If you’re planning to hand out USB memory sticks branded with your logo printed on them then one of the things you might need to consider is whether to pre-load any files onto the USB sticks before you hand them out. If you do decide to pre-load files then should you make these run (start-up) automatically as soon as the USB stick is connected to a PC?

Loading files (sales brochures, photos, prices lists, press releases, presentation slides etc.) is growing in popularity, which is hardly surprising given the money that can be saved, compared to printing the brochures etc. but should you “auto-run” this content:

The advantages of setting up your files to auto-run are:

• The recipient will see your content as soon as they plug in the USB stick – typically the first item they are
  

  USB Data Load

  presented with is a “landing” page which then directs them to other content of the USB stick – a bit like a web page.

• Using a USB stick with an autorun file on is easy and very intuitive (providing you spend some time on the file formats(s), the structure and you develop a navigation page)
• You can be sure that the information you pre-load on the USB stick is seen (even if it is only the initial landing page)

But, there are some things that need careful consideration before you decide you want to install auto-run files on your USB sticks:

• Nuisance factor. If one of your objectives is to ensure that your USB Memory Sticks are kept and used on a regular basis then bear in mind that every time the user wants to access or save a document they will have to wait for your auto-run to run. This is typically fine the first few times they use the stick, but pretty soon it’s going to get irritating and they’ll relegate the memory stick to a draw – bang goes any on-going brand exposure!
• They don’t work on old Operating Systems - Autoruns will not work on Win 98 or Win 2000 operating systems and you need to adapt any autorun if you want it to work on Macs.
• Corporate Firewalls – Some corporate firewalls and IT policies restrict autoruns because of worries about viruses. So, if you are targeting companies with your files lots of them might not be able to use the sticks if they have an auto-run on them.

There are alternatives to autoruns that are less intrusive but achieve the same sort of result without being a nuisance and these are:

• Click Here to Start – load your data onto the USB Stick with an icon labelled ‘Click Here To Start’ and allow the user to access the data when they want.  This data can be protected so it would not be deleted, but overcomes may of the issues detailed above.
• Print a QR Code (Quick Response) on the USB stick that takes the user directly to your web page (or landing page) when scanned – all new Smart phones, iPhones and iPads can scan QR codes and then dynamically open up a web page.

Our advice based on many years of selling millions of promotional USB sticks is to avoid autoruns if you can because people don’t like them, they get in the way of how they want to use the USB stick(s) and if you put them on the sticks will have a short life and you’re brand won’t get the exposure you’re paying for.