The Collateral Company - Clever Collateral

OCTOBER 2014
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MARKETING COLLATERAL
Clever collateral
Summer’s just around the corner, which means dreaming
up incentives and rewards for staff and customers and
decking out your summer events. Craig Green shares
some tips on getting the best in branded wares.
In previous marketing roles, it was
common to have promotional product
suppliers come to show me suitcases
full of cheap promo items, and it was
up to us to imagine our logo on their
wares and how we might use them.
There was a real disconnect between
the brands and marketing campaigns
and the kinds of ‘trinkets and trash’
on offer.
These suppliers didn’t understand
our brands, our consumers or
marketing strategy.
Nowadays there’s a move away
from using suppliers to working with
creative agencies that specialise in
marketing collateral and can add
value; matching creative concepts with
your campaign objectives.
Replacing ‘promotional products’
and ‘branded merchandise’, the
marketing-speak ‘collateral’ applies
to any branded item used to support
a sales or marketing objective.
These can range from event signage
to giveaways, from stationary and
uniforms through to incentive rewards.
Used strategically, marketing
collateral can enhance your campaign,
drive brand awareness and create
brand loyalty. Used poorly and they
can align your business and brand to
cheap junk.
As consumers have become
increasingly savvy and budgets are
tighter post-GFC, business owners
and marketing teams realise their
collateral must work harder to achieve
their promotional objectives. There’s
no value if your giveaways end up in
the bin or a kid’s toy box at the end
of your event. The days of slapping
a logo onto a generic giveaway
are coming to an end, in favour
of campaign-relevant, useful and
bespoke items.
As with any creative agency, the
quality of concepts a collateral partner
provides will depend on the quality
of the brief they receive. For the best
results, detail your campaign strategy
and objectives. This will save you
time in the long run as it will allow
your agency to provide relevant
concepts right from the start. What
is the purpose of the campaign? Who
are you targeting? Are you aiming to
reward, inspire, connect or incentivise?
Other considerations for your
brief include:
• What quantity do you require/what
is the budget per engagement?
• What do you want to achieve in
using collateral?
• How much time have you allowed
for production?
• Should it be durable, made from
natural materials or recyclable?
Time is hugely important and
unfortunately many just don’t leave
enough weeks in their timeline
to ensure the best outcome. The
alternative means going with branding
stock items, using air freight or
producing items that are lower
quality had there been more time for
product development.
A typical offshore order might take
a month to produce and a month to
sea freight. The more time you have,
the more time you will have to tweak
artwork and examine pre-production
samples – so when you do go into
production, you are absolutely
comfortable and confident in the
end product.
We worked with Copyright Licensing
New Zealand to produce a paper
clip in the shape of their logo. As
simple as this sounds, it actually took
several rounds of samples before
we had a shape and wire thickness
that was practical and that the client
was happy with. Fortunately time
allowed for samples and adjustments
until the item was perfect. The client
was thrilled with the result; it made
a unique gift and a regular brand
reminder to their stakeholders.
Once you receive a quote to
produce your collateral, check that
the costings are comprehensive and
consider the following:
• Have you been provided the costs
to produce the item as per the final
specifications?
• If the specs have changed during
the product development stage,
so have the costs – have they
accounted for this?
• Have they included freight?
• Have they locked in the
currency rate?
• Does it include Customs and Duty
charges for imports? (International
suppliers often won’t know this.)
Offshore options
With a global supply chain, there’s
literally a world of options out there.
We have production partners in China,
Australia, Mexico and the US. Offshore
production is fantastic for custom
or bulk items but can be fraught
when it comes to quality control
and reliability. Having long-term
relationships helps.
Even for the most experienced,
offshore production can sometimes
go wrong. You need someone who
understands the sampling and
production process, the different
cultural business procedures and
etiquette and someone who has
people on the ground to check
production quality, to deliver what
you’re expecting and are paying for.
You need to be confident that your
creative collateral partner can manage
any unexpected issues – but you also
need to ensure you have left sufficient
time in your project timeline to allow
them to do so.
With the popularity of trading
websites it is possible to place
orders with seemingly cheap offshore
suppliers and agents but this too is
fraught with risk, unexpected costs
and often no recourse if things go
wrong. You might get a bargain, but
there are many stories of companies
who paid a supplier up front but
when they received the order it wasn’t
what they were expecting. Foreign
suppliers rarely understand New
Zealand importing procedures and
port charges so buyers can also face
additional unexpected costs.
We’ve had briefs where the sourcing
and materials used were as important
to the client as the item itself. When
Hell Pizza launched their ‘Day of the
Dead’ campaign they were eager that
the products we supplied for their
store fit-outs were authentic Day of
the Dead decorations. We could have
mass produced items from a factory
in China, instead we engaged a rural
village co-op in Mexico. Even though
few customers would have known this
sourcing story, it was important to the
philanthropic directors at Hell.
Love NZ engaged us to provide their
bin collectors with high-viz vests made
from recycled PET plastic. This made
a great story of their teams providing
a second use for the recyclable
materials that they were collecting.
Sometimes the story is as
important to the campaign as the
collateral itself.
When it comes to putting your
brand on marketing collateral, with the
right creative partner your imagination
is your limit.
Don’t settle for trinkets and trash
you’ve seen a dozen times before. If
you’re bored with those items, so are
your consumers. A creative partner
should have their finger on the pulse
and provide new and unique concepts
to make your brand stand out.
Each piece of collateral is an
opportunity to get your brand into
your customer’s hands.
›› Craig Green is director of the Collateral Company, a specialist
in the creative design and production of marketing collateral for
campaigns, consumer promotions, events and corporate gifts.
Visit www.thecollateralcompany.com or to check out examples
of their work: www.pinterest.com/thecollateralco
54 NZB October 2014 nzbusiness.co.nz NZB October 2014 nzbusiness.co.nz 55