Stumbling Upon Promotional Products in the World #11

·     Found: Driving in Nashville

·     Item: License Plate Frame

·     Promoted Brand: Clinch River Yarn Co

Anytime one mentions licence plate frame, one usually thinks about car dealerships. After all — at least in your A-Z Swagman’s experience — most car dealerships want that bit of (almost) free advertising when they sell you a car! Well, the other day, I was driving around the city of Nashville when I noticed a car in front of me. Their Tennessee licence plate was framed — not with the dealer’s info, not with an alma mater, but with a, well look at the picture I managed to take!

OK, so the picture is a bit (very!!) blurry and I shouldn’t have been taking it as we got on the interstate. So let me reproduce approximately what caught my eye:

At the top, the message: I’d Rather Be Knitting was eye catching because my mother and wife both enjoy the yarn arts. We also have other friends who are avid knitters, crochet-ers, macrame-ers, etc. (Not to mention unexpectedly not seeing the usual dealership info).

The bottom message was the call to action: Clinch River Yarn Co. With a deft stroke of my keyboard, your A-Z Swagman quickly found the website in question. There, I saw all sorts of yarns, needles, and patterns available for sale — none of which meant anything to me (I’m not the knitter, but I have made chain mail!) I did not see the license plate frame, but I did find a phone number and email. Electing to make a fool out of myself, I punched the digits into my desk-mounted telephonic device and found myself speaking with Sandy, the owner of the Clinch River Yarn Co. I immediately knew that Sandy was a wonderful person as she did not hang up on the weird caller!

Sandy informed me that they had started the licence plate frames about 10 years ago. Unfortunately, she was unable to tell me if they’d been successful at bringing in customers (apparently I may have been the only call that ever identified the frame as the reason for the call). She did say that they also have bags available for sale on their site that they decorate themselves. I did tell Sandy that I wouldn’t try to sell her anything, but my curiosity did lead me to the conclusion that they’re selling those bags with a very nice profit — and for everyone else, your A-Z Swagman can help you out if you choose not to give-away, but to sell your promo items! (Sandy, the process you described to me sounds too good for your demographic to alter in any way!!)

Learn more about Clinch River Yarn Co at http://www.clinchriveryarns.com/ and as always, contact your local A-Z account representative or your A-Z Swagman for more information on how promotional products can help your brand. 

Oh yeah, remember to keep your eyes open — you never know what you might see!

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Any products found were obtained legally and photos are of the actual item. Current available items mentioned are subject to availability and prices or specials mentioned in the entry may not be current. Opinions and assumptions of the products shown are exactly that -- educated opinions and assumptions based on years of experience in the graphics and marketing industry, as well as some light online research. Any errors are regrettable and will be corrected as necessary. No offense is intended by any conclusions drawn by your A-Z Swagman. Any feedback from the marketing firms that produced these promotional products will be incorporated into a follow-up blog entry!