Bruce Fox Blog

Hurry up and scroll down so we don’t hafta look at this creepy thing anymore!

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There, that should be enough scrolling.

So, what’s up with the troll doll?  Well, I wanted to address the topic of what trends we’re seeing in the world of recognition awards and corporate gifts, and I didn’t want to mistake fads (like the troll doll) for legitimate shifts in what appeals to buyers and recipients of awards and gifts.  There are numerous points along the bandwagon route where passengers can jump on.  And off.  Fads (e.g. Pokemon GO) are short-lived; trends (e.g. “augmented reality”) are far stickier and have greater lasting power.

Identifying valid trends, and distinguishing them from mere fads, is essential to your business.  Ask your supplier partners what’s trending in their world.  In doing so, you’ll discover rare jewels among the pet rocks—valuable solutions and possibilities that endure and set you apart.

Here are some lasting trends we’ve seen developing in the recognition award and corporate gift industry:

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THREE SCARY THINGS…FROM LEAST TO MOST SCARY:

1. There are more dispensaries of logoed stuff than Big Macs.
2. Ronald McDonald. All clowns are downright creepy.
3. Your promotional products company may be more like a fast food joint than a sales agency.
   
   Not my company, you say?  Good.  But let’s give it the taste test first.

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“What do you mean ‘dial’?” my daughter replied, with a genuinely puzzled look.

Unless you’re a fan of challenging and convoluted discussions, DO NOT mistakenly use the verb “dial” in reference to a telephone when talking with a 10-year old.  What followed was much like trying to describe what the color blue sounds like.  Frustrated, I ended up deploying a Google image search to illustrate what my words were miserably failing to convey.  (The irony of using Google to demonstrate how a rotary phone works is not lost on me, by the way.)

The conversation served as a stark reminder of how rapidly our world has changed—and continues to change.  It made me think about how vision and adaptability are critical to maintaining relevancy in the business world, where complacency is fatal to progress and survival.  As an awards supplier, it made me contemplate how the landscape around employee recognition has evolved and reshaped, and what it means to our business—and yours.

I wondered about the fate of the factories that at one time were cranking out rotary phones.  Did they adapt or die?  What examples could be found of companies that have reshaped themselves in the face of changing markets or obsolescence?  As it happens, there are a bunch.  And some are nothing short of weird.  Which I like.

Try this match game:

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Thingamabob.  Doohickey.  Gizmo.  Doodad.  Widget.

 The English language is a funky and dynamic creature that is always in motion and continuously evolving.  We make up words when we don’t already have them in the arsenal of over 400,000 at our disposal.  To confuse things even more, many words and phrases mean different things in different places.  And you don’t necessarily have to go far to find the differences.

 Our English-speaking Canadian friends, for instance, are accustomed to runners, KD, cutlery, parkades, toques, coffee whitener, and garburators.  (If none of this rings a bell, call Tim Horton’s place, someone there will know.)

 And even closer to home, there can be stark differences in colloquial American terminology.  Consider these two passages:

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Aside from happening every four years, what do the Summer Olympics and the U.S. Presidential elections have in common?  How about sourcing controversies.

You might recall the 2012 U.S. Olympic team came under fire for wearing uniforms not made in the U.S.  And just last month, Team Trump faced a similar stir over the signature “Make America Great Again” hats.  

In between, every media channel we tune into is sounding the alarms over the next product scandal—tainted meat, kids meal toy recalls, tennis shoe wage issues, rigged emissions software.  It seems no sector is immune.  We live in a “sell more, not tell more” culture, where the phrase caveat emptor has never resonated so distinctly.  But as promotional products suppliers and distributors, we can help our emptors be more caveat.  Or something like that.

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I am getting dumber every day.

On one hand, my brain is being worn down like a #2 pencil in trig class, a slow and inevitable degeneration as my synapses dry up.  At the same time, the aggregate knowledge of the world around me continues to soar.  The result is a widening gap between what I know (or think I know) and all there is to know, ya know?

To cope with this expanding knowledge gap, I have some choices.  If I need the answer to a question, the solution to a problem, or the information to satisfy a particular curiosity, I there's lots of things I can do.

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I do a fair amount of the grocery shopping for our household, and I pride myself on my ability to navigate my cart like the pilot of an F/A-18 Hornet.  Sure, there’s some collateral damage from time to time, as there is in any theater of war.  But with my shopping list as my nav chart, I glide through unharmed and unfazed.  Most of the time.

Except one time recently.

I was doing my Top Gun thing in the local Meijer store, and the body count was running high.  I was taking no prisoners.  Until I made the mistake of improvising…and leaving my cart (with the list) behind while I quickly fetched something an aisle or two…or three…away.  My side trip fulfilled, I returned to the cart and resumed my singularly-focused, OCD-fueled sortie through the store, body parts flying and mushroom clouds mushrooming.

I covered a few more aisles, exclusively from memory, before I had to refer to my list.  It was at that moment I realized the cart I was piloting was not mine.  Goodness gracious!

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On this date in 1969, Apollo 11’s lunar module—the Eagle—landed in the Sea of Tranquility on the surface of the moon.  Shortly thereafter, Commander Neil Armstrong stepped off the Eagle’s ladder and became the first man on the moon.

Fast-forwarding ahead 47 years, it strikes me that many elements of the Apollo 11 mission run parallel to how we define effective recognition at our company.  Or maybe I’m just a bit of a space wonk.  Either way, just work with me here.

Effective recognition can take you to the moon if you…

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Hey, let’s go to the beach!

Sure, lemme just grab a few things.  Can’t just go to the beach unprepared.  Let’s see…towels, sunglasses, lotion, something to read, phone (can’t escape entirely), iPod.  Chairs and umbrella. Boogie board.  What else?  Cooler!  Beverages, ice…we’ll need to stop off to get some.  Snacks, of course.  Wallet, hat…and a wheel barrow to haul it all out there.

We all have a “Beach List" of essentials that enhance our seaside experience.  But, as a promotional products pro, do you have the same kind of list when it comes to providing awards to your customers?  Are you making the best of the opportunities in custom awards?  Do you know how you can make the experience better for your client and the award recipients? 

Don’t feel bad if you don’t know the answers—your customer probably doesn’t know either.  But here’s a cheat sheet to help you along.  When you share these ideas, you might get a “I didn’t think of that” or two:

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With all due respect to Dagwood Bumstead, the premier hero-maker is you.  And all the ingredients are already in your kitchen.

Custom recognition is a great way to serve up a platefull of goodness.  Like any worthy sammitch, a hero is made in multiple layers.  There are many flavors that are blended together to satisfy any appetite.  Done properly, hero-crafting yields a sum greater than the parts.

Here are some things to chew on about custom recognition as I head to the fridge, hoping I still have some dijon mustard: