Don’t Gamble On Your USB Flash Drive Supplier
Having watched Jim Eastwood in the final of The Apprentice last night it’s tempting to fill this article with puns such as “when the chips are down” and “it’s a sure bet” but I’ll try and resist the urge!
These bespoke USB poker chips were designed and manufactured by us for our customer. Despite their appearance they work just like any regular USB flash drive, they’ve got an internal memory of several Gigabytes, they can hold thousands of documents and files and they connect to any PC or Mac via a standard USB connector.
The real benefit of commissioning a USB flash drive in a custom shape is the impact they make when they are handed out. Lots of companies now use standard USB flash drives that are printed up with their logo on but far fewer go to the trouble of getting USB flash drives produced in a custom shape.
Custom USB flash drives take a little longer to produce (allow around 3-4 weeks) and they are a little more expensive than standard, printed USB drives but bear in mind you are getting something unique produced and you’ll “own” the mould and design so no-one else can have flash drives produced in exactly the same shape.
Most custom USB flash drives are made from PVC, rubber or some form of silicon compound and pretty much any shape or design can be manufactured. At USB2U we’ve designed and supplied custom models in the shape of pieces of fruit, outside toilets, floor heaters, eggs, Nike trainers, fork-lift trucks and removal vans to name but a few!
Just like standard flash drives we recommend pre-loading any custom USB drive with your company information (sales data, press releases, presentation slides, white papers, price lists etc.) before they are handed out. The more information you can pre-load onto them the more printing and distribution (postage costs etc) you can offset to help cover the cost of buying the USB drive. Not only this but customers seem to prefer getting sales brochures etc. in an electronic format because they have less to “lug around” (particularly useful at trade shows and conferences).
If you’ve already decided that you want a Custom Shaped USB Flash Drive then the next challenge will be to find a supplier you can trust to help you turn your concept into the finished article. There are lots of companies in the UK that will claim they can offer a custom service but our advice is to go with a supplier that has been around in the industry for a number of years, has a proven track record of delivery and ideally ahs in-house designers that can help you with the early stages of the product design. As I mentioned custom USB flash drives take a little longer to produce so you don’t want to have to repeat the process should your first choice supplier let you down.