World Smile Day is celebrated on the first Friday of October – this year it is on 5th October. It was created by Harvey Ball, a business craftsman from Worcester in Massachusetts. He created the Smiley Face in 1963 and the first World Smile Day was held in 1999 since, becoming an annual tradition and what a great tradition it is!
Apparently after Harvey passed away in 2001, a foundation was created in his memory which is known as “Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation”. The motto of the Smile Foundation is “enhancing this world, one smile”. The Foundation proceeds as the official patron of World Smile Day every year. And the day is all about demonstrating generosity and to help and individual smile!
The foundation is about driving awareness to World Smile Day using its online networks, social media sharing love and kindness around the globe. Many people are unaware of the day so we thought for our ‘October-Ditty' we would highlight it. What a lovely theme – doing what you can to bring a smile to someone's face!
There will be lots of events around the world including; hot air balloon event, Worlds largest human Smiley face, walkway chalk activities, pie eating contest, where's Smiley Contest to name a few. It is praised by schools, people, organisations, and associations attempting to improve the world by giving suppers, making recordings, and considering many more fun activities that can make a person smile.
World Smile Day® can be celebrated by individuals simply by an act of kindness and helping one person to smile. That is powerful – but imagine if we all share this wonderful day with friends, family, customers, suppliers and help to make many people around the world to smile.
Here's a link https://www.worldsmileday.com
And if you are going to get social with it do use the #worldsmileday
My Mum used to say, “it costs nothing to smile and it is infectious – if you smile at people, they usually smile back, and it might just make their day!” I have always followed her advice.
So please join us in celebrating on the 5th October 2018 by sharing a smile, an act of kindness or, a social media post to put a smile on someone's face.
Other ways to put a smile on someone's face:
- Say thank you to a member of your team for a job well done
- Show your gratitude for an employee who goes above and beyond
- Catch someone doing something great
- Make new staff feel welcome with a new employee welcome pack
- Set up an awards scheme in the office to celebrate teamwork, a great sales month, appreciate volunteering or charitable efforts
- Give away something exciting at talent fairs
- Invite customer feedback and send them a small gift to say thank you
- Appreciate your customers loyalty and say thank you with a personalised card so they know you value their support
- Let your suppliers know when they have done a great job – a personalised thank you card and sharing chocolates
- And don't forget friends and family! Great friends are to be valued make sure they know how much you appreciate their friendship
You can use Branded Merchandise to support your campaigns!
Many of the above are a great way to use your branded corporate merchandise – the perfect medium to bring a smile to someone's face.
Branded promotional products are used in all kinds of marketing campaigns and as part of a marketing strategy for public, private and charity clients. There are 1000's of great promotional products to choose from with lots of great ways to be decorated with your logo and message.
Promotional products not only put a smile on the recipients face but they are a wonderful advertising medium for your brand. If you choose wisely, good quality, well branded merchandise the recipient will want to keep it and use it again and again. Often keeping your brand name top of mind for a very long term.
Great branded product or, SWAG can produce great referrals to your business too – using an offer to receive a free gift for providing a client referral for example or using merchandise as an incentive to a call to action on social media or, a sign up to a newsletter … there are so many ways to incorporate branded merchandise to drive your success.
Linking back to World Smile Day – saying thank you to a customer for their loyalty, or ongoing support is a great way to use branded merchandise. Make sure it is something that is ‘aligned with your values' and ensure that it is ‘on brand' in terms of the decoration.
Using branded merchandise can really enhance your marketing campaigns – the use of a promotional product as the advertising medium alone achieved maximum impact up to 69% increasing brand interest and 84% in creating a good impression of the brand according to research carried out on behalf of PPAI in a study on promotional products by Georgia Southern University.
The same research found that recipients of promotional products have a significantly positive opinion of a business through:
- Increase in positive overall image
- More positive perception of the business
- Higher likelihood of recommending the business
- Higher likelihood of purchasing from the business
And those gifts keep on giving:
58% of respondents keep a promotional product anywhere from one year to more than 4 year. Even if the recipient uses the item only once per week, that's a minimum of 52 impressions made over the course of a year with the possibility of more than 208 during a five-year window!
Source: PPAI Study: Effectiveness of Promotional Products as An Advertising Medium
People love receiving promotional products, there's no denying it. Whether it's a power bank given away at a trade show, or, a beautifully designed bag for life or a handy notebook and pen – promotional products are appreciated and welcomed in all walks of life. 90.4% reported either currently owning or possessing a promotional product received within the last 24 months.
Source: PPAI Study: Effectiveness of Promotional Products as An Advertising Medium
More stats from our US Trade Association PPAI:
88% of people remember the advertiser on a promotional product – promotional products influence consumer behaviour
83% of American consumers surveyed said they like receiving promotional products with an advertising message – customers love receiving promotional products
70% of advertisers and agencies consider promotional products effective or highly effective, according the Buyer Insights: Ad Agencies & Advertisers study – PPAI Promotional Products Work.
And clients are using those great promotional products in conjunction with:
- Social media – 72%
- Email – 60%
- Internet advertising – 58%
- Sales promotions – 54%
- Print – 46%
- Product samples – 43%
- Direct mail – 40%
- Exhibitions and trade shows – 38%
- Experiential events – 35%
- Contests and competitions – 33%
- Mobile advertising – 31%
- Radio – 29%
- Point of purchase – 28%
- Product placement – 28%
- Outdoor – 24%
- TV – 23%
Here at The Sourcing Team we truly value our clients; we love to send our own branded merchandise to keep our own brand top of mind – but most importantly, for our clients to feel valued and appreciated. We love it when we get feedback from a client saying “wow! I loved my gift”.
Think about what you can do to put a smile on your someone's face – be it by using great a great ‘ethically sourced' branded product or, just by doing, saying or make a gesture of kindness and help us to celebrate #WorldSmileDay
Here are some great promotional product ideas to bring a smile to your customers face: