Thousands of organizations and Presidential Proclamations set aside specific days, weeks and months for political, cultural and historical events and causes. Many of these occasions offer you an opportunity to promote your business, organization or product.

December

December 1st – 7th is Cookie Cutter Week

• Hold a contest for new cookie cutter designs or other uses for cookie cutters besides cookies. Draw people into your place of business to pick up entry forms and again for the awarding of prizes. Use imprinted kitchen items as prizes.
• Use cookie cutter week as a backdrop for business-to-business promotions based on the negative connotation of cookie cutter. The idea is that your product or service isn’t “cookie cutter.” Include shapes appropriate to your industry or business or have custom shapes made to be sent in direct mail pieces.

Some other designations for December that you might be interested in are:

• National Drunk and Drugged Driving Prevention Month
• National Safe Toys and Gifts Month
• National Tie Month
• December 1st – 7th: Cookie Cutter Week
• December 1st: World AIDS Day
• December 2nd: Special Education Day
• December 4th: National Dice Day
• December 7th: Pearl Harbor Rememberance Day
• December 5th-12th: Chanukah
• December 10th: Human Rights Day
• December 12th: Poinsettia Day
• December 15th: Cat Herders Day
• December 15th – 29th: Halcyon Days
• December 16th: Barbie and Barney Backlash Day
• December 17th: Wright Brothers Day
• December 21st: December Solstice
• December 21st: National Haiku Poetry Day
• December 22nd: World Peace Day
• December 22nd: First Day of Chanukah
• December 22nd: First Day of Winter
• December 25th: Christmas
• December 26th: Kwanzaa
• December 26th: Boxing Day
• December 28th: No Interruptions Day
• December 31st: New Year’s Eve

In today’s economy businesses are cutting costs wherever possible just to survive, which is why when I receive a Holiday Greeting Card in the mail I appreciate it even more. When companies take the time to enhance their business relationships during the holiday season by sending a greeting card that reflects their company’s values they are showing they have not forgotten that people are the ones who keep them in business.

You can truly make a lasting impression on both clients, current and past, and employees by sending a meaningful message. This relatively easy and inexpensive marketing tool will allow you to show your appreciation for the business relationships you have formed over the past year. Your clients will feel important knowing you took a minute out of this busy and stressful time, to wish them a joyous holiday season and happy New Year.

Check out East Coast Graphic for your Custom Greeting Cards, customize them and make your business stand out to your clients.

Upfront gifts from non-profits to prospective donors are nothing new, but they’re usually low-cost items like address labels, greeting cards and notepads. Not so with a recent mailing from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The organization sent prospective members a beautiful vinyl tote, complete with Velcro closure, zippered front pocket and beautiful puppy-themed artwork.

“In its direct marketing program, the HSUS often mails premiums to prospective and current donors,” says Nancy Campbell, DM director for the group. “Upfront tote bags were tested previously, and we did rollout with a mailing to prospective donors in early January 2008.”

Campbell didn’t want to give away trade secrets by commenting further on how the product was chosen, but it’s clear that her team made sure that both the bag and the artwork were high quality. The targeted audience, gleaned from lists rented from or exchanged with other entities, must have been considered good prospects.

She did reveal that by early March the promo had come close to meeting its goal for recruiting new members and supporters. HSUS also got great feedback about the totes from recipients. “Members have said people comment on how nice they are and want to know how to get one,” says Charlotte Mead of the membership department.

She added that some recipients called and wanted extras to use as gifts or because they’d lost theirs. “The one I recall that was extreme is a lady who had her car stolen, and the bag was in it,” Mead says. “She desperately wanted another bag.”

Better still, the requests for extra bags have been accompanied by additional donations.

It’s kind of hard to categorize Blue Man Group. The offbeat show revolves around three mute, bald, painted-blue performers who combine comedy and technology with percussion-heavy music played on instruments made from PVC piping and other unusual materials.

Given the group’s imaginative image, it’s no surprise that their promoters would want to be different, too. That’s where one agency was able to help.

“The marketing department at Blue Man Group was looking for a cool new way to promote their corporate-events division,” says Michael Frank, VP of creative and strategic marketing at this agency. “They usually utilized DVDs for their sales videos but wanted a break from the norm.”

Frank’s team suggested putting the information on a USB flash drive, which would be more compact and more useful to recipients. The agency sourced a sleekly styled flash drive imprinted with the group’s logo. The product was then loaded with eight files, including videos, MP3s and PDFs.

