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August 17, 2010

USB People Are a Fun New Promotional Gift

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , — admin @ 2:10 pm

USB People are already proving to be a very popular promotional gift in 2009. It fact, it is not very often that a promotional gift like this comes along that is fun, attractive and also very useful. There is a man/woman shaped memory stick in stock and ready for your next promotion. What is more, they are available in three different sizes.

The most popular size is the 80mm tall figure because it was the original size. Smaller 51mm and 65mm models have recently been added to the range. The smaller versions have mobile phone attachments so they can be used as mobile phone charms.

For those of you that have not yet seen one of these nifty promotional tools, it is time you did! USB memory sticks are big selling business gifts but these USB People go one step further. Each USB figure has moving arms hands and legs. They are available with memory of 1G to 8G.

The great thing about these memory stick people is that they are so eye catching. Popular designs are of business people, doctors, nurses, rock stars, nerds, teachers and even Santa Clause. It is not known yet how popular the Santa figure will be as it is still such a new product but it is predicted that the Santa USB People figure will be a tremendous seller this Christmas.

Now, picture your laptop. No, really, close your eyes and think of your laptop at work. Now think about a little man with two dangling arms and two wobbly legs sticking out the side. This is what your customer could have sticking out the side of their computer. Can you imagine the conversations that will start around his office and in meetings? These USB characters can be printed with your logo and contact details. They can also be clothed in your company colours. All of his colleagues and business associates will want one. USB people do appear to be the perfect promoter.

In order to use of these memorable memory sticks, you remove the head and then plug the USB into your computer just like a normal USB memory stick. It is that easy but much more fun than the bulk standard USB sticks on the marker. Give USB People a try in your next promotion. You will be glad you did.

Dan Toombs is Managing Director of CompuGift Limited. Established in 1997, CompuGift was the UK’s first internet based promotional gift supplier. CompuGift supplies businesses in the UK and Europe with top quality promotional gifts. You can visit CompuGift’s popular promotional gifts website at http://www.compugift.co.uk

August 1, 2010

Promotional USB Memory Sticks – A Glossary Of Terms

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 11:08 am

If you are thinking of purchasing Branded USB Memory sticks, then the terminology and industry jargon used can be daunting and confusing. To help demystify the purchasing and manufacturing process here’s a glossary of terms, which should help.

Artwork: This needs to be provided so the USB Memory Stick can carry your logo and/or marketing message. There are many different file types in which artwork can be saved as. The preferred formats for the printers or factory because they provide the sharpest print are ai (adobe illustrator) or eps (photoshop) and, ideally, these should be in a vectorised format.

Auto Run: An autorun facility allows files to be run automatically as soon as the USB memory stick is inserted into a USB port on a PC. This is useful if you want to take the user directly to your own promotional video for example. A note of caution though – if you do want the recipient of your USB Memory stick use it over and over again “auto-run” files can be off putting as they won’t be able to access their data until they have waited for the autorun to run!

Carabineer Keyrings: Also known as snap link, snap hook, D ring or ‘biner”. These function like a climber’s carabineer. Great for attaching onto bags or lap top cases. Unlike most small key rings they are also big enough to carry a brand or logo.

Data Encryption: This is software that can be added to your Branded Memory Stick. It allows any data on the stick to be fully encrypted (scrambled). This means that if you lose the Memory Stick it would be very difficult for anyone to access the data held on it without the appropriate password.

Data Load: If you have files or data that you want to provide the user with then this data can be loaded during the manufacturing process. The data can be supplied in any format with the most common data formats being MPEG’s, PDF’s and Powerpoint Presentations. Any loaded data can also be protected so that the user cannot delete it.

Drive Partition: This creates two virtual “drives”. It can only be done during the manufacture process. One drive partition can hold data that cannot be deleted (protected) and the other can be for saving and storing data.

Embossing: Sometimes knows as “stamping” this technique adds a logo onto Leather USB Flash Drives.

Engraving: This is the process of adding a logo onto metal USB Flash Drives. The results can be fantastic. Engraving is very durable and is the recommended option for branding on all metal cased USB Memory sticks

Full Colour Print: A process that allows full photo quality print rather than simple “spot colour” print. Not available on all models of USB memory stick or from all suppliers but if done correctly the results can be stunning.

Lanyard: a cord with an attached hook that is used to hold the promotional USB Flash Drive. Sometimes know as neckties.

Memory: You would usually refer to the memory of a Promotional USB Flash Drive simply as ‘memory’, but others terms use are ‘capacity’ and ‘storage.’ The memory sizes come in a range if different sizes. They double up as follows, 32Mb, 64Mb, 128Mb, 256Mb, 512Mb, 1Gb, 2Gb, 4Gb, 8Gb and 16Gb.

