With this easy and cheap commercial campaign a producer of barbecue grills attracted attention to his products. Several quite “unattractive” street corners were chosen and the places in front of the gully covers were highlighted with the question “Need a new barbecue?” The name and phone number of the company was added, too. Who does not know the everlasting procedure of cleaning the grill rack after the long winter break….in some cases it can resemble a gully cover-at least this is how the campaign works. Of course nobody wants to make a barbecue at an unappetizingly place. This way of advertising is quite effective. So, think about cleaning your grill while looking forward to the BBQ season- or just ignore ambient marketing

Since the 1980s, there is a rivalry between Apple and Microsoft. Back then, the two companies were fighting for the predominance of the computer market. The mockery of the rival in advertisements is almost a tradition which has been maintained from the beginning on. Especially Apple has attracted attention with snappy spots. But Microsoft knows how to counterattack. In a current spot, a Windows 7 notebook and a macbook meet in a plane.

Some sites like thinkgeek.com offer a very convenient gadget: a USB refrigerator that can be connected to every computer with a USB slot. The power supply only results from the USB connection, so the tiny fridge can be made use of nearly everywhere as it of course can be connected to a notebook as well.

The remote control is a perfectly great invention and a great gift for snugly people. The problem is that it gets lost quickly…it often happens with the remote control for the television. Sometimes it seems to take hours to relocate it under a sofa cushion or the like. So it stands to reason to convert the sofa cushion into a remote control. The result of this idea is quite a cool gadget which is a great gift, too.

Women who do not yet have a Christmas present for their significant other should now pay attention. Maybe this little gadget is exactly what you are looking for: a shower radio including a shaving mirror and a digital clock. Besides, there is a little holder for a razor. This should be very useful in practice. But even more important is that men can listen to the morning news while keeping the time in view.

The following commercial really fits to the current snow chaos. Which man hasn´t tried to pee his name in the snow as a boy? If one carries the idea a bit furhter, snow branding will be the result. With ready-made shapes and patterns one can stamp symbols and messages into the snow and afterwards assign with a clolour. The colour is used to make the brand more eye-catching. A campaign for the Loupus company in Leipzig has been recorded and processed to a YouTube video.

Eveybody knows post-its. The removable notes produced by 3M are very popular in the office and at home. They are favoured by students as well. The biggest advantage is of course their multifunctionality. This is made quite clear when it comes to a post-it calendar which is an appropriate promotional gift by the way.  The calendar consists of a post-it pad with pages marked from 0-9 and twelve pages marked with the names of the months. Those notes can easily be arranged as a calendar on any preferred place.

Mentos and cola are a quite explosive mixture. You can find lots of videos on the internet showing how to make a cola fountain with a Mento. So it seems to be probable that this experiment would also work with a beer. In the follwoing video you can see a young man who tries to implement the assumption. The viewer curiously stares at the bottle of beer that seemes to be a random choice.

Christmas is just around the corner, so it is right on time to buy the first Christmas cards. But it maybe won`t be neccessary this year.  Schwarzkopf has just started a campaign that allow for very special Christmas greetings.  With a few clicks one can create a video that can be send via e-mail. The procedure is very easy so the average computer user is able to send his own Christmas greetings within a few minutes.

In many cases, bonuses and advertising gifts have an influence on the buying decision of customers. This concerns online sales as well as offline sales comparably. So, here is a summary of the strongest arguments for the use of such freebies:

1.) Make your USP clearly perceptible

Even the internet is not as transparent as many people think. Mostly it remains unclear wether an offer is really the best or not. Even the best price is often not regarded as USP by customers. But: fewest vendors offer bonuses or advertising gifts although it is regarded as USP by a lot of people.

2.) Additional benefit for the customer higher than expenditures

Usually, business companies have the opportunity to buy products much cheaper than the end customer.  This is also due to the fact that they are bulk buyers and by that can easily buy at wholesale merchants. So, the additional benefit offered to the client through freebies is much higher than the actual costs for the business company.

3.) Keep long-term price levels

According to experience, short-term price cuts lead to expectations of long-term discounts. Therefore, buyer-readiness ceases when it comes to the regular price again. This reaction can be easily avoided with the use of freebies, too. As mentioned before, the additional benefit for the customer is  much higher than a discount generally.

4.) Limited offer speeds up buyer-readiness

Very effective are short-term campaigns with limited inventory stocks. Make instantly clear that the campaign is bound to a limited amount of bonuses. The customers concern to lose this additional benefit speeds up his or her disposition to buy in addition.

5.) Customer tie and upsale

Bonuses and freebies are very useful for purposes of customer tie and upsale. If additional bonus points are needed for a chosen product, the customer will either raise the value of his or her shopping cart or prefer them at the next purchase.