Lanyards are the ultimate item for holding and carrying badge ID cards. The most popular method is the simple soft plastic wallet, with a hole cut through the top to allow for a lanyard fitting to be placed through for carrying the wearers identification cards etc.

Other companies will elect to use a custom made laminate card with a hole through the main material for fitting the lanyard, this provides a much more up market and professional look but does not allow the interchangeable flexibility of a plastic wallet card holder.

Lanyards usually come in a variety of widths and shapes from the 4mm bootlace material to the 25mm flat pressed material which allows for printing of the conference logo or the credentials of the wearer,VIP, Staff Etc. Flat lanyards are excellent for using at a conference even if you are running a stall at an event they can act as a giveaway item or a promotional item to get your logo out and about at the convention.

Whatever the use, your conference lanyards can serve as a promotional marketing item for brand awareness, a giveaway item or a security identification item.

Silk Screen Printing

Wikipedia Describes Silk Screening as “A printing technique that uses a woven mesh to support an ink-blocking stencil. The attached stencil forms open areas of mesh that transfer ink as a sharp-edged image onto a substrate. A roller or squeegee is moved across the screen stencil, forcing or pumping ink past the threads of the woven mesh in the open areas.”

Screen printing is a very effective method of imprinting lanyards, while this method might be simple it is indeed an art when carried out correctly. The first step is when the design is finalised a large print out is traced to make a stencil. Acid is then used along with this stencil to form the print area being used with the silk screen, the acid burns through the silk and forms the design being used for print.

Once this stage is completed the ink and pantone colours are mixed and formed to the correct CMYK colours. The screen is placed over the material which must be millimetre perfect to ensure print location and conformity.

Ink is then placed on a blade and smeared across the print screen to transfer the print onto the lanyard material, lifting the screen away from the lanyard carefully and precisely is crucial otherwise print can smudge or flake off the lanyard.

The Printing method is used on a myriad of materials which may include but are not limited to: Polyester,  Nylon, Cotton, PET, Bamboo Fibre, Plant hemp and Milk Protein extract cotton. Silk screening is the most popular method of transferring designs from a desktop publishing application to a traditional printed media such as Lanyards, caps,towels or other promotional items.

Dye Sublimating (Photo Printing)

Dye sublimation is created using the 4 colour process principle CMYK ( Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and K index.)  The Lanyard material lengths are loaded into a dispenser and then rolled onto a large real.

The design is programmed into the machine using computer software that reproduces the colour model perfectly. The material proceeds down a production line, passing through a small device which transfers the design onto the polyester material. The process appears seamless however many complications can arise if all machinery is not configured correctly & calibrated within a millimetre tolerance.

See our next article where I will explain heat transfer imprinting. Which is a half blend of silk screening and dye sublimation.

Nylon

Nylon lanyards are flat and smooth, they offer a high lustre finish with a sort of shine effect to them. They are a lot tighter woven than other materials and in turn provide a very good printing surface for silk screen printing or heat transfer imprint. This is excellent for highly complex logo designs and small text printing that is often required for brand guidelines.

Polyester

Polyester is by far the most popular material for manufacturing lanyards. Polyester is made from a type of poly ethylene, meaning if the lanyard should be subjected to high heat they simply melt instead of catching fire and burning the wearer. Polyester is a highly durable material that can be screen printed in up to 4 colours. However because of the weave, printing can sometimes appear mottled and many low quality mass produced lanyards can display material actually coming through the print.

Recycled Bamboo Fibre

Bamboo fibre is a material made from recycled bamboo stems, the plants are shredded and then woven into a very smooth, nylon like material. This can be imprinted and then customised in many ways including dyed to any colour and then custom imprinted over the top. Bamboo is highly popular alternative for people wishing to use earth friendly promotional lanyards to promote their organisation.

Recycled PET Lanyards

Again these lanyards manufactured from recycled water bottles & recycled plastic cups have become more popular than using standard polyester material. Recycled PET is a wonderful material that can be customised in many many ways including dye sublimating full photographic images and up to 256 thousand colour designs & gradients. PET dye sublimation offers companies an alternative to the boring old single colour lanyard designs we usually see.

Milk Protein Fibre

I have written about milk protein lanyards before, however I will recap: Milk Protein is a way of recreating the material that spiders use to weave their webs. A fibre made from extracting various proteins from milk and then wet spinning into a material. Milk protein is available in white only because of its make, it does not absorb dye however they are naturally very white unlike many materials that have a yellow faded shade to them.

I will continue this article in the next couple of days and explain the different pro’s and cons of other materials.

How you ask? well we integrate various small “promotional” items and give away gifts that come specially branded with your message or slogan and web address or contact details. This remains with a person for a long period of time making your company easily accessible for anybody needing your service, the item also gets displayed to friends or colleagues of the recipient.

Promotional products will help drag in new customers; people are often open minded when attending various events, why not have a promotional gift item at the ready for these people to take home as a keepsake.

Promotional premiums will also keep existing customers happy and convey a sense of gratitude making your clients feel valuable to your business therefore encouraging them to come back to your company. Promotional gifts will always show that your company cares and this makes people want to buy your product.

