Life's a (Promo) Beach

For many, especially on the East Coast, this past winter was too long, beginning in December with a frigid wave and finally ending in April with snow and cold. Visions of the beach and summer were plentiful but also came with a tinge of worry– was summer ever going to happen?

So, you can imagine how businesses are more intensely desirous of ushering in summertime with promotions that help end users enjoy their beach or poolside time.

 “With winter being very long this year, people cannot wait for the weather to warm up so they can have some fun in the sun,” agrees Aaron Bradley of TerryTown.  The supplier’s full-color sublimation capabilities allow distributors to provide creative designs that can only be done with sublimation. “Everyone is looking for a towel that’s ‘different’ that’s where our eye popping, vibrant full color towels come in. Pool functions and beach events are a place where distributors’ clients can advertise their brand while people are enjoying life. We always say, that’s the best time to advertise!”

Poolside, says Laura Lewis of Boca Terry, interest in lounge chair covers have increased greatly. Lounge chair covers allow for the use of fewer towels and they don’t slip down behind you or bunch up. Additionally, “all 100% cotton terry bathrobes are wonderful to use by water, they are absorbent and are durable and long lasting, needing less replacements. Our organic line of robes are eco-friendly, made of 100% certified organic cotton, providing an earth friendly item without chemicals near the skin,” she describes.

Keith Lofton of Pro Towels notes that round beach towels are a big trend in both our industry right now and in retail -- Amazon, Costco, Target, and others are all selling a lot of round towels. “People want something fun and different, and these are the trend right now,” he comments. “With such a large imprint area, it’s important to find creative ways to take advantage of that branding space so we have recreated some of our stock designs and we have some fun, summer, retail looks that will be easy for your client to drop in a logo and run,” he adds.

Beyond toting towels and other terry products, a day at the beach used to only require a chair, jug of something cold to drink, a bag of chips or lunch, and an umbrella. Now people are practically creating living rooms on the sand. This has given rise to a new term – “beachspreading.” It is no longer uncommon to see people gathered under tents with a host of products to while away the hours by the water.

However, “a family trip to the beach isn’t overwhelming with the right gear,” asserts Carrie Lewis of BIC Graphic. Useful items can add comfort and convenience to ensure the day is truly enjoyable and can serve as a bundle sale for you. For example, your client can give out a multi-function sand cup with bottle opener (#26079) that inserts into the sand to hold various items. Recipients can bring their lunches and snacks in the KOOZIE® Double-Compartment Kooler (#15804) which allows for separating food and beverages with room for up to 30 cans plus ice. You can also sell the O2Cool Carabiner Misting Fan (#26062) which clips onto the kooler to help stay cool and comfortable as the day heats up.

When speaking about promotions for the beach season, playing games should be a topic of interest. While many people love to just chill out with a book, others enjoy being active. “After a long winter people want to get out of the gym and enjoy warmer weather and sunshine while being active,” Carrie Lewis says. “Take a flyer (#10037) or a paddle beach set (#61936) to the shore for active fun beyond just swimming,” she suggests.

Paul Hanney of Garyline agrees, noting, “We are seeing trends lately towards flyers, especially for warm weather. We have many promotional flyers available including our professional flyer FLY175 Professional Flyer 175g, which is great for the beach and for competitions.” Garyline also stocks different sized flyers (and even one that is dog safe!), folding flyers, recycled, sparkle and translucent flyers. And, Hanney adds, you can also bundle with Garyline’s visors, fun kits and sun care products.

Ron Rosencrans, CAS, ProRose -- Resorts and outdoor venue clients are typically concerned about glass breakage, according to Ron Rosencrans, CAS of ProRose, and glass can be prohibited or undesirable in an outdoor or pool environment.  ProRose offers a wide selection of drinkware in plastic that is shatterproof and safe in these situations.  “Plastic steins, stadium cups, TuffCups and acrylic drinkware are popular products to serve drinks in and are safe from breakage,” he says.  “ProRose also offers a line of small plastic pails similar to a beach pail, but designed for serving drinks in.  These pails are fun to drink out of are a great collectible.”

