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How Cost-Effective Are Promotional Products

Promotional products are used every day, often several times a day. They are looked at, written with, put on and involved in a whole list of other basic activities that allow for multiple direct or subliminal impressions of the imprinted ad messages.

By taking the general cost of a product (exact cost can vary because of quantity, intricacy of imprint and number of colours in imprint, and possibly other specifications) and dividing it by the number of exposures the imprint receives, you can get a general idea of your cost per impression (CPI). Here's some examples:

Notepads

The recipient of a 50-sheet notepad will have a minimum of 50 exposures to the message, which is imprinted on each sheet. If any of the notes are passed on, or kept, the number of exposures can double and triple. The CPI for a £1 notepad works out to be .02 pence per sheet for 50 impressions.

Mugs

The message on a coffee mug will be seen as often as 10 times a day. For a £2.50 mug, the CPI works out to be less than three-tenths of 1 cent throughout the one- to two-year life span of a mug.

Watches

People will look at their watch an average of twice an hour. If there are 16 waking hours in a day, they'll look at their watch - and, therefore, have an impression of any message on the watch face - 32 times. For a basic £12 watch, the CPI for one day is .37 pence. With a three-year warranty, the number of impressions would be 35,040, which makes the CPI .0003 pence.

Calendars

The recipient of a calendar will be exposed to the message on it two to three times per day at home and five to six times per day at the office. Working with the figure of three times daily (365 days per year), there would be 1,095 impressions. Dividing this figure into a £3 calendar brings the CPI to .002 pence.

Playing Cards

During one hour of a game of rummy or bridge, the players will be exposed to the message printed on the cards more than 500 times. At the cost of £3 per deck, the CPI for playing cards works out to be .006 pence each hour.

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