Promo - September 2008 - (Page 42)

Premiums & Incentives Continued from page 41 keting activities. And of course, the challenge of repairing the brand is of utmost concern. Clearly, whoever said any PR is good PR never had to deal with a recall. The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship has all these things in mind when it plans its annual international conference. “While we are careful to use eco-friendly venues and recycle as much as we can, we also work hard to ensure that the hundreds of books, bags and other giveaway items that we provide to the attendees are all ethically and environmentally manufactured,” says Cheryl Kiser, the group’s marketing director. “Yes, we have to be more proactive in this because of who we are. But, fortunately, now there are a number of vendors that support these requirements that any company can and should utilize more socially conscious promotional products.” With the vast majority of the promotional items being manufactured overseas, it is often hard to monitor and guarantee the processes used by a vendor or a vendor’s supplier. Despite the various agencies overseeing product safety, or perhaps because of them, product recalls are at an all-time high. Bamko’s Marz offers the following tips to help marketers ensure that their promotional items are as safe and responsible as possible to avoid painful recalls or other such liabilities: Always verify a vendor and their supplier(s). Make sure that your vendor provides manufacturing testing and auditing reports. In China, anyone can buy fraudulent testing and auditing reports quite easily. Therefore, make sure that your reports are legitimate by insisting your vendor use an established testing company such as SGS, Intertek, Bureau Veritas or UL. Ask for the address of the factory and offer to sign a non-solicitation agreement. If your vendor does not want to provide you with this critical info, it is probably a sign that your vendor is going through a middleman—not good on many counts. Perform a surprise inspection of the factory while they are in production, if you have the resources. If a vendor insists that the visit must be planned, this is a red flag. For around $300, you can have Asia Inspection (www.asiainspection.com) send an inspector directly to the factory floor, take pictures, and collect information on your behalf. Even if you don’t want to spring for the $300, the threat of a surprise inspection is generally enough to make a vendor’s true colors show through. You can hire a promotional products supplier to do the auditing work for you. Not every promotional company can or will do this, so it may be worthwhile to seek out one that can act as your agent in confirming that your manufactured products are safe and ethically produced. Corporate social responsibility touches everything in a company—from the internal and external communications to investor relations and the oftenoverlooked supply chain. While most companies continue to scurry looking for answers to how to make their products and corporate processes more ecofriendly, don’t forget to also consider your company’s marketing sourcing. Be it the paper you print collateral on or the giveaways at your next show, consider the implications of ignorantly ordering P inexpensive, branded tchotchkes. l Alyssa Dver is the chief executive of Mint Green Marketing. She can be reached at alyssadver@mintgreenmktg.com. HISPANIC PROMOTIONS CALL DJA! Remember, when it comes to Hispanic market promotions, at DJA sé habla Español! WHEN YOU’RE READY TO SET YOURS IN NEW YORK: 631.454.1800 � CALIFORNIA: 818.508.3000 www.dja.com � E-mail: information@dja.com 42 September 2008 / WWW.PROMOMAGAZINE.COM / Promo http://www.asiainspection.com http://www.asiainspection.com http://www.dja.com http://www.dja.com http://www.promomagazine.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Promo - September 2008

Promo - September 2008 Contents Editor's Note Consumer Driven Magic Makeover Free Flight Legal Checkup Lasting Impressions Pop A Shop Commentary Squeezed Q&A: Eco-Friendly Champagne Tastes Safety First Resource Center The Agency Center Web Marketing 101 Index of Advertisers

Promo - September 2008

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