Nonprofit Executives: do you know how much power Logo-Mugs have?
Using mugs VisABILITY supplied, our public broadcasting clients raised $200,000,000 ($200 million!) since 1985!
They’re equally powerful nonprofit branding tools. In fact, a mug with your logo will have more impact per penny spent than promotion in any print or broadcast medium.
But logo-mugs also have a few drawbacks. We’ll explore both sides here – the benefits and risks.
Each year American organizations – nonprofits and for-profits alike – invest nearly $100,000,000 in mugs imprinted with their logos. My guess is that nonprofits – the biggest consumer of promotional products – annually spend about a fifth of that total. That’s nearly $20 million of logo-mugs used by nonprofits!
WHY?
Because without your logo, the thing in the photo merely holds a beverage. But when your nonprofit logo is applied it becomes a powerful branding tool for you and a prized display of personal affinity for the owner.
THE LOGO-MUG FACTS: Ongoing research lumps together for-profit users and nonprofit users. So the following information will be great news to all marketing people. (In the next section we’ll explain why, for a nonprofit, the impact is higher and the cost is lower than the research reveals.)
- The average mug is used 6.3 times a month for about half a year.
- While the mug is in use an average of 1,307 people see the logo– 1307 “impressions” in advertising lingo. Those impressions are what commercial media sell and what advertisers buy.
- It costs $00.004 (four tenths of a penny) for each pair of eyes that sees the logo on an average mug – each impression.
- The cost per impression of an average logo-mug is about 2/3 the cost of a radio spot and 1/5 the cost of an impression on prime-time TV.
THE LOGO-MUG CONCLUSION: Impressions produced by your logo on a coffee mug are a less expensive and more productive form of brand promotion than broadcast commercials – radio & TV, syndicated, cable or prime-time. That’s good news…and there’s a nonprofit bonus!
THE NONPROFIT BONUS: A mug and its logo are used, noticed and remembered. You can’t tune out a mug and you can’t hold a commercial in your hands. You can’t find comfort and sooth your thirst with a commercial. A commercial won’t sit on your desk or workbench for all to see. And you can’t use a commercial to display your personal affinity.
On top of that general effectiveness of average mugs, mission and affinity create a huge bonus for nonprofits. Remember – the research covers all logo-mugs, about 75% of which represent commercial brands. With the exception of outfits like APPLE and Porsche, few companies are so brand-intensive that someone will prize a mug with their logo. Think about that. You may own a Buick, use a GE hair dryer and patronize Wendy’s. You may wear Reebok sneakers and prefer Dale’s Pale Ale. But there is little chance that right now, as you read this, you can look over your desk and see a mug with a Reebok or Buick or GE or Wendy’s or Dale’s logo.
Here is the contrast – and your bonus: there is a very good chance that people who support Koman Race For the Cure or the SPCA or PBS or World Wildlife Foundation would happily have a mug with the logo of their preferred nonprofit on their desk or workbench or next to the coffeemaker at home.
Affinity makes logo mugs an even better branding investment for nonprofits because those mugs are kept, used, displayed and prized as functional statements of personal affinity. Mission drives affinity and affinity drives the use of products that display a supporter’s commitment to the mission.
That’s the nonprofit bonus! (If you haven’t followed the discussion of affinity-power, check here for information about one of the most important sources of nonprofit energy: http://nonprofitbrandingblog.com/2011/02/why-the-lord-of-logos-rules/)
THE DOWNSIDE: Respect the branding power of mugs. Consider using them in marketing and fundraising programs. But keep these points in mind.
- Mugs are expensive to mail; most weigh over a pound and require special packaging to protect them in transit.
- Many factories make substandard mugs, culled during the quality control process before being imprinted and kiln-fired, available to promotional products vendors. They are then sold at very low prices to budget-conscious organizations. Be careful – the most expensive way to save money is to give your constituents a substandard branding product with your logo. This risk has been covered in several posts on this blog. Check this one: http://nonprofitbrandingblog.com/2011/07/dollar-save-dime/
- The number of colors that can be imprinted on mugs is limited; it is difficult to produce bright colors on standard, kiln-fired ceramics; butt-registration of multi-color art is tricky; the design cannot reach all the way to the top because of FDA rules.
Since mugs are such powerful branding products you should be aware of a trend before you commit to using them. The EyeMax Mug is becoming the preferred mug for market-savvy nonprofits. It is replacing standard spot-color mugs. Fortunately, EyeMax solves the problems mentioned at the last bullet above – and has other significant virtues. You can find EyeMax on the VisABILITY website. But check it out here first: http://nonprofitbrandingblog.com/2011/03/the-1-fundraising-premium-and-nonprofit-branding-tool/
COMING UP: The last post was about the cost, impact and use of T-shirts. This one is about coffee mugs. Next week we will do tote-bags, which have the biggest bang for the buck of all promotional products.
