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Posts Tagged ‘Branded USB’

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Chinese New Year Looms Large – Expect USB Flash Drive Shortages In The UK

Thursday, December 30th, 2010

Given that Chinese New Year happens every year you’d think by now that people would anticipate the shortages in the market that this prolonged holiday creates. To be fair many companies buying USB flash drives for shows, conferences and other marketing events for the first time might not appreciate that around the Chinese New Year Holiday typical leads times for branded USB flash drives can increase from around 10 days to 4-6 weeks!

The reason for the delay is simply because China takes its New Year celebrations very seriously with most employees travelling thousands of miles to be with their families for the duration of the holiday. The collective celebrations mean that pretty much everything stops for around 2 weeks. During this period very little manufacturing takes place and even things that are manufactured typically cannot be moved because the haulage and courier systems close for the holidays as well!

The Chinese New Year holidays have a direct impact on the availability of promotional and branded USB flash drives in the UK because that’s where they are all manufactured. Amazing as it might seem the “normal” lead times of around 10 days are for the production of the drives in China and the international freight of the drives to the UK. When the factories close backlogs build up and these coupled transport backlogs mean that it takes a week or so for lead times to get back to anything like normal.

In 2011 the holiday officially starts on the 3rd February but in practice many factories and businesses will close on the 26th January and won’t re-open until the 14th February. So, if you need to order promotional flash drives for delivery in later January or February then you need to get your orders placed by the 19th January at the latest. If you order later than this then there’s no guarantee they will arrive in time or you might have to find a supplier that carries blank (unprinted) stock in the UK and go with whatever options they have.

Very few companies carry blank stock of flash drives in the UK and when they do the stock tends to be limited to a couple of standard models and memory sizes and your choice of colour will be limited.

USB2U, having been supplying branded USB flash drives since 2002 and are well versed in the challenges of supply during Chinese New Year. If do need USB flash drives printed with your logo on from a UK supplier during Chinese New Year (or any other time for that matter) then give the team at USB2U a call.

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Chinese New Year Looms Large – Expect USB Flash Drive Shortages In The UK

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Getting Attached To My Branded USB Memory Sticks

Monday, November 15th, 2010

If you’ve spent or you’re about to spend some of your marketing budget on branded USB memory sticks then you’re going to be in good company because USB memory sticks are very popular at the moment. Their growing popularity is underpinned by their high perceived value, their ease of use and their portability and of course they are unique amongst promotional items because you can pre-load them with your company’s sales material, brochures and media files.

Branded USB memory sticks, like all of the best promotional products, are great brand advocates because they will get used over and over again and as such your brand will get lots of exposure. With on-going repeat usage the user forms a positive affinity with the USB memory stick and this positive affinity should transfer to your company and your brand.

Ensuring the on-going and regular usage of the USB memory stick is critical in ensuring your get the best return for your marketing spend. The danger of buying USB memory sticks that have relatively small memory is that they won’t get used because they’re simply not big enough (in storage terms) to be of any use to the recipient. Similarly if you buy USB memory sticks but pre-load them with your own data and “lock” this data so it cannot be erased you’re effectively giving away an expensive CD that has limited on-going use to the user once they’ve used the pre-loaded data.

Keyrings for USB Flash Drives

Keyrings for USB Flash Drives

A more sensible approach is to buy a USB memory stick with a reasonable amount of storage and make sure that the user has at least 1GB of memory available to them. This way you should be pretty confident that the USB flash drives will be used on an on-going basis and that your brand will bet the exposure it deserves.

Another sensible thing you can do is to supply your branded USB flash drives with a lanyard (neck strap) or even better a keyring. Keyrings for USB sticks cost pennies but they help to ensure that the user of the flash drive remains in the possession of the intended recipient. If you give away flash drives without any easy means of attaching them to bags, clothing or other keyrings then irrespective of how good the drives are or how much memory you make available to the user they’re likely to go astray. In the worst case rather than a positive affinity to the stick there is a real danger that having used the stick to store personal data on that the user will think negatively about the stick and any brand printed on it if they lose it!!

