Office Location

18 King Street E , Suite 400 Toronto, ON M5C 1C4
Phone: (437) 870-5400

Search

-
Go

News & Videos

Helpful House & Home Items

House and home items are surefire bets as promo products for their widespread daily use.

The diverse range of options in the house and home promo category presents a unique opportunity for gifting items that end-buyers can use every day, thereby enhancing clients’ brand reach. With the global home décor market on the rise, as noted by Allied Market Research, consumers are keen on stocking their homes with interesting but practical items. Use these picks as a starting point to make a lasting impression.

succulent plant in a branded ceramic pot

End-users can beautify their workspace with this succulent plant in a branded ceramic pot. Measuring about 2.5 inches, the potted succulents present a blend of gratitude and growth for your clients’ next promo campaign.

charcuterie knife set

Crafted from recycled polyester, stainless steel, and ABS plastic, this charcuterie knife set is designed to complement any charcuterie board or serving platter. Includes a cleaver knife for meats, a cheese knife and a spreader for cheeses and jams, plus a convenient storage pouch for easy carrying.

brushed black steel 5” x 7” frame

This timeless keepsake brushed black steel 5” x 7” frame offers a blend of simplicity and sophistication, allowing recipients to personalize and cherish it for a lifetime. A great gift for clients or donors when paired with photos from a recent event, fundraiser or campaign.

essential oil room sprays

Create an unforgettable sensory experience with these alcohol-free, naturally derived essential oil room sprays. Available in three curated options – lavender, citrus or cinnamon – these pocket-sized 0.33 oz. sprays are perfect for hospitality and real estate events.

multifunction brush

This multifunction brush will be the recipient’s new cleaning companion. This three-in-one tool is ideal for cleaning all types of drinkware, from reusable bottles to tumblers to lids. Makes a spot-on gift for new renters and homeowners.

diffuser

Infuse home or office space with 100% pure essential oils while enjoying a soft, ambient glow from the Vitruvi Glow Diffuser. With an eight-hour run time and coverage for rooms up to 300 square feet, this diffuser ensures long-lasting fragrance and a serene atmosphere throughout the day.

double-walled thermal mug

Morning coffee rituals just get better with the Corkcicle coffee set. Crafted for the coffee connoisseur, this kit includes everything needed for the perfect pour-over experience: a precision-engineered dripper and a double-walled thermal mug. Just add coffee grounds.

natural wax candle

These natural wax candles are inspired by each of the 50 U.S. states and designed to enrich home or office décor. The Texas candle, for example, exudes leather, smoke and vanilla scents. Available in 16 oz. and 8 oz. sizes.

electric salt and pepper grinder set

Home cooks and foodies will appreciate this electric salt and pepper grinder set. This countertop promo item features two refillable electric grinders and a fitted stand, ensuring your client’s brand captures plenty of logo impressions. Great as a unique gift or for restaurants to use tableside.

cutting board

Advertisers will make a lasting impression with this cutting board. Crafted from rich medium-endgrain North American maple, this practical and memorable promotional item can feature messages either on a metal plate or engraved into the board.

Sherwin-Williams Color Capsule of the Year Seeks To Create Design Inspiration

The paint brand selected nine colors to make a design lookbook. Print and promo pros can use the palette to help craft colorful solutions for clients.

Annually, Pantone selects its Color of the Year – a particular shade the experts believe represents the forthcoming cultural zeitgeist through color.

In the past, Pantone has selected two colors that create a varied depiction of the state of things, but nine colors? No.

However, that’s exactly what paint purveyor Sherwin-Williams just did for its Colors of the Year, which it has dubbed the “2025 Color Capsule of the Year.”

The idea of a “capsule” is all the rage right now, especially in the apparel space, where streetwear brands and designers release small batches of products in well-timed “drops” to spread demand out over time and create scarcity. Many of these capsules even pull in other brands for co-merchandising efforts.

Sure, Sherwin-Williams is creating a color template for interior designers and painters. But it’s also showing how color schemes can work together for applications in the world of print products, apparel, hard-good promotional products, trade show displays and more.

