Let me start by saying that I am a believer in the power of karma, kismet and Hello Kitty. And I love this saying: Try to do good in the world, not out of fear for hell or reward of heaven, but because it feels better not to be a jerk. Every single one of…
UPDATE: 1/18/17 – Brand Fuel wins PPAI’s National Marketing Award for the Swag Lottery Machine! See the World’s Only Swag Lottery Machine in action! And check out these great shots of unsuspecting adopters at the Triangle AMA’s High Five Conference 2016! What do you get when you take albums by Elvis, Pat Benatar, Dionne Warwick, Barry…
Do you have a flair for Marketing? Design? Both? If you answered “yes,” it’s high time you venture over to your budget-holding counterparts, bypass the “I’m too busy” alibis and join Brand Fuelians at the High Five Marketing + Creative Conference on March 2-3, 2016 in Raleigh. Why does Brand Fuel endorse this conference? 1)…
Marketing in a crowded, distracting world to get attention is incredibly challenging. So, our team decided to take a chance and inject one of our childhood heroes, Evel Knievel, into a feature product video. Why Evel Knievel? He never backed down from a challenge. We also wanted to honor this unwavering optimist, self-promoter extraordinaire, media…
Sales Team- Another year is going into the Brand Fuel books so we get to measure ourselves against our past performances and goals. How did you do? If you are excited about your results, what will you do to keep the momentum going? If you’re disappointed, what will you change? What new skills do you…
Remember the story about the school that ran an anti-drug campaign by printing and distributing “Too Cool to Do Drugs” pencils to students? When the pencils were sharpened, they read “Cool to Do Drugs” and eventually “Do Drugs”. Talk about a promotional product fail. I empathize with that well-intended organization whose campaign completely backfired. Having…
You’ve been charged to come up with a sharp, branded apparel item to engage new customers. You want classy but on trend to create maximum impact yet have longevity. How do you decide? One of the best ways to create impact on any apparel item is to choose the right decoration method. Curious about what’s…
After a decade in the Promo business, there isn’t a situation I haven’t encountered—volcanic ash delaying a dated event delivery. A shipping crisis I haven’t faced: “We will have to ship this to the Starbucks closest to your conference center! I’ll call and let them know a box is coming for you to pick up.…
Simply having a dog at work does not breed an awesome culture; matter of fact, it might bring fleas. Trying to have a “Best Place to Work” really isn’t about all the stuff. Not the free ice cream. Not the ping pong table in the break room. Not even the souped-up matching 401K plan. Those…
Buyers today are tired of the ordinary; they want an experience and to be entertained. Every year, Brand Fuel brings a mantra to life for our sales team. For example, we were all about the overused but still important, “Be Relevant” years back. And then there was “Prepare and Prevent so you don’t have to Repair…
“Speak when you are angry and you’ll give the best speech that you will ever regret.” I was inspired to write this post because of an awful situation involving an upset client and one of our talented staffers who was unsure how to address the problem. And, believe it or not, I actually look forward…
When Brand Fuel business partners and friends, Robert Fiveash and Danny Rosin, were casually talking about how they used to approach the promotional products market using the tools available in the industry almost 20 years ago, their list grew. And as that list got longer, in most cases, they were delightfully surprised at the improvements that…