As I said yesterday – we’ve been inundated with brilliant new promotional items so far this year. For many, when choosing a promotional item the aim is to get remembered and noticed … well how about this for a super quirky promotional idea … check out these fab 2 in 1 back scratchers with shoe horns … I’m pretty convinced if you gave these out at an event or trade show you’d certainly raise lots of smiles and start plenty of banter!

Wow, January’s almost over and what a busy month it’s been – we’ve been to 3 trade shows and have seen 100s (if not 1000s) of new promotional items and we still have several appointments and visits in the diary to see even more! (yippee!)

Some of our best selling promotional items of 2011 were promotional notebooks; and I think this is a product category that’ll increase further this year as there were loads and loads of new styles, colours and sizes of notepads on display.

Getting my daughter from her bed to nursery each morning involves plenty of deal making … “after you get dressed you can have some more milk”, “when you’ve got your coat on and you’re in the car you can have grapes” … whilst I guess that rings a bell with any parent – I wonder how many think of it as a series of successful negotiations?!

This month’s Blue Paper covers the art of negotiating – read it now or download for later; this really interesting paper takes you through the art and science of negotiations and advises on getting an outcome that works for everyone involved!

BTW, to define the acronyms in the headline …

BATNA – Best Alternative to Negotiated Agreement – should the deal fall through, what might you be prepared to agree to?

ZOPA – Zone of Possible Agreement – what you will and won’t accept!

We’ve added some more fabbo promotional items to our express service … from promotional bags to yummy sweet treats (including our best selling printed retro sweet pots!) … perfect for last minute tactical marketing campaigns – and of course, our express promotional items are charged at the same price as our standard service items!

As anyone who lives here or has ever visited knows – it always rains in Manchester; (it’s probably what keeps us happy!)  So when we received a request to supply promotional umbrellas to the TV show Britain’s Got Talent we thought we’d help them out.  In true Manchester style the rain (& the red carpet) came out to great Simon & Co … and of course so did our fabulous Sheffield Promotional Umbrellas!

I love our new heart shaped promotional pedometers – they’d be perfect for using to promote a healthy living campaign or programme; and of course, they could also be used to tie in with any slogan you’re using for a valentine’s day event … go on show them you love ‘em!

Spotted these brilliant promotional umbrellas at a trade show last week … when it rains your logo literally will shine; as the rain water activates a colour change process and your branding appears as if by magic – fabbo, eh?!

Today is photo day – the day we get out all the latest promotional items as well as our best selling promotional products, and of course our favourite gifts and giveaways. We’ll spend all day getting tons of shots that we’ll then use inside (and on the cover!) of forthcoming catalogues and in our weekly emails.

Below is a photo of me from a previous shoot – we’d been asked to provide some promotional umbrellas for the X-Factor TV show and these fab printed umbrellas were still in the office that day!

We’ve been so busy adding our new promotional products online – I haven’t had chance to say Happy New Year!

So, here’s to a fabulous 2012 for everyone – my resolution is to ensure it is jam-packed with new promotional items!

Spotted these promotional items in Germany too – check out the funky Christmasy print on these promotional pencils and erasers … and this I loved this fab handdrawn detailed graphic of Nurnberg that was printed onto promotional cotton bags!