Hot Product Alert: Tissue Packs Benefit More Than Stuffy Noses

Think promotional tissues are only for doctors' offices and day cares? Think again. Tissues with an organization or company logo are trendy right now – and have all sorts of different applications. One example: Hoping to motivate students to stay in school and get a high school diploma, the Ad Council and the U.S. Army are running a public service campaign called "Boost" using donated tissue boxes and pocket packs from AdPack USA, a promotional products supplier. Featuring stories of individuals who have been helped by the campaign, the tissues are being distributed directly to classrooms and guidance offices. One storyline involves "Travis," a young man who fears for his safety while walking to school. To learn more about his story, readers are invited to go to boostup.org to learn more. To carry out the campaign, the Ad Council worked closely with Zim, an organization responsible for delivering educational messages to the youth market to get inside the schools and reach troubled youths.

Michael J. Ayer, vice president of sales and marketing at AdPack USA, says his company donated the tissues to help place these positive messages of encouragement right into the hands of the students. "Tissues are an essential school supply and are ideal for any classroom environment. Everyone uses them," he says, "And unlike traditional flyers or direct mail pieces, our products are not discarded until the tissues run out, giving campaigns repeat exposure."

Ad Council executives said they were attracted to the utilitarian aspect of the tissues. Certainly, useful products help ensure repeated branding exposure. Amanda Samponaro, assistant campaign manager for the Ad Council, says using the tissue helped support the overall campaign, which included television advertising. "A promotional product gives a traditional ad campaign legs," she says, "We know that our target audience has a better chance of changing their behavior if they can get the message through as many distribution channels as possible." And it certainly has reached that audience. Through Zim's extensive in-school connections, the Ad Council has established relationships with 100,000 schools, libraries, camps and youth service organizations across the country.

Another example of how promotional tissues are being used is by Commerce Bank, a fast growing, $43 billion banking network that has establishing quite a reputation for its "un-bankly like" business. Offering clients extended hours and seven-day operation, they've also recently added tissues to its long list of promotional offerings. The tissue packs, also produced by AdPack USA and emblazoned with the bank's "Mr. C" character, are being distributed at community events and local branches, along with a coupon for $25 for anyone who opens up a new account. The result? In the past several months, more than a half a million dollars' worth of new accounts have been opened, and the tissue packs have been the second most popular promotional product Commerce has ever used, according to Ronald Mendoza, Commerce's Vice president of merchandise. Commerce's initial order with AdPackUSA was 250,000 tissue packs; however, within months, the demand rose so sharply that Commerce quickly increased its order to 2.5 million tissue packs. "Our clients are always asking us where they can get more," Mendoza says.

- Amy Lucas