The capsule includes the following colors:

Grounded: An earthy brown
Sunbleached: A light neutral gray
Chartreuse: A loud pop of color amid neutrals
Rain Cloud: A deep bluish-gray reminiscent of a storm rolling in
Clove: A dark brown to pull down the light tones
Malabar: A sandy shade with pink undertones
Bosc Pear: A warm orangey brown (or browny orange)
White Snow: Just a few notches below pure white, with a hint of pink
Mauve Finery: A chic light purple

When looked at as a cohesive unit, the capsule is something that product designers, printers and distributors putting together new items or a collection of goods can use for inspiration.

Washington, Missouri-headquartered The Chest (asi/44830) uses these annual color reports as a guiding force in their promotional products, which include branded kits and print solutions.

“Color can make or break a design,” says Sheila James, marketing manager at The Chest. “It is usually the first thing noticed. A lot of time can be spent using the best color to go with [an item], and when the ‘colors of the year’ come out, that can be a big help in making those decisions.”

Sleek Sustainable Apparel

Make an eco-conscious choice in one of promo’s biggest categories.

Sustainability is often a key product consideration for corporate campaigns. In fact, 86% of end-buyers said it’s an important factor when choosing their promotional products, according to recent end-buyer research from ASI – and more than 6 in 10 of them are willing to pay a premium for more environmentally friendly promo. Whether that’s using materials with lower carbon footprints or choosing products that reveal how much recycled material goes into their manufacturing, the apparel market has a wide variety of sustainable options.

quarter-zip

Made from 25% recycled polyester, this modern quarter-zip features a varied jacquard knit that wicks moisture and side panel body mapping for ultimate comfort and style. Perfect for an active day outdoors, it offers hyper breathability and SPF 50 protection.

gender-neutral anorak

This versatile gender-neutral anorak packs into a functional fanny pack for easy storage and carrying. Made from 100% recycled nylon and featuring a water-repellent finish, it offers lightweight weather protection on the go.

tech performance polo

Designed for comfort and performance, this tech performance polo is crafted from 100% recycled polyester piqué. Features both Coolcore technology to wick away sweat and built-in UPF protection.

jacket

A sustainable and high-quality choice for a winter campaign, this jacket is made from an average of 37 upcycled bottles. Features a fleece interior and sherpa-lined pockets for ultimate comfort, plus a sherpa three-piece scuba hood on the women’s style.

knitted beanie

Made from 60% Polylana polyester – a combination of certified recycled polyester and modified polyester – and 40% acrylic, this knitted beanie offers warmth and comfort. Featuring a fully fashioned top and an elegant rib-knitted cuff, it’s a perfect giveaway for winter event attendees to stay cozy.

quilted jacket

Wind- and water-resistant, ultra-lightweight and easily compressible, this quilted jacket packs into its side pocket for convenience. The 100% dobby polyester fabric, crafted from certified recycled PET bottles, is lined with PrimaLoft Silver Insulation for extra warmth.

six-panel cap

Crafted from 95% recycled polyester, this unstructured, six-panel cap features a low-profile design with a pre-curved bill. The Stay-Dri performance sweatband keeps the wearer comfortable while the d-ring micro hook and loop closure ensures a perfect fit.

Sabrina Carpenter Coffee Shop Pop-Ups Offer Experiential Marketing Success Tips

The “Espresso” singer teamed up with Cash App for three branded events in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

The best-case scenario for a brand is for their end-users to be thinking about them every night. Isn’t that sweet? I guess so.

For those who have lived under a rock since the summer, that’s a reference to Sabrina Carpenter’s enormous hit “Espresso.” And for everyone who knows the song, congratulations, it’s now stuck in your head, too.

Sabrina Carpenter performing on stage

The joke will make sense in a second. Walk with me here…

Carpenter, through a partnership with Cash App, is hosting three pop-up events in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, where her team is leaning into the theme of coffee and “Espresso” to create “Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet Café,” borrowing the title of her hit 2024 album.

This idea of a pop-up shop, complete with branded merchandise, for a pop star isn’t new. Olivia Rodrigo, for example, just partnered with Spotify for a branded experience in New York to commemorate the release of her album GUTS. And it’s not just musical artists – TV shows and streaming services get their own pop-up treatments, too.

However, what sets Carpenter’s campaign apart is the savvy angle of tying in the coffee pun with the coffee shop idea, bringing in another trend in experiential marketing. When you think of your local coffee shop, what do you picture aside from baristas in cool clothes and a display of baked goods? You can probably picture the merchandise for sale and branded packaging – things like T-shirts, mugs, tote bags, thermoses and packaging for coffee beans or tea.

