhone Case

Devil-Styled iPhone Case

At ODMasia, we understand the growing demand for iPhone and its accessories, especially iPhone cases. They not only make a suitable promotional product for any brand out there due to the iPhone craze, but they are also able to cater to the consumers’ wants. At the Electronics Fair, there were countless booths specializing in iPhone cases/storage and we were inspired to rope in the iPhone and turn it into a spooky gadget this Halloween. Enter the iPhone devil case.

Being a proven advertising agent, your logo could get prolonged exposure as usually the user would tend to continue using it even after Halloween, given its frolic design. Functional items always guarantee repeat usage, and all these promotional products with its unique outlook allows your brand to shine, even after Halloween is over.

Halloween has long been an annual tradition, a perfect occasion which offers plentiful of promotional opportunities for your corporate clients or customers. So why leave your company brand out when you can busk in the buzz of this festive season? ODM

Check out our other Halloween blogs for more fun inspiration and ideas for your promotional products:

• Halloween Promotional Products
• Halloween Voice Changers
• Halloween Party Strings
• Scary Face Paint