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Posts Tagged ‘Memory Sticks’

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Pity You Can’t Get This In Our USB Barrels

Monday, October 24th, 2011

Wick Whisky, a single malt distilled in one of Scotland’s most remote distilleries has been named the world’s best whisky and regrettably it is not available to us in our USB Barrels – we know because we’ve opened them all searching in vain for the elusive nectar!

The 21-year-old single malt Wick Whisky scored a record-equalling 97.5 points out of 100 beating 1,200 other entries to take the title ”World’s Best” Whisky

USB Barrel

USB Barrel

After tasting the tipple the judge described the whisky as absolutely exploding from the glass with vitality, charisma and class.

The winning whisky is matured in American oak casks and bottled at the Pulteney distillery in Wick, Caithness. The two runners up were both US bourbons.

Of course Scotland is famed the world over for its whisky but Pulteney is relatively new to the limelight simply because its lacks the financial muscle of other more popular brands. Hopefully this award will help whisky drinkers discover this wonderful drink.

Cost effective options open to whisky (and bourbon) distilleries to help promote their brand now include Twitter, Facebook and other Social Media channels but some are turning to exciting new products like USB Barrels (printed with the name of their whisky and pre-loaded with lots of facts and figures about the whisky).

The Custom USB Barrels supplied by USB2U are top quality products that reflect the brand values of the best whiskies in the world – they are made from a range of different real wood finishes and they are topped off with a metal screw cap.

They look fantastic printed or embossed and they attach to a keyring easily. Whilst they’re not World champions just yet they’re a champion product.

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Pity You Can’t Get This In Our USB Barrels

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Professional Photographers Spurn CD’s in Favour of USB Flash Drives

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

There are an estimated 50,000 professional photographers in the UK making it a highly competitive sector. Add to this the thousands of students taking photography courses at college and universities every year and you start to get a sense of just how many photographers there are chasing business in UK.

Add to this the falling price of professional photography equipment and throw into the mix the flexibility that digital photography offers the “enthusiastic amateur”. Combine it with top-end software products that are enable the to turn out near professional results and you get a picture of not just a crowded professional sector but understandably a sector that is concerned about its future – should it be?

Yes, barriers of entry are low but arguably they’ve always been low and yes, some clients will always go for the “cheap option” and pay “cash” to an enthusiast with a camera but they run the risk of ending up with poorly framed, poorly shot and poorly printed results. You can’t re-run a wedding or a christening because “your mate” screwed up the photography!

When choosing a professional photographer experience is a fundamental requirement and it’s not something you can buy over the counter or order online. Experience ensures that those “once in a lifetime” moments are captured properly and clients are happy with the end results.

Of course it’s not just the ability to take a good photo that is important, professional photography is also about running a business and this includes a wide range of skills from advertising, marketing, cash-flow management, customer relationship management and time management to name just a few.

USB Flash Drives

USB Flash Drives

On the marketing and delivery side of the business more and more professional photographers are turning to USB flash drives to supply the finished photographs to their clients. In the past digital copies of the client portfolio might have been delivered on a CD or DVD but these are increasingly seen as “old fashioned” and not a particularly attractive way to present the portfolio.

Printed USB flash drives on the other hand offer an exciting, professional and innovative way to present a portfolio of photographs. The flash drive(s) can be supplied in a wide range of shapes, designs and styles and they can be engraved or printed up with the photographers logo, website address and contact phone number.

It’s little touches like this that will help to differentiate a professional photographer that invests in his business from a new start-up that might just be looking at photography as a way of earning a “few quid on the side”.

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Professional Photographers Spurn CD’s in Favour of USB Flash Drives

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New Sample Boxes Of USB Sticks Now In

Tuesday, October 18th, 2011

As one of the leading supplies of promotional and printed USB Flash drives we’re often asked for samples of the USB sticks we sell. Understandably with so many different types to choose from it’s not always easy to tell from an image on a web site which model will work best for your campaign or promotion.

Getting physical samples of the USB sticks you’ve short-listed together with good quality mock-ups of how your artwork will look on each short-listed stick is, in many cases, a pre-requisite before placing an order.

USB2U Sample Boxes

USB2U Sample Boxes

Up until now whilst we have been happy to send out samples they have been sent out in individual “poly” bags that doesn’t really help to illustrate them at their best. So, we’ve now “upped our game” and from now on we’re sending out samples in our own USB2U branded samples box. You choose which samples you want and we’ll send them out overnight so that you get them the following day.

