The self proclaimed ‘Great British Drink’, was under threat until the Tango marketing department created the ‘Save Tango’ campaign. Their typical off the wall approach was a combination of; online films, merchandise, billboards, an interactive website and a protest march conducted by the comedian Dom Jolly.

Bartle Bogle Hegarty were responsible for the campaign, and they blamed Tango’s recent decline, on the nation’s new obsession with keeping a healthy lifestyle. 

The Britvic company that owns Tango is now saying thanks, by launching a limited edition version of their can with their brand name being replaced with ‘Thanks.’ The drinks manufacture reported an 8% growth in sales as a result of the campaign. The senior brand manager at Tango Sally Symes said: “For a while we thought Tango has been forgotten but it turns out it’s just as loved as it ever was.

The latest quirky promotional item from The Mugstore is this ‘Figure Of Eight’ melamine coaster. Melamine isn’t a household name, but it is an extremely durable product, able to withstand temperatures of up to 140 degrees; is easily wiped clean (no dishwashers please!), and with very little care will give you many years of service. For those with an MA in Chemistry, click here for further information on this useful material.

You can choose to have your promotional melamine coaster with either a cork or baize back, and with a one spot colour to full colour print to suit. The ‘Figure Of Eight’ coaster is different to all other promotional coasters on the market as your logo will always be displayed prominently at all times!

Coasters in generally make ideal promotional products, as everyday the nation brews up time and time again. A quality printed coaster like this Melamine one would be ideal to give out at trade shows, can be left behind by a sales rep or would make a cost effective mailing item.

 Thank God it’s Friday, with the weekend approaching it seems only proper to un-cork a bottle of red wine and sit back. Any one who enjoys there plonk will know the value of a promotional decanter. A stylish promotional decanter makes the focal point of a dining table, and is a great opportunity to show of your taste in not only fine wine, but also in design.

Despite being known for their promotional mugs, the Mugstore has recently made available a special range of promotional decanters designed by arguably the most celebrate chef of the 21^st century. If a promotional decanter is good enough for Paul Bocuse, it’s good enough for me when I’m pretending to know the different between a Shiraz and a Merlot.

Paul Bocuse was the original celebrity chef, being the first cook to move from the kitchen, to in front of the camera. So in a way Paul’s responsible for bringing Gordon Ramsey to our screens.

Promotional decanters are admittedly unusual corporate gifts, but they are a great way for your brand to be associated with the finer things in life. The mugstore has a great range of top end promotional decanters, which would make an ideal staff incentive treat.

Promotional pens are every where you look, quietly promoting all sorts of businesses. It’s not often that you see top quality promotional pens, and one’s that are specifically designed for children are rarer then hens teeth. The ‘Lamy abc’ fills this void, by giving us a stylish promotional fountain pen designed for budding Shakespears to pen their first sonnet with.

Pens2order have taken a fresh look at their selection of Lamy promotional pens, and now have a great selection of contemporary writing instruments available. The uber-cool German pen designer, are the number one choice for modern, stylish promotional writing instruments.

The ‘LAMY abc’ beginner’s fountain pen was developed in cooperation with educational experts for the first steps in learning to write. The pen is specially designed to meet the needs of children, by having an ergonomically shaped grip giving a natural, relaxed positioning of the fingers.

What’s more if your little one is left handed, they have a special left hander friendly nib too!

Promotional bell mugs are the unsung hero of the promotional product market.  Those dainty little printed Bell mugs, are promoting businesses around the country, since anyone can remember. The Bell mug is the ideal promotional mug if you’re looking for a tasteful, timeless earthenware mug to promote your business from.

Promotional mugs in general are an easy way for your brand to be recognised or years to come, and offer a cost effective marketing solution. The Bell is a 280ml ceramic mug, with an inverted bell shape – hence the name. The Bell mug is lightweight, and features elegant tapered edges and attractive curves. A printed Bell mug is both dishwasher and microwave oven safe, and is available in various attractive colour glazes at an extra cost.

The Mugstore also offers a Pantone matching service for your new promotional bell mugs too. These printed Pantone colour matched Bell mugs are both stylish enough to be used in any corporate environment, and yet affordable enough to be given away at trade shows or exhibitions. If you want your Bell mug to have an exact Pantone matched glaze to it, then get in contact with their friendly team.

As marketing budgets are being squeezed, it’s good to know that some promotional products are cost effective. Promotional Bell mugs can be bought for just over a pound, if your buying in quantity. If your business can’t stretch to giving these printed Bell mugs out for free, then your business could always use them simply to offer tea and coffee to clients during visits, meetings and seminars instead.

