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Posts Tagged ‘usb cards’

USB Cards Offer up All Sorts Of Promotional Options

Wednesday, April 17th, 2013

USB Cards have really come of age over the past year or so. For the uninitiated a USB card is a just like any other standard USB flash drive but unlike a standard drive it’s in the shape of a card and typically in the shape of a credit card.

The clever thing about these cards is that all of the memory, the processor and the USB connectors are tucked away in the body of the card leaving a product that is only around 2mm thick! The more popular cards tend to be credit card or business card shaped because it’s a shape/size people are familiar with, they have pockets, purses and wallets to carry the cards in. Additionally the large(ish) size of these cards gives plenty of scope for printing a wide range of complex designs and images.

But USB cards in the shape of a credit card are not the only option and with some creativity the other standard shapes can deliver stunning results:

Small Flip USB Cards:

These are about half the size of a standard credit card so they’re ideal to use as a USB name badge – a standard badge pin can be attached to the rear of the card and the front can be printed in full colour. A great alternative for delegates at a seminar or conference and of course the speakers notes and slides (and any other marketing material) can be pre-loaded onto the USB memory.

We’ve even printed some of these cards to make them look like a set of dominos!

USB Dominos

USB Dominos

Small Square USB Cards:

These square cards are also just 2mm thick and can be printed in full colour on both sides. Despite their size they are available with on-board memory of up to 16GB and again with a bit of creativity they can be used to portray a wide range of products. We’ve already supplied lots of these to Durex printed up to look like a pack of condoms and we’ve had a number of enquiries about the possibility of printing them to look like a record album – do you have a product that could work on a square USB card. A teabag, a book, a CD – send us the artwork and we’ll work up some examples for you.

USB Condoms

USB Condoms

Button USB Cards:

Another derivative of the original credit card version these button cards are again just 2mm think and the USB connector works just the same as on the other card models. As the name implies they make great “button badges” but they work equally well to promote any other “circular product” – staying with the condom theme we’ve also supplied these to look like a condom!

USB Badges

USB Badges

All of our USB cards and buttons are typically available from UK stock and can be supplied printed and dataloaded in as little as 24hrs!

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USB Cards Offer up All Sorts Of Promotional Options

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USB Cards – and we’re not talking just USB Credit Cards.

Tuesday, March 19th, 2013

USB Cards come in all sorts of different shapes and sizes these days and by size we don’t mean memory size but the physical size of the cards.

The advent of the smaller USB “chip on board” technology that integrates the USB connector, the flash memory and the controller chips into an incredibly small form factor has enabled USB memory stick designers to come up with a much wider range of product options.

One of the first new products to be released using this “chip on board” solution was a card in the same shape/dimensions as a standard credit card. Various ways to integrate the USB connector into the card which preserved the card shape whilst allowing USB element to be inserted into a USB port were experimented with but the most popular proving to be a “flip out” or “fully removable” option (see the images below).

USB Credit Card Variants

USB Credit Card Variants

The credit card shaped USB memory sticks have become incredibly popular because they offer a large flat print area (on both sides of the card) to work with and because they fit neatly into a bag or wallet! At only 2mm thick they’re only fractionally thicker than a conventional credit card and despite being wafer thin they come in memory sizes all the way up to 16GB.

The concept of a “USB card” has now been extended to other shapes including a circular “badge shaped USB card” and a smaller, more rectangular version of the credit card. Again both of these give plenty of space to support the printing of high quality logos or designs but they’re also small enough to be worn as a “button badge” or a conventional name badge.

USB Badges

USB Badges

All of these “card” options are held in stock in the UK by USB2U and can therefore be supplied (printed and data-loaded) in as little as 24hrs. All we need from you is your artwork, your data and an address to send your order to.

If you do opt for the larger USB Credit Card option then have a look at our gift boxes and leather wallets. Both of these can be printed or supplied blank – the gift box comes with custom cut foam for the card to fit snuggly into.

If you’re interested then please give our team a call on our Freephone number or fill in the quote form on our web site.

 

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USB Cards – and we’re not talking just USB Credit Cards.

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Mini USB Flip Card Added to the USB2U Portfolio

Thursday, December 20th, 2012

In response to the demand for promotional USB memory sticks that have a larger and flatter print area and are therefore able to support full colour images we’ve now added the “Mini Flip Card” to our ever growing portfolio of USB sticks.

