New Year is a perfect occasion to renew the bonds of love and pamper loved ones with delightful gifts. So it may be as simple as a bunch of nice flowers, or a basket of season’s fruits; a box of candy or a pack of chocolates, a beach cruiser bike for a biking aficionado or a plush teddy bear for someone who is a little more settled, a trivia item or a luxurious gift. The list can go on and on. Well, remember, gifts might not necessarily be rich and glamorous in their worldly possession, but make sure that they’re rich at heart.

First of all, you must really care about the person, whom you choose a gift for. If you feel him and know what his soul seeks, you’ll certainly satisfy him. Everyone’s soul is unique, so there’s no receipt of how to please everyone. You can simply visit a theatre or a concert together and it’ll give much more, than anything else. Or if this person is truly interested in sport, for example golf, there’s a great selection of unique golf gifts, like golf baskets or golf bag accessories, that will please any golfer.

There is simply no one-size-fits-all gift for the new year. Still, I advice you to be extravagant and unique. Though flowers or decorative New Year gift objects never go out of style, they all need to be presented and arranged with your personal touch. You can even buy flowers and gift them in designer vases with the ‘A Very Happy New Year’ imprinted on them. Don’t be afraid to present a gift with an emblem of the store, where you bought it. Today, many companies promote their stores with reusable shopping bags with the name of their company imprinted on it, which establishes their business and you, as a customer, as concerned about the environment. Reusable bags are often made from jute cloth, also known as burlap in the US, but sometimes they are also made from plastic. However these reusable plastic bags are sturdier than single-use plastic shopping bags. That can really make a good psychological effect on some people.

The same as by corporate gifts, a wise choice of different companies, which they present to their employees and partners and which leave the feeling of unique spirit of the company, which is important for any business to grow. It’s a great example of how a desk set, calculator, photo frame or a just a calendar with a company colors and logo can unite people of the same business. That’s just because love and care will always make a simple gift unique and priceless.

Today’s market is flooded with iPods or MP3 players – there are over 20 milion users in the United States alone. Isn’t it a good reason to give related promotional items like these:

The Sound Pod Travel Speaker is ideal for travelers who carry either MP3 or CD players. Ah technology does walk in huge strides! Just a few yers back – Who knew that speakers capable of producing quality sound could come in a size smaller than a hair dryer? This item is perfectly suitable for imprinting – just put your logo on on any blank spot of the speakers and music lovers will surly remember you when listening for their favorite tunes.

The Similine MP3 Case Those who are always on the move will find this one really useful. They can always keep their players secure and easy-to-access. It’s fit for every lifestyle – corporate people can use the belt attachment or clip, while casual style people can use the arm band.

Imagine that you are a Chief Executive Officer at a world-known corporation and you meet hundreds of new people everyday at your office. You have a secretary that plans your visits, meetings, business-lunches, evening business parties, banquets and etc. You have a director cubicle sign on your desk. You are always pressed for time and have practically no time for family, for kids, for anything else but work. You are always in the center of attention but have you ever thought that some of your clients, overseas partners even colleagues do not remember your name? Funny it may sound though it happens and the situation must be resolved.

The interesting fact is that in large corporations new people who were qualified for their positions and were interviewed often don’t meet with a CEO, but just with a human resources manager, their boss – head of the department but the main figure of the company stays aside as s/he has other important things to do. Time passes and new employees are unaware of the details about the Head, about his/her name, duties and so on. They are just involved in their direct activities, they are always in their department – in other words, they are completely separated from the TOP-managers. Such curious incidents (not remembering the President’s name) can happen when new employees are being asked at the the CEO’s office or they just meet in the office or inside the corporative building.

This is one of the most common problems of big corporations when you are even unaware of your neighbor’s name especially if such a notion as a personnel turnover takes place in a company. We can’t overcome this but some things we still can do. For example, name badges are very essential and they do not just serve as something showing or attributing a certain degree of importance for a limited number of top-managers but for real normal introduction and remembering names. Custom name badges are an ideal way out to get to know everyone in the office and to find out their posts.

Name tags should be used not only at the exhibitions when people can address you by your name and are able to find out your position, name tags are necessary for everyday use, especially if your company occupies one of the leading places in the number of employees. Do not remain in the shade – get people know about you!

