PROMOTIONS: Paint It Yellow and Call It Cheese

We finally finished digging through all the paraphernalia we brought back from the London DM Fair and came up with this neat item from Outside the Box plc.

The Leeds-based agency sponsored the premium for exhibit hall attendees at the fair, a portable clock radio. But what we really liked was the promotional brochure accompanying it: “101 Uses for Your Clock Radio.”

Some suggestions were silly-give it a starring role in a low-budget sci-fi movie. Others were practical-use it as a radio. And others were downright odd-hollow it out and use as a catheter bag. But they all shared one thing in common-they got attendees’ attention long enough to get them to read the agency’s invitation to call, e-mail or fax for more information, or to stop by their booth for a presentation.

The agency proudly proclaims, “If we can think of this many ideas for a clock radio, think of what we could do for your marketing.” But they do seem to realize that the value of this exercise is all in the eyes of the beholder. Suggestion #42: “Use it to throw in the bin because it’s a cheap gimmick from a marketing fair.”-BN