Remember if you require some printed Bell mugs in a hurry, then they have the Bell mug on a special express delivery service too. You’ll be sipping out of your new printed Bell mugs before the kettle’s boiled.

I’m a big fan of eco friendly promotional items, especially ones which are a break from the norm. The latest innovative offering from ecoproducts2order is the ‘Build Your Own Bird-Box.’

A novel eco friendly corporate gift like this is a great way to highlight the environmental awareness of your company, and show of your green credentials. The ‘Build Your Own Bird House’ is made from eco friendly natural materials, and will promote biodiversity in your garden.

What’s great about this promotional bird box is that it can fit through most mail boxes, so it lends itself to be posted out to prospective or existing clients or members. The bird box naturally lends itself to promoting groups that have an interest in nature, but it would also work well as gift for the housing market too.

This eye catching gold bar is certainly for those who like to stand out. This quality promotional ‘Memogold’ USB is a sliding metal flash drive - in the shape of a mini gold bar.

For those businesses associated with the finer things in life, this gold USB would certainly make for an eye catching promotional gadget. This flash drive is a little different from everything else on the promotional market, and can be laser engraved with your businesses’ details.

The gold USB stick wouldn’t be every business’s cup of tea, but for the right company this could be an unforgettable promotional product. One supplier of these novelty USBs is gadgets2order, who have recently taken on board a whole new range of USB flash drives, so check out their latest stock.

Here are my top 5 groups who would benefit from this promotional gold USB drive:

1.) The British Olympic Team (Fingers crossed for 2012)

2.) Going For Gold (The Game Show, Channel 5)

3.) Gold Chocolate Bars (McVities)

4.) Spandau Ballet (Chrysalis Records)

5.) The Treasury

If you believe all that the media tells us, it would seem that financial doom lurks behind every corner. This isn’t true for all business by any means, as fast food is as popular as ever. Suppliers of the traditional staple diet for chavs and the obese, are hiring extra staff across the country.

McDonalds, Subway, KFC and Domino’s Pizza’s tills are all ringing loudly, and have plans for expansion despite the recession. Subway in particular is planning to open another 600 subways across UK and Ireland. By 2010 there will be more Subways then people.

Promotional products and ideas have always been popular with fast food chains. The iconic happy meal has contained little promotional toys that have gone on to become sought after collector’s items. Subway have their promotional Scrabble game and McDonalds having their promotional Monopoly, but I have to take my hat off to Pizza Hut for their sheer ambition for their promotional idea.

Back in 2001 Pizza Hut delivered a pizza to outer space, when their vacuum-sealed pizza arrived at the international space station. If you’re, interested the astronauts who wanted a pizzzaa the action, enjoyed a salami crispy crust!

The Forbes 2009 rich list has shown the world’s richest living person is once again Bill Gates, despite having lost a whopping $18bn. No doubt he’ll be struggling to make ends meet with his measly remaining $40 billion. Do spare a thought for poor Anil Ambani, an Indian businessmen who has heavily invested in telecomes, who last year lost a painful $31.9 billion.

It seems many people are feeling the pinch, closer to home West London’s favourite Russian, Roman Abramovich has winced as his fortune has slid from $23.5 billion to $8.5 billion. Maybe these guys should get some promotional calculators to give out to their staff.

To tie in with the global financial crises, gadgets2order have recently brought out a new range of promotional calculators. If you’re looking for a promotional calculator - they can get it you. They have range of printed calculators on their website including my personal favourite of the water proof calculator - ideal if you like to knock your tea over. Who said promotional calculators had to be boring? There are also many vibrant promotional calculators available too, like the rather fetching lime green mouse-mat calculator pictured.

Coca-Cola is very soon launching it’s latest marketing campaign, in the form of it’s ‘Get Britain Sch…wimming’ campaign. This will be run in conjunction with the launch of it’s mineral water ‘Scheppes Abbey Well’, which they acquired last November.

These promotional bottles of water, will be in run in conjunction with radio, digital and outdoor plans, with the aim of getting people active as part of the build up to 2012 Olympic Games in London. If you fancy a free swim, then simply exchange bottle caps at 350 participating pools in the UK. What is more for every free swim, Coca-Cola will donate £1 toward swimming related projects.

If you’d like to know more about the benefits of promotional bottled water, then click here for an interesting article. Likewise you can click here, to find out where your nearest participating pool is.