At just 60mm X 30mm it’s about the same size as a conventional name badge but it’s only 3mm thick and has a fully functional USB flash chip tucked discretely in the belly of the card, There is no compromise on memory size either because the memory options range from 1GB all the way up to a massive 16GB (which is about the same size as the larger tablet PC’s that are currently on the market!) – so, plenty of storage to pre-load the mini-flip USB cards with all sorts of digital brochures, images, media files, PDF’s etc.

Mini Flip USB Cards

Mini Flip USB Cards

The real beauty of these cards is the scope to print incredibly clear, vibrant images over the full surface area of the card (although the output is only as good as the input so good, high resolution images are needed in a format like .EPS).  As these examples illustrate if you can supply good artwork the end results can look stunning.

Promotional USB memory sticks have pretty much all but replaced CD’s and DVD’s and in doing so have become the de facto way for companies to distribute large amounts of information to their customers and prospective customers. They make great give-aways at trade shows and are a proven winner when it comes to attracting customers to your stand or booth!

These cards can also double up as a name badge making them ideal for conferences and seminars but unlike conventional name badges these have the added benefit of being able to store all of the speakers note and presentation slides on the flash memory inside the badge – all the delegate has to do is plug their name badge into a PC or Mac and they can view, print or copy all of the information stored on the card! What’s even better is that they don’t cost much more than a standard name badge but when you factor in the savings you make by not having to organise or print the speakers notes and slides etc. they work out significantly cheaper.

Mini Flip USB Cards

Mini Flip USB Cards

If you’re still not convinced it’s worth remembering that in a recent survey the most popular promotional gift to be given was a USB stick with 45% of the votes with a pen coming second with 39% of the votes. The primary reason people stated they would prefer to be given a USB stick was its usefulness. Usefulness equals retention which in turns leads to repeat usage and greater brand exposure for whatever brand is printed on the USB sticks – a classic “win win”.

Next time you’re looking for printed USB memory sticks add these new mini USB flip cards to your shortlist and ask for some samples to be mocked up (it’s free). And, don’t forget they are also part of our Rush 24hr service so we can get them to you in a hurry if you need them.

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Mini USB Flip Card Added to the USB2U Portfolio

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New Product for 2013 – USB Buttons and Badges

Wednesday, December 19th, 2012

The first of many new products we’ll be announcing for 2013 are our USB Buttons and Badges – these bright and vibrant round USB badges are only 43mm in diameter and come in at a skinny 3mm thick.

To use the USB badge you simply flip out the USB connector that’s hidden discretely in the back of the badge and then push it into any standard USB slot on a PC or Mac. It’s available in memory sizes from 1GB all the way up to a massive 16GB but the real beauty of these badges is that they can be printed in full colour on both sides!

USB Badges from USB2U

USB Badges from USB2U

As you’d expect with a badge (or button) it can be worn easily by using the optional pin-badge attachment or if you prefer you can use a standard lanyard or keying.

When printed in full colour the USB badges look stunning and they’re a great and fun way to promote any brand. The fact that you can pre-load them with tons of digital data (product brochures, press releases, media files, weblinks etc.) also means you can save lots print, storage and transportation costs in the bargain!

If you run seminars, conferences or press events and usually hand out name badges then you might want to consider using these USB badges for future events – think about it, no more printing and collating the speakers notes and copies of PowerPoint slides, no more printing press release notes and Q & A’s – just pre-load digital copies of everything you’d normally print onto the USB stick tucked into the body of the badge!

USB Buttons from USB2U

USB Buttons from USB2U

Equally if you are tasked with organising your company’s attendance at a trade show and you’re looking for something a little bit different to hand out from your stand or booth then these USB buttons are a great idea – by pinning them onto everyone that visits your stand you effectively build a walking advert for your brand. Even better you can be assured that your brochures won’t end up in the bins outside the event halls because they’ll be stored safely on the USB stick although it’s always a good idea to use a USB with a reasonable amount of memory (say 2GB to 4GB) to encourage the recipient to keep and continue to use the USB badge for their own data.

If you’re in a hurry then remember that these UBS flip mini circles (or badges) are available printed and pre-loaded with your data in as little as 24hrs! Just give the team at USB2U a call and talk to them about your requirements!