Also ensuring you are always at the front of a persons mind, always in their memory banks. Or depending on your targeted customer a desk item will have your product or brand in view all day long, desk items include notepad holders, pens and other office type products that get used all day long.

I could delve into what kind of promotional item suits your company the best but that is an entirely different subject for another day, have a good hard think about what kind of audience you wish to captivate and direct to your brand. Promotional items create a synergy within your marketing campaign, A gift works to promote a brand, a brand works to promote a web address a website promotes a product and the product generates money!  for a very little cost these items return huge benefits.

Promotional items are not just for the big brands, you too can utilise the benefits of promotional items.  They give you a chance to show people how innovative and outgoing your business can be, & most of all they tell people you are not all about making a quick dollar and forgetting your customer.

Tip: try and be different, too many companies have round pin badges made with a message around them. While quote classy and classic these items do not catch the eye as much as other items, Try being innovative and creating something that has never been done before.

Remember, ideas are free, use as many as you can when producing a promotional premium for your business, the better the idea the more buzz you can generate.

I will use an example of this humble card holder. CocaCola have a brilliant logo. It is simple, yet recognisable and is easily displayed on an item of all sizes. From small to large.

What can we notice about the item above:

• It is small yet stands out.
• Made in a Bright colour, with a contrasting print colour.
• The item is used daily by bartenders, staff and people in many workplaces. (eg: being displayed all day long)
• The item is related to their product in some form. CocaCola being a drink and this card holder often being used by bar staff.

When choosing the design of your promotional item make sure you do not use a small, overly complicated designs unless it is part of your branding scheme and it is really necessary. This not only makes it harder to view your logo and core message. It also works out expensive – A no win result.

Handing out a promotional item with your website address and a catchy one liner or logo design can yield huge benefits and also inspire people to find out more about your business.

With website business people are always slightly hesitant to purchase or divulge any information because of trust issues and other security matters. If a person has a material promotional item in hand with your brand inscribed they are ten times more likely to trust your organisation.

Small give away items are brilliant, and for such a small outlay promotional items can return so much, besides the obvious website traffic and revenue they can build an awareness of your brand and get people talking about a product that you provide.

Or if you are looking to spend slightly more, handy electronics items are fantastic and offer much more usability in the grand scheme of things they last a lot longer in peoples offices, homes and at various events.

Excellent example of a website promotional item, Promo badges with your website address and logo

See our links menu to the right for some handy links to promotional items and various online stores where you can purchase your promotional items, from small items that cost only cents to fully featured banners and promotional paraphernalia.

However A lot of people have been turning to eco promotional items for their Promotional campaigns. eco friendly lanyards are biodegradable and do not clutter up landfills and do not break down into the earth until the wearer has disposed of them and they have been buried for a weeks.

Yes, eco friendly lanyards will break down into soil within just a few weeks of being buried, and they offer the same if not better branding options, But don’t get me wrong they wont disintegrate around your neck; they have to be buried for any decomposition to take place.

Our Eco Lanyards offer the same promotional branding options as normal lanyards but without the use of virgin raw materials. For example the PET Dyesub Lanyard can be printed with full photographic gradients and up to a thousand different colour blend, All while being manufactured from recycled bottles. While our ever popular bamboo fibre lanyard can be printed in up to 4 colour and offers clean crisp screen print. Who would have thought a security and ID carrying item could be made from bamboo stems!

Other companies are doing it so why not get onboard and promote your company with eco friendly lanyards. Promote your brand while promoting our carbon footprint.

Earth friendly promotional items are recyclable, sustainable and usually biodegradable. They can be printed with a logo or branding sometimes using screen print, or embossing / stamping etc. The brilliant thing about earth friendly promotional items is not only the message they promote, or the fact that people find them far more interesting and a far greater keepsake, It is that they will break down if thrown away and do not clutter up our planet.

Earth friendly pencils, pens, keyrings, lanyards, drink bottles and just about anything plastic you can think of can be reproduced from recycled plastic. and hundreds of other earth friendly items are all being produced this way by innovative companies within Australia.

Things to remember are wether the item is truly biodegradable or made up of a certain percentage of earth friendly matter, if the earth friendly item will hold your printed logo without it rubbing off and fading, And also if the item will actually last long enough to spread your message. Cheap earth friendly items are usually low quality items that fall apart before the recipient has even had a chance to use them! Terrible!

Some examples of earth friendly items include a pen manufactured from recycled plastic cups, that not only is made from recycled items but can then be melted down and re made into something else.

Or perhaps it is the innovative PET Lanyards made from recycled poly ethylene terepthelate! (Recycled cups to you and I!) this particular item can even be photo printed with your gradients and images.

A misconception that is all too common is that eco friendly items do not offer the same branding and customisation options as those made from virgin raw materials. This is no longer true! contact your promotional item retailer and see if they can manufacture you an earth friendly items campaign.

In the early 2000s, bracelets manufactured from silicon, with printed messages were worn to show support for various charities and organisations.