If you are here to choose the next fine promotional item or corporate gift to put your amazing logo on, then I trust you already have some ideas on what type of promotional products suits your business best. But maybe you don’t, and other tabs of your browser are open in search for some other ways to reach your audience and develop your brandname fidelity? Well, who am I to convince you, and yes, a good branding and general marketing campaign would use several different forms of media. The question is how to allocate the advertising money in the most effective way. So, here come some stats on how most Americans and Canadians spend it. And some figures that explain why.

Advertising Specialty Institute reports that in 2006 advertising specialties and trade show giveaways industry sales rose another 5.3 percent. This makes an estimated total of $17.9 billion. It means that spending on promotional products was close to twice as large as online display advertising ($8.3 billion estimate), five times more than outdoor advertising ($3.5 billion estimate) and was also more than expenses on cable and satellite TV ads ($15.9 billion estimate). Additional research shows that all these little and big items imprinted with different company logos are not just some part of the advertising industry where people tend to spend substantial sums from their advertising budget; it’s also one of the most efficient ways to spend advertising money.

When it is spent on promotional items, recall rate is higher, long-lasting exposure is better, increase of company image and referrals and generation of business is also quite considerable. If you are not happy with just words, let me give you the numbers just for the first factor, recall rate. It’s 26% for Internet banner ads, 54.1% for ads that you meet in more traditional media, in newspapers, magazines, radio and on TV and when it comes to promo products recall rate raises to 77.1%. And if we mention that the people who were questioned about media ads recalled brands and logos from the last week, but when it came to promo items they would easily remember branded gifts they received a year ago. Impressive even for us at rushIMPRINT, though I’ve spent over 20 years working in this industry.

T-Mobile Direct will be launching a new consumer offer for business from 1st March 2007

Business customers will get a FREE Parrott car kit (worth up to £229) when they purchase a business Flext 35 or Flext 50 24 month contract.

Installation is FREE on Web ‘n’ Walk plans and only £50 on regular Flext plans.

As of February 27th 2007, the Government is planning to increase the fine for motorists caught using their mobile phone while driving. The current fine is £30, and will become a £60 fine plus three points on your license.

Customers will be able to drive safely when they get a fully fitted car-kit from T-Mobile, FREE with a 24 month Flext contract.

Please note:

* This offer is ONLY available to businesses on the 24 month Flext tariff

If you have any questions, please visit T-Mobile site.

Sky Digital is the market leading digital TV provider in the UK. Sky currently have over 8.1 million subscribers and with our leading coverage of sports, movies and top entertainment programmes we know this will keep growing.

Get SKY TV, SKY BROADBAND and SKY TALK for ONE GREAT PRICE

Join Sky and get over 100 digital TV channels (plus over 200 other free to air digital radio and TV channels), super-fast broadband and free UK evening and weekend landline calls†. All this for just £26* a month, plus a one-off broadband activation fee of £20 (plus £11 per month to BT for your line rental.)

*Subject to availability in your area

What do you get?

Sky TV – all six Entertainment Mixes bringing you digital channels dedicated to the best in variety, knowledge, style and culture, news and events, music and kid’s programmes.

Sky Broadband with super-fast download speeds of up to 8Mb** and a monthly usage allowance of 40GB – ideal for everyday browsing, and downloading music and movies, with a FREE Wireless Sky Router.

Sky Talk Freetime – FREE evening and weekend calls to UK landlines†. You simply pay BT for your line rental and Sky for any other calls you make.

Join online as a new Sky TV customer and get a £10 credit.

Questions & Answers

• Q. Is it still possible to buy Sky TV only?

A. Yes

• Q. Is it possible to buy Sky broadband and Sky Talk only?

A. No. Active Sky TV subscription is required to get Sky Broadband & / or Sky Talk. (NB: customers can still save money by getting Sky TV and Sky Broadband.)

• Q. Can you get Sky TV, broadband and talk for £15?

A. Yes, this is possible. If a customer wants 2MB broadband, then for £15 a month they can get Sky Broadband, Sky TV (with 2 mixes) & Sky Talk. This is cheaper than many competitor’s broadband price on its own).