Our advice – always supply your branded USB memory sticks with either a lanyard or a key ring attachment.

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Getting Attached To My Branded USB Memory Sticks

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USB Pens that Write AND Store Data

Friday, November 12th, 2010

One of the key things when you’re looking for a good promotional product or corporate gift is to make sure the item that you giving away is actually going to be useful and is going to be used.

Of course the item needs to be within your target budget, it needs to work well with your company’s brand and it need to be in tune with your target audience. Assuming all of these parameters are met it still needs to tick the “useful” box. There are lots of cheap and cheerful promotional products on the market and these are find if you just want people to say come to your stand at a trade show but, if you want to create some real interest in your company’s products or you want to say express your appreciation to your customers or perhaps speakers at a conference or seminar then “cheap and cheerful” won’t do.

Wooden USB Writing Pens

Wooden USB Writing Pens

With thousands of promotional items now available from sweets to mugs to caps to USB flash drives making the right selection is not easy. USB flash drives printed up with a company logo are incredibly popular at the moment with literally millions of them being given away each year. Given their intrinsic usefulness, their relatively small size (handy if you have to transport lots of them) and their price its no surprise that they are so popular but their popularity is also their weakness.

There is a point where you can just have too many USB flash drives and when this point is reached their usefulness no longer applies. Most people only have a certain amount of data they want to move around or save so whilst one or two USB flash drives are useful beyond this, unless the USB flash drive offers something a little different, they can become “just another flash drive” which is likely to end up unused and discarded in a draw.

USB Pens

USB Pens

If you’ve decided a USB flash drive is fundamentally the right product for your activity or project you might want to consider a USB writing pen rather than a standard USB stick or thumb drive as they are sometimes called. USB writing pens elegantly combine the benefits of giving away a stylish biro or pen that carries your brand with the widely acknowledged benefits of a USB flash drive.

USB pens come is a wide range of styles, colours and finishes and the fountain pen version uses standard ink refills. Typically unscrewing the top of the pen gives access to the USB connector and the on-board memory can be anything from 1GB all the way up to a massive 16GB!

USB Writing Pen

USB Writing Pen

USB writing pens are a little bit different, they’re ideal if you’re going to give them out at a seminar, conference or press event where the delegates are expecting to be given something to take notes with during the event. The extra trick they have up their sleeve is that you can pre-load them tons of information including presentation files, sales brochures, media files etc. In doing this you get a “triple whammy” because you’re giving away a pen, a USB flash drive and you’re supply the recipient with lots of information pre-loaded onto the stick that they can subsequently read or print off at their leisure.

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USB Pens that Write AND Store Data

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Leading Fashion Brands Choose Black and White USB Memory Sticks

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

If you’re looking for a striking, impact making and top quality USB memory stick to carry your logo where do you start? After all there are literally hundreds of different designs and styles of USB sticks available and they’re available from a wide range of companies.

Black USB Memory Sticks

Black USB Memory Sticks

One option is to follow the cues from the fashion world, after all they tend to be leaders rather than followers and they tend to be very precious and protective of their brands. In following these top brands you can pretty much guarantee you’re not only going to get an excellent product but you’re going to be buying it from a supplier that has met the high levels of service and quality.

Black white USB sticks

Black White USB Sticks

What’s interesting about these particular branded USB sticks is the black and white theme that’s evident on all of them. USB sticks come in all manner of different standard colours and the outer shells of the sticks can even be pantone matched to a particular colour if the standard colours are inappropriate. Despite the wide choice of colours available these customers have all opted for a standard black or white USB stick that has then been printed with a contrasting black or white print.

The finished printed USB sticks look stunning and illustrate that sometime simple really is

Armani USB

Armani USB Sticks

best. So, if you’re looking for a recommendation for a particular style or type of USB flash drive for your company you could do a lot worse than follow the lead of design houses like Armani or fashion icons like Converse.

