Can putting your company logo on a tchotchke improve your relationship with the customer?

Like so many others, I like cool stuff, especially if it’s free. In my desk I have a screwdriver set from a phone company, a sewing kit from a travel agent and a combination carabineer/compass/radio/flashlight from a software company that no longer exists. I now use a different phone company, I book my own vacations online, and I can’t even remember what that software was supposed to do. I kept these items because they were useful to me, but how useful were they to the companies that gave them to me?

In Baltimore, I think just about everyone is familiar with the yellow and pink pens from Big Boyz Bail Bonds. They have blanketed the Baltimore region with these pens, and even though I’ve never needed to post bail (knock on wood!), I at least know the Big Boyz Bail Bonds name.

These unique pink and yellow pens have become so widely recognized that Big Boyz Bail Bonds has created a Web site dedicated just to these pens. On BigBoyzPens.com, Web site visitors can submit a request to have pens delivered to them for free, insert where you found a Big Boyz Bail Bonds pen and the even has a blog visitors can follow about recent pen findings.

The saturation of these pens is so effective that even a blog post about food (in this case a Mt. Washington restaurant) had more reader comments about the choice of pens when signing the check than about the actual food.

I ate there with the better half a few months ago and had a decent experience. The one biiiiig [sic] downer was that the check arrived with one of those super tacky yellow and pink bail bonds pens. I emailed the contact on their website about it, and received a long response back from the owner apologizing for using those pens and he promised to have them immediately removed. I was quite pleased to get a response like that, and would definitely return for that alone. (Bob UU)

According to Baltimore Magazine (September 2008), Big Boyz Bail Bonds covers the area with 400,000 pens annually. It seems as though the pink and yellow pens are unavoidable and potentially successful - even if they’re controversial.

Mel Barth, executive director of the National Association of Bail Enforcement Agents, is skeptical that flooding the marketplace with advertising giveaways pays off. “It’s a waste of money,” he says. “The people who get the pens have no interest in a bail bondsman. All you’re doing is throwing them out in the wind.”

But Nochumowitz [of Big Boyz Bail Bonds] explains that when his clients fill out an application that includes a question about where they heard about the company, many of them cite the pens.

“They’re the only pens that work. They’re fabulous,” says Peter Schweizer, a bartender at Canton’s Portside Tavern. “When I see them around town, I always know immediately what they are.”

I think the discussion about the pens has answered my question. Yes, these “little billboards” are useful, and they can increase brand awