It was noted by the public and medium for the first ever recorded instance of promotional products marketing in the modern society. George Washington, turning to the first President of the United States produced custom printed button badges which bore his likeness and slogans. These buttons were eagerly snapped up by the public and became talismans and mementoes of an important point in American history as much as they were a cost effective and great way to promote the candidate’s campaign. It seems that some ideas never diminish in effectiveness and popularity as a major part of every political campaign in the USA is still the production of promotional button badges.
A large number of organizations have taken up the baton of promotional products marketing over the centuries. Actually, all through human history custom made badges have been made as a way of identification and celebration of some aspect of human society. Archeologists say that the desire for adornment became apparent amongst the first technical and societal advances in human society. Amongst the first artifacts uncovered in archeological digs which did not relate directly to hunting and the provision of sustenance are small badge like designs which it is assumed people used as a means of signaling rank and personal interests. In this respect not much has changed, as promotional badges today are manufactured and distributed for the aim of promoting a cause or registering membership of an organization or the wearer’s support for a cause.
There is a normal community based organization, such as a local sports club or a charity group which does good work in the local community. People tend to support these organizations, generally because they think there is a societal advantage which flows through to all segments of society in encouraging their work and activities. Of course, signaling their virtuous support is also a significant reason for making a financial contribution to promote the organization. This is where an organization can leverage significant value from producing custom badges. Because the process of manufacturing a badge is pretty intuitional and cheap in terms of final unit cost community organizations do not have to dip too deeply into their budgets which can be utilized for the real purpose for which the organization exists.
Therefore, as things seem to progress in truth the motivations and behaviors of people don’t really change, they only adapt to the environment. While we seem to exist in a world of constant change in this day and age and over stimulation this is a powerful reason for a company to invest in promotional badges rather than look towards a more complicated electronic solution to the problem of building brand identity. While static and confusion seem to build through the marketing environment something as easy and direct as a promotional custom made badge printing your company logo could be a nice way to create a point of stability in an otherwise tumultuous sea of promotional messaging.
