The Brief

Our client, AkzoNobel, was looking for a selection of special gifts to celebrate International Paint’s 160 Anniversary in Germany. The gifts had to be a bit different and something that their recipients could keep. Part of the gift selection had to be a commemorative plaque which was to look like it was from the 1850s.

A special logo had also been created by AkzoNobel’s design team to celebrate the Anniversary which was old fashioned in style to portray the year 1856. The Anniversary gifts range would carry this branding.

The Challenge

Our client had very specific requirements on the metal sign’s features. It had to be lightweight but look heavy, 3D printed in full colour to replicate the 1856 era and cost effective but of high quality.

Our client also wanted International Paint branded sweets of a mixture of flavours which would be packed into paint tins personalised with the Anniversary logo. Each flavour was to be branded with a different design/colourway.  The client required sweets which would be flavoursome and would not contain nuts (so they would be suitable for a wide range of recipients).

The 3rd product of the International Paint anniversary gifts collection would be a pin badge that would represent the special logo.  The anniversary logo was quite detailed, therefore the pin badge had to be big enough to replicate the design correctly but small enough to be subtle and classy.

The Solution

We used our extensive supply chain to source a signs manufacturer who could both manufacture the design our client envisaged and at a price that would meet their budget.

Moreover, we suggested the use of hard boiled sweets in individual wrappers for the paint tins as they were available in a wide range of flavours and offered a very good branding area.   We organised samples of all flavours available, provided the ingredients breakdown to ensure that suitable flavours were chosen and arranged for a mixture of sweets to be packed into bags of a pre-agreed quantity so they would fit in the tins.

Finally, we liaised with our preferred factory regarding the brief for the badge and arranged visuals and images of the badges to ensure that the design was represented correctly and the badge would be elegant in style.

Testimonial

“Pro-Ad supported us on this time sensitive project by sourcing creative and innovative ideas to match our Anniversary brief. Working with different designs and products, our Design Team and the Pro-Ad team contributed to the creation of one coherent campaign which was very well received by both the market and their customers.”

Betfred chose Pro-Ad as their preferred supplier for the promotional merchandise they needed in order to promote and support their Cheltenham Festival sponsorship. With the use of branded merchandise Betfred wanted to increase brand awareness and promote themselves as a headline sponsor for the event.
The client required in short turnaround goody bags filled with a range of products that related to horses and horse racing or carried a gold theme to link to Betfred’s sponsorship event. The bags would be distributed on course as well as around town.
The products had to be packed in goodie bags sorted into certain categories and delivered to several destinations.

The Challenge
Pro-Ad had to source a variety of innovative products that would portray efficiently the Betfred brand image and would serve the client’s campaign goals. As some of these items were produced in factories that are based outside of the UK, Pro-Ad was responsible for the coordination of a worldwide supply chain in order to ensure order fulfilment in time for the event as well as quality of racecourse suitable merchandise.

The Solution
Pro-Ad came up with a variety of innovative merchandise ideas to match the client’s brief including pop-up card binoculars for the spectators and horse shaped Logobugs. We also handled the design and production of bespoke shaped gold cup keyrings and bespoke gold coloured pens to represent the event’s gold theme.
The distribution plan was executed perfectly. Each of the 5000 goody bags was filled with 10 different products. The remaining items were arranged into batches which were packed into boxes that were labelled accordingly to make the distribution of the products the smoothest possible for the client. The client was kept up to date at every stage of the production and delivery process which helped them coordinate many deliveries to Cheltenham.

The Result
The recipients loved the goody bags and the client was impressed with Pro-Ad’s ‘can do’ attitude and the quality of the representation of their brand on their merchandise.
“Working with Pro-Ad allowed us to prepare for Cheltenham without having to worry at all about meeting our merchandise goals. From the very first phone call discussing ideas and plans to until Betfred Gold Cup day, we received value for money in terms of products, customer care and peace of mind”. Marketing Betfred

The Brief

In 2014, Greggs asked Pro-Ad to propose and source for them a variety of innovative branded products to be used for promoting their newly refurbished stores that now offered coffee made from their own Greggs coffee blend. The promotional products would be used as giveaways for the Greggs street teams as well as at the company’s visits to Universities and Student Fairs. As the products would be addressed to a young audience, they had to be exciting, funky, modern and different.

A Unique Product

Pro-Ad sourced a number of items to fit the Greggs brief. However, the highlight of the campaign was the bespoke Greggs reusable cup style stress cups.

Along with our Creative team, we worked on a number of ‘look and feel’ designs in order to develop the one that would perfectly match the Greggs cup concept, would look original and stand out.

In order to make sure that the client would be 100% satisfied with their unique merchandise, we supplied them with pre-production samples of the stress cups for their feedback.  If changes needed to be made the samples would be produced again.

With the students’ safety in mind, it was very important to the client for the product to be fully tested and safety certified. In order to achieve this, we ran a certification project taking care of every health and safety detail including packing the products in bags with air holes.

