But….. back when I was a kid I drank sodas, Tang, Kool-aid, and milk (but only when it was left over in the bowl from my sugar cereal)! Water was the most boring beverage and never a top pick. A few years back when I got into surfing, I began bringing a huge water jug to the beach with me. My plastic water bottle went everywhere with me – school, beach, camping, work, and especially the gym. Then the big announcement came out about the dangerous BPA chemicals that can seep out of the plastic and into your beverage. Yikes! I made a big switch to a handy little stainless steel water bottle, and again, it became my trusty beverage side kick…. Nowadays plastic water bottles and aluminum bottles are safe and transport great. But today, I discovered my latest, greatest new side-kick!

Introducing my new friend, h2go Glass!

h2go Glass Comes in 3 Awesome Sizes

10oz Glass Container

16oz Glass Container

18oz Glass Container

And check out this cool lid imprint too:

Lid for Glass Container

I’m all about versatility, and the h2go Glass is the antidote to keeping an organized and healthy life. h2go Glass containers can be used to savor any beverage you like – get this… they come in single wall and double walled for awesome insulation that’ll keep your drink warm all day.  And when you’re not using it to sip tea, coffee, or a hot chocolate, why not store nuts, jelly beans, cotton balls, anything and everything.  Your cold drinks will stay chilled too, without that telltale condensation ring on your desk.

Come to think of it, these would make clever gift items too – put your imprint on the classy glass container (why not do a custom wrap-around imprint and really make an impact), fill it with something delectable and once the goodies are gone, you’ve still got a lovely glass container  - one even comes with a tea strainer that you can use for loose leaf teas!

I’ll keep you posted about my blast with glass, my glass-tastic voyage, my jug journey, and beverage blog. I’d love to hear your replies to this post about other novel uses for this cylindrical dream come true!

Go Green & Make a Difference!

These Jotters are perfect Earth Day gifts for your employees and customers, as well as spreading an eco-friendly image for your business.  They are  made from 50% post-consumer recycled materials that would have filled landfills.  These notebook & pen sets make fun promotional items because they come in colorful graphics of Red, Orange and Lime, and prints such as Lady bugs, Geometric shapes,  or Leaves.  They are spiral bound with a hard  cover, lined pages,  an elastic band closure, and a free pen!  If you need it fast it qualifies  for free rush delivery. You can even increase your name or message exposure  with a coordinating Jute-Shopper with leaves and lady bug patterns.

Fund-raising campaign must fulfill the following objectives:

1. raise funds for the chosen cause
2. inspire the community to participate
3. educate the students and the community
4. promote environmental sustainability

You’ve become aware that there is a movement to reduce the amount of plastic shopping bags being consumed in grocery stores these days. Thinking to yourself that there has to be some kind of eco tote bag on the market that is inexpensive, made with recycled material, potentially biodegradable, and that has a great imprint surface, you contact your favorite promotional products distributor who shows you a large variety of tote bag solutions.

In a school assembly, you advise the student body that you are using an eco-friendly grocery bag as a fundraising vehicle. The key is to arm each student in the school with 1 grocery bag that has the school logo on it along with an eco message. The students will be told that they are raising money by selling tote bags. Most importantly, the students will have to be educated on the perils of plastic shopping bags and non-reusable bags. Their goal will be to “educate” their parents, grand-parents, friends, and neighbors about why using eco-conscious/re-useable bags is so important. They will use the sample given by the school to show the effectiveness of the bags and talk about its eco-properties. By educating prospective buyers, the parents, grand-parents, friends, and neighbors will support the fundraising while at the same time helping to conserve and enrich our planet.

• If each student sold a mere 5 reusable grocery bags, that’s 4000 advertising impressions on a reusable product that will be seen thousands of times!
• If each student sold 10 reusable grocery bags, that’s 8000 advertising impressions on a reusable product that will be seen thousands of times!

Once all of the orders are tallied, the school places one master order (cost savings are incurred with higher volume orders) and the goods are delivered by the students. Your school message is forevermore advertised in the community and the fundraising campaign can be repeated yearly.

How to boost your sales:

To significantly boost student participation and sales, try providing incentive prizes for “all-star performers.” You can give away drawstring knapsacks to students who meet a pre-determined objective.

The result:

If done effectively, we have seen success stories in excess of 20,000 bags for one school!!!!!!

Good luck with the sales pitch!! Remember – we’ve all purchased chocolate coated almonds for at least $3 a package. It’s definitely not a far stretch to support a community school and the environment by purchasing a $4 or $5 reusable grocery bag!!!

