With print and graphic design you’ll find that trends emerge for all different types of reasons. Cultural shifts, economic changes, celebrity endorsements, political movements and more all assist in forming trends of different types. One that we see often as a print & marketing solution provider are promotional product trends. For example at this very moment in time new promo product trends are starting to gain traction that will become the norm or in some cases fade away after a year.

In this article we’re sharing with you the newest of most in demand promotional product trends happening right now so you can take advantage of them while they’re hot.

Return to Office Promotional Items

Due to the closure of businesses by the government in 2020 many employees had to work from home. Companies had to adapt during that time and teams became accustomed to working remotely. But as the closure mandates ended and businesses saw the value of employees returning to the office, they began to more aggressively ask teams to come back full time or at least part-time in a hybrid schedule.

For many employees this is a big change to come back and for some who took their first job during this period, they have never worked in an office environment at all. So it’s not a surprise that we are seeing a promotional product trend for return to office promo products.

Below we’ve listed the most popular items for workers returning to the office.

• Fitness Planner
  During the “Covid Years”, many people got more into fitness. They traded in commute time for gym time. So with shifting back to having to drive to work, give your employees a way to plan their gym time more effectively with a customized or branded fitness planner to keep them on track.
• Wellness Pack
  Another “thing” that people really got into over the past few years has been “self care” and wellness. Different from fitness, these products focus more on health & beauty. Think face creams, eye masks, etc. Promotional wellness products are the perfect gift for employees returning to the office who need to stay refreshed.
• Trending Drinkware
  While tumblers and water bottles have always been a go-to promotional product to give employees, here we’re focused more on the trending drinkware. Mugs, flasks and tumblers such as the Stanley, Hydro Flask or Owala are all currently popular brands with specific popular styles. These change every couple years usually so pay attention. But we can promise you that employees will love them.
• Personalized Varidesk
  Now we know there are other brands than just the Varidesk, but essentially we’re talking about raised desk attachments or stands here. Getting a custom or branded raised desk is great for the employee returning to work who had a more flexible set of options for where and how they worked around their house. This provides them with some of that same flexibility.
• Games: Dart Boards, Mini Basketball Hoops, Bags
  For many years it was a standard inclusion for office workers to have small games at their desks or if you were lucky an office that had larger gaming setups so that when it came break time you had something fun to do. Well it’s now time to bring that back!
  Personalized or branded games for employees are the perfect gift for those returning to work.

Dart boards with a logo on it, Mini hoops with a name on it, small customized office desk games, etc.

Custom Work from Home Products

While we’ve talked alot about employees returning to the office, many are not having to return or will have hybrid work environments that will continue to have them working from home at least part of the time. So if you have some employees that are working from home, a good way to keep them connected, invested and organized is with custom work from home promotional products. Some common work from home products include..

• Webcam Covers
  With employees working at home, there is a desire to protect their privacy and branded webcam covers are the perfect way to give them both a sense of security while keeping the brand top of mind.
• Notebooks & Notepads
  Even while working from home, employees are still taking notes and need a non-digital place to write those down. Providing them with personalized or branded notebooks & notepads is the best way to give them their analog outlet, but to also keep the culture alive through continued exposure to the brand identity.
• Drinkware
  You’ll see drinkware as a common theme across different categories but for good reason. Employees working from home are still in need of having an easy way to stay hydrated and yes, we get it, they’re at home, but just like in the office everyone has easy access to water, but by having the bottle or tumbler right there with you it generates less up & down trips.
• Calendars
  From desk calendars to wall calendars, a branded calendar helps keep employees on track with upcoming due dates or events while keeping the company top of mind.
• Custom Planters
  Without the morning and afternoon commute to the office, remote employees have extra time to spend on testing out their green thumb with a plant or two. Even better, it spruces up their home office. These have been one of the most popular work from home promo products on the market to date.
• Headphones
  Working from home can bring more distractions and headphones help block that out so more focus is on the work. Plus headphones can be taken anywhere so if you provide them with branded headphones or earbuds then the company is getting more outside brand exposure.
• Blankets
  Remote work allows for a more comfortable work environment and blankets are the perfect addition to that. Every team member who works from home will love you for getting them a custom blanket. Remember though, the bigger and the warmer the better.

Virtual Event Giveaways

With many companies taking on hybrid working environments we’ve found more of them hosting virtual events for their employees and in a lot of those virtual events promotional items are being given away. They’ll run contests, do simple random drawing or have virtual competitions with the winners getting these branded promo items as their prize.

Some of the most common custom promo items trending for these virtual giveaways are…

• Branded Awards
  You can get very creative here and come up with custom branded awards that match the theme of the event or giveaway, unique to the person or just focused on the company identity. Regardless of the direction the outcome is the same. They are fun and employees show them off.
• Custom Coupon Booklets
  This is a very interesting virtual event prize for employees because a custom coupon booklet will allow you to create unique benefits that are not commonly found in the market. You could always go with something simple like a 1 hour out early coupon or you could get more creative with something totally “off the wall”.
• Promotional Apparel
  And finally one of the most popular giveaways for virtual events is custom or promotional apparel. Hats, shirts, belts, headbands, etc. are all fun and easy to create promo items that seem to always be trending.

Eco-Friendly Promotional Products

Companies are heavily focused on using sustainable, eco-friendly goods more than ever and promotional products are a great way to reduce waste or at least have the environment in mind. There are a few different types of eco-friendly promotional products available.

Reusable products
These products are not necessarily made from recycled materials but are good for the environment because they reduce waste by being reusable.

• Water Bottles
• Grocery Bags/Tote Bags
• Metal straws (the carrying bag can be customized/branded)

Products Made from Recycled Materials
Another type of eco-friendly promotional products are those that are made from recycled materials. Some examples of those products are..

• Apparel (tshirts, hats, etc.)
• Lunch Bags
• Office Supplies (notebooks and pens)

So regardless of your choice any of these would be great promotional products to use and literally every single one of these is part of the promo product trends happening now. If you’re looking for custom promotional items let us know and we can help.