The Outcome

The coffee cup shaped stress cups were the campaign’s most popular giveaway and Greggs increased the order volume by a 1/3rd the following year.

The Corporate Gift Brief

Our client AkzoNobel were opening a new office in Amsterdam and wanted to supply each member of staff with a special corporate gift. A wireless mouse that would have been coated with their Speciality Coatings paints. The colours were Pearl White and My Gold, which was the Colour of the Year 2016. Purpose of the campaign was to create a memorable gift to engage the staff with the Colour of the Year whilst celebrating the new premises.

The Challenge

Our client had very specific technical requirements for the mouse features.  It had to be wireless, with no software installation required. It also had to be constructed in a ‘two-part’ shape to enable the coating with both the Pearl White and My Gold and to be able to be supplied as separate components to facilitate the colour spraying of the mice.

They also wanted to see sample mice to ensure compatibility with their systems.  Delivery was required urgently as the new building was opening w/c 4th January and the mice were required pre-Christmas so that they could be placed on the desks ready for the first working day of 2016.The initial enquiry was received at the end of November leaving us with a short time period for sourcing, samples, production, shipping to AkzoNobel and spraying.

The Solution

Pro-Ad used their extensive worldwide sourcing service to source a mouse which met the technical requirements outlined by the client. Through discussions with our Far East factories we obtained a source that could not only supply the mouse but also spray it for us.  This saved the client time while ensuring that the mice were coated and assembled correctly.

Samples of the mouse were sent to Holland for testing and approval prior to the order being placed.  AkzoNobel then arranged for their paint to be sent to the factory in China with instructions for coating – the My Gold had two different matte topcoats whereas the Pearl White a high gloss topcoat.

As both production and spraying was taking place at the same source, the client was able to add a Compliment Card to each individual mouse box which allowed them to publically thank the Speciality Coatings Design Team for creating the Colour of the Year.

Delivery of the mice was made to two different addresses in Holland and via our dedicated worldwide shipping partners we arranged despatch direct from our Far East factory to both Amsterdam and Arnhem. We were also able to accommodate a late addition of mice to the order.

The Result

This campaign won Gold in the institute of Promotional Marketing COGS Award 2017 Promotional Merchandise Campaign of the Year

Testimonial

“Once again Pro-Ad went out of their way to create a unique product for us that was up to our quality standards and representative of brand values. Despite the challenging deadline for this project, Pro-Ad managed a smooth and flawless production and supply of our mice giving us peace of mind and provided us with an excellent product that was very well received by all our staff.”

The Brief

Kiss FM were looking for a mat to give away at festivals to festival goers that they could sit on during the event.
The product needed to be light weight and easy to carry, re-usable and damp proof when on the ground. Another important factor was that it needed to have a large and clear branding area suitable for multi-coloured print.

The Challenge

When Pro-Ad started tried to source the mat we came across a significant challenge; there was no existing product on the market to meet the customer’s brief.

The Solution

Pro-Ad worked with one of our factories to create a bespoke product specifically designed to Kiss FM’s specification. Taking under consideration our client’s requirements, Pro-Ad proposed a non-woven mat that could be easily folded and had a press stud closure and carry handle. It was also designed to have a laminated base to make it suitable to put on damp ground at the music festivals. The mat had a large branding area and such layout so that the client’s logo was visible when open and folded.

The Result

Kiss FM were very satisfied with the design of their bespoke product and their audience loved the Kiss FM festival mats. The product was so popular that the Radio Station repeated it for the next 3 years’ festivals.

Testimonial: 
“The bespoke festival mats that Pro-Ad produced for us were that year’s festivals’ most popular giveaways. Pro-Ad did a brilliant job ensuring high quality of products personalised to suit our branding needs. Exceptional customer service and product knowhow!”

The Brief

QHotels required branded mugs to use both in their Bedrooms and their Conference and Event facilities.

The group of 26 four-star luxury hotels, QHotels ordered high quality bone china mugs to ensure the product is representative of their brand values and hospitality quality.

They require the mugs to be available at a short notice, for hotels to be able to order as many or as few mugs as they need delivered within a day or two.

The Challenge

Standard lead times for Bone China mugs is approximately 3-4 weeks. And there are minimum order quantities, set by the factories, that don’t allow the order of small product quantities.

The Solution

Pro-Ad put a corporate scheme in place to satisfy all QHotels requirements. We arrange the manufacture, stocking and despatch of their mugs.

We bulk produce the mugs and hold in stock for call off as and when required by the hotels. Provided an order is received by 2pm we can despatch as few as one box, of 36 mugs, for delivery the next day.

There is a dedicated account handler in house at Pro-Ad who manages and administers the scheme and a Stock Management Report is provided on a monthly basis to QHotels. We advise the client when stock is running low so we can produce a further 5000 mugs to ensure that there is a continuation of supply.

The Result:

QHotels are ensured that their mugs are available to be dispatched at any time, saving them space and administration effort, whilst still benefiting from bulk buying savings. They have been using Pro-Ad’s corporate scheme for their mugs supply for over 10 years and trust us with orders of other branded merchandise as required.