We're still a long way from the glory days of trade show tsotchkes, but if the Ad-Tech give-aways are any indication, things are looking up for Internet marketing.
Sure there was the usual assortment of pens, mints and stress balls that have been the sum total of the loot at trade shows in the past three years. But there were a couple of really cool goodies and promises of more to come over the next two days.
I decided to make a tsotchke run through the exhibit hall this afternoon, seeing what company were giving away and asking them why they chose the things they brought to the show.
Without a doubt, the two coolest tsotchkes were:
- Media Whiz's little light on a flixible wire that you can plug into your laptop.
- AOL's wonderful spiral bound notebook that contains various colors, sizes and shapes of post-it notes. This is a very tasteful, expensive looking, practical gift. It has the AOL logo but not the name, and is small enough to tuck into your pocketbook or backback. I'd actually buy this if I saw it in a store. It will not, however, make me switch to AOL or buy their stock.
Other goodies:
- a stainless steel business card case from YourRxBiz.com http://www.yourrxbiz.com Why, pray tell, would someone want to put their business cards in a case with another company's name on the cover?
- one of those paddle thingies with the little rubber ball from Bonded Sender that said "Up the Creek Without a Paddle? Guaranteed Delivery of Legitimate Email." Uh huh.
- a set of juggling balls from Digital Grit, who also had a way-cool and very jolly stilt walker roaming the show. "Our clients are really struggling with search engine optimization and interactive marketing because they have so many things to juggle," their rep told me.
- a chocolate bar from Dart Motif that says 100% faster rich media on the label and has a bunch of marketing copy in 4 point type where the ingredients of the bar would usually be.
- a cool pin with the Google logo and flashing lights. Kids will love this when parents bring it home.
- a note holder that you are supposed to stick onto your computer from Direct Response Technologies that has a little roach clip on the end. The rep told me that people stick it on their computer and then the company name is always in front of them. Sure they do.
- Triligent, which runs shopping, discount and membership clubs gave away an impressive flashlight with cool all-black AA batteries. This goes right into my blackout kit in the top drawer in the kitchen.
- Singing Fish has no giveaway because they ran out. They told me they give away little fishes, water play toys and other fish things. Their software is integrated into Real Player and Windows Media Player, and they're at the show to launch an ad program for audio video something or another.
- Mindcomet had blue condoms that say "Seal the Deal, the Relationship Company" on the package.
Then there was their big cardboard box that contained a nice black t-shirt, more condoms, and these little square papers that say things like "i think christina is dirtier than brittany," "get the scoop on your customers," i am a gangsta wannabe," and a lot of other equally weird things. Mindcomet indeed.
- my favorite flashlight keychain is from YourBiz.com. It looks like a silver bullet or maybe a little rocket ship and it says "The Power to Profit" on the side.
– there's also a nice red see-through plastic keychain flashlight from AmpereMedia.com and something I can't figure out from Bluestreak. It's a little blue thing that looks like a fish with a lightbulb coming out of its mouth. Maybe Eric Picard can enlighten us.
- Ad Drive had free t-shirts, and their rep told me "I love free t-shirts. I sleep in 'em, work out in 'em. They are great for name recognition." Her name was Nancy-Margaret Jones and she had the cutest Southern accent.
- HotBar had chocolate kisses and t-shirts and keychains with bottle of suntan lotion attached that say "Don't Get Burned, Get Hotbar." Hotbar is a toolbar plug in that serves ads to people based on the sites they visit. Isn't that spyware? Why would anyone install anything that showed them more ADS?
- Go Toast gives you the chance to win a really nifty toaster if you stick your business card in the model toaster. Go toast? That might be the weirdest name of the day. They provide a "toolset" to automate Google AdSense word choices, and they do web analytics.
- Hershey's kisses seem to be the candy giveaway candy of choice for the show. Many booths had what looked like leftover Halloween candy.
I asked company reps if people feel compelled to listen to their spiel when they eat the candy or take the tsotchkes. Just about everyone said no.
I am looking forward to Tuesday's goodies and will report to you on the day's loot.
