Hello Kitty Celebrates 40th Anniversary with Commemorative Plates

To celebrate 40 years of Hello Kitty, the brand has released commemorative plates the iconic mascot. Hello Kitty is one of the most iconic Japanese brands, it is only appropriate that for their 40th anniversary that the brand image would be heavily promoted. These plates were part of a POS display found in many convenience stores and were offered as part of a purchase with purchase promotion.

Hello Kitty Celebrates 40th Anniversary with Commemorative Plates

Purchase with purchase promotions allow for a brand to partner with stores for promotions, this a mutual gain for Hello Kitty and the convenience stores where their products are sold. Alongside this is the POS display, which is neat and with attention focused on the promotional plate. A customer, noticing the attractive POS display, will be required to make a purchase first with the convenience store, then they can purchase the Hello Kitty promotional plate.

Air New Zealand celebrates 75th Anniversary

Air New Zealand recently celebrated their 75th anniversary in Los Angeles, to celebrate ANZ offered up 75 free flights in a one-day-only promotion. Flights were made available to London, New Zealand and Australia. The carrier handed out faux boarding passes throughout the day, with passengers stepping up to the pop-up ticket counter to see if they had got a lucky ticket. 

Air New Zealand celebrates 75th Anniversary

Marketing approaches such as this are very common in the airline industry. It helps to increase brand awareness and recognition. Also by offering free tickets to such far flung destinations, there will be a lot of buzz generated through sharing of the competition. The airline business is incredibly competitive so ANZ, by taking this unique approach, should have long term benefits from very little cost. 

Anchor Entertainment Anniversary Giveaway

Anchor Entertainment, a leader in home movie entertainment, has recently celebrated their 20^th Anniversary at Comic-Con San Diego. Attendees were invited to take pictures with a customized walker from AMC’s “The Walking Dead”. In honour of Anchor Entertainment’s 20th Anniversary, there were multiple opportunities to win various DVDs from the Anchor Bay catalogue and a limited edition “The Walking Dead” Guitar. Further items available  included “The Walking Dead” / “Black Sails” bags, “Aquarius/A LEGO Brickumentary” buttons. This type of giveaway is common in the entertainment industry and has multiple benefits.

Anchor Entertainment's 20th Anniversary Display

Firstly it increases brand recognition for their products, for example all attendees will be given free promotional products. During Comic-Con, those who had these products displayed their giveaways to other attendees, thus marketing the Anchor entertainment brand. 

Furthermore there was buzz generated by being able to take photos with props and winning prizes that were only available at Anchor’s presentation. Therefore if attendees wished to do to be a part of these activities, they had to visit Anchor’s presentation.  This is a fantastic example of marketing your product at a cheap cost with long term benefits, through word of mouth and attendees sharing their photos. 

New Braunfels anniversary glass

New Braunfels Brewing Company from Texas recently celebrated their 2nd anniversary by throwing a big party. People who bought tickets did not only receive access to limited beer released and live music, but also a commemorative anniversary glass as shown in the picture. This type of giveaway is common in the alcohol industry and serves a lot of purposes.

New Braunfels anniversary glass

First of all it incentivizes purchase and makes people more likely to attend the event if something will be given away. To enhance this, the companies usually only make the products available at the event, meaning that if you want it you have no choice but to attend. It also improves brand awareness. People who see the glass will be reminded of the brand and will be more likely to purchase their products. This means that it works as a long-term type of advertising for a relatively low cost making it a good marketing tool.

Disneyland's diamond anniversary giveaway

This year celebrates 60 years since the opening of Disneyland, an anniversary year traditionally associated with diamonds. Disney has also made this the theme of the celebrations and planned a number of diamond inspired promotions. A large number of unique merchandise has been created for this event - some even containing real diamonds.

To provide more incentive for customers to visit the themepark - Disney has decided to give some of these away. Every day, customers visiting Disneyland, will have a chance to win these by entering a competition online. This is free of charge and anyone can enter. The prices include t-shirts, phone covers, and so on, with the most coveted giveaway being a Cinderella slipper with a diamond and topaz pendant.

Disneyland's diamond anniversary giveaway

These promotions have received a lot of attention from fans and media worldwide. Giveaways such as this provide an excellent opportunity to both celebrate your anniversary while also increasing brand awareness. This is a good example of a company using promotional gifts in a successful way.

John Moore: Celebrating 50 years by giving back to the community

In celebration of their 50th anniversary, John Moore, from Houston, Texas has decided to give something back to the community that has supported them throughout the years. The company which normally deals with home repair services has given out books and teddybears to kids in underprivileged areas.

The children receiving their toys

One of the main reasons for the giveaway was to support literacy in their community. The book tells a story about "Buddy the Home Repair Bear" which illustrates how everyone can be a hero by helping others. It also has another message about the importance of home repair services, something that the company thought was important to educate the kids about. Not only has this been good for the kids but also for the company that has received a lot of good publicity for their charitable work. This is one example of how promotional gifts can be used as an effective marketing tool.

The Nationals: 10th Anniversary Promotional Gifts

Being a relatively new team in the MLB, Washington DC's 'the Nationals' celebrates their 10th anniversary this year. Being formed in 2005, the team has reached a lot of success in the last few years, winning major league titles in 2012 and 2014. The team decided to celebrate their anniversary by releasing a wide range of promotional products throughout the year. In a smart move to increase attendance at games, these products will be given out for free to the first 10,000 people who show up. Promotional gifts are a popular marketing strategy for companies and a good way to increase publicity for events and launches.

Bobbleheads of famous players throughout the years

Products will range from bobbleheads to stationery sets, bottle stoppers and commemorative coins. This campaign has got a lot of publicity from the press, and fans are very excited about the celebrations which will also include events such as tailgate parties and ladies nights.