The Best Swag: From Imprinted Mugs to Imprinted Tote Bags

You walk into the convention center through a throng of people well-spaced from each other on the vast concrete floor. They are all on cell phones, talking, texting or apping away notifying people about where they are and what they're doing or simply passing the time until friends arrive or they feel ready to go network and socialize. You walk downstairs to the trade show under the high ceilings and bright fluorescence. Show your name tag to the person with the digital scanner. Now it's time to begin. First off there's a coffee stand where they're offering free coffee, which is as good a swag as any, but which loses points in the permanence category. After that you walk up and down the aisles that are crowded with people looking for the best promotional merchandise.

You go up to tables, make perfunctory eye contact, nonchalantly take what you want, ask a pointed question if it's something nice, like imprinted coffee cups or a mouse pad, and take a business card with every intention of calling them later. Until you turn around. Throw away the card, and move on - you got the good stuff.

You take stress relievers from bowls, promotional pens from piles; you stop at promotional water bottles to choose your favorite color - light plastic blue, find tins of breath mints, stacks of custom pads of paper, and you press on, alert for more goodies. One table has promotional Frisbees, a one of a kind find this year. And then you find it, the gold mine.

This table has imprinted tote bags, promotional coffee mugs and free t shirts. They're handing these things out like they don't care. And best of all, their design is pretty cool. It's minimal, clever and it looks like it could be an ad for anything. That makes good swag - when you don't know, or don't want to know what it is your advertising. They must have a lot of money to give away such high quality stuff and not care. And to have developed such a fine and cool logo.

By afternoon you're spent. You've been on your feet for hours, and the cookies and sweet treats that were given out have left your system deflated and sour. It's time to gather up your goodies and hit the road, before someone asks you what you sell here or what you're interested in. You're too tired to answer.

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