All of our samples are supplied free of charge. They’re printed or engraved to show you the quality of the print you can expect on them (we can’t print your logo on the samples so they will be sent with example logos on). The samples are “dummy” samples so they won’t work but in all other respects they are actual samples that will convey the look, feel, weight and manufacturing quality.

To compliment the free sample service we also offer free design support services. If your logo is not quite good enough then we’ll offer to re-draw or re-work the artwork to get it “print ready”. If you want to see how your artwork will look on a range of different stick then no problem, we’ll produce mock-ups of each one. If you just need help trying to narrow down the choices then using our years of experience we can recommend options for you.

Our Free Samples offer is just one element of the overall service we offer. We want you to be happy with the choice of USB stick you make and more importantly we want you to be delighted with the final printed versions of your promotional USB memory sticks. Get your free, no-obligation quote and samples

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New Sample Boxes Of USB Sticks Now In

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Interesting twist on the Boot & Shoe Industry in Northampton

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Northampton has been at the heart of the shoemaking industry for centuries. At its peak there were 1871 shoemakers in Northampton and the local football team is known affectionately as “The Cobblers”.

Today 34 local factories remain. All of these have been trading for well over 100 years and they include iconic brands like Church’s English Shoes, Barkers, Crockett & Jones and Trickers.

In a new twist a local company, USB2U, is now supplying the promotional and advertising world with customised USB flash drives in the shape of boots and shoes. To be fair boots and shoes are just a small part of the portfolio of promotional USB sticks they supply but all the same it’s nice to see a local company continuing with the tradition of supply boots and shoes albeit with a very different twist!!

NIke USB Flash Drives

NIke USB Flash Drives

Promotional USB flash drives are all the rage at the moment. Their growth has partly been fuelled by the slow demise of the CD, falling prices for USB flash drives, the ubiquity if of USB ports on all new PC’s and their ease of use. Everyone seems to love to be given a USB flash drive and companies are now “tapping into” this demand and giving them away pre-loaded with their sales brochures and media files.

As the Nike Trainers examples shown here illustrate USB flash drives can now be produced in pretty much any shape or style. So, if you have an idea or concept in mind just speak to one of the bigger suppliers of USB sticks and they’ll be able to talk you through the process to get them manufactured. A typical custom USB drive takes around 3-4 weeks to manufacture so make sure you allow enough time in your project plan. You also need to allow around 10% more for a fully customised model compared to a standard stick that is just printed with a logo.

USB2U are one of the larger supplies and have a safe pair of hands for any custom USB project irrespective of whether it involves shoe or not.

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Interesting twist on the Boot & Shoe Industry in Northampton

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The Risks of Putting an Auto-Run File on Your USB Sticks

Friday, October 14th, 2011

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

    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.

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Don’t forget QR Codes On Promotional USB Memory Sticks

Thursday, October 13th, 2011

One of the big technology and marketing trends of the year is the widening use of QR codes. QR codes or to give them their full name; Quick Response codes are two dimensional bar codes and they were originally developed by Toyota in Japan to help them keep track of parts and the status of vehicles during the manufacturing process.

Although they work in a similar way to conventional bar codes they contain significantly more information and open up all sorts of interesting marketing and communication opportunities.

Today if you’ve got an iPhone or Android smart phone you can download a QR reader from the relevant App store and start scanning QR codes. Because of this there are now literally hundreds of millions of potential QR scanners in the hands of consumers around the world.

QR Code on USB Credit Card

QR Code on USB Credit Card

Never ones to be slow to spot an opportunity the advertising and marketing community have been quick to exploit the potential of QR codes in all manner of interesting ways. Here are just a few examples of how QR codes are now being used:

  • Billboard adverts are now commonly displaying QR codes – simply take photo of one of these with your QR scanner (Smart phone or iPhone) and the code will typically take you to a web page where you can get more information on the product, enter competitions, buy tickets etc.
  • Magazine and newspaper adverts and articles now frequently display QR codes to enable to reader to quickly “jump” to a website or webpage that will display lots more information on the product, feature or article.
  • Hot link to movie trailers from QR codes on posters, theatre stands and adverts in the back of taxis, on the bus and on the tube.
  • Business Cards – don’t just print your name, address and web site URL on your business cards – print a QR code and allow your customers to jump directly to your personal profile, your Linked in page etc.
  • Food packaging – they’re a great way of giving consumers more information about the food they’re buying, the nutritional values of the item, it’s origin and how to cook it – simply scan the QR code and open up significantly more information than could realistically be put on the box or carton.
  • Exclusive offers and promos are increasingly being linked to the use of QR codes – to enter a prize draw you must first scan the code – this in turn takes you to a landing page where you get access to the exclusive deals on offer.
USB2U QR Code

USB2U QR Code

For advertisers the real beauty of QR codes is that they are free to generate, they’re easy to add to current advertising and they generate real traffic and interest.