“The USB drives were distributed from the press department to various members of the media,” Frank says. “They are also being used for large press events and also whenever file and information sharing is necessary.”

The presentation has not only impressed recipients but caught the eye of other staff members at Blue Man Group Productions. “Everyone really likes the drives,” Frank says, “and there is a buzz amongst other departments.”

Although environmentalism has been around for over a century, there is no doubt that the green movement has truly taken off in the past 10 years.  There is a collective push for greener automobiles, greener homes, and greener products. One recent issue in the forefront is the toll that plastic shopping bags take on the environment. Hence, the latest must-have for environmentally conscious consumers : eco-friendly shopping bags.

It’s no secret that disposable plastic shopping bags are destructive to the environment. Besides the fact that they don’t biodegrade, they use massive amounts of fossil fuel to produce and are dangerous to various animals and wildlife – especially marine animals – who ingest the bags when they are mistaken for food. Because the bags are easily blown by wind, many end up as litter, and those that don’t take up valuable space in our landfills.

Laws banning the use of plastic shopping bags have been enacted all over the world, including the United States. San Francisco was the first city to ban the use of these bags in March of 2007, and many cities are attempting to pass legislation banning them as we speak.

Eco-friendly shopping bags have been gaining popularity in droves, and for good reasons. They are inexpensive, reusable, and most are machine washable. They come in a variety of materials including organic cotton, canvas, and different types of recycled plastic. And all are unquestionably better for the environment than standard plastic shopping bags.

Businesses are catching on as well. Many corporations and organizations are finding that eco-friendly shopping bags are a perfect way to show they are on the “green-team” while promoting their company. Eco-friendly bags are quickly surpassing the popularity of pens and mugs as promotional give-aways.

There is good news for the style conscious green consumer as well : you no longer have to settle for plain, drab designs on your eco-friendly bags. There are so many different styles of green  shopping bags available that by using them you are not just making a statement about your dedication to protecting the environment, you’re making a fashion statement as well.

In their natural habitat in China, panda bears eat almost nothing but bamboo. Does that mean they’re an odd choice as ambassadors for a new beef-centered menu item at a restaurant? Not when the restaurant is Panda Express, a leading Chinese quick-service chain with more than 1,000 outlets.

Several weeks before the company made the announcement about their menu addition; they sent a teaser mailing to restaurant and marketing trade media. A plain white box contained two plush pandas labeled Tom-Tom and Eddie. An accompanying card read, “Experience Pandamonium at Panda Express,” and urged recipients to check their email for “big, beefy news.”

“What’s more lovable than plush panda bears?” asks Kimberly Porrazzo, VP of client services at a marketing agency, the PR firm promoting the launch. “It was a natural link to the new Beijing Beef menu item and the comprehensive advertising campaign, which included a 12-state television campaign, six-market radio campaign, and an outdoor advertising campaign.”

A follow-up email explained that the chain was “stirring up ‘pandamonium’ with its new dish, Beijing Beef” and gave details about the dish as well as the ad campaign.

“Editors and reporters said they loved the panda bears, as well as the food drop that was enjoyed by select editors,” Porrazzo says. “It certainly broke through the clutter, and we are still monitoring results.”

Convenience store chain 7-Eleven was looking to get consumers to ‘walk this way’ right into its stores with its May Guitar Hero: Aerosmith promotion. To promote the debut of its Full Throttle Frozen Blast Slurpee, it partnered with Coca-Cola, Microsoft and Activision’s top-selling video game Guitar Hero.

Throughout May, consumers could enter codes listed on Slurpee cups onto Slurpee.com for chances to win the game, an Xbox 360 and other prizes. To promote the sweepstakes and new Slurpee flavor, the popular convenience store chain created a mobile tour. Media vans with 6-foot by 12-foot video screens visited select stores where consumers could play the game live.

More than 10,000 custom guitar picks printed with Full Throttle Frozen Blast on one side and Slurpee.com on the other side were handed out. “One of the top ways our core customers for Slurpee drinks, ages 13-24, like to spend their leisure time is playing video games,” says Stephanie Hoppe, senior director of marketing of 7-Eleven, Inc. “So it was natural for 7-Eleven to tie-in with the game.”

Giant tear-off pads of posters featuring Guitar Hero and the Slurpee were posted at 484 locations near schools, train stations, beaches and other locations. Coupons were also distributed through college newspapers.