1GB of memory is the most popular size but its useful to know exactly how many files this would hold.

Some technical jargon:

1024KB (kilobyte) = 1MB (megabyte) 1024MB =1GB (gigabyte) A good quality photo is about 100KB An MP3 music file is about 3MB upwards A document file can be anywhere from 25Kb upwards

Mock Up: An image illustrating the USB flash drive with your logo file. A further proof would be provided prior to production.

MOQ: Minimum Order Quantity

Pantone Reference: All colours have a specific reference will allows printers to match any logo colours. These 3 or 4 digit references must be provided with the artwork.

Proof: This is a visual of the chosen Flash Drive. It details the layout, size and colours in the logo. It is important that the proof is checked closely.

Silk Screen Printing: The most common method of printing onto USB Flash Drives. This option usually offers up to 4 colours to be printed to 1 position. Sometimes know as “Spot Print”

Tagging: This is the term used to label a drive letter on a USB memory stick. For example rather than having the generic ‘removable drive’ title, you could add a company name or short message.

USB: Universal Serial Bus. This is an industry standard introduced to allow peripherals to be used across all desktop and laptops.

USB Flash Drive: The most commonly used term but others include:USB memory stick, USB pen drive, USB key drive, USB jump drive, USB thumb drive and USB drive.

USB 2.0: The main primary difference between 2.0 and the previous standard of 1.1 is that the 2.0 USB Memory sticks are faster. USB 2.0 averages a data rate of 480 Mbps (megabits per second) while USB 1.1 only hits 12 Mbps, which make 2.0 about 40 time faster. All new memory sticks should be USB 2.0.

Phil is part of the team at USBNow and USB2U. These companies are specialist suppliers of USB Products including Branded USB Flash Drives

and Promotional USB Memory Sticks

July 25, 2010

Why Chose A Usb Memory Stick For Your Next Promotional Product?!

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 1:15 pm

 The USB Memory Stick Revolution!


Who can remember the days before USB memory sticks?? They were the days of ISDN, 3.5″ floppy discs and the infancy of the internet!


In the last 7 or 8 years the USB memory stick has firmly planted its feet in the promotional product world as one of the best selling items. But why you may ask? There are a few things to remember:


Cheaper Memory


The first USB sold by my company Arcadia was an 8MB red USB. I remember it well because I sold it! An IT software client wanted some for a promotional product to co-inside with a new software product launch and I had to source some. At this time back around 2001, the cost for an 8MB memory stick was over the £10.00 mark! Now, due to the mass market nature of memory chip manufacturing, the prices are the lowest that the have ever been. Promotional USB memory sticks can easily be supplied up to 16GB and no doubt in the not too distant future will be supplied with even larger capacities.


Mobile Devices


The need to have information at your fingertips has increased dramatically in the last decade. Just think of how the basic mobile phone has developed and our desire and need for information mobility has increased with our daily expectations. The USB memory stick in the promotional market allows companies to produce corporate literature and save it quickly and easily to the USB stick. Specific presentations and information can be saved for each individual recipient quickly and easily.


Mobile Working


No longer are we chained to our desk if we need to work. Mobile broadband and laptops have ensured that we can work virtually anywhere. The USB stick allows us to transport files and information from the office to home to off-site meetings with no hassle.


The Green Issues


Promotional USB memory sticks are GREEN!


It is true – why print a brochure when you can save the data to a USB stick. A USB stick can carry recipient specific data, save on brochure print and mailing costs as well as carry your logo and message on the unit and the packaging for the recipient to look at an read time after time.


All USB sticks produced by Arcadia are RoHS, WEEE and REACH compliant. These government legislations prevent and hazardous substances being used in the production of the USBs, allows for the recycling of the units when the recipient no longer want them, and regulates the use of chemicals in the production of these goods.


The ability to automatically keep in touch


How would you like to be able to automatically update the content that is on the USB memory stick without having to get the unit back and re-load the information each time you change your company/product information. If this sounds good to you then you need the Sticky Drive!


The Sticky Drive allows you to remotely update the interface design, the video or other content seen inside the memory stick, and even change the documents that are loaded inside the drive.


You can receive tracking reports that deliver data on the frequency and types of use, including the number of times the drive is used, documents launched from the drive, and website click-through activity. The Sticky Drive is versatile: any content that is viewable on the Internet can be delivered through stickydrive. (Video, Slideshow, Flash presentation, animation, PowerPoint)


The functions available through stickydrive (music player, photo viewers, etc.) make this a valuable tool for the end user. Their entire experience remains branded, even when the drive is used for personal activities.