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New Product for 2013 – USB Buttons and Badges

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USB2U Sponsors Gamebeast Event in Manchester

Thursday, July 19th, 2012

Occasionally we get asked to sponsor various events in the UK and occasionally (when we’re feeling generous) we’ll say yes. We must have had one of those “moments” recently because we agreed to sponsor the Gamebeast gaming event in Manchester.

Whilst we can’t confess to being ardent gamers ourselves for some reason this request for sponsorship struck a chord with us and we agreed to supply some printed USB card shaped flash drives and some fancy lanyards to go with them.

Gamebeast USB Credit Cards

Gamebeast USB Credit Cards

Ltzonda who organised the event provided the artwork and with a bit of tweaking the USB cards were printed, packed a ready to go in a matter of hours. The cards were given away as prizes to gamers at the event and seemed to go down really well albeit not quite as well as the winners of the copies of the latest Forza 4 and Halo 4 games!! Funny how fickle gamers can be.

Whilst we can’t promise to provide free USB cards to everyone that wants them to promote an event they are running we can promise to supply great looking and top quality printed USB Cards in as little as 24hrs from order – you’ll need to have your artwork ready to go and if you want any data loading onto the USB cards you’ll need this sorted as well. Assuming you can do this and you can get an order to us by 2pm then we can typically get your USB cards printed and delivered to you the following day (in the morning if you’re happy to pay for the morning delivery charges).

If USB credit card shaped drives are not what you want then don’t worry because we stock a wide range of more conventional USB flash drives (some with and some without a cap) that we can also print, dataload and deliver in under 24hrs – call us for details – it’s free if you call from a landline on our 0800 number.

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USB2U Sponsors Gamebeast Event in Manchester

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Whilst Consumers Shun Credit Cards Promotional USB Cards are Booming

Tuesday, February 7th, 2012

The BBC reported yesterday that the Demand for credit cards is “feeling the strain” as UK borrowers turn to other forms of finance. It seems, they suggest, that credit cards are facing a “mid-life crisis” as people used debit cards, digital payments and payday loans instead.

The report from Price Waterhouse Coopers (which formed the basis of the reporting from the BBC) said that the number of credit cards in circulation fell for the first time in 2011.

These figures and sentiments are in stark contrast to the use of Credit Card USB flash drives in the promotional sector. Of course promotional USB cards are not financial instruments, there is no line of credit associated with them and you cannot use them to access money or credit. In fact, the only relationship they have with a credit card is that they are credit card shaped!! In all other respects they are inert pieces of plastic with flash memory chips embedded into them.

The growth of the USB flash drive in the shape of a credit card has been phenomenal over the past couple of years. This growth has been driven partly by continued innovation and technological advance which has reduced the thickness of the USB card to 2mm. and partly by businesses wanting to print ever complex and intricate designs on their promotional USB products.

Most “standard” USB products are lozenge shaped with a print area that is typically around 1cm x 3cm – so, if you want to print a logo, a website URL, a phone number and perhaps a marketing “strap line” on the card you start to struggle without making the font so small that it can’t be read!

Promotional USB Credit Cards

Promotional USB Credit Cards

On the credit card USB’ there is a nice flat print area (on both sides of the card) that is 8.5cm x 5.4cm. The whole of the surface area can be printed (print can be “full bleed” to the edge of the card) giving plenty of scope to handle complex, full colour images that look stunning.

As well as looking great the printed cards are typically carried by anyone they are given to in their wallets or purse and as such the brand printed on them gets lots of on-going exposure which is just what you want if you are paying for them.

Despite being only 2mm thick these cards can be supplied with internal flash memory ranging from 1GB all the way up to 16GB so there is no shortage of storage space on the cards.

So whilst Credit Cards are takinga bit of a hit, promotional USB flash drives in the shape of credit cards continue to take the promotions market by storm.

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Whilst Consumers Shun Credit Cards Promotional USB Cards are Booming

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Custom USB Credit Cards Looking The Business

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

If you’re looking to promote your business, to attract people to a stand at a trade show, to send delegates away from a conference with information on the next event or simply encourage further sales then you might want to take a look at the latest range of USB credit card flash drives.

Everyone is pretty familiar with regular USB flash drives and most will have used one or more at school, university or in their job but not everyone appreciates you can now buy USB flash drives in the shape of a credit card.