A coffee shop lends itself nicely to merchandise, which is why the likes of Ralph Lauren has used it as a marketing medium in luxury getaway locations across the world.

By tapping into the coffee universe, Carpenter and her corporate partners find themselves at an intersection of different marketing avenues and seem to have accomplished everything you’d hope a branded pop-up of this nature can do. Those include wins promo pros working on experiential marketing initiatives can try to engineer for their clients too, such as:

Build the Brand’s Reach

The main goal of any branded campaign is to spread brand awareness. Thinking just of the promotional products space, you can see that the Carpenter team did that through things like drinkware, T-shirts and various print products.

The merchandise table works very much in the same way it would at a concert, but this way the brand –Sabrina Carpenter – comes to the fans rather than forcing them to pay any price of admission.

Drive Online Engagement

In an age where everything is online, tactile promotional products and experiences should be designed to have an extended life through social media sharing. There needs to be something that drives people to leave their homes and potentially wait in long lines for something. The opportunity to post fun pictures on social media can be significant motivation.

When done well, every conceivable photo angle in a pop-up experience is a good one. There are printed displays to be backdrops and walls, and plenty of eye-catching branded items within view or to be used as props for photos. There are QR codes aplenty. There are dedicated hashtags.

For sure, there should not be any forgetting whose event you’re at.

Strengthen Partner Brands

This café pop-up is, ostensibly, for Sabrina Carpenter. Still, it’s also for Cash App, which harnessed Carpenter’s social capital at the moment to gain some hip points with would-be users.

And of course, let’s not forget the actual coffee shops that transformed into this branded vehicle temporarily. They put their normal brands on hold for a minute, but it was a smart move: Crowds of people, many of them potentially first-time patrons, have experienced sitting in the café and could come back again.

In New York, Carpenter and Cash App took over Partners Coffee. In Chicago, it was Happy Monday. This week, Angelinos can visit Verve Coffee in West Hollywood.

To add to the Cash App integration, customers who use a Cash App Visa card to buy stuff will receive a 30% discount on their purchase – up to $40, according to Sprudge.

The music marketing landscape has changed drastically as a result of streaming, social media and the COVID-19 pandemic. Artists are meeting their fans in new ways. And, after all, an artist is a brand at the end of the day, and fans are customers. It sounds crass to put it so transactionally, but it’s the truth.

Looking beyond the music world, any brand can take a piece of their identity or their brand story, expand on it, and create a memorable experience out of it. If they can meet their customers and potential customers where they live, shop and eat, that’s even better. Finally, sparing no detail through print products, promotional giveaways and catchy design can turn something that feels like a sales pitch into a fun day out with memories to last a lifetime – both in their hearts and on their social media feeds.

End-Buyer Research: Ages 55 and Over

End-buyers ages 55+ say they spend a quarter of their marketing budget on promo.

ASI’s exclusive research reveals client buying habits in eight markets and across multiple demographics.

ASI Research is wrapping up our new series profiling the people distributors work with most closely: end-buyers. Each week we released a new data set that spotlights one of eight markets and looks at end-buyers through demographics such as age, gender, region and company size.

This week, our research focuses on promotional products end-buyers ages 55+, the last of several age demographics surveyed throughout the United States.

The percentage of older Americans, particularly those older than 65, who hold a job today has nearly quadrupled since the mid-1980s, a Pew Research Center analysis found – meaning that this demographic is becoming a more important segment to consider in the corporate gifting market. According to ASI’s 2023 Ad Impressions Study, some of the most influential promotional products for consumers ages 55+ include outerwear, umbrellas and performance wear.

ASI’s 2024 end-buyer research reports that end-buyers in this demographic value a distributor that offers comprehensive services, with half naming “doing all the work” as an important distributor benefit – more than any other end-buyer segment surveyed. Additionally, promotional products end-buyers ages 55+ are the most likely age demographic to give promo to prospects and to pay a premium for Made-in-the-USA products.

Infographic

Featured Videos

  • Wireless Ear Buds
  • Color Splash Cork 20oz Stainless Steel Tumbler
  • Retractable Flashlight and Lantern
  • Wireless Charging Mousepad with Phone Stand
  • Champions Golf Towel
  • Black Flask Set
  • 3D Crystal Jewel Cube Medium Award
  • 11oz Double Wall Stainless Coffee Cup
  • Ultra Lite 20 Oz Sports Bottle