Silicon bracelets were made even more popular by the “LIVESTRONG” campaign launched in may 2004 as a fundraising item for the Lance Armstrong foundation. It did not take long for other charities and organisations to catch on and use printed and debosssed wristbands as a primary advertising medium.

Hundreds of USA, And Australian charities still utilise silicon bangles in there promotional campaign, with people like David Beckham, Prince harry and Jeremy Clarkson all sporting the “Help for heroes” Wristbands. Wristbands also have other benefits like being manufactured from 100% Hypo-allergenic silicon making them ideal for use in hospital and allergy awareness campaigns.

If your next promo is going to involve wristbands then there is a few things to consider when designing and ordering the items.

Printed wristbands: Printing guide

When printing on a silicon wristband there is a few guidelines we have to adhear to.
The maximum height of the print on a standard silicon wristband must be 10mm or it begins to come off the edges and parts of your text will go missing! not good for brand awareness, Most manufacturers can print complex logo’s on the wristbands, fonts and styles are also available.

So if these are going to cost you then we might aswell make them look awesome right? and there is no extra charge for print amounts (only extra colours).

If you have art or a logo you would like on the wristband then most wristband companies are more than happy to re-trace, touch up the logo and send you a visual preview of the final printed wristbands for your viewing pleasure!

Fonts are also a great way to mix up the printed wristbands, Choose a funky font from your computer or let them show you a few fonts that suit your wristbands purpose if your not fond of it then a good company will gladly change the design, Remember we offer free artwork amendment to all of our clients.

Summary.

1. Fill your Printed wristbands with as much print as possible its free!
2. Send us your logo and we will add it to the wristband design
3. Free visual preview before production with unlimited amendment
4. Choose a funky font to make your wristbands stand out
5. Print in any colour, choose a strong colour to make your message stick out!

Identify your audiance and target an item specifically that will be seen by that audiance!
for example if you are advertising a car dealership then promotional car air fresheners are perfect as they are hung from rear vision mirrors and various other spots in the car, making them visible all the time. Or if you are a sports club trying to raise money then something like drink bottles or sweatbands that will be kept and used all the time by sports people!

Make sure your logo can be printed clearly and visibly onto the item you are using.
It is a mistake I see too often. People manufacture a promotional item that does not have eye catching and and direct branding which are both a must have on promo items. Remember A Strong Logo and a Memerable Message will always stay in peoples minds.

Determine How Long the promotion will last.
If the items are for an event souvenir intended to encourage people to come to the next event then you will want a long lasting item, flags, caps or even t-shirts are all perfect for the job!. However if the promotion is only for a short time (a month or two) then don’t go overboard on budget if you don’t need to.

Leave enough time for the items to arrive.
Promotional items take anywhere from 7 days to 6 weeks to arrive, so make sure to get your orders in and approved within a certain amount of time, always allow time for hiccups like customs holding, shipping delays and manufacturing times. If your items are seriously urgent then be prepared to fork out for air express delivery.

Check, Check and Check again.
Promo Firms that know what they are doing supply an artwork called a “PrePress Sample” it is a document with printing dimensions, colours and logo placement illustrated. In most cases a client will need to approve the document for their order to be placed in production, This document will outline exactly what your items will look like. So if its wrong make sure you tell somebody!

Order in Bulk and save money.
If your budget allows for a larger quantity of items then I recommend it, single unit cost drops significantly when you order more promotional items, So if you plan on ordering a load of items then get them all at once rather than small order after small order, it works out a LOT cheaper in the long run. This can save mould costs too if the promo company charges tooling fee’s and such.

Lan what? lanyards?
Lanyards have been rather popular in recent years, for the rest of us who don’t know what they are. Lanyards are a strip of material with a clip sewn in that can be used to attach keys and photo ID, some people use them for car keys, others use them for ID Carrying combined with a retractable cord that can extend for swiping cards. They are an excellent promo item because people basically wear your logo around their neck while they carry keys and other bits and bobs. There are also some rather spiffy designs out there.

Ultra Cheap chinese suppliers.
Promotional items are usually made offshore and then braught into the country by people lucky enough to own or operate factories over there, however a lot of chinese suppliers advertise in Australia now and most of them are just a tad bit shonky, They do not offer return policy on most of their items, they only accept payment by western union a payment handling gateway popular overseas and then there is the obvious translation issues that are tied up with product conformity. Because these manufacturing groups are located outside Australia they are not required by law to adhear to Australian standards and quality guidelines.

Electronic Promotional Items.
USB Drives, MP4 players and portable music devices are all popular gadgets that people re-use on a constant basis because of this, printing your logo or message onto the front of a MP3 player can yield excellent brand awareness with people of all ages. Make sure you only order electronic items with TOP Grade mechanical parts and the CE Certification sticker.

Outdoor Events are a whole different ball game.
Outside events are usually things like, football games, golf and assorted concerts. There is a whole range of outdoor specific promotional items out their including plastic poncho’s, rain coats, Umbrellas, Whistles, and various waterproof items. These are much more suited to outside fundraisers and promo campaigns.

There are more tips available in part 2 of this guide so remember so remember to check back soon!