On the Brink of Drink

Look on your desk right now. Chances are you have a coffee mug, a reusable water bottle or maybe a disposable bottle of juice. You have beer steins, tea cups and collectable shot glasses at home. You keep a tumbler handy in your car. What do all of these beverage carriers have in common? Whether you received them free for moving into a new building or purchased them in a gift shop, they all have a logo emblazoned right where you can see it (and continue to see it every day).

Any industry or company can benefit from imprinted drinkware—and you can benefit from the revenue. So here is the best advice from the industryʼs experts on top markets, designs and tricks for selling bottles, mugs, tumblers, shot glasses and anything else you can drink from.

POPULAR MARKETS
Restaurants & Bars
“Distributors need to go beyond [just] products and try to sell items that will draw in patrons or get patrons to buy more food and drink,” said Ron Rosencrans, MAS, president of ProRose Inc., Stamford, Conn. He advised pitching items that restaurants can give patrons to take home, such as shot glasses or miniature bar games, that will continue to generate impressions after the customer has left the restaurant. “Free cup with drink promotions are popular,” he noted. “A large restaurant chain used [one of our cups] for a kids drink promotion and gave the cup and straw away with the drink.”

Health-conscious Companies
Health clubs are obvious sells for sports bottles, but what about companies that sell to healthy people, like farmers’ markets or juice bars? Jason Emery, vice president sales and marketing for TAGmaster/a division of Dard Products, Evanston, Ill., pointed out that carrying a water bottle is more common now that being healthy is trendy. “Consumers understand the importance of consuming water more now than they have in any recent time,” he said. “As such, it is often that people carry with them their own water bottle or sport bottle throughout the course of the day.”