Regardless if you select a Sticky Drive or a standard promotional USB memory stick, you can be assured that this is a current hot selling item, will be used on a very regular basis and is a product that is here to stay in the promotional product marketplace no matter where you are in the world!

Steve Barnes is currently a Director of Arcadia Corporate Merchandise in the Marketing and Advertising industry in the UK. Arcadia is a Promotional Product distributor and a Sourcing company based in High Wycombe, UK. Basic branded promotional products as well as bespoke designed and manufactured items are supplied. In the promotional products industry since 1995 with Corinthian Marketing, Steve has been with Arcadia since its formation in 1998. A keen rugby player in his younger days enjoyed spells with Northampton Saints and Henley Hawks. Married with two daughters, life is now very different. As a keen motorsport fan, Steve enjoys his work with the F1 clients that Arcadia has. Arcadia specialises in web based corporate merchandise programmes and manages these on a global scale in conjunction with our partners Club Colors in Chicago, USA. Arcadia is currently launching PROMOB2B – a unique Merchandise Management System. For further information please visit: http://www.arcadiaonline.co.uk/promob2b.php The account management teams at Arcadia, service European accounts from the UK and are available for on-site meetings within the whole EMEA region. Online ordering systems can manage orders for all UK, EMEA and worldwide destinations. Other services available: * Storage and distribution * Incentive programmes * Brand management * Fulfilment and mailing services * In-house design service * In-house embroidery

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July 16, 2010

Top Ten Tips When Purchasing A Promotional Usb Memory Stick

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 8:07 am

The promotional product marketplace is flooded with printable promotional USB memory sticks, but what should you be considering before you purchase?

Tip 1 – What Grade is my Memory Chip?

Well here is the thing – did you know that there are varying qualities or USB memory chip. These chips are graded on the ability or not to use all of the quoted memory capacity. If you purchase your USB memory stick only on cost and purchase the cheapest one quoted, this may be cheaper because it has a lower quality memory chip. What does this mean to you?? Well, less memory than you supposedly paid for and the chance of losing some of the data and information that you have saved to the drive. Question your supplier on the quality of the chip.

Tip 2 – Do I need version 1.1 or 2.0?

Version 1.1 and version 2.0 are the two versions of USB stick that are available currently. You can tell what version a stick is by looking at the silver colour connector end. The different version have different data transferring speeds with version 2.0 being the faster and the better.

Tip 3 – RoHS Compliance – do not be caught out!

RoHS stands for the Restriction of Hazardous Substances. Promotional USB memory sticks are just one of thousands of items that have to comply with this legislation. This is applied to items manufactured outside the EU and any item being imported into the UK must have this certification. Look for the RoHS tick on the product – if you do not have it you could be prosecuted. By purchasing through Arcadia you know that you are covered!

Tip 4 – WEEE Compliance – Know your responsibility

The WEEE directive is aimed at encouraging reuse and recycling, and minimising the negative environmental aspects of disposal. The Directive sets targets that 65% of IT equipment must be recycled, and materials such as CRT’s (monitors), LCD displays, printed circuit boards, batteries and flame retardant plastics be pre-treated before disposal. All USB memory sticks must be supported by a WEEE recycling scheme which allows the end user or recipient of the promotional USB stick to return it for ethical recycling. Again if your USB stick is not WEEE compliant, then you could be prosecuted. By purchasing through Arcadia you know that you are covered!

Tip 5 – REACH Compliance – What do you need to know??

REACH is a new European Community Regulation on chemicals and their safe use within industy. It deals with the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances. This new law came into force on 1st June 2007.
The REACH legislation is designed to improve the protection of human health and the environment through the better and earlier identification of the intrinsic properties of chemical substances. At the same time, innovative capability and competitiveness of the EU chemicals industry should be enhanced. The benefits of the REACH system will come gradually, as more and more substances are phased into REACH. By purchasing through Arcadia you know that you are covered!
Tip 6 – Know your branding options

Consider what type of design you want to be oriented or engraved onto the USB stick and choose accordingly. These are hundreds of different styles available and each has a maximum number of colours that is can be printed with. Ask your distributor for assistance is the selection fo the model most suited to your logo or design.

Tip 7 – Pre-load your content

Do not be left with the laborious job of loading your presentations onto the USB sticks yourself the night before they are to be given out. Many of the Chinese factories that produce the memory sticks will pre-load your information onto each USB saving you time, money and hassle!

