With the economy still recovering, businesses need all the help they can get. Courting the best and the brightest of the Class of 2011 requires all the tools in a company’s arsenal, and promotional products and business gifts are an excellent way to stand out from the rest. The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) has released the results of a survey that bolsters this claim.
When asked about their hiring practices, 55 percent of representatives from human resources departments stated that branded products given as gifts to prospective employees made a positive impact. This is especially the case when the products were distributed at job fairs or career events.
The choice of which products to give away was also a matter of inquiry for the survey. Fifty five percent of companies responded that they used promotional pens to raise awareness at events targeting recent graduates. Items with logos, such as t-shirts and calendars, were distributed by 41 percent of respondents.
ASI also reports that some of the most successful promotional gifts for raising awareness of a company among this group were tech items. These includes branded smartphone cases, logo USB drives and other electronic gadgets.