Who doesn't love the crisper days and evenings starting in September that herald the football season? Sitting in bleachers, wearing team colors and team flags, wrapped in a blanket, with the apple cider in the thermos, following the fight songs from the cheerleading squad and supporting your team β for many, this activity becomes highly anticipated in August and when the first game occurs, it's a major event.
And football season is the beginning, really. There's also soccer, followed by basketball and hockey, where fans and local team supporters show their allegiance with a variety of colorful ways, followed by baseball season. Indeed, sports are a year-round activity β and business.
The beauty about diving into the sports cheer market is that it weaves together both the teams and the entire community. For example, seat cushions β always a popular promotional product β can feature the team logo/mascot on one side and local business advertising on the other, serving as a terrific booster and fundraising project. By working with the school teams, you would also be expanding to local businesses that pledge their pride and support in those teams, plus open doors to many other promotional products for those businesses to promote their own services and products. This is always something to cheer about β and promote β a win-win!
Katharina Pieper of Bam Bams observes, "People are always looking for new innovative products, especially in the fan/cheer market. As more and more events ban noisemakers, the trend has shifted to eye catchy and funky new cheer products that attract attention without loud noise such as jersey shaped rally towels, team sleeves, fan apparel such as jacquard scarves or our new Bammie β the multi-use headwear."
Pepco Promotional Products offers promo products for fans and cheerleading squads alike. Pepco's pom poms are composed of a number of high quality materials including plastic, metallic, wet-look or vinyl, holographic and other unique materials like zebra patterned, iridescent and metallic flare. All pom materials are completely waterproof, shed-proof and fade resistant. As an example, the Zebra Poms feature a zebra print on metallic or fluorescent material. Show sizes feature 1,000 - 3/4" wide streamers in lengths of 4", 5", 6", 7", 8", 10", 12" and 15". Show Lite poms have 500 streamers in lengths of 4", 5" and 6". Mix these colors with other metallic, plastic or Wet-Look materials to create your own unique look. The Super Wide Poms, another example, feature 2" wide streamers and are available in 4", 5", 6", 7", 8" and 10" lengths. Available in solid, mixed and glitter styles.
Cheerleading teams can also be outfitted with cheer phones. These bright and colorful Cheerleader Megaphones are made of molded plastic and available in 17 team colors and four sizes. Each megaphone comes with its own steel handle and an aluminum mouthpiece. And then there are the adorable shoe poms. "Add more spirit to your team with our Shoe Poms," expresses Jeanna Abercombie of Pepco. Made of either plastic or metallic material, these poms come with a twist tie secured firmly in the center so they can be attached to your shoes or pony tail. Available in four sizes 4", 8", 12" and 24" sizes in solid or two color mix pom styles only. All shoe poms come pre-fluffed. 12 piece minimum per order and color combination.
Over at Pizzazz Wear, cheer teams may be outfitted with team logoed and colored cheer skirts and tops. Choose from the US 10 and US 15 Pizzazz A-Line Uniform Skirt, US 30 and US 35 Pizzazz Pleated Uniform Skirt, and the US 80 and US 85 Pizzazz SuperNova Uniform Skirt; for tops, there's the UT 40 and UT 45 Victory Uniform Shell, UT 50 and UT 55 Intensity Uniform Shell, and the UT 70 and UT 75 SuperNova Uniform Shell. The looks can be enhanced with a wide variety of imprintable hair bows, as Bill Older of Pizzazz Wear points out which are necessary for those cheerleaders with longer hair to keep the hair secure while performing.
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The latest fan/cheer product Bam Bams is the Bammie, which Pieper says is multi-use headwear that can be printed in any color on the entire area. "This is such a fun and multifunctional product especially for the cheer and fan market," she comments. "End-users can use the Bammie as a bandana, scarf, rally towel, headband, face mask, hairband, hair scrunchie and more. It keeps the wearer stylish at every game or event; also, it keeps fans warm during colder weather or at hockey games as well as cool in the summer."
Pepco Poms offers fun fan items, such as hitch covers. "These Hitch Covers appeal to all sports fans who like to show their spirit 'on the road,'β Abercombie describes. "Available in 23 spirited shapes and up to eight popular sports colors, their sturdy and functional designs fit most two inch receivers. Imprint your team logo or message on any of these designs and you will have your own mini traveling billboard."
The company also offers car magnets. Designed to adhere to a vehicle door or other metal surface, these car magnets affix and remove easily, unlike messy decals or stickers. Printed on 30 mil magnetic sheeting covered with a white matte finish, choose any design and either a traditional screen print, available in standard colors of ink, or our all-new digital four-color process imprint, which allows for a greater range of colors and design. Both processes produce a high quality image that is waterproof, fade resistant and is designed for long lasting outdoor use.
"Nothing says it's party time like a party hat!" Abercombie exudes. "Foam Visors are an inexpensive and festive way to celebrate any occasion. They are perfect for parties, charity functions or sporting events. Made of colored, flexible polyurethene, they stretch to fit almost any size head. Imprint your team or message to further commemorate the event." She adds that the company also provides foam novelty mitts and wavers.
Garyline offers the 13.5" Fabric Stadium Cushion with Pocket (PCUSHIP). Feel comfortable and enjoy every game this season with the new deluxe polyester fabric stadium cushion. This cushion is available in three great colors that are sure to stand out in a crowd. The latest design features a new water resistant program pocket. This lavish product is phthalate compliant 210D polyester fabric. Also from Garyline is the (FTALON) foam talon cheering mitt for those teams epitomizing the fearlessness of such raptors as eagles, hawks, ospreys and more. This 14" bird claw is available in 11 vibrant colors, and in seven other sports and animal related styles. "With our wide selection of cheering mitts, itβs a perfect way to match our product with your team mascot, event theme or school colors. Prepare for game season and proudly cheer on your team in style," describes Scott Denny of Garyline.
"We have realized the importance of case studies and showing your customer how and where products can be used," relates Pieper. "Showing a product online, via a sample, or on a flyer is one step, but explaining to the user what they can do with the product and how it will benefit, is even more important. Itβs good to have an extensive fan/cheer program rather than just one product because people come back and look for ideas and variations. We live in such a fast changing environment that people need changes and one has to adapt quickly. Because of this, a supplier and thus a distributor need to keep up with the changes and keep an eye out for new and trending products."