Promotional Product Trends for 2014

Every year those of us in the promotional products industry cast about, trying to look at our magic eight ball and figure out what will be the best, most sought-after, and most effective promotional products.

For this post, I went straight to the source: some of our QCA colleagues for their thoughts and predictions on what’s hot for their clients in the coming year.

The criteria was simple: which items are not only the most popular, but will also serve your customers the best as they look for compelling campaigns and promotional tie-ins in 2014.

Jeff Lederer of Prime Resources Corporation says that much focus in the promotional products industry should be on connectivity and helping to “power” business people on the go. Business people are traveling with multiple mobile devices and keeping their devices charged is a challenge for us all. The team at Prime are fans of this new Mobile Charger & LED Light, which is more powerful than most and also charges both smartphones and iPads. And the built-in LED light is an added bonus.

Of course, they are focused on safety and product compliance- it’s a portable lithium battery that’s both CE and FCC approved. The power bank includes a standard USB adaptor and allows you to charge from your computer or any other USB power supply.

Michelle Weingard of Leaderpromos is bullish on digital rewards and expects to see this category continue to grow in popularity in 2014 and beyond. When looking for the best incentives and promotional products, you’re looking for things that are not only going to be useful, but which are going to have a good impact for your customers. No one is going to throw away (or not use) free gifts like song downloads, digital movie rentals, magazine subscriptions, dining discounts and the like. And the best part -- technology allows us to distribute the reward codes in emails or even on product packaging at retail, which allows for better tracking and data collection.

Jason Emery of Tagmaster is a fan of technology in the promotional products category and as a gadget-lover, I definitely agree. And when you combine tech and music? A winning combination for sure. Jason’s pick for “don’t miss in 2014” is this Super Mini Speaker. The top of the speaker is just larger than a quarter, with a height of only 1-7/16”. With a signal-to-noise ratio of greater than 80 decibels, this mighty gadget packs a powerful punch. The speaker is rechargeable, easy to store, and packs enough sound quality to fill a room. To use, all you need do is plug the connection cable into your phone or MP3 device and play. Pretty awesome, isn’t it?

There you have it. Three predictions from three industry experts on what they expect to be in demand and on-trend for the promotional products category in 2014. What about you? We’d love to hear what you think your customers are looking for this year?