Promotional Products:
Impact, Exposure And Influence.
A Survey Of Business Travelers At DFW Airport

Reach:

• 71% of an audience consisting primarily of business people reported having received a promotional product in the last 12 months.
• Moreover, Moreover 33.7% of this group had the item on their person—a coveted location for advertising that gets seen regularly.

Recall: When asked:

• 76.1% of the respondents could recall the advertiser’s name on the product that they had received in the past 12 months.

• In comparison, participants were also asked if they had read a newspaper or magazine in the past week. 80% of the participants said yes, but only 53.5% of them could recall the name of a single advertiser.

Impression Of The Advertiser: Promotional Products are powerful opinion change agents. Results of the study reveal:

• 52% of respondents did business with the advertiser after receiving the promotional product.
• Of those who had not done business with the advertiser, almost half stated that they were more likely to do business with the organization that gave them the item.
• The impression of the advertiser is important in building a brand. 52.1% of the participants reported their impression was more favorable since receiving the item.

Frequent Exposure/Low Cost Per Impression:

The frequency of promotional products ’ use is tantamount to advertising exposure. Of those who reported using the promotional item, 73% stated that they used it at least once a week. 45.2% used it at least once a day. In media measurement, the greater the frequency of exposure, the lower the cost per impression.

Repeated Exposure:

How long do people generally keep promotional products?

55% of participants generally kept their promotional products for more than a year. year This means repeated exposure over a long period of time.

Why Keep The Item?

Note the chart above showing how long people generally keep promotional products. Why do they hold onto the promotional items for so long? This study found:

• 75.4% thought the item was useful.
• 20.2% thought the item was attractive.
• 1% refer to the item for information.

• 3.3% had other reasons for keeping the item.

Pass-Along Exposure:

Participants of the study were asked what they do with promotional products they do not plan to keep. Their responses indicate the possibilities of pass-along exposure.

• 26% of participants reported that they give the item away to someone else.

• 45% fi le the item away.

• 30% throw the item away if they do not plan to keep it.

The 26% who give the product to someone else clearly provide ample pass-along exposure to the advertiser similar to that of magazine advertising.

In A Nutshell:

Promotional Products furnish advertisers with advantages that may not be available in other media. These include:

• High recall where the name of the advertiser is remembered.
• Repeated exposure to the advertising message because of length of time the item is kept.
• A more favorable impression of the advertiser, resulting in a propensity to do business with the organization giving the item.

Promotional products can provide key elements to an advertising campaign and enhance opportunity for driving a message far beyond traditional media.

Methodology:

This study was conducted at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport using an intercept method in which an audience consisting mainly of business travelers were asked to complete a 22-question survey. The results of this study are based on a sample size of 536 completed surveys, twice the number of participants in similar studies done previously for the Association.