Sock It To Me

I have written before about my doubts of the value of trade shows. One aspect that has always puizzled me, as someone who refuses to wear logoed T shirts, has been the benefit of the promotional freebies which inevitably get distributed to friends' kids or dumped in the bin.

So, imagine my surprise this morning when grabbing for a pair of black socks from the drawer, to find myself handling a freebie. I recallled being bemused to receive them as a thankyou for attending the company's stand at a show (a show I was attending solely because it shared its venue with a marketing conference that had forced me to flee its mind-numbing talks).

Now socks may be a common freebie, but I've never encountered them and couldn't see their relevance. But they're OK socks, the tiny logoes on them won't be seen by anyone and I was immediately reminded of the company because I have to concentrate on the top of socks when I put them on. Sly devils.

And perhaps it's no surprise that the company involved was the one which used their trade show presence the most impressively - giving a brief involving and pithy demonstration that demonstrated a series of true customer benefits. In all my interactions with them, even though I'm not a potential customer, I've come away with a view of Securetest as a company that pays attention to detail in every sphere of its operation. Now that's what I call good marketing.