We’re already seeing some of our more innovative customer print QR codes on their promotional USB memory sticks and it’s a trend we expect to grow rapidly over the next year or so.

If you are new to QR codes try ‘scanning’ the QR code to the left and see where it takes you…

Happy scanning!

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More bands releasing Special Edition Albums on USB Sticks

Wednesday, October 12th, 2011

Lady Gaga becomes the latest in a growing list of major recording artists to release a special edition of their work on a custom USB memory stick,

Lady Gaga USB Sticks

Lady Gaga USB Sticks

Not content with issuing a special edition Fame Monster USB drive in 2010 she has now followed this up with a limited edition Born This Way USB Drive. Unfortunately it’s only available in Japan but with her global popularity it’s bound to surface on well-known auction sites around the world over the coming months.

The USB drive is a pretty faithful copy of the artwork from the album with Lady Gaga shown astride her motorcycle. It’s a 2GB drive and so not only do you get all the songs from the album, you also get tons of extras including remixed tracks and music videos Judas, Born this Way, The Edge of Glory, and episodes of Gaga vision.

Although Lady Gaga clearly likes to define trends on this occasion she’s a little bit late to the party because in 2007 Radiohead released “Radiohead: The Parlaphone Years 1993 – 2003″ on a customised USB memory stick in the shape of the iconic Radiohead “bear”. Whilst it was also available on CD the limited edition USB version included the whole of the Radiohead back catalogue in WAV files.

Shortly after the release of the Radiohead USB stick Apple Records released the Beatles back catalogue on an apple-shaped USB Stick The 16GB memory stick was packed with 14 stereo albums, 13 mini-documentary films about the albums, album art and copies of rare Beatle artwork and posters. Only 30,000 were made and despite a price tag of

Beatles USB Sticks

Beatles USB Sticks

around £200 they sold out pretty quickly.

With bands increasingly using websites, iTunes, blogs and Social Networking sites to promote and distribute their music it’s unlikely that we’ll see a headlong rush towards the use of USB memory sticks for music but, for some global artists or those with a large back catalogues and a library of videos and other material its an interesting option.

At the other end of the spectrum if you’re a new band trying to break into the market getting a custom USB memory stick produced and pre-loading it with your music and bio’s about the band members is a way to get noticed – they make far more impact than sending in a CD or DVD. It’s not as expensive as you might think either because the price of custom USB memory sticks has fallen dramatically over the last year making them only a little more expensive than standard USB memory sticks that use “generic” factory designs.

Just like any other industry the music industry has to adapt and use all of the new and emerging marketing channels available to it and this, albeit to a limited degree, includes USB memory sticks.

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Should You Put Serial Numbers On Your USB Flash Drives

Wednesday, October 5th, 2011

Are you interested in keeping track of the USB flash drives you give out? Do you need to associate every USB Drive to a specific person or company? Perhaps you’re giving out sticks that are pre-loaded with sensitive pricing or perhaps they’ve got embargoed press release information on them that must not fall into the wrong hands.

USB Sticks With Serial Numbers

USB Sticks With Serial Numbers

If you’re a school or university and you’re giving the sticks away to students then you might want something on the stick that “binds” them to student – at least this way if the USB stick is lost (and subsequently found) it can be repatriated to the student who lost it. There’s nothing worse then losing precious coursework stored on a USB flash drive!

An easy way to achieve this is to get a unique serial number printed or engraved on every USB stick and record who you give them to. Engraving costs pennies or nothing depending on how many sticks you buy and it is a simple but effective solution. There are various places a serial number can be put on the sticks including the main body, on the USB connector and the side of the body.

If you are planning to pre-loaded sensitive data onto the USB memory sticks then as well as knowing who has been given which stick you might want to consider password protecting the data or even putting some form of encryption solution on the USB memory stick.

