With the new year upon us and everyone returning to work the question must be asked what promotional product ideas are the best ones for the coming year. While most will agree that 2016 was a difficult year for business and was interrupted for much of the time by the political shenanigans which were taking place in the USA, the world of promotions continued along its relatively steady path, underpinning the marketing efforts of many organisations worldwide.

While Donald Trump was considered to be a problem by most people in the non-business world, in the promotions arena his classic use of the truckers cap as a means of promoting his message reemphasised the powerful advantages which are available with promotional products. By simply embroidering "Make America Great Again" on a time honoured promotional item the Trump campaign made waves internationally and showed yet again, if the point needed reemphasising that classic promotional marketing strategies work just as well in this electronic age as they ever have.

If we are considering the products which were most popular with clients in 2016 again it was novel electronic based ideas which attracted much of the attention. Promotional power banks were popular through the whole year as the obvious advantages they offered in keeping mobile phones and tablet computers working while out on the road made sure that they were ordered in large numbers by companies both looking for a worthwhile gift for their clients and a product which would assist staff in going about their daily duties. Power banks became larger and better value as the year progressed and more productive capacity was allocated to their manufacture and distribution. This trend is likely to continue into 2017 and the likelihood is that the range and value which are on offer will continue to increase exponentially as the value and efficiency they offer to users becomes more widely acknowledged.

Another product which continued its upward climb of popularity in 2016 was custom bottled water. While climatically 2016 was hotter than many years of the past this was not the prime driver of the surge in interest for bottled water. Rather it is the general uptake of the product as a retail line which led to many marketers understanding the advantages of applying their own label to this commonly appreciated product. As more people understand the advantages of offering their friends and families bottled water instead of calorie rich soft drinks and juices the relationship enhancing benefits of offering a cooling drink to a client or business contact was also become apparent. Expect the demand for custom bottled water to continue to grow in 2017 after a stellar year for these lines in 2016.

This is the first instalment of a number of blog posts which will cover the products which were voted by the marketing world to be the best of 2016. Stand by for another post in the next few days which continues down the list of successful product ideas which will generate sales and consumer interest in 2017.