Each fall, thousands of high school graduates nationwide enroll in higher-education institutions. The students sport T-shirts and hats with their schools' names and logos, frequent school athletic events where they wave school flags and pom-poms, and join student clubs and organizations that distribute imprinted cups, key chains and more.
For distributors such as Jim Maretsky, colleges and
universities present lucrative promotional products sales opportunities. The
schools often order large volumes of products to distribute to new students at
orientations, to offer as incentives or rewards to students in particular
majors, and to present as gifts to speakers at graduations and other events,
says Maretsky, vice president of Jamar Park, a 32-year-old distributorship in
Pittsburgh. Jamar Park has sold promotional products to six local colleges. "The
clients we sell to are progressive and forward-thinking," Maretsky says. "They
realize the benefits of using promotional products."
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Colleges and universities
use promotional products to recruit new students, encourage school spirit,
award fund-raising tournament participants, solicit alumni support and
more. Popular products include cups, T-shirts, footballs, magnets,
pennants, pens, Frisbee disks, insulated mugs, lanyards, mouse pads, golf
balls and key chains.
Courtesy of Sun
Manufacturing/bulletline®, Miami.
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Colleges and universities also use promotional products to recruit new students at high schools and college fairs, encourage school spirit at athletic events, award participants in fund-raising golf tournaments, and solicit and acknowledge alumni support. Popular items include stadium cups, T-shirts, footballs, magnets, pennants, pens, shopping bags, Frisbee disks, insulated mugs, lanyards, CD holders, mouse pads, golf balls, key chains, balloons and more. In fact, educational institutions as a whole rank as the fourth top buyers of promotional products nationwide, according to Promotional Products Association International.
When the orientation committee at a local college wanted items it could present to entering freshmen, Jamar Park provided the orientation committee with 1,200 T-shirts and 1,200 pairs of flip-flops. The white T-shirts were silk screened and the flip-flops were imprinted in black and gold with the college's name, the year and the orientation theme, "Step into the Spotlight." The distributorship now provides the orientation committee with promotional products annually.
—Kara S. Carpenter
Although community colleges don't have the athletic capacity of large universities or require sports team-related products, they use a variety of promotional products to keep their names in front of their communities.
The Internet's Role in the Promotional Products Industry
51 percent of end users use the internet at least once a month to search for promotional products.
Source: Promotional Products Association International's Buyers Study 2000
Promotional Products as Business Gifts
In 2001, sales of promotional products used as business gifts grossed more than $2.4 billion.
Source: Promotional Products Association International
