By Tom Gudekunst & the MARCO Ideas Unlimited Swag Review Team
Custom printed or engraved pens are a perennial best-seller in the promotional products industry, given their universal usefulness and likeliness to be kept by recipients - providing your brand with thousands of logo impressions over the life of the product!
While standard customized pens are a great swag idea for nearly any event or business type, they admittedly aren't always the most exciting promotional product to receive.
Have you considered how printed packaging and unique accessories might elevate your custom branded pen offerings, and better fit into special event swag bags? There are so many ways to step up the presentation and the experience of "unboxing" your promotional pens!
Our President and Sales Specialist of more than 20 years, Tom Gudekunst (seen here modeling our leather Beetle backpack), shares his thoughts on a well-executed swag pen design idea he recently found in the wild.
Tom says:
"I picked this pen with custom packaging set up at a golf tournament last year and I’ve been meaning to write a little bit about it for a while...
This morning my daughter and I went to Grand Central Bakery for a coffee and a cinnamon roll and while we waited for school to start I did a few emails.
She was bored so I pulled a notebook out of my backpack and handed it to her to draw. She didn’t have anything to draw with though, so I searched my backpack and found it - The Liberty Mutual Pen with a custom molded topper!
She was stoked. There was a fun Limu Emu-shaped topper and the back of the emu was even molded on. She commented on the super sharp needle point and how she thought it wouldn’t run out of ink quickly. She also said “It's not heavy but when the topper is on the end it has a nice weight for writing".
I noticed it had a nice gift box that says exactly what's inside and says the name of the company with a really nice bright yellow color and well printed logo on the pen itself and on the box.
All together great design and she got to have a short but fun unboxing experience as she’d never seen it before. I remember picking it up from a sponsored tee box at a local golf tournament booth and being stoked at the time.
This is a great example of a good promotional pen.
Seemingly well made, not too expensive, but with a fun almost experiential aspect.
10 out of 10, would highly recommend."
We hope that this quick testimonial from one of our most seasoned swag specialists has given you insights on what to look for in your customizable swag experiences on a budget. If you need extraordinary customizable pen ideas, let our team of promotional product experts do the work to find them for you! Since 1959, we've been helping companies in all industries create the best promotional products for their specific brand guidelines, event types, and budgets. We'd love to share our creative ideas for your branded merchandise needs!
Tom Gudekunst has helped organizations customize the best promotional products for their unique industry and audience since 2005. He achieved his Certified Advertising Specialist designation in 2012. He enjoys spending time with his family, including two children, his wife, and their adorable dog Ruger.