If you survey bartenders and servers, they will agree that there are as many beverages as there are personalities, and your drink of choice can say a lot about you and your personality. A “go-to drink” can say just as much about you as the outfit you choose to wear. So, with a wink and…
Brand Fuelians, As we round the corner past a challenging but incredible year, I want to share some introspective thoughts with you all. When people ask me how Brand Fuel is doing, you’d think that I would reply with something expected about our how sales numbers look. Over the past several years, however, I have…
What you are about to read will rattle some cages. For the record, it’s not lost on me that we are in the business of recognition. We’ve been involved with designing and selling hundreds of thousands of awards made of acrylic, stone, crystal, gold, marble, and even custom drumsticks. These “physical high-fives” have propagated countless…
The future of promotional marketing is bright, but it is facing a shift in values. It is time for us to plan for that shift. Here is how we see the future shaping up, coupled with some promises to you, our loyal, bold clients who are hungry for a tired industry to breathe fresh life…
Note: We admit that ~30% of promotional merchandise is junk. And one of our brand promises is to do all we can to ensure that what you buy from us does not end up as brandfill – your brand in the landfill. Heck, our Account Managers know that they could get fired if they sell…
At Brand Fuel, we are questioning and addressing not only how we deal with local and global sustainability but also how our industry will deal with this in coming years; and what this means from our supply chain to our own company ethics, to our end-client needs and end-consumers expectations. In the same way that…
The promotional marketing industry has seen 3 defined eras. Era 1: From the time The Bill of Rights was ratified through ~1999. This was the golden age of printed catalogs with obvious pricing codes. There was a time when you had to search by microfiche to source foam stress relievers in the shape of an…
Now that we have more than 2 decades of experience running a business, we realize we still have some work to do in becoming an organization our parents, kids, communities, clients and employees are consistently proud of. So, we crafted these guidelines with Brand Fuel in mind, but we also wanted to share them as…
We teach our kids to be kind. To sit with the new kid at lunch. To recycle that milk carton. Company behavior should be no different. Companies should be more than just a place of employment, a place to make money, a place to hide from your spouse for eight hours a day. Companies have…
I am always on the lookout for ways to develop a stronger team. To create outlets to put technology away and learn from human interaction. One team-building activity is to create a simple brand-building session. How? Ask your team to help re/define who your ideal customer is. Defining your ideal customer can be rewarding if…
A company’s logo is becoming less and less important. A brand, however, is what companies should invest in if they want to truly connect with customers. First, a little clarification. A logo is a graphic element with a name created to identify a company or product. Brands represent your organization’s personality. And the feelings and…