A world without promotional products ! (4/5)

Imagine, up from tomorrow, there are no promotional products any more in the world.
What is the impact apart from my own businesses to collapse?

What will a world without promotional product look like ?
Be careful, if you can’t give the answer, it might mean that promotional products are useless !

Here is an answer of Michael Crooks (Crooks Advertising Alliance), promotional marketer in the US and my favorite writer of this blog :


MICHAEL CROOKS:
“What would a world without promotional products look like?
It would look pretty barren, but not for long. Nature abhors a vacuum. The power and ingenuity of the human spirit would take over and the promotional products industry would evolve all over again.

The creative insight to create something where nothing exists is one of the most powerful abilities we possess. Surly, if promotional products were wiped from the earth tomorrow, they would rise again, here’s why.

If you were to have no promotional products you would also have to delete the processes for imprinting on items and you’d have to delete the resources to create and manufacture the products in the first place. What you would be left with, is the most powerful promotional product in the world ….. humans.

I’ve long advocated a de-emphasis of product in favor of a focus on the human element in the promotional products business. Promotional products are useless …. unless people react to them. The manufacturer must react to an idea to develop a product to make it available. Distributors must react to the product in order to present it to a client. The client must react and purchase it and the end user must react for anything meaningful to happen.

This reaction also takes place when we are viewed by others, walk by them or greet them. Are you promoting yourself as a good, effective idea with the way you dress, groom yourself and speak? Those who “get” this concept are the ones that would have the best ability to rise to the top if promotional products ceased to exist. They would rise to the top because they understand, that promotion isn’t about the products we have at our disposal. Rather, its about the ideas behind them that are of real value.

In short, if promotional products ceased to exist tomorrow, it would force idea-complacent distributors to either develop new ideas using whatever resources are available or go out of business. It would also force idea-rich distributors to delve deep into their mental resource bag and develop new ideas that are truly revolutionary and cutting edge.

The winners in life are often those who do best in the face of adversity. This little game of , “What if promotional products ceased to exist” should serve as a wake up call to those who are panic stricken at the thought.

The ability to create and solve problems is what has driven mankind’s advancements. Those who have creative ability will fair better in the long run as promotional markets consolidate and end-users have more access to dirt-cheap “stuff” via the internet. In the long run, it’s those who have better ideas that will win out.

If promotional products were wiped off the face of the earth tomorrow ….. so be it. Because I would be among the first to scratch my client’s name on rocks for placement on prospects’ desks”…

(…Michael, if one man should be designated to save the world of promotional products from extinction, for sure it would be YOU and no BRUCE WILLIS!! Love, Mathilde)