Tip 8 – Think about the presentation and packaging

The manner in which a promotional product is packaged often can increase the perceived value of the item. These are a number of rigid plastic boxes and tins available to package the USB stick. This also can be used to add another corporate message, logo or web address that may not be on the memory stick itself. Four colour process imagery can easily be added by producing a sleeve to fit over the box.

Tip 9 – Ensure the USB stick is retained

Make sure that you stick is the one that your customer or prospect uses on a daily basis. Ensure that the memory size is sufficient for their needs. Make sure that the design is printed well and that the style of USB is up to date and relevant to your company.

Tip 10 – Know your recipient, your event and chose accordingly!!

The style of USB memory stick that you select is very important. Do not choose the one that you have seen hundreds of times before – there is a good chance that one of your competitors has produced that one in the past! Know who you are targeting and what their preference might be. Try linking in the style of the USB to the event – there are many shapes and styles to select from.

Steve Barnes is currently a Director of Arcadia Corporate Merchandise in the Marketing and Advertising industry in the UK.

Arcadia is a Promotional Product distributor and a Sourcing company based in High Wycombe, UK. Basic branded promotional products as well as bespoke designed and manufactured items are supplied.
In the promotional products industry since 1995 with Corinthian Marketing, Steve has been with Arcadia since its formation in 1998. A keen rugby player in his younger days enjoyed spells with Northampton Saints and Henley Hawks. Married with two daughters, life is now very different. As a keen motorsport fan, Steve enjoys his work with the F1 clients that Arcadia has.

Arcadia specialises in web based corporate merchandise programmes and manages these on a global scale in conjunction with our partners Club Colors in Chicago, USA.

Arcadia is currently launching PROMOB2B – a unique Merchandise Management System. For further information please visit: http://www.arcadiaonline.co.uk/promob2b.php

The account management teams at Arcadia, service European accounts from the UK and are available for on-site meetings within the whole EMEA region. Online ordering systems can manage orders for all UK, EMEA and worldwide destinations.

Other services available:

* Storage and distribution
* Incentive programmes
* Brand management
* Fulfilment and mailing services
* In-house design service
* In-house embroidery

July 12, 2010

Can you delete files from pre-loaded Promotional USB Memory sticks?

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , , , — admin @ 12:04 pm

Picture the scenario. You have just taken receipt of your bright new USB Branded Memory sticks for an event that is due to commence in 2 days. You load the first of the USB Memory Sticks into your PC and to your horror you discover that the data has been loaded incorrectly or there is an error with the original information provided.  Apart from putting a wet towel over you head what options do you have? He’s a list of things that may help:

Try to minimise the risk of this happening in the first place. Ensure your Custom USB supplier provides you with screen grabs of the data for sign off. Ideally ask for a pre-production sample of your Branded USB Memory sticks with the data preload. This way there little risk of any issues in the future.
1.If the data is not protected or has an autorun. Then there are some easy solutions:

• Delete the data from the memory sticks and re-load. Doing these individually is a painful and slow process and is not recommended for batches of over 100 units, unless you have an army of people to throw at this. This process is also prone to quality issues.

• There are several data duplication companies in the UK that can take the Branded Memory sticks and format and reload the data relatively easily and quickly.  They can process up to 3000 memory sticks within a few hours. Job done.
2.The nightmare scenario! If the memory sticks are data-protected or have an autorun it becomes far more complex. No surprise, as by the very nature the Promotional USB Memory Sticks are engineered to stop end users doing exactly what you want to do, namely delete and change the data. The software required to do this will be dependant on the controller that the Branded Memory Stick has been loaded with. The controller is the mini operating system that all USB Memory sticks have. Again there are several options to resolve this.

• Return back to the manufacturer. They have the technology to format and reload the data, but the downside is that it will take time to return to the Far East, get them reloaded and shipped back. You would need to allow up to 2 weeks for this.

• Some USB Providers will have the software to allow the data to be deleted in the UK. If not, ask them to try to obtain from the manufacturer. This would allow them to delete the data. Then the next challenge would be reloading the data. The easiest thing to do would be to load the new data with no protection or an autorun. However, if this is a pre-requisite then there are a few UK Data Duplication companies that have the capabilities of loading the data with copy protection and autorun. Again this will be dependant on the controller that is on the Branded USB Memory Drive.
The moral of this story is to ensure that you minimise the risk of this happening, by having a pre-production sample produced. Otherwise you will be entering a very stressful process and that towel will continue to get wetter!

