Notepads. Recipients of a 50-sheet
scratch pad will have a minimum
of 50 exposures to the ad message
written on it - each time they write
something down, that's one impression,
and if the notes are passed on, the
number of exposures can double
or triple. The cost-per-impression
for a $1 notepad would be $1 ÷ 50
sheets, or 2¢ per impression.

Watches People look at their watch
an average of twice an hour. If you
figure there are 16 waking hours in a
normal day, they'll see whatever
is imprinted on the watch face 32 times.
For a basic $12 watch, the CPI for
just one day is only 37¢. Spread that
out across the typical 3-year warranty
period, and it works out to more than
35,000 impressions, or a CPI of roughly
three-hundredths of a cent.

Calendars The recipient of a calendar
will be exposed to the ad message on it
2-3 times a day at home, or 5-6 times
a day at the office. Using 4 exposures
a day as an average (and multiplying
that times 365 days in a year), we get
1,460 impressions, which makes the CPI
for a $3 calendar a mere 0.2¢.

Playing Cards During a 1-hour game
of rummy or poker, players would be
exposed to the message printed
on the cards more than 500 times.
At a cost of $2 a deck, the CPI works
out to 0.4¢.

Mugs The ad message on a coffee mug
will be seen as often as 10 times a day,
and mugs tend to be kept for years.
For a $5 mug, the CPI would be roughly
0.2¢ over a mug's two-year life span.
And recipients hold the ad message
in their hand and use it every day! Try
getting that kind of targeted exposure
with a TV spot.

Promotional products have value
to a recipient completely apart from
their main function as an ad medium
and the value of the item isn't easily
separated from the vehicle that delivers
the message. If the promotional product
is delivered to a recipient, the message
has absolutely been delivered at least
once. This is very different than the
delivery of a TV commercial, which may
or may not be delivered to the audience
along with programming that's being
watched. Promotional products have a
definite and obvious advantage in that
they become part of the environment;
that is, most imprinted products have
a usefulness apart from their advertising
function. Again, the main advantage
of promotional products is that it's nearly
impossible for recipients to separate
the message from the medium. To the
right are some numbers that calculate
the "cost-per-impression", or CPI, to help
in measuring the relative value
of promotional products.