Wine by the water is an increasingly luxurious way to relax – but it doesn’t have to be expensive. ProRose has a collection of scratch-resistant, acrylic, clear, BPA-free and food-grade wine glasses – stemless, stemmed red wine and stemmed white wine. These are perfect for outdoor festivals by the water as well as resorts and restaurants that have bars with water views.

Products that are “green” are becoming increasingly important to end-users, so therefore, any beach product that has an eco-friendly angle or component would also be an attractive selling point to your client.

There are numerous ways suppliers are engaging in creating earth-friendly products. And if this is important to your clients considering summer/beach promotions, here are a few examples. BIC Graphic’s 5W Solar Charger (#32143) delivers a constant stream of power to keep devices charged while at the pool or beach, Carrie Lewis says. The solar panels fold up to fit easily into a beach bag and the USB port delivers 1A output. Additionally, the KOOZIE® Collapsible Eco Can Kooler (#45823) contains a minimum of 10% post-consumer recycled material and is available in unlimited colors. The House of Marley™ Get Together™ Bluetooth® Speaker (#32116) features the REWIND™ fabric cover, a 100% recycled blend, and the CNC-milled bamboo panels are made form a highly renewable natural resource. It also has a built-in rechargeable battery, Bluetooth® connectivity “and a surfer-vibe that is perfect for taking to the beach or a pool party,” she describes.

Garyline’s 9-inch recycled flyer is made in USA (Bronx, NY), “which is lowering our carbon footprint over competitors that buy their flyers overseas,” says Hanney. “Thus, a recycled flyer made here in the US is ideal for the eco friendly- focused client.”

Sublimation is one of the cleanest printing processes for the environment that you can do on a towel or blanket, according to Bradley, who added that Terry Town recently won the PPAI gold pyramid award in sublimation.  He describes, “When we print, we first print on transfer paper, the inks are absorbed into the fabric through a heat process and then the paper is recycled.  There is virtually no waste or materials that are thrown away compared to other decorating techniques.”   

Beach and pool days are times that all end-users look forward to during the summer, and this is a great time to be inventive. It is also easy to create themes that neatly bundle products: a towel, sun visor, SPF lip balm; beach towel, flyer, SPF skin lotion, etc.

ProTowels, says Lofton, “has some fun new kits that will help you take the heavy lifting out of that equation. The Slip Clip, our flip flops and beach bags will always compliment the most important part (the beach towel) and provide a company with many branding locations and the end user a lot of vital beach day items they’ll use for years to come.”

Bradley observes that many distributors will simply pitch a couple of beach towels and maybe pair it up with a simple beach tote if they are working on a summer project.  Terry Town has a couple of new oversized beach towels (60” x 72”).  “These large canvases can be used for a couple or the whole family at the beach, they are 60”x72” and we offer a full color version as well as an embroidered version. These can also be paired with our sand stakes and a beach tote or drawstring backpack that can also utilize full color,” he says.

Carrie Lewis – “Summer is all about having fun so make sure campaigns for beach and pool-centric businesses include a cool mix of traditional and new products, Carrie Lewis advises. “A floating keychain (#10265) is a no-brainer for a boat repair shop, but bundle it with a Tarpaulin KOOZIE® kooler with built-in bottle opener (#15907) and beach ball (#10162) to make a bigger impression on customers and increase brand exposure.”

Now is certainly the time to discuss the idea of your clients helping winter-weary end-users (employees, customers, patients) have a (beach) ball.

CASE STUDIES

Paul Hanney of Garyline: “We recently had a distributor ask for help with making a flyer for our fun kits showing all the colors available in the bag, bottle and flyers. He wa marketing it towards daycares and summer camps. Within a few hours we had multiple options mocked up. The next day he said he already got a few orders because of the flyer.”

Carrie Lewis of BIC Graphic: “A Jet Ski rental company wanted to increase rentals during spring break and promote brand awareness among spring break vacationers. They hired additional staff to walk the boardwalk and hand out brightly colored KOOZIE® Collapsible Can Koolers. Spring breakers who showed the KOOZIE® can kooler (#45081) at the rental shop received $10 off an hour rental. Vacationers were happy to receive a can kooler and a discount, and the rental shop was happy to have their brand message on display throughout spring break. Their rental revenue also increased year over year – even with the discount on services.”