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April 2006

Museum gets huge membership boost!

The Cleveland Museum of natural history is a world-class destination for visitors and researchers. For nearly a century it has served as an outstanding resource for public education and environmental conservation. Membership dollars support the Museum's collections, its curators and their research, and educational programs that benefit one-quarter million visitors per year.

The museum had been seeing a decline in membership dollars in recent years and needed to reverse the trend. A clear primary goal was established: Sign up 800 new members. Secondary goals included (1) promote a new traveling exhibit, and (2) entice people to visit.

Previous Direct Mail membership campaigns had yielded a fairly routine 1% average return. This year a different tactic was taken. Direct Mail would still be used, but the call to action would be made more fun, more attention-grabbing and more "irrisistible". The Museum opted to run an instant prize promotion using "Conceal & Reveal" game cards. 50,000 total pieces were mailed. Each envelope included an application and a custom scratch-off. The scratch-off incorporated six dinosaur "eggs" to be scratched and was tied to the chance to win great prizes ­ from free tickets, all the way up to a party at the Museum for a winner and up to 100 friends.

Results? The campaign attracted 500 new members in the first ten days ­ and more than 1000 new members by roughly mid-way through the promotion. The Museum's Director of Membership said, "The results are the best we have ever gotten from a campaign."

Promotional Products Show Big Growth

April 10, 2006 - Trevose, PA - The Advertising Specialty Institute® (ASI) released results of its annual promotional products industry sales analysis, indicating revenues jumped 5.1 percent from 2004 to $17.8 billion in 2005 - the third year of continuous increases and a new record.

Spending on promotional products was twice as large as Internet display advertising, five times greater than outdoor advertising and more than cable TV advertising.

The exclusive analysis, conducted by ASI, shows that growth in 2005 was driven by increased recognition that promotional products should be included in marketing campaigns and by the overall strength of the U.S. economy.

"This analysis indicates that the promotional products industry continues to experience solid gains, including three years of increasing sales, as more and more companies realize that promotional products ­ apparel items, pens, mugs ­ have a lasting impression on recipients and provide a strong return on the marketing investment," said Timothy M. Andrews, president of ASI.

The ASI promotional products industry sales estimate is widely acknowledged as the most accurate and most comprehensive available, derived by a census of total promotional products sales from 19,000 ASI distributor members.

Furthermore, the growth of the promotional products industry has outpaced the growth rate of the U.S. economy as a whole. The U.S. Gross Domestic Product, while healthy, posted a 3.5 percent gain in 2005. This figure declined from 4.2 percent in 2004.

The bottom line - promotional products bring results.

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