USB2U specialises in the supply of customised and printed USB products to many schools, universities, promotions companies, corporate Clients and local authorities.For further information, please visit http://www.usb2u.co.uk

USB2U specialises in the supply of customised and printed USB products to many schools, universities, promotions companies, corporate Clients and local authorities.For further information, please visit http://www.usb2u.co.uk

May 28, 2010

Promotional USB Pen Drives ? Why Content Should Not Be Overlooked

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , — admin @ 11:10 pm

USB flash drives can be a very effective if pricey marketing tool. But when compared to a DVD duplication run for delivering marketing or promotional presentations the emphasis is often on the medium and not the message. Marketing agencies will often spend thousands on the highest quality printed USB sticks then at the very last minute copy some hastily created Microsoft Word documents for distribution. With such a flexible and capable medium this is a great waste of its capabilities.

If your company or brand has a promotional video then why not add this to the USB stick? For example a WMV or other compatible window media file will be playable by over 90% of users. Avoid Mac specific files such as QuickTime as these will need software installed on the host machine. You can fit about one hour’s worth of good quality video on a 1GB USB pen drive.

Web links are a very useful way of not only directing the recipient of your promotional gift to your website but with some simple web programming they have the added advantage of allowing you a way of measuring the success of your promotion.

A cut down USB key with very little memory (in order to reduce the cost) and a simple web link makes a very cost effective promotion (these are sometimes known as “USB webkey”).

PowerPoint, although fairly basic in terms of multimedia possibilities, can nonetheless incorporate embedded media such as video or audio with basic transitions to keep the interest going. Data from Excel spreadsheets and web pages can be cut and pasted to create information rich presentations.

Even Acrobat these days is capable of web links, embedded media and other fancy additions like password protection.

Adobe Flash and Director are the top end of this scale and the possibilities that both these applications allow are endless. Adobe’s advanced programming languages action script makes it possible to build applications and run these from your USB pen drive. Games, fully interactive presentations, apps that integrate data from your website and utilities that can make operating system tweaks or function calls are all possible. If your company does not have the in-house capabilities then an outside agency will be needed to provide the content authoring on more ambitious projects like this.

One minor caveat with all these options is the autorun functionality that can be used to automatically load applications or documents when the USB key is inserted into the port on your PC. Due to the dangers of automatically running virus or malware applications from USB sticks most corporate anti virus systems block any such activity. If there is a chance of this happening it is better to name the application or document that links to your content in a clear manner (Start.exe is a good choice) and allow the user to manually launch.

USB flash drives can also be used to distribute highly sensitive data and in these cases it is best to encrypt and password protect data to ensure that if the USB key gets into the wrong hands the payload will not be compromised. A number of options are available here including password access USB sticks, hardware AES encryption built into the USB stick and software that wraps the data and password protects it. Some hardware password protection requires administrator access on the host PC but there are stand alone AES encryption solutions that don’t.

Even if all you have is some text documents to distribute its much better to present these as a properly formatted, paginated PDF file maybe with the addition of your company logo and web links, than a loose collection of word documents.

Jeremy Teal is a freelance consultant providing innovative and cost effective marketing support services.
More information about promotional USB flash drives at flash-duplication.com and DVD duplication at 10th Planet Digital Media.

May 26, 2010

Looking For Inspiration ? Consider Promotional Usb Flash Drives

Filed under: Print USB — Tags: , , , , , — admin @ 3:51 pm

Lets face it; if you’ve been tasked with coming up with a promotional giveaway for a forthcoming event, campaign or conference it’s never easy. After all trying to come up with something a little bit different that is relevant to the audience and more importantly is within budget can be a chore.

If the items in question have also got to be transported to the event then size and weight might also be an issue or at least something you need to consider. This is particularly true if the event is overseas where shipping costs might well exceed the actual cost of the items and then of course there is VAT and Duty to consider at the point of entry into the country – no one said it would be easy!

If you’ve already exhausted the old favourites like printed pens, T-shirts, key rings, cups and mugs etc. then you’re task will be all the harder. Whilst these great favourites are good options you might consider printed USB flash drives.

Printed USB flash drives (also sometimes referred to as memory sticks or USB Pens) not only look fantastic when printed up with a company logo but they are incredibly popular with the recipients because they really are very useful and handy things to have.

Flash drives are available in a wide range of styles and memory sizes so you’re bound to find something to suit your taste and budget. If you want to go the extra mile you could even commission a fully bespoke flash drive that is manufactured in 3-D shape to reflect your company’s products. Just remember if you do go down the custom route to allow yourself a little longer when placing the order.

Phil is part of the team at USBNow. Launched in 2002 USB2U is a specialist supplier of branded USB memory sticks and custom flash drives.

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