These particular USB flash drives were supplied by USB2U who are now widely recognised as one of the leading suppliers of branded USB sticks and custom (bespoke) flash drives in the UK. USB2U have been around since 2002 and are trusted to handle the supply of USB sticks to all manner of companies, schools and local authorities.

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Leading Fashion Brands Choose Black and White USB Memory Sticks

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USB2U Announces New Enhanced Data Loading Solutions For USB Flash Drives

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

USB2U, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of printed USB flash drives and fully bespoke USB memory sticks is delighted to announce the launch of a new extended range of data loading options for the branded USB flash drive it supplies.

USB2U has always prided itself on being one of the few suppliers in the UK able to offer USB flash drives printed with a company logo and pre-laded data within 48hrs of the order being placed.

Unfortunately more complex data loading options such as “auto-runs”, the creation of two virtual drives on a USB drive

USB Data Service

USB Data Services

and the ability to protect any data loaded on the drives so it cannot be erased, has not been possible within the timeframe. These complex data loading options have, up until now, only been possible during the manufacturing process and because all USB flash drives are manufactured in China this has meant a 2 week lead-time.

For many customers waiting 2 weeks for printed USB flash drives with an auto-run file or a protected file is not ideal so USB2U has been keen to find a solution that tackles this problem. Following much research and a significant investment in data loading hardware USB2U is delighted to announce that is can now offer an extended suite of data loading options including:

  • Basic data pre-loading. This is the simple loading of any digital file onto the USB flash drives. Example files could include PDF’s Media Files, PowerPoint files, Spreadsheets and Word documents but any file can be loaded.
  • Auto-runs. This as the name implied means that a pre-load file will run automatically when inserted into a USB port. Typically this would be used to start say an audio file or movie or to start a series of PowerPoint files. Auto runs are popular with the giver of USB flash drives because they force the user to view a specific piece of information but they can be a little annoying to the recipient if they cannot be deleted and they are forced to view the information every time they use the flash drive.
  • Partitioned drives. This is the creation of two “virtual” drives on a single USB flash drive. One partition could be pre-loaded with data and the data “locked” so it cannot be erased whilst the other partition could be left “open” to allow the user free access to.
  • Protected (locked) files. If you are paying for the USB flash drives that are being given away and you’ve going to the trouble to pre-load your data onto the drives its useful to know that the files you load can’t be simply erased the first time the USB drive is used.

All of the above data loading options are now available from USB2U on USB flash drives held in stock in the UK. The lead times (subject to stock being available) is 24 hrs for data-loading, 48hrs for printed USB flash drives and 72hrs for data-loading and printing. Interested? Just give the team at USB2U a call or complete the on-line enquiry form on their web site.

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USB2U Announces New Enhanced Data Loading Solutions For USB Flash Drives

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Plaudits Continue to Flow In For USB2U

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

Looking for a good and trusted supplier of branded USB memory sticks? Perhaps you’re not sure how to choose a supplier for your project or maybe you’re just confused by the number of companies now claiming to offer USB sticks at the “best” price and with rapid delivery timeframes.

If you’ve never bought USB memory sticks (also called USB flash drives, thumb drive and pen drives) printed with your logo on before then its easy to understand why you might get a little daunted by the task. Not only are there lots of companies selling them but they all look the same so do you just use price as your only barometer when deciding where to place your business?

Branded USB Memory Sticks

Branded USB Memory Sticks

Choosing on price alone can be risky not least because whilst USB memory sticks can look the same on the outside it’s the internal components (the flash memory module and the controller chip) that are just as import as how the printed stick look. Some suppliers offer cheap headline prices but fail to disclose they are able to offer this price because they are using Grade “B” or re-cycled chips – these are prone to high failure rates. Some will even “mask” a 128MB memory module to make it look like a 1GB – this ploy is very hard to spot until you try and load data on the USB flash drive.

