How We Helped A Hollywood Blockbuster Movie

Mmmm – well OK – maybe it wasn’t a ‘blockbuster’, and maybe having been shot entirely on location in the UK it wasn’t ‘Hollywood’, but with an estimated budget of £11m, it certainly wasn’t small change either.

Film crew party needs promotional gifts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s not every day we get a call from a film crew production team – so it certainly grabbed our attention when this call came through.

The first ‘St Trinians’ film was a storming success, so it was only a matter of time before filming began on the follow-up – ‘St Trinian’s 2: The Legend of Fritton’s Gold‘. Filmed on location in England, my company, RT Promotions received the call for help for creating a goody bag for the ‘wrap’ party…..

At the end of every film shoot, there’s a bit of a bash to celebrate the end of all the hard work (of course, there’s the small matter of all the post production work still to be done), and that’s where we were able to help.

The film was fast approaching the end of filming and our challenge, was to come up with a range of promotional gifts that would be put into goody bags for the actors and crew.

Working to a budget (nowhere near the estimated £11m it took to produce), we put together an entertaining collection of ‘goodies’, all in keeping with the schoolgirl humour.

One of the items is shown here. It’s a fridge magnet, that’s designed to break apart into lots of separate magnets…. so your fridge becomes covered in lots of words, which, in true schoolgirl fashion, can be reconstructed into naughty or suggestive phrases.

It all went exceedingly well – so Hollywood, here we come!!!

Promotional Fridge Magnet Word Game

I’ve Moved

I’ve decided to move the blog onto my website, and would love you to keep in touch, so follow this link, to the all-new Blog, entitled Promotional Gifts Blog. It’s the same style of content, all from me, Richard Mack, just in a different location.

Making Christmas Parties Memorable

It’s that time of year. If you’ve not yet seen any Christmas decorations or gifts in the shops, you soon will. My business (RT Promotions) is all about helping clients find the right promotional gift. The whole point of giving a corporate gift is to be remembered (for all the right reasons), and of course Christmas is a brilliant time to say ‘thank you’ to your customers and staff. Which brings me to Christmas parties.

Many of you will be going to an endless stream of Christmas dinner parties. Some will be black tie events while others may be a table booked at the local pub/restaurant. There’ll be silly hats, turkey and stuffing aplenty, too much wine, inappropriate comments, and those ridiculous Christmas crackers. But when you leave to go home, what will you take with you?

The savvy organiser will ensure you have a gift or token to leave with. A simple reminder and a permanent ‘thank you’. Now these gifts can take all forms, from a quality gift, perhaps a ladies compact mirror or a pen and perfume gift set, through to a low cost gesture gift. My business caters for all of these items, all branded and personalised to your own personal requirements, but I wanted to show you something a little different, a little quirky.

I’d like you to consider these little table decorations.

Christmas Table Decorations

In the form of a snowman, these little characters ‘light up’ and then change colour. We brand them on the chest area, and have worked with companies that use them for their Christmas corporate events. We can even add individual names (at no extra cost) allowing you to use them as place settings.

Picture the scene. Your guests are in the bar (aren’t they always?) enjoying a pre-dinner drink, the atmosphere is buzzing, the ladies look fab, and the guys have scrubbed up well. At the appointed time, the organiser gets their attention and invites them to go through to be seated. They walk past the seating plans and enter the dining area. The lighting is subdued, and the tables are aglow with a series of glowing snowmen, each with a corporate logo and a guests name on. Ahhhhhhhhhh……. how nice!!!

You’ve certainly set the scene for a function that will be fun, yet also personal. Putting someone’s name onto a gift is a sure fire way to ensure its kept and not just given away.

Now some may moan and say ‘waste of money’, but let me tell you, come the end of the evening, there wont be any left on the tables amongst all of the Christmas cracker rubbish, they’ll be pocketed and on their way home, serving as an annual reminder of that GREAT Christmas dinner party.

A Dragon Holding Lipstick?

I had an opportunity to do some gratuitous self-promotion the other evening and grabbed it with BOTH hands. I was at an event in Bournemouth where self-made businessman Theo Paphitis was taking part in the Bournemouth Literary Festival during which he signed copies of his book “Enter The Dragon”. 

Dragon holding lipstick

Theo has sprung to fame in the UK through his role as one of the “Dragons” on Dragons Den, a popular TV series on the BBC that sees business entrepeneurs pitching their business proposition before a panel of experts/dragons. If successful, they leave with an investment of the Dragons own money, if not, its a flea in the ear!!!

Theo has published a book, “Enter The Dragon”, detailing his road to success, and was in town for a taste of his own medicine with an on-stage grilling of his own. He was interviewed by local businessman Steve Worth, owner and MD of Easy Tax.

The interview took place on stage at the packed Opera House night club venue in Boscombe, where Steve and Theo kept the audience entertained for several hours before Theo got down to the more serious business of signing copies of his book. (Great read by the way).

That’s where the fun really began with all kinds of photo opportunities presenting themselves to the various businesses present….. naturally I was in the audience on behalf of my business, RT Promotions, and knew a good opportunity when I saw one.

One of our clients, Linda Parkinson-Hardman (MD of Grow a Better Business) was in the queue to get her book signed, and needed a pen…. I leapt to the rescue and offered Linda a pen for the signing. Never one to miss an opportunity, the pen that I gave to Linda was one of our top selling Lipstick Pens, a promotional pen that was sure to catch the eye of the “seen-it-all” Dragon. The photo shows Linda waiting and watching while Theo signs her book, with, the LIPSTICK BALLPEN…. yes, he did!!!

Lipstick Ballpen

See our close up detail shot for further proof and of the pen in use.

We’ve had a great response to these neat little promotional giveaway pens, that look like a lipstick application pen, but are actually proper working pens, with a twist. It’s that twist that makes all the diference though. There’s a time and a place for a normal pen, and there’s a time and a place for a pen to bring a smile to your face. That’s what I call ‘memory hook marketing’, you’ll find it much harder to forget me and my company and the services we offer, and that, as they say, is a RESULT!!!

A Launch Party Event with an extra Sparkle!!!!

My business is all about making your business remembered. Clients that simply want a ‘pen’ often purchase a GREAT pen, and as long as the item does its job and gets a Return On Investment, we all win. After all, it’s never happened to me yet that a client comes to us wanting a pen, mousemat, coffee mug, or whetever, simply to use as a pen, mousemat, or coffee mug. They are using it with their message on, to get a result. It almost doesn’t matter what the product is, its the result it brings that matters. At RT Promotions, it’s what we refer to as ‘Memory Hook Marketing’.

We worked with a client on the run up to Christmas who were having a series of events parties. These were big deals, with a lot of money being spent to get the right people to attend, ensuring the venue was right, themed correctly, and with superb catering. They came to us for some goodie bags, printed balloons, novelties, etc and we were happy to oblige, but I was fortunate to have the opportunity to chat to the organiser. We got to chat about the theme, and the overall atmosphere they were wanting to create, and I made a suggestion that they have since told me “got the whole event off with a swing“.