Printable seeded paper is handmade with post consumer recycled paper and contains Snapdragons, Catchfiess, Sweet Alyssums, Glorious and English daisies, and Corn Poppy seeds. Some suggestions for printable seeded paper are bookmarks, mailers, postcards, business cards, and magnetic business tents. Promotional seeded paper is perfect for any eco promotion and makes a great impression on customers, while helping to save the environment in a unique way. It allows any company to stand out among others and to send out a positive message and a sense of conservation to their employees and customers.

Does it pay for a company to be green? Absolutely. According to the inaugural BBMG Consumer Conscious Report, nearly 90% of American consumers are more likely to buy products from companies they believed employed eco-friendly practices. That’s a big number. But to get the attention of consumers who are going green, you’ve got to toot your own horn a bit.

Using promotional products, especially of organic or recycled nature, will not only demonstrate that your company cares about the environment, but will also reduce the effects of harmful materials, pollution and non-biodegradable waste. Here are summaries of how three companies spread the word about their environmentally friendly practices.

Greening the (Learning) Scene

Executives at Lindamood-Bell, a learning company decided to adopt dozens of company-wide green practices, included using more energy-friendly light bulbs, video conferencing, a bigger push for recycling and using non-toxic cleaning supplies in its 42 facilities worldwide.

But the company wanted to do more to encourage both clients and employees to adopt the green cause. Therefore, Lindamood-Bell launched a week-long campaign last August called “Greening Our Learning Scene,” according to a company spokesperson.

The company’s executives believe their responsibility as members of their community to reduce the negative environmental impact on our planet. For this promotion, the company used a series of eco-friendly promotional products including organic T-shirts, cotton totebags and recycled pencils. The totebags were given to clients who were encouraged to use them as reusable grocery bags. The T-shirts were given to customers and employees throughout the company’s facilities worldwide. All recipients were asked to wear the T-shirts throughout the week.

The promotion was extremely successful. The entire event created a domino effect. Managers passed on their enthusiasm to employees, who passed it along to customers. Lindamood-Bell was so pleased with the response from employees and clients alike that they have decided to host another Green Week coinciding with Earth Day and the company continues the use of green products to promote the green cause.

The week concluded, Lindamood-Bell was honored with a Pollution Prevention Recognition Award from the Air Pollution Control District in San Luis Obispo County for its green-friendly activities.

Toes in the Sand

When snorkeling off the coast of beautiful tropical islands it’s easy to lose track of the time. For hours, backs are exposed to the blistering heat of the sun. The best solution for the event was Sunscreen.

But, before lathering up to protect yourself, take a moment to consider the environment as well. According to leading biochemists, there are four main ingredients in sunscreens that are harming coral reefs by activating viruses that kill the algae that feed the coral through photosynthesis.

Cancun, Mexico, has begun prohibiting the use of certain sunscreens when snorkeling over the coral reefs. With this information in mind, the company was able to better serve a promotional products distributor calling for ideas for first-night room gifts for a group of Presidents Club incentive winners from a financial firm vacationing in Cancun. The idea sprang to life in the form of a jute basket filled with eight-hour waterproof sunscreens, lip balms, moisturizers and sunburn relief items. The recipients were able to use the biodegradable items while snorkeling at the reefs as well as on the rest of their trip.

The snorkellers were impressed with the basket of gifts because the products could be used on the snorkeling trip, kept the recipients from getting sunburned throughout the week and had a high perceived value as they were also sold in the gift shop of the resort at very high retail prices.

All in the Structure

In order to welcome employees to a new facility in Texas, a Fortune 500 technology company turned to promotional product gift ideas to promote the new building. The new business campus was designed as an environmentally friendly building, and they wanted the promotion to tie in.

The new offices promote open work spaces for a friendlier atmosphere where the supports and structures of the building are clearly visible. The floors are made of polished concrete and the ceilings reveal the pipe work. Using fewer materials and fewer walls helped reduce the amount of construction dust that would enter the environment, not to mention the preservation of natural substances that would have gone into making the materials.

To keep their theme green, the company provided stainless steel mugs for each employee, which limited paper and Styrofoam waste at the coffee machines. The 3,500 mugs ordered were delivered just in time for the opening and the promotion went over well with the employees who viewed using their new mugs as “commitments to eco-friendly initiatives in the new building.

The people loved the mugs because they went over very well with the employees. In June, the company is planning a grand opening celebration for the community and is looking at a variety of eco-friendly items to compliment this family-style event. Eco-friendly items that are being considered include flip-flops, T-shirts, hats, backpacks and recycled USB memory sticks.

Article information from; “Easy To Be Green,” Marybeth Swayne. Feb. 2009.