Let promotional items add some flair to your office

Whether you have the corner office or the cubicle near the photocopier, your desk plays a big part in your day-to-day work life. It can be a home away from home or just another spot where you sit and crunch the numbers or let your creativity flow. In either case, you want your own individual part of the office to display your personality. With that said, a lot of people around the country love branded desk accessories. From promotional pens to branded power banks and portable chargers, personalizing desks with promotional items is taking off, especially with millennials, according to an Advertising Specialty Institute study.

A study shows Americans love desk accessories.

Branding your workspace with a desk set
The 2016 ASI Ad Impressions Study found Generation Y has a special affinity for branded items used to decorate their desks, including pens, coffee mugs and other accessories. The study shows 52 percent of 18 to 34 year olds in the U.S. own a branded desk item. Meanwhile, up to 45 percent of Americans 35 to 44 years old use promotional desk accessories. Out of all of the individual age groups, 41 percent of people across the nation own a promotional desk accessory and approximately 22 percent of Americans own one that features a corporate logo or message on it.

While many items might fall under the category of things to adorn your desk with, a company looking to market itself with the use of these items must be cognizant of its audience if it wants a good return on investment, according to Maria Carlton and David Blaise, the authors of “The Power of Promotional Products: How to Motivate Prospects, Reward Performance and Create Targeted Promotions with Residual Value.”

In other words, if your business wants to attract the attention of a mechanic, it needs to tailor its giveaways to the mechanic’s needs, such as providing plastic clipboards or cleaning cloths rather than leather-bound calendars or planners. On the other hand, those companies that have traditional office settings need not only pens, but also items that complement the computers their employees sit in front of each workday. Think branded USB flash drives or promotional stylus pens.

ROI for workspace accessories
Promotional giveaways are known for their good ROI due to their relative inexpensiveness compared with the large amount of impressions they rack up, and desk items are no exception. In fact, the average consumers who receive a branded desk accessory hold on to them for 14 months, according to the ASI study. Keeping those products around the workplace also pays off in a big way for businesses that sell or give away pens and other work articles. The ASI report indicates workers leave 61 percent of the branded desk items they own at the office. Therefore, their peers and bosses are exposed to the logos and messaging featured on the items every time they come into work.

The foremost reason people keep their office promotional items is the use they get out of them. When it comes to desk accessories, Americans polled in the ASI study said their motive for holding on to the accessory was because of its usefulness. Eighty-five percent said the device’s practicality was their key motivator for keeping it in their cubicle or office.

All of this goes to show the extent of the power promotional items can have on consumers, whether they’re at work or at play. An effective logo and slogan on a pen or USB flash drive might not seem a showy way to market your company, but it’s effective, influential and inexpensive. Let iPromo help give your office that extra flair.