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Archive for the ‘Custom USB’ Category

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Will Custom USB Flash Drives Take Off In 2011

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

If there is one area in the promotional USB flash drive market that failed to take off as predicted in 2010 it was Custom USB Flash drives.

Falling set up fees coupled with greater competition, improvements in production techniques and faster lead times were all expected to lead to a huge upsurge in demand for custom USB flash drives during 2010 but it just never happened. Whilst there was a small uplift in the sale of custom sticks most companies still opted for standard factory designs that were overprinted or engraved with their logo.

Overall demand for promotional USB flash drives continues to increase year on year but it’s interesting that companies

Twister USB

Twister USB

remain steadfastly conservative in their choice of drive. The most popular promotional flash drive continues to be the “twister” model, which has been around for years. Whilst the Twister is hardly the most exciting of products it’s popular because it has no cap to lose, its compact, comes in a wide range of colours and it’s one the cheaper models available.

Custom USB flash drives are a little more expensive than any of the “standard” drives that are available but not by as much as people might think. And, if its impact, brand recall and “chatter” that you want to create then it’s hard to beat a custom USB flash drive. With millions of promotional USB sticks being given away every year most there is a real danger of a “so what” response to being given yet another Twister flash drive. Custom USB drives on the other hand almost demand to be not only used but flaunted around which is exactly what you want someone to do with any promotional product.

Custom USB drives can be fabricated in any 2-D or 3-D shape. They are available in a wide range of materials and any good supplier of branded USB flash drives or memory sticks should be able to help you come up with concept drawings and final demands from which your custom sticks will be made – if they can’t then find another supplier.

Custom USB Flash Drives

Custom USB Flash Drives

So, whilst 2010 was a bit of a false start for customised USB flash drives expectations are that they will ultimately break through and begin to pick up a much larger share of the overall market. Watch this space because it could get interesting.

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The Word Is Out On Custom USB Flash Drives

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

For several years the promotional USB flash drive sector has been dominated by standard, factory-designed flash drives that are simply overprinted with a company logo. Standard flash drives are relatively easy to procure, they come in a wide range of different styles and colours and they are given away in their millions every year. Branded and printed flash drives have become a runaway success in the promotions sector.

Standard USB flash drives are popular with companies because they’re the “easy option”. Plenty of suppliers offer them, there are lots of examples around that show how good they look branded up, the lead-time for them is pretty short at circa 10 days and they’re relatively inexpensive.

Custom USB Words

Custom USB Words

Compared to standard factory designed USB flash drives, custom USB flash drives seem to be in another league of difficulty in terms of ordering them and the perception is that they are much, much more expensive with horrendous lead times. Historically this is might have been true but with significant investment in production facilities and increased competition amongst the factories that produce them prices and lead-times have been reduced quite significantly.

Even with this extra investment Custom (bespoke) USB sticks are still a little more expensive than standard USB drives but if you want your drives to stand out from the crowd and really grab people’s interest then they are the way to go.

In some ways the standard models have become victims of their own success because they are everywhere today and as the old saying goes “you can get too much of a good thing”. Lets face it if you’ve been given numerous USB flash drives and they are all pretty much the same model with broadly the same memory on them and you’re given another one it’s a case of “so what”. This is exactly the reaction you don’t want if you’re the company that has invested in the USB sticks!!

Conversely if you take the time and trouble (and you spend a little more) on custom USB flash drives that are designed and manufactured specifically for you then you’re still pretty much assured of generating a “wow” when they are distributed.  If you want people to sit up and take notice of your company, your brand and your products then custom sticks are definitely the way to go. You don’t even need to come up with anything spectacular in terms of design – these custom models have been manufactured in the shape of the company’s name but they look fantastic and really do arouse the recipient’s curiosity and interest.

Custom USB Trench Heater

Custom USB Trench Heater

Of course these days anything can be moulded and manufactured so if you are thinking of going down the custom route challenge your supplier and see what they and their design team come up with. After all if they want your business they should be willing to invest some time in coming up with some creative ideas for you.

Whilst standard designs will no doubt continue to dominate in the short term the word is out on the benefits of custom USB flash drives.

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DIY Custom USB Memory Sticks

Thursday, October 14th, 2010

You don’t need to be good with a hammer, chisel or trowel to build your own custom USB memory stick – it’s not that sort of DIY project. But if you are looking for something a little challenging, interesting and fun then building your own custom USB stick is a great idea, incredibly rewarding and it’ll certainly get people talking.

