PPB April 2018

Badges The social media campaign encouraged unique and humorous online entries. #If e Badge Fits Josh Robbins, co-owner of supplier Vault Promotions (PPAI 547406), explains the “crazy badge” campaign that stole the show at The PPAI Expo 2018. One of the challenges we have as a manufacturer of name badges and name plates is to garner attention at shows. On a show oor lled with amazing items, it’s easy to see small rectangles hanging in a booth and walk on by. Coupled with the associated stigma of selling name badges (lots of work/invoicing for generally smaller orders), it motivated us to do something unique that would help people enjoy the item, along with raising more awareness of our company. We’re a relatively new supplier, so name recognition is critical for us. We needed a solution that would not only drive traf c and business but also help our name to be remembered and associated with name badges. We’ve had great success showcasing our humor, lightheartedness and overall ease of doing business, so we decided to use this same approach to create memorable badges that people would enjoy. The idea was to come up with a number of funny, unique, borderline-offensive titles that we would print on the badges. Armed with a pad of paper, several beers and a one-sided football game in the background, we started brainstorming. We needed enough creative, relatable titles so that once people started looking through them, they would nd badges that t personalities and people they knew. They had to be funny enough to stop people in their tracks and make them continue to dig to see what other outrageous titles they could nd, hopefully creating a crowd. Although we would have been satis ed with people grabbing handfuls and dispersing them to their entire of ce staff back home (hopefully to include sales reps and inside reps that couldn’t attend the show), we wanted to also incorporate a way to tie it in online and back to our booth where we could have a more in-depth conversation about our company and the ways we use technology to overcome the hurdles of selling badges. We added a social media campaign to encourage people to come by our booth to register, or to post an image online wearing their badges. The badges were a huge hit. People were cracking up at the ridiculous titles and showing them to coworkers, exclaiming who at their of ce ts the bill. We had so many positive comments at the booth from distributors, suppliers and show personnel. Many took to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with photos of them with their badges. Images ranged from people putting them in various places around Vegas, to dressing up in full costume, to placing them on their dogs’ collars at home. The online entries were unique and just another opportunity for us to connect with new people online, start a dialogue and hopefully establish partnerships. Those with the most creative entries received a $100 gift card for their participation. The post-show response has been incredible as well. We’ve received numerous calls from people we never had the opportunity to meet at the show looking for badges and personalized items simply because a badge was sitting on their desk or given to them. We’ve also had many conversations with people about them running a similar promotion for their events and using funny badges as conversation starters. We’ve enjoyed many conversations about our company, numerous quotes and quite a few orders in the immediate aftermath. I’m sure there will be many more of these opportunities in the future as we strive to become a common name in the badge industry. Never underestimate the power of humor. — JR Do you have someone in mind for one of these badges? Vault Promotions bets you do. 48 | APRIL 2018 | GROW