The safest option is to choose from a supplier that:

  • Has been around for a while, operates from a business address and not a “back bedroom” purporting to be a company.
  • Has a proven track record of delivery and can put you in touch with customers who are able to supply references
  • Can certify the products they supply use new and Grade A chips and memory modules.
  • Offers guarantees that are underpinned by their track record.
  • Can offer in-house data loading services

USB2U has been supplying branded USB memory sticks since 2002 and is recognised as one of the leading suppliers in the UK with many household names as clients. If you’re looking for a safe pair of hands for your branded USB order you can trust USB2U. Here’s what a few of their customers had to say about them:

Leapfrog – “Just to say that the USB’s came through this morning and they are fantastic. We are very pleased with the quality and service – we’ll certainly be ordering again in the future”

Hertfordshire School – “I can only praise USB2U for delivering our fantastic memory sticks 2 weeks ahead of schedule, whilst simultaneously undercutting their competitors on price”

Studio London – “Just a quick note to let you know that the USBs have arrived and look great!  It’s taken me a long time to find packaging for them that looked classy, and the black box does it for me.”

NRP – “They have arrived here and look stunning! Thanks so much – it has been a pleasure working with you”

Whirlpool – “USB’S went down really well at the event last night – they looked great”

Panasonic – “We received them this morning. Thank you. I shared them out within the department, which made everyone happy. Quality was superb as always”

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Plaudits Continue to Flow In For USB2U

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Branded USB Flash Drive with A FREE Laynard

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

USB Flash Drives are incredibly popular at the moment with millions of them given away every year. Their popularity is underpinned by their ease of use, their portability, their convenience and the fact that you can customise them with a company logo relatively easily and cheaply.

Whilst they are relatively inexpensive, branded USB flash drives look fantastic and do help to build and maintain brand loyalty. If you use the memory that is a core part of the flash drive to load your company’s sales material onto then you can offset the cost of the USB flash drives against the cost of getting physical sales brochures, presentations slides, etc. printed, transported and stored.

Free USB Lanyards

Free USB Lanyards

Attendees at trade shows and fairs, press events, or conferences are reluctant to take and lug around with them loads of heavy brochures no matter how fantastic they look. Look at the bins outside of any show hall to see just how many are “dumped” into the bins outside of the halls. Contrast this to the popularity of a USB flash drive. These are devices that people not only want but actively seek out and if they are printed up with your brand on and your sales material pre-loaded onto them then its far more likely they’ll look at your content.

Simple things like printing your web site URL on the drives and/or your phone number make it easy for prospective customers to get in touch with you.

Another thing to consider when handing out flash drives is whether you supply them with a key ring attachment or a lanyard. Both are popular but both typically add to the overall cost of the branded USB flash drives, which understandably puts people off from ordering them.

If you’re buying branded USB flash drives from USB2U during November the goods news is that you don’t need to worry about the extra cost because we are giving away a free lanyard with every memory stick ordered – all we ask is that you order over 100 USB drives to qualify and that you specify on your order that you want them and which colour you want. We won’t automatically add them to every order we send out so just make sure you mention it to one of the team if you want to take advantage of this offer.

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Branded USB Flash Drive with A FREE Laynard

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Recruitment Drive Aided By USB Flash Drives

Friday, October 22nd, 2010

Just how do you attract the brightest and best university candidates to your business or at the very least to your stand or booth at employment fairs at university campuses so that you can enter into a dialogue with them?

Although there is huge competition for jobs at the moment there is equally strong competition amongst some of the most dynamic and fast paced companies in the UK to secure the interest of top graduates from some of best universities. Whilst your jobs, training, remuneration package and long term prospects combined with your companies profile play a huge part in catching the interest of prospective graduates sometimes its also important to have a “hook” to get them to stop and talk to you. No more so is this true than in the scrum of University job fairs where lots of companies compete for the attention of the students.

