The Importance Of Brand Association.

When giving well chosen usefull promotional products that are relevant to your Brand, event or a peticular promotion, they can make a big impact, the recipient will have a constant reminder of your company and services and will associate your Brands values with the gift they received.

Of course this is a good thing, so it’s very important to get it right, although it’s impossible to get things right all the time. Even the most iconic multinational businesses can have off days.

To prove a point we have scoured the internet to show some humorous examples of some very unusual products produced by well-known brands.

We’ve found a selection of products that just did not seem right at the time (or at any time, in fact!) or were just plain WEIRD…

* Harley Davidson. Big powerful motorbikes. Could be ridden, though not exclusively of course, by big powerful men. So let’s launch… a perfume!

* Heinz. This food giant launched a cleaning vinegar. First problem that springs to mind is which cupboard you’re going to keep it in? Err, food cupboard? cleaning cupboard? food? cleaning?

* KFC, it’s claimed, has launched two flavours of ‘Finger Lickin’ Good’ edible nail polish. Choose either Original or Hot & Spicy. Eee!

* BIC. Disposable ballpoint pens. Followed by a nifty move into disposable lighters. Great. Next logical step… disposable underwear. Mmm.

* Pepsi. More a slogan this one and rather well circulated but definitely worth a revisit. The Pepsi ad blurb ‘Come Alive with the Pepsi Generation’ caused confusion in the east as it translated into Chinese as something along the lines of: ‘Pepsi – bring your ancestors back from the dead’. And we all thought its power was limited to making old coins shiny again!

* Cosmopolitan. Whacking great mag read by zillions worldwide launched… a yogurt!

* Colgate. Staying on the food front this brand that just screams sparkly choppers put its name to a range of ready-to-eat meals called Colgate’s Kitchen Entrees. It would obviously have been the mind playing tricks but one can just hear diners saying, ‘Does this chow mein taste minty to you…?’

* Frito-Lay. US potato chips producer decided to launch a lemonade. Not as bizarre a move as some perhaps but not one appreciated by potato-chip munching US citizens.

* Evian. In order to keep wearers cool in summer this well-known name launched a bra that could be filled with water. Enough said!

All of which only goes to prove yet again that truth is truly stranger than fiction.

For some seriously sound advice on promotional merchandise that will complement your brand talk to Arcadia.

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Jason Markwick

Having worked in Promotional Merchandise for the last 25 years I have been exposed to all aspects of the industry. Starting out as an account manager working with some of the worlds leading brands, I have learnt to understand the needs of a client, manufacturing processes, and what it takes to deliver a successful promotional campaign that is on brand, on time and within a given budget.