The end result: more than a quarter million fans entered the sweepstakes. “We expect to do more online and guerilla marketing as we continue our ‘Summer of Slurpee,’” says Hoppe. In June, 7-Eleven offered Incredible Hulk movie Slurpee cups and miniature character straws. “Customers seem to be coming back this month,” she says, “because sales are up.”

Human resources professionals are busy people. Besides hiring and firing employees, quarterbacking 401(k) programs and spearheading training initiatives for the company, they are also responsible for health-care decisions. To separate themselves from the many other health-care providers out there, Right Choice Health looked to promotional products.

In May and June, it gave out 1,500 branded USB ports to HR executives, personnel departments and company controllers. “They were very pleased with what they were able to get out of the program,” says Phil Masiello, vice president of sales at HyGrade Business, which created the effort. “They were looking for a marketing tool that could carry the brand name that salespeople could give out to clients that wouldn’t just end up in the desk.”

The USB ports contained materials that were helpful to the sales staff’s presentation and also functioned as a powerful leave behind chocked full information about Right Choice Health’s offerings.

What’s more, it contained a widget. This branded piece of software, which functions when the logoed USB is plugged in, offers the user the chance to get up-to-the-minute information about traffic, weather and other news through the Web. “It’s useful,” says Masiello, so the client is more likely to use it again and again.

“This way they always have the brand in front of them,” he says. “It’s a very inexpensive tweak to a standard USB that provides a bunch of other marketing tools for the client. In the grand scheme of things, it’s an inexpensive upgrade that adds in impressions. In promotion, you are always looking for something that will have retention power. This particular USB will take precedent over any other item you could possibly give them.”

Monroe Shocks and Struts has a message for all of the animal lovers of the world: “Replacing worn ride control components could improve vehicle steering, stopping and stability – and just might save the life of an innocent squirrel darting across the street.”

This was the official statement released by the company after it sent a bag of squirrel food, the Squirrel Street Journal newspaper and a personalized note from a squirrel to reporters. Next, the recipients received a logoed bag of peanuts and a squirrel, or rather, mousepad.

These promotional products were used to build hype for its “Save a squirrel” campaign which launched in April.

“We’ve already had tremendous interest in the ‘Squirrels’ campaign from the automotive industry as well as consumers,” says Carri Irby, brand manager of Monroe Shocks and Struts, prior to the launch of the campaign. “As our billboards go live in the coming weeks, we expect a tremendous spike in traffic to our Web site, as well as word-of-mouth advertising driven by local broadcast outlets and the thousands of businesses that sell and install Monroe shocks and struts.”

The squirrels have gotten around, as the message is broadcast on billboards throughout the country, on 2,000 radio stations, within Major League Baseball stadiums and via the Web.

Monroe also made sure to add a heavy assortment of promotional products to the mix. Mousepads, note cubes, pens, trash cans and bagged peanuts are available for use by its sales force. “Our promotional programs are tightly integrated into the campaign,” says Irby. The squirrels could not be reached for comment.

For many video game marketing programs, choosing the right promotional product takes a little creativity. Marketing the latest action game or kids’ title may not offer some obvious choices. This wasn’t the case for video developer THQ Inc. when it came time to promote its Wall-E video game which hit shelves June 27.The game is based on the futuristic robot character’s adventures in the Disney/Pixar movie of the same name. In the film, which debuted June 24, Wall-E went on a fantastic journey across the universe. Along the way, he often turned trash into treasure.

THQ leveraged some of the items that were prominent within the movie to reach out to members of the press. For example, Wall-E is fond of a paddleball so THQ sent 500 plastic logoed paddleballs to consumer, trade and enthusiast press.

“We ordered the paddleball after seeing Wall-E interact with a similar one in the film trailer,” says Karen Fujimoto, spokesperson for THQ. “It was too good to resist. The paddleballs were effective because they captured an element of fun, while serving as a leave-behind reminder that the game would be coming out soon.”

THQ also borrowed the idea of using an Igloo cooler from the film. Wall-E carries around a cooler throughout the film and places trinkets in it. The video game company held an event at the New York Hall of Science for dozens of members of the press and their families. As a thank you for attending, it gave away logoed coolers, hats, shirts and posters.

The gaming company is no stranger to such tactics. For Ratatouille it held a cooking event at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York and gave away logoed chef’s hats, aprons and bottles of thyme, a key spice for making the dish Ratatouille. “It’s a fun way to build some buzz with our press,” says Fujimoto.