Numbered USB Sticks

Numbered USB Sticks

Some companies that distribute their sales brochures and distributor price lists on USB flash drives put serial numbers on them not so much to track them if they get lost but to create different “batches” of USB sticks (determined by a range of serial numbers) onto which they then pre-load different prices lists (with differing discount structures etc.). When your faced with 500 USB sticks they all look the same so a serial number is just a bit of a safety net to make sure the right person/company gets the right information – you also have an audit trail of who’s been sent what.

The images here show every USB flash drive uniquely marked with a serial numbers but it is just as easy to personalise every drive with a persons name if preferred – you just need to provide a spreadsheet with these details when you place any order.

Don’t forget at the moment we’re offering free 4 colour printing, free data-loading,  free gift boxes and free delivery in the UK (we do ship anywhere in the world but we charge for International shipments at cost)

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Should You Put Serial Numbers On Your USB Flash Drives

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Which Way Is Up When You Turn Over Your USB Sticks

Friday, September 30th, 2011

Promotional USB memory sticks are incredibly popular at the moment with millions being given away every year. Their popularity is being fuelled by falling prices, larger memory sizes, ease of use and the demise of the CD.

Companies that give them away are also catching on to the benefit of pre-loading them with their sales brochures, presentation slides and media files. By doing this they not only save significant print, transportation and storage costs but they give their customers something that is inherently useful and something that has a high perceived value.

Which way is up - USB Cards

Which way is up - USB Cards

There are lots of different models, shapes and styles of USB memory sticks available today and most of them look stunning when printed with a company logo but it does pay to take the time to choose a colour/style that compliment the brand being printed on the USB stick.

Most companies that buy printed USB sticks will get both sides of the USB stick printed but not everyone gives a great deal of thought to which way up the logo will appear when the stick is turned over. You’d think there would only be one right way of doing it but, depending on how you turn the stick over in your hand, it will either end up the correct way up or upside down.

The standard way USB sticks are printed is the opposite way to which credit cards are printed – if you take a credit or bank card and roll it over in your hand from top to bottom the text is upside down but, if you rotate it from left to right it is the correct way up. USB credit cards and USB memory sticks work the opposite way.

Orientation of Logo back and front

Orientation of Logo back and front

The images here illustrate how USB credit cards (and sticks) are printed as standard. You can get them printed so they work just like a credit card but you’d need to specify this when you place any order.

It’s a small point but it’s something that does vex some people so it’s worth appreciating the subtlety of it and making sure you if you order USB sticks printed on both sides that you get the text printed how you want it.

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Which Way Is Up When You Turn Over Your USB Sticks

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Get The Wow Factor With Colour Matched USB Flash Drives

Tuesday, September 27th, 2011

Arguably one of the simplest ways to make your promotional USB flash drives stand out from the crowd is to get the body shell of the drive colour matched to one of the primary colours from your logo. Most USB flash drives are typically available in a small range of standard colours (typically primary colours like red, blue and yellow) and whilst they look pretty good printed there is no denying that a custom, pantone matched body shell that compliments the printed logo looks better and leaves a stronger lasting impression.

Pantone Matched

Pantone Matched

Colour matching or “Pantone Matching” as it is sometimes called involves mixing inks into the plastic shell of the USB flash drives during the manufacturing process. The end results look stunning and the customer ends up with a truly unique USB flash drive.

Pantone matched USB flash drives typically carry a small price premium partly because of the additional effort to produce them and partly because of the extra material used to produce USB body shells in short production runs. The shell manufacturers minimum production run is 1,000 units so if you order says 250 USB drives they will discard the extra 750 shells (or hold them in stock if they think you might come back and order more)

To help you visualise what a colour matched USB flash drive printed with your logo on might look like ask your supplier to work up a number of different mock-ups for you to consider – any decent supplier should have in-house designers that can do this quickly and easily and its by far the best/cheapest way of deciding how to proceed.

Pantone-Matching

Pantone-Matching

At USB2U we offer free pantone matching on USB flash drives. The only caveat is that we ask you to order at least 500 pieces to qualify for the free offer. If you don’t need this many then we do make a charge for pantone matching but it still won’t break the bank and typically adds just a few pennies to the cost per flash drive.

USB flash drives are currently one of the most popular promotional items in the market today so if you’re ordering them don’t settle for second best. Make sure you take the time to work with our designer to get the best colour for your brand. We’ll work up some examples and mock-ups free of charge and then we’ll produce the pantone matched sticks for you for no extra charge (min 500 pcs).

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