USB Credit Cards

USB Credit Cards

To be fair credit card shaped flash drives are not new, they’ve been around for a good number of years but very few were purchased because the early versions were very thick and a bit ugly. With the continued miniaturisation of technology the latest generation of credit cards USB sticks are a mere 2mm thick making them only marginally “fatter” than a standard bank card.

At this thickness these cards now slot comfortably into wallets, purses and bags that are designed to carry standard

USB Credit Card

USB Cards

bank cards so they are incredibly easy to carry and to use. So, if you decide to use a USB credit cards printed with your brand or logo on then there is a strong likelihood these cards will be carried around by the recipient in their wallet or purse – a fantastic place to get your brand and a great way to continually reinforce your key sales messages.

Of course one of the other major benefits of using a credit card shaped USB flash drive rather than a standard “stick” is the much larger print area you have to work with. Printing a logo, a strap line, a phone number and a website address on a standard rectangular flash drive is almost impossible (even when you print on both side of the drive). Even if you do get all of these components printed on the stick they’ll be so small that you’d need a magnifying glass to read them comfortably!

With USB credit cards there is no such problem meaning you can be a creative, as you like. The flat surface of the cards means you can even reproduce complex images with tints and gradients – effectively you can produce photo quality printing.

A further benefit of these cards is that just like any standard flash drive you can pre-load them with lots of data. It’s not unusual for companies that use them to load onto them before they are given out things like sales brochures (PDFs), price lists, technical support documents, media files, video clips and links to web sites. If you get this information ready when you order your credit card flash drives then typically the data can be loaded for you free of charge. It’ll also save you the hassle (not to be underestimated) of loading the data yourself.

Customised USB Credit Cards (printed) are growing in popularity and look set to challenge some of the more traditional designs for top spot in the promotional sector this year.

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Custom USB Credit Cards Looking The Business

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Credit Card Flash Drives – Which Way Is Up

Friday, January 7th, 2011

One of the big growth trends in 2010 was the sale of branded USB Flash Drives in the shape of a credit card. Part of the reason for the growth in sales of this particular promotional product has been the drive by the manufacturers to produce a USB credit card that is as thin as a standard bank or credit card. Early versions were relatively thick at around 4mm but the latest versions are now only 2mm thick.

USB Credit Cards - Front to Back

USB Credit Cards - Front to Back

When you consider that these 2mm thick USB credit card flash drives contain a USB connector, a flash memory module (up to 16GB) and a flash memory processor that’s some trick and just demonstrates the effect miniaturisation is having on everyday products.

But, its not just the reduction in thickness that has underpinned the demand for USB cards but a realisation that USB cards offers a much larger canvas to print on. Standard “rectangular” flash drives are relatively small and offer a print area of only 2-3cm whereas a credit card version offers a print area four times larger! This additional space allows for high quality printing of complex images, strap lines and web site addresses and important text like phone numbers and addresses can be printed in a font size that’s readable!

The shape and size of these cards means they also fit neatly into the wallets, bags and purses of anyone they are given to. Getting the USB card printed with your brand and contact details in a wallet/purse alongside bankcards that are used every day ensures that your brand gets lots of ongoing exposure and certainly more exposure than a regular USB

USB Credit Cards - Left to Right

USB Credit Cards - Left to Right

flash drives that is typically tossed into the bottom of a bag.

One of the things to consider if you do want to buy USB credit cards with your logo or design printed on is the orientation of the artwork. The standard way to print the reverse of a USB credit card is opposite to the way in which bankcards are printed. If you hold a USB credit card in your hand and rotate it from the bottom edge, the image on the reverse, as it comes into view, will be the correct way up. But, if you rotate the card from the right edge then the image that comes into view will be upside down. If you’re not sure take out any bankcard and hold it in your hand and flip it over or rotate it and see what happens to the image on the reverse of the card.

You can of course get your artwork printed on the reverse of a USB card the same way they print standard credit cards you just have to remember to ask your supplier.

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Credit Card Flash Drives – Which Way Is Up

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USB Credit Cards Offer Lots of Presentation Options

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

The USB Credit Card has become one of the most sought after promotional items of recent months. The surge in interest has been driven by improvements in the design of the USB cards that has seen their thickness reduce to just 2mm! So, not only are the USB credit cards the same shape as a standard bank or credit card but they are pretty much the same thickness as well.