DIY USB Kit

DIY USB Kit

The core component of any USB memory stick is a module that incorporates the USB connector, the flash memory and a controller chip for the flash memory. These three elements combine to give you a way of connecting your USB stick to a PC or Mac, to store data and to control the way the stored data is managed. The way in which this “module” is packaged is what gives you overall look and feel of a memory stick.

Custom USB Ideas

Custom USB Ideas

Commercial USB memory sticks are typically “housed” in standard rectangular plastic or plastic/metal shells some with a removable cap and some with an integral cap or cover like the ever-popular Twister USB flash drive. When you build your own USB drive you can be as creative as you like and we’ve seen all sorts of weird and wonderful examples over the years.

If you’re looking for a hands-on challenge for say a club a school class or Scout Group then a “build you own USB competition” is a brilliant idea. Children are typically avid users of USB flash drives and the idea of being able to design and build their own custom version is sure to get them fired up and get them thinking about all aspects of design, production and functionality.

Custom USB Projects

Custom USB Project

If you are interested in custom USB flash drives for your business, school or university but you don’t want to build them yourselves then don’t worry because there are lots of companies offering a professional design, build and supply service. Do bear in mind that you’ll pay a little more for a custom USB stick but the end result will be worth it. Lead times are also longer at around 4 weeks compared to the standard 2 weeks for printed USB sticks.

Custom USB sticks are getting more and more popular because they are a sure fire way to get your USB memory stick(s) to stand out from the crowd. A few years ago very few branded or printed USB memory sticks were given away but today millions are given away so it’s increasingly important to get yours to grab people attention from the “get go”.

At USB2U we not only supply self-build USB kits but we offer a full design and build service so if you’re interested in Custom USB Memory Sticks give us a call and speak to one of the team.

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Design Technology GCSE Results – Would a Custom USB Project Help

Friday, August 27th, 2010

As the dust starts to settle on the recently announced GCSE results schools and teachers will no doubt now start to look at how they can continue to improve upon this years results. In Design Technology (DT) where there was a wide spread of results with D’s to U’s making up over 36% of the marks awarded one of the challenges is engaging with the students and getting them to think about a product or an idea that excites them.

If you can get the students fired up and interested in a design project then it follows that they are more likely to take an interest in the wider concepts and challenges of product design, product specification, manufacturing processes, packaging and marketing. Some students will need more of a steer than others and some will no doubt prefer to work within a class project or framework that includes a group of them.

One area worthy of consideration because its meets these criteria is a project to design and build a unique custom USB flash drive. Most students will be familiar with USB flash drives with many of them using flash drives to store data, music files, media files and hopefully homework. Typical USB flash drives that are available to buy in the UK are standard rectangular shaped drives that are functional but they don’t always excite.

USB PCB

USB PCB

So, the opportunity for DT teachers is to set their students a challenge to design, build, package and develop a marketing plan for their own custom USB flash drives, perhaps a flash drive that appeals to a specific market niche or a USB flash drive that has a unique design or function. The internal components of a USB flash drive (this is a single PCB that includes the flash memory and the flash controller chips) are readily available from suppliers like USB2U. The challenge is then to design the “shell” into which the PCB sits.

The completed customised USB flash drive will work and function just like any regular flash drive.  Designs that are considered good enough could always be put forward to USB companies as potential products to take to market. The promotional sector is a big user of branded USB flash drives and is always looking for new and innovative designs.

Custom USB Ideas

Custom USB Ideas

Whilst a project to design a new design for a USB flash drive won’t in itself lift the overall pass marks for the DT GCSE it could be just the “spark” to get more students actively engaged in the subject and get involved in a “hands-on” project that they can relate to.

For information on prices for USB Flash Drive PCB’s and tips and advice on how to use them as part of a self build project get in touch with the team at USB2U.

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Custom USB Words – Inspiring Promotional Products

Thursday, August 19th, 2010

A picture paints a thousand words but what if the picture is the word or in the case of these custom USB sticks manufactured in the shape of a word. When considering branded USB memory sticks as a promotional product most people immediately think of a standard factory designed USB stick that has a logo printed on it. These are great, they’re popular and they do a good job in terms of generating interest, and in terms of affinity to the brand printed on it.

Ironically the downside of using standard designed USB sticks is their popularity. So many USB sticks are now being given away that if you really want something that is truly memorable and something that stands out from the crowd then its worth considering a custom USB memory stick. Custom USB memory sticks (also known as bespoke flash drives) are commissioned pieces that are designed and built specifically for you. As such they are unique and exclusive to you and whomever you give them to. You own the design of any custom USB flash drive and they will not be made available to any other customer.

