Lanyards & Badges

Lanyard and badges are essential items in certain industries, and suppliers are doing their part to make sure these items are interesting and engaging with enhancements such as full color, sublimation, and unusual shapes and materials. Options such as these not only make a unique statement but raise the level of personalization to a whole new level. Demand for these items is steady due to the need for branded identification for marketing and security purposes, identification at trade shows and events, and identification for new employees.

Clients also want these products quickly, according to Eric Johnson of Halls & Company. “The most dominant trends are speed and variable data,” he says. “So many want the event tags and badges so much faster than ever before due to last-minute implementation and workload. Many times this is the forgotten piece of the event puzzle. On the variable data, personalization is the key to connecting with the attendees—like in the hit series Cheers—where everybody knows your name. Knowing a name is the first part of building a relationship.” To that end, the ability to customize the badge or tag on-site and by the wearer of the product, such as chalkboard, is growing in possibility. “The person wearing the product can truly make it their own!” he adds.

Flu season buttons are on trend and will be throughout the winter, Joe Durand of LarLu Mfg. asserts. “Messages such as, ‘Got Hands, Wash Them’ for hospitals or buttons on retail chains/pharmacy have associates wearing buttons promoting the ‘flu shot’ if they provide this service,” he comments.

Over at Athena Promo, Steve Davis states that most distributors still gravitate toward the basic polyester lanyards since they are such a great value for their clients. “Dye-sublimated, all over print lanyards are the hot trend for customers who really want to make an impact at a marketing event,” he says. “The dye-sublimated lanyards aren't much more expensive and they take the customer's branding and visual impact to another level. I would recommend dye-sublimated as it has the real wow factor.” Fields Mfg.’s Matt Wagner adds that full-color decoration continues to be the rising trend due to changes in other media design.

Josh Robbins of Vault Promo believes that a common theme with lanyards and badges is ongoing usage. “Generally, anyone can process an order for name badges as a one-time bulk order for an event or initial roll-out,” he comments. “Things get a little stickier when it's an ongoing need and that same client just hired a new staff member and now needs one badge. It's not worth the time involved to sell it, and it's extremely expensive for the person buying it. This is a very common pain in relation to this item. The best solution or ‘trend’ for us to relieve this is a release and fulfillment program.” This program allows a client to purchase badges in bulk quantities, at bulk pricing. Then the client receives a custom website for them to easily order stock from the prepaid inventory. 

When it comes to new and best-selling lanyards and badges, Robbins at Vault Promo remarks that while simple engraved plastics used to be the staple in this item line, full-color, digital printing processes are rising in popularity recently. “Not only are they far superior in allowing a number of design elements and brand extension, in most cases, they are cheaper,” he comments. “Non-traditional materials are also taking off a bit, including wooden badges, leather badges, and chalkboard type badges etc.”

Johnson at Halls & Company points out that what is new is also what is old. “Traditional products still have their place with new flares to them,” he elaborates. “Shapes are popular, full color is popular and ‘different’ is popular—meaning we sell a lot of wood badges and tags—they still have the printed or lasered logo and personalization.” He adds that tech companies love the wood option.

Athena Promo’s Davis notes that high-end badges with four-color prints are very popular, with budget AP polyester lanyards the company’s best seller. High-visibility colors are new at LarLu—including HV yellow and HV orange on lanyards, according to Durand.

To sell lanyards/badges to clients, suppliers have plenty of helpful suggestions. Vault Promo’s Robbins recommends to always sell a badge program, not a badge order. “It’s the only way to sell badges profitably and without driving yourself mad,” he explains. “Another suggestion/point is that many times, these orders are sourced outside of normal channels. So, while most of your promo goods are purchased through marketing and advertising departments, name badges are generally sourced through HR departments.” Robbins says this can be an extremely useful tool as it allows distributors to sell through another department within the same company, tap into a different budget within existing clients’ companies, or even get a foot in the back door of a company the distributor has tried to sell to.

“I would also come into any presentation with a demo ordering portal set-up so you can present them with a sample, and then take them through a quick demo of how they would order their badges in the future online,” Robbins adds. “Generally seeing the ease of online ordering makes the client much more likely to purchase.”

Athena Promo’s Davis sees these products as an “easy” sell since they are useful for any corporate event or tradeshow. “If your customers have events or go to tradeshows, they should always be given some lanyard options to choose, including the upscale premium dye sublimated style,” he comments. “Also remember to always find out if they need accessories like badge holders, badges, or special clips. How can you serve as a consultant and navigate your customer through the decision-making process and avoid an abandoned sale due to confusion and complications?”

Davis recommends that distributors perform a needs assessment on the clients—identifying what the most practical solution in material, attachment, and decoration options, and then present the lanyard and badge options in a clear and concise format.

Durand of LarLu Mfg. recommends high visibility lanyards for construction professionals who are required to wear name badges/security fobs. “The ‘high vis’ lanyards tie into their safety color code!” he remarks.

Selling badges and tags in today’s environment is as simple as making the ask, Johnson of Halls & Company concludes. “Ask them if they need a badge—if you are selling the lanyard, make sure you ask about the part that goes at the end of the lanyard,” he says. “The two products should go together like peanut butter and jelly.”

Case Studies

Josh Robbins, Vault Promo

Our Nationwide Retirement community client needed name badges for its office staff, community staff, and residents. Each community had a different logo, however, so there was a total of 50-plus different badge designs. On top of that, they needed the ability to order badges one at a time as new employees were hired or new residents arrived. With 50 different badges, compounded by the ability of needing to order them on demand in small runs, the distributor wasn’t sure where to start.

Our solution was the Vault Online Release Program and custom branded ordering website. Badges were purchased in bulk by the client to lock in high quantity pricing and were preprinted with all common information/graphics and stored. We set up an end-user friendly site that allowed the client to easily log in, select the location needing badges, enter the personalization, and confirm the locations ship to address. Once they processed the order, the badges are pulled, completed with the appropriate location info and personalizations, and shipped out as few as one at a time within 24 hours. Usage reports based on location are easily accessible online—allowing the client to easily pull data for a specific time range and bill internally for each location’s usage.

This system has allowed our distributor partner to easily process large replenishment orders without the headache of needing to be involved in each release/transaction. It also saved the client a huge amount of money as they were able to buy in large quantities at bulk pricing instead of small one- and two-piece orders across multiple locations, without the added work, invoicing and paperwork required with their previous vendor.

The Vault Online Release Program helps in many cases when on-demand, ongoing ordering is required. With the ability to custom brand the site to the distributor or end-user, it helps make badge orders painless and profitable for our distributor partners.

Matt Wagner, Fields MFG

During the summer months, many organizations plan their company retreat, summit, or conference. A large tech company invited staff from various divisions to attend the summit and the launch of their rebranding. For security purposes, ID badges were issued but they also needed a way to easily identify and differentiate each division. Color-coded lanyards were used to segment each division while holding their new full-color badges. With the event fast approaching, a quick turn solution was necessary to meet the event date and the new logo required full-color capability. Fields MFG offers their best-selling full-color lanyard (#HWS3/4) in a free 24-hour rush service and because those are produced 100 percent in-house, it shipped out of their conveniently located midwest facility for a quick transit and affordable freight options.