Apart from investing in quality promotional products from reputable suppliers such as Gift Selection or the Mug Store, a popular way for businesses to market themselves is via Google Adwords.

However Google faces taxes on its massive advertising revenue in France as part of president Nicolas Sarkozy’s ambition to regulate the internet. Proposals in a government-led report handed to culture minister Frederic Mitterrand recommend Google and other internet search providers should be forced to pay a levy every time a user clicks on their sponsored links.

Google France senior policy manager Olivier Esper said an additional tax on internet advertising would “slow down innovation” and the best way “to support content creation is to find new business models that help consumers find great content and rewards artists and publishers for their work”.

Last year here in the UK, Google was accused of legally avoiding more than £450m in corporation tax on the £1.6bn advertising revenues in made here last year. The Sunday Times reported they had diverted all its advertising earnings from customers in Britain to its Irish subsidiary. It turns out that Google’s crafty accountants made sure they paid just £141,519 in Corporation Tax.

Browsing over the ever informative marketingmagazine.co.uk, I now know that branded-goods manufacturers spend £25.6 billion annually on sales promotion activity within retailers, according to the Institute of Sales Promotion.

It’s not just promotional products that businesses use to increase sales. Over 50% percent of that total, £14.4 billion, was spent on retailer promotions such as BOGOFs n the 2007/8 financial year. That compares with £18.6 billion spent on above-the-line ad spend in 2008. The research is the first project overseen by retail industry researcher Colin Harper, who was recently named as the ISP’s first head of insight.

‘People only tend to notice the obvious marketing spend, on above-the-line advertising or obvious Point of Sale (POS) activity, for example. But sales promotion is a bit like an iceberg — there is far more going on below the surface than immediately meets the eye,’ Harper said.

When the Tories win the next election, millions of middle-aged workers will be forced to wait an extra year before collecting their state pension. It is certainly a bold move, which risks alienating voters currently in their 50s. Surely it is simply a matter of necessity? Something must be done to aid the countries failing finances, and that a planned rise in the pension age from 65 to 66 must be brought forward by up to a decade.

Great Britain currently runs on an eye watering deficit, while these plans will apparantly help to reduce this by £13 billion a year. Under current Government plans, the pension age is set to rise from 65 to 66 in 2026. The women’s pension age will start rising next year from 60 until they are gradually aligned with men’s.

With this in mind it might be a good time to start handing out branded piggy banks from Gift Selection. A branded piggy bank is just the sort of promotional product that this country seems to need. Admittedly probably not as handy as branded ISA, a branded piggy bank is not without its uses.

It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for a; branded ceramic piggy bank, branded metal piggy bank or a branded plastic piggy bank – there is a promotional money saver to suit you. A promotional money saver is a novelty item, but still has a practical element to it. With their quirky appeal and great branded potential, they might just save your bacon.

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!