Custom USB Letters

Custom USB Letters

Custom USB memory sticks can be produced in a wide variety of materials and in any 2-D or 3-D shape you want. Recent examples of custom USB sticks include Forklift trucks, Guitars. Eggs, Erasers and Signs but anything is possible.

Using your company’s name as the basis for a custom USB stick also works incredibly well as these examples illustrate. These simple but very effective ideas just work and arguably they work better than a shape or product that could have been designed to represent the brand or company name.

Custom USB Word

Custom USB Word

The lead times for custom USB flash drives are a little longer at around 4 weeks (this is to allow for the fabrication of the tooling and the custom production) but if you have the time in your project or event schedule then they are worth the wait. The cost of Custom USB flash drives used to be significantly higher than standard models and the minimum order quantities were high at around 1,000+ pieces. Today with increased competition in the market and improvements in mould set-up and production the costs are now only marginally more and the minimum order threshold has dropped to around 200 pieces.

If you are looking for a promotional product that really stands out from the crowd, something that will generate “chatter” and interest in your, your company, your products and/or your news then its definitely worth considering a fully customised USB flash drive.

Don’t worry about having the design skills to develop an idea or concept because good, professional suppliers of USB sticks will have their own experienced in-house design teams who can work on the most basic of ideas and develop a series of mock-ups for you to consider.

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Got A Product Launch – Make An Impact With A Custom USB Flash Drive

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

If you’ve got a product launch coming up and you need to make a bit of a splash about it then, in addition to all of the regular “fanfare” activities that you’re no doubt planning, its worthwhile considering supporting your product launch with a fully customised USB flash drive.

Custom USB

Custom USB

One of the primary objectives of any product launch event has got to be getting your audience informed, excited and enthused about your company and your product(s). You want them to go away from your event as advocates; you want them to write positive articles about the product, to post articles on their blogs and to use social networking sites to create plenty of “chatter” about what they’ve seen and what you’re launching.

Typically at any launch event there’ll be plenty of new information to disseminate and then distribute. You’ll have executives and product managers briefed, primed, and well rehearsed to deliver a knock out pitch, your Q & A’s will have been developed and honed to perfection and the venue carefully chosen to create the right ambience and put your audience in the right frame of mind.

With all of this attention to detail don’t forget that at the end of it all when the lights go up and the audience goes to leave you want them to have at hand all of the information on your new product or service. Loading them up with piles of brochures, copies of FAQ’s, technical sheets is unlikely to be popular. You could of course email this information out after the event or post it onto a web site or you could do something a little more interesting and unusual and pre-load

Custom Flash Drive

Custom Flash Drive

all of this information onto a customised (bespoke) USB flash drive.

A Custom USB Flash drive can be manufactured in the shape of your new product or designed to look like your product brand. It will be unique to you and your company, it will function just like any normal USB flash drive and done well it really grab people attention. In addition to carrying your product launch information its highly likely that the flash drive will get used by the recipient after the event to save and carry their own data around. This on-going usage of the flash drive all adds to the viral effect that you need to underpin your launch.

Bear in mind that if you do order custom USB flash drives that you need to allow around 3-4 weeks for the design and production of the flash drives. The data-loading can be done during the manufacturing process or any time right up to the event itself.

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Build Your Own USB Flash Drive – A Great School Project

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Ever thought of designing and building your own customised USB flash drive? Well it’s easier than you think but great fun all the same and it makes for a great project for students.

Rather than just buying standard factory designed USB flash drives and printing your school crest or logo one why not engage the students and get them to design something unique to the school or better still unique to them. Anything is possible and some great results can be achieved relatively easily because if you can get your hands on the core components its really just an assembly job.

The two core components of any USB flash drive are the controller chip and the flash memory module. These are then assembled on a PCB and connected to a USB interface. This single (assembled) PCB can then be embedded into any outer casing to create a unique USB flash drive. Just like any commercially available (and assembled) USB flash drive you can buy the PCB’s in a range of memory capacities starting at 128MB all the way up to 16GB albeit 1GB and 2GB tend to be the most popular.

USB PCB

USB PCB

If you do want to build your own USB flash drives then USB2U can supply you with all the components you need including any accessories your might want for your finished product including key ring attachments, lanyards and gift-boxes. So if you feel your creative juices rising and fancy building your own unique USB memory sticks or setting a challenge for your students then give us a call and we’ll talk you through the options.

Who knows if you can use your imagination to tap into something big and create some demand for your design it’s always possible to move production from your back bedroom or classroom to the factory.

We do have a minimum order of 50 pieces for the PCB USB’s so if you did want to get a project off the ground and you’re not a school or company then get your entrepreneurial hat on and start raising the capital you need. Next step -  Dragons Den and a grilling from the likes of Peter and Theo!

