Each year on the last day of Expo East, one of our annual promotional marketing trade shows, a few brave souls get up (or stay up) at 6 AM from a night of drinking and hit the Atlantic City Boardwalk to run a 5K and raise money for a great cause. The Howard Blum 5K 4 5K raises money for the SAAGNY Foundation's various charities, including: its scholarship fund for industry children, Happiness Is Camping, a camp for children battling cancer, Hilltop School, a school for disabled children, and www.WavesforWater.org, a hurricane relief initiative.

Last year's race raised $7.500; the goal for this year's race was $10,000.

Mallory Scott and I were up bright and early to help the cause and burn off the last few drops of beer and tequila. Mallory did amazing... and I finished.

But what do the swag-makers get in their own swag bags? Funny you should ask- a lot. A whole lot. And it's the good stuff!

Event T-shirt, running hat, and retro sunglasses.

Zipper tote, drawstring backpack, and Foundation T-shirt.

Microfiber cloth, lip balm, sunscreen, mobile phone holder, safety reflector light, and first aid kit.

T-shirt shaped collapsible bottle, blender bottle, and sport bottle.

Great events and lots of great items. If you or your organization has an event coming up, and you are looking to rev up your swag bag, give us a call. We'll show you what's hot.

This week at Sonic Promos, we're working on...

... baby bibs for Sitter City with tagline- There's a Nap for That.

... full color calculators for summer interns at the Macy's office in New York City.

... and tournament T-shirts for the Mid-Atlantic Cup at the Maryland Soccerplex, Saturday June 8th through Sunday June 9th.

"This Week at Sonic Promos" is a regular feature on our blog.
Read all past posts here.
Check in every week to see some of the work that's going on in our office.

Between college fairs in May, summer internship programs, and early planning for fall job recruiting, we've been brainstorming and creating a lot of college-friendly swag at Sonic lately. Here are some of our favorite product ideas:

Flash drives. I had a flash drive on me at all times in college. Group projects are so prevalent, it's really rare to complete an assignment using just one computer. Flash drives make it easy to bring the latest project draft from dorm to class to library, passing it off among group members as needed. If your budget will allow, I recommend going with at least 2GB of memory space. The smaller drives aren't all that desirable.

Food and drink. Free food and drink items are universal crowd-pleasers, but they're especially attractive to hungry (and cheap) college students. Energy drinks, bottled water, granola bars, gum, trail mix, candy... they're all great promo choices.

T-shirts. Quality T-shirts that is. Cheap, starchy cotton tees with a boxy fit might get passed over, but students will still snatch up a soft, well-made tee. Even better if you offer them in a few different colors and styles with a wearable design.

Digital download cards. Download cards make keeping in touch with interested students a piece of cake. In order to redeem the reward, card recipients must first enter a unique code online, giving you an opportunity to capture data, like an email address or contact number.

Tech. Tech items- like media stands, stylus pens, screen cleaners, mobile chargers and grip pads for cell phones- have been pretty popular this year. A student is never without their phone; choose a practical phone accessory for your swag lineup, and they'll never be without your logo either.

Sunglasses. Ah, bright sunglasses. If I had to pick just one promotional item to summarize 2012, this might be it. Still just as popular this year too. Go for the brightest colors you can find.


Drinkware. I like to recommend drinkware to clients attending college job fairs because it makes for a great table display. And students, well, they drink a lot. Stadium cups are inexpensive, durable, easy to stack, pack and transport. The Game Day cup (seen above- resembles a red Solo cup) has also been an extremely popular item this year. It's much nicer than a plastic stadium cup- double-walled, appropriate for hot or cold beverages- so the price point is a bit higher than you'd want to spend on a job fair giveaway. Keep it in mind for intern gifts or new hire swag!

This Saturday, May 18th, the Rotary Club of Bethesda Chevy Chase will host its 8th Annual Strut Your Mutt Dog Parade and Festival in downtown Bethesda, MD. If you live in the area and own a dog (or just love them), be sure to swing by. In addition to the parade, enjoy dozens of vendor booths, kid-friendly games and activities, and a raffle. The event runs from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

Unfortunately, not all of us are able to attend Saturday's event, so we've opted to celebrate with a mini Mutt Strut of the Sonic dogs, here on our blog.

Lexi and Sade- belong to Seth and Julianne

Banjo- belongs to Courtney

Blaze- belongs to Debbie

Griff- belongs to Josh

Jordan- belongs to Brandon

Oscar- belongs to Debbie

Renley- belongs to Lindsay

Simba- belongs to Jamie

This week at Sonic Promos, we're working on...

... foldaway bags to promote the Citi Open.

... coolers for the launch of a new product by Sigma-Tau.

... and ear buds, Cubicool speakers, jelly bean jars, coffee tumblers, and media stands for Baker Tilly's employee referral program.

"This Week at Sonic Promos" is a regular feature on our blog.
Read all past posts here.
Check in every week to see some of the work that's going on in our office.