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Features
Careful choice is the
key to standing out
in crowded market
By Paul Maye of Primetime
There can be little doubt that Flash Drives are
the product of the decade – you will be hard
pressed to find a promotional product distributor
that doesn’t supply some form of memory stick
to their clients.
Where can the regular distributor buy them
– virtually anywhere! USB sticks, memory sticks,
flash drives, pen drives; call them what you want,
but the UK has a plethora of recent “specialists”
attempting to capitalise on the popularity of the
item, but PrimeTime were one of the first to offer
flash drives with printed logos to the promotional
industry.
And lets face it; the flash drive is absolutely now
a commodity – no longer a “nice to have” but a
“need to have”. And as with all commodities, a
price war has ensued.
Distributors are targeted almost daily with e-
mails of flash drive price lists issued by suppliers in
an attempt to keep up with the continually fluctuating
price of flash memory.
It’s a bit like the oil business – except car drivers
can’t deal directly with the cartels in the Middle
East, whereas the promotional product distributor
can buy directly from China if they so wish and cut
out their trusty UK trade only partners.
Understandably, the price benefit justifies this
action perhaps as a no-brainer.
But I would argue that when posed with the
origination question (Where can the regular distributor
buy them), the answer should be emphatically
from a trusted UK trade only supplier.
Outrageous! Why Because they probably know
what they are doing and what they are supplying
for one.
They will be aware of patent issues, the bad side
of which is a road distributors really don’t want to
go down. They will not be
supply anything but genuine
Grade A chips in their
memory sticks.
What about more basic
reasons, like credit, comeback
if there’s an issue –
maybe even supporting
a UK trade only supplier
partner By definition,
your trade only partner
will not be undercutting
a path direct to
your client.
Of course, one
thing the flash drive business
has over the oil business
is that there are
hundreds of varieties of
sticks that do exactly the
same thing, giving distributors a huge choice of
colours and designs to select or propose from.
Many of the suppliers offer the most popular
models which have developed into instantly recognisable
standards, like the “twister” for example
– who doesn’t sell it On the downside – these
popular models have been selling well for a few
years and are looking a little tired.
That’s perhaps one of the reasons that genuine
“own design: patented flash drives, like Primetime’s
“USB People” range, have done so well.
There seems to be no end in sight to the USB
stick’s popularity. Models evolve which are quite
literally the size of a fingernail but the branding
possibilities are clearly less.
Similarly, memory cards are brilliant but when
used, there is no brand visibility. Stick remains king.
Long live the king!
For more about our products, visit
tradeonly.com/primetime
A flexible and
useful gift that
customers will
keep handy
Perhaps one of the most positive aspects of
USB flash drives as a promotional gift is that they
are almost universally welcomed by the recipient
as something really useful – a handy-sized piece
of kit which they’ll use nearly every day.
That’s certainly the experience of Neil Harris,
marketing manager at USB-FlashDrive.com, who
says: “They’re certainly not a give-away that gets
thrown away.”
Neil adds: “USB flash drives are extremely affordable
and excellent value for money.
“Memory capacities have increased over the
years from moderate megabytes to gigantic gigabytes,
making flash drives even more appealing.”
There’s also added promotional value to the bit
of the drive you can’t see, Neil adds.
“Larger memory sizes also allow for more space
when uploading promotional material such as brochures,
multimedia and other data.”
Another great marketing aspect of the flash drive
is that you’re not confined to the familiar “plastic
tab” shape.
Indeed, USB-FlashDrive.com has established
something of a reputation for selling some of the
most unusual designs. These include casino chips,
vehicles and even beer barrels.
Neil concludes: “Simply put, USB flash drives
offer a multitude of advantages to both the giver
and receiver.”
For an in-depth interview with Chris Love, managing
director of USBFlashDrive.com, see page 11.
For more, visit tradeonly.com/usbflashdrive
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