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Custom USB Strawberries – Made For Wimbledon

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Strawberries are one of the most popular soft fruits in the UK and they are synonymous with the Wimbledon Tennis Tournament where around 30,000 kilos are eaten during the course of the Championships (topped off with thousands of litres of cream of course!)

Its not surprising that strawberries are so popular because not only do they taste great but they are a source of natural sugar and provide excellent amounts of vitamin C and potassium both of which are minerals essential in our diet.

Less tasty but nevertheless just as popular are custom USB flash drives and just to illustrate that they can be supplied in any shape you want here’s an example of a tasty looking strawberry that is actually a custom USB flash drive so it would be best to avoid covering these in cream!

Strawberry USB Flash Drives

Strawberry Flash Drives

Of course USB strawberries are not going to be to everyone’s taste but they work just like standard USB flash drives albeit they generate a little more “buzz” and interest when used to promote a product or service. Standard flash drives printed up with a logo are almost as popular as Strawberries at Wimbledon but custom versions are getting more and more popular.

If you’ve got an event, show, conference or press launch and you really want to grab people’s attention and give them something to take away that reminds then of your and you company/product then it’s definitely worth considering a bespoke memory stick. Any design, any product, any shape can be manufactured in 2-D or 3-D and a wide range of materials are available to create the right overall effect.

All that’s needed to start the process is an idea! Once you have this get in touch and our in-house design team will work up some concepts for you and then develop these with you until you’re happy. The next stage is the production of physical samples for your approval and after that the final mass production. Lead times for custom flash drives are understandably a little longer at around 4 weeks but the finished results are definitely worth the wait.

Custom USB Flash Drives

Various Custom USB

Don’t forget to you can pre-load your data onto custom USB flash drives just as you can with any standard drive. So, make sure you have your sales material, your media files, presentation slides and any other data ready to load onto the drives when they arrive. If you don’t want the hassle of having to data load the memory sticks yourself then this can be done by the factory during the manufacturing process (normally free of charge) or the data can be loaded just before they are despatched to your offices.

So, as you sit back in the sunshine and watch the tennis get your thinking cap on and come up with your own ideas for a killer custom flash drive!

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The Winner In The Clubhouse – Custom USB Golf Clubs and Balls

Friday, May 28th, 2010

The golf equipment and clothing market is a multi-billion pound global market, which given that there are reckoned to be in excess of 30 million regular golfers worldwide is not surprising. Like many sports several key brands tend to dominate the market albeit these brands tend to fragment into clubs, golf balls, clothing and accessories.

Some of the most recognised brands include: Dunlop, TaylorMade, Adidas, Ping, Titliest, Callaway, Wilson, Nike and Mizuno. Every player will have their favourite clubs manufacturer, favourite golf ball manufacturer and so on and these global brands commit millions of pounds each year on R&D, design and sponsorship to make for example their particular golf clubs or golf balls the preferred choice of the golf community.

USB Gold Bag

USB Golf Bag

With every manufacturer scrambling for consumer spend in the midst of tough economic times its interesting to see the innovation now creeping into the advertising and marketing plans of many brands. Nowhere is this more evident than in the use of USB flash drives. Of course they are not using just any old factory designed flash drive with their logo printed on, no, they are commissioning fully bespoke flash drives in the shape of their equipment.

So, next time you’re at the London Golf Show or the Scottish Golf Show or any Golf Show for that matter don’t be surprised to coaxed onto a trade stand with the lure of a Custom USB Golf Ball or a Custom USB Golf bag. These super little promotional products are facsimiles of the real thing just a little smaller and of course they’re fully functional USB flash drives.

The beauty of these products is that the manufacturer can pre-load onto the flash drive all of their product range, technical data sheets, video’s of the product in use, testimonials from professional players, details of local stockists, links to their web site and so on. Rather than hand out lots of glossy but heavy and expensive marketing information

USB Golf Ball

USB Golf Ball

its far easier for all concerned to have this information on a small, handy and imaginatively produced flash memory stick. Easier for the recipient as they won’t be burdened with lots of brochures to lug around the show and easier for the giver as their print costs, storage costs, transport costs etc. will all be dramatically reduced.

Because USB flash drives are incredibly popular products they will be welcomed as promotional gift and unlike CD’s or DVD’s they will be used.  Done well they’ll also generate a real level of interest and “chatter” which is precisely what any good promotional product should deliver.

Custom flash drives, as these images illustrate, can be manufactured in any shape and in a range of different materials. Pricing is just a little more than a standard flash drive you just need to allow a week or so more for their manufacture.

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