Cognito USB WristbandOne company that faced such a challenge is Cognito. Cognito are the UK’s most experienced mobile systems integrator, with a unique managed services approach that embraces industry best practice and enables our customers to concentrate on running their business, serving their customers, and establishing market leadership. Cognito wanted to attract bright new graduates to become part of their team and decided to invest in some branded USB wristbands to “encourage” students to come to their stand.

The silicon rubber 1GB USB wristbands were printed up Cognito’s logo and pre-loaded with details of the jobs on offer. The reaction to the wristbands by the graduates at the job’s fair was incredibly positive and they had the desired effect in terms of driving interest both in Cognito but also in terms of driving interest in their graduate placements.

If you are looking to entice students of perhaps customers to your stand and a show, event or exhibition then you

USB wristbands

USB wristbands

might want to consider using USB flash drives to draw people onto your stand. If USB wristbands are not suitable for your target audience than don’t worry because there are lots of different styles and designs of USB flash drives available including USB credit cards, USB lanyards and classic Twister USB sticks. If none of these “rock your boat” then you could always commission your own 3-D custom version – custom USB sticks can be manufactured pretty quickly in any shape or style you want with many companies choosing to get them produced in a shape that reflects one of their products or their brand.

The inherent appeal and perceived value of USB flash drives will undoubtedly attract people to your stand if they know you are handing them out for free but because of the cost of them you just need to be careful how freely you give them away. In the context of recruitment at a University the cost of a few hundred USB flash drives in relatively small compared to the cost of paying recruitment firms or placing job ads in relevant papers and magazines.

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Recruitment Drive Aided By USB Flash Drives

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USB Writing Pen Branded With Your Company Logo

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Pens have been used as promotional items for years and have long established themselves as an excellent gift and or giveaway across all demographics. Part of the reason for their on-going popularity is that you can buy branded pens from a few pennies or you can spend significantly more on top-end fountain pens that are supplied in a beautiful presentation box.

USB Writing Pens

USB Writing Pens

Although we’re becoming more and more technology obsessed as evidenced by the rapid growth in the use of email, texts, tweeting and social networking there is still a place for the humble pen. Even the most ardent and hard core lovers of technology will still typically carry around with them a pen of some description because even in 2010 its difficult to get by without using a writing pen in some situations. Think about writing birthday cards, signing off your expenses, signing contracts, leaving notes on the desks of colleagues, writing cheques and sending in official application forms to name just a few examples of why we still need a writing pen.

If you are looking to use writing pens as a giveaway, gift or “thank you” at an event, show, seminar or conference then one option is a USB writing pen. These innovative and exciting products combine all of the well know and established benefits of a traditional writing pen with the benefits of a USB flash drive!

USB Pens

USB Pens

Embedded in the body of the pen (accessed by unscrewing the body of the pen) is a USB connector, a USB flash memory module and a flash memory controller chip. The USB flash memory element of the pen works just like any standalone USB stick, it can come in memory sizes from 64MB all the way up to a whopping 16GB and it allows the user to store and transfer their personal data with them – all secreted in the body of a writing pen!

USB writing pens are physically no larger than many conventional pens, they can be branded with a company logo just like a conventional pen and as you would expect they write just like conventional pens.

From a pricing perspective USB pens are only marginally more expensive than a standard branded USB memory stick but the dual functionality more than makes up for this small price premium. When comparing the price of USB pens to “standard pens” its more difficult because the price range of pens is so wide – they are of course quite a bit more expensive than standard biro’s but equally they are significantly cheaper than some of the more expensive biro’s, rollerballs and fountain pens that are available.

Most suppliers of branded USB memory sticks will also supply branded USB pens so next time you’re after a quote ask them to include USB pens. You might be surprised at just how inexpensive they are today and your customer, clients and/or staff will love them!

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USB Writing Pen Branded With Your Company Logo

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