Custom USB Memory Sticks should not be confused with printed or engraved USB flash drives. These are standard designs that are simply overprinted with a company logo or brand and whilst they are incredibly popular they are not custom memory sticks.

A custom USB memory stick sometimes also referred to as a bespoke flash drive is, as the name implies, designed and manufactured to meet a specific customers requirements. There are pretty much no limits to what the memory stick can look like, what colour it comes in or what size it is.

Custom memory sticks can be manufactured as a 2-D or 3-D shape and in a range of different materials. The only one constraint is that the custom shape has to be large enough to accommodate a standard USB connector (so that you can connect it to our PC or Mac) and within the custom shape there has to be enough room to house the PCB and Flash Memory Modules.

Whilst there are lots of companies that can supply standard branded or printed flash drives there are far fewer that can or will offer custom solutions. The reason is that to get the best from a custom memory stick you really need a supplier with in-house design skills coupled with a real understanding of what is possible and the time to engage with you and discuss your requirements. Its then critical that they deliver a range of options for you and then work with the factory to produce the mould(s) and physical samples for you to approve. Unlike standard printed flash drives its critical that you see a custom memory stick in the flesh before you go into manufacture.

A lot of suppliers have neither the skills or experience necessary to enable you to get the best custom solution for your money and worst still they’ll under estimate the lead times and effort involved (by all parties) and over estimate their ability to deliver.

Custom memory sticks are truly excellent way of making your company stand out from the crowd so don’t be put off. Whilst there is some extra effort involved and they will be a little more expensive the end results can be fantastic. Some great examples of custom USB memory sticks:

	USB Eraser – a 3-D memory stick manufactured in the shape of a classic eraser. Used by an animal drugs company that wanted to promote its new “pain eraser” drug. By playing on the wording of the product name and its key strap line they came up a novel custom memory stick that really got their message across.
	Wedding Dress USB – a custom 2-D flash drive manufactured in the shape of a wedding dress for a Bridal wear company that wanted something to grab their customers attention. The memory stick was pre-loaded with their sales brochure and some great photo’s of their dresses and gowns.
	Forklift USB – this is a 2-D custom USB memory stick manufactured in the shape of a forklift truck. Not surprisingly it was supplied to a forklift truck company who in turn used it to promote their company at a trade show. They pre-loaded the memory stick with their sales PDF’s, links to their web site and media files.

If you are looking for Custom USB Memory sticks then find yourself a supplier that has a successful track record or delivering these in the past and ideally has worked on multiple 2-D and 3-D projects.