USB Credit Card Mailer Packs

USB Credit Card Mailer Packs

When you consider that these USB credit cards contain a USB connector (to allow you to plug it into your PC’s USB port), a flash memory module (onto which the data is stored) and a flash memory controller chip (the brains of the unit) it just demonstrates how far miniaturisation has come over recent years.

USB Credit Card Pack

USB Credit Card Pack

Unlike standard USB flash drives that tend to be rectangular “blocks” the credit card version can be slipped easily and discretely into a wallet or bag. Not only that but the cards open up all sorts of exciting branding and printing options that are simply not achievable on a standard USB flash drive because of the limited amount of space onto which you can print.

Available in a range of different styles (they’re all the same shape and size but there are different ways in which the USB connector is “revealed” from the credit card body) they come in memory sizes starting from 1GB all the way up to 16GB. Cost wise they are a little more than standard USB flash drives but not much more than you might think and if you have a complex logo or you want to include a strap line that’s readable when printed (difficult on a standard USB drive) then USB credit cards are definitely the way to go.

There are also a number of different packaging and presentation options available with the USB credit card including boxes, leather wallets and mailer packs where the USB card is supplied inside a custom pack. The beauty of these custom packs (or to be fair any of the credit card packaging options) is that they are great for mailing campaigns. If you are going to send them out in the post the thinness of the cards means you can still post them using “regular” 1st class or 2nd class postage rates whereas standard “rectangular” flash drives are typically too thick to be treated as “Letter Post” so the cost of distribution goes up significantly. In fact any small incremental cost to buy a credit card USB is more than offset by postage savings.

USB Credit Card Wallet

USB Credit Card Wallet

But, its not just the mailing cost savings and the larger print area that makes the USB cards a winner. The cards are new, exciting and different and they make a real impact when handing out or used in mail shots. Given one of the primary objects of using them, as a promotional tool is to build a strong affinity to your brand this is exactly the reaction you need from any promotional item or “gift”

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USB Credit Cards Offer Lots of Presentation Options

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Credit Card Memory Sticks – Thin, Thinner, Thinnest.

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

USB Memory Sticks in the shape of a Credit Card are all the rage at the moment with sales growing week on week. One of the underlying reasons for growth in demand is the increasing thinness of the credit card USB’s. When they were first launched a couple of years ago the credit card flash drives were still a little “chunky” and whilst they were the same width and height of a credit card they were around twice the thickness of a bankcard.

Credit Card USB

Credit Card USB

With continued innovation and miniaturisation in the flash chip and flash controller industry its now possible to manufacture USB credit cards that are only 2mm thick which makes them comparable for standard credit cards. These ultra slim cards include a USB flash memory module, a USB flash controller chip and a USB interface to allow the card to be connected to a PC or Mac.

Despite the slim nature of these USB cards there is no compromise on quality or performance and they are available in memory sizes ranging from 512MB all the way up to 16GB.

Unlike traditional USB sticks, which tend to be “rectangular” and attached to a lanyard or key ring the USB credit card memory sticks can be popped into a wallet, bag or purse alongside any other card(s) you might be carrying.

For the companies wanted to buy USB memory sticks printed with their logo, brand(s), web address, contact telephone

Credit Card Memory Stick

Credit Card Memory Stick

numbers etc. the USB cards are perfect. Traditional USB sticks are simply too small to carry much more than a simple logo or brand without reducing the design/text down to a size where they become difficult to read. USB credit cards on the other hand offer plenty of space to print complex design and lots of narrative and still they are still readable. In fact full colour prints across the whole surface of both cards are not only “doable” but also they look fantastic.

The combination of a shape that people are familiar with and are used to carrying around coupled with the ability to print complex images on them has catapulted the USB credit card into the “Top 5” most requested branded USB flash drives.

USB Cards

USB Cards

Although USB credit cards are marginally more expensive than standard models if you pre-load the cards with your sales material, brochures, prices lists, presentation files, media files and so on you can offset a significant chunk of the cost by printing less paper documents (as well as saving the haulage and storage costs of these printed documents)

So, if you are looking for a USB Memory Stick that will comfortably carry a complex logo and look great whilst doing it then you need to add the credit card version to your shortlist.

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Credit Card Memory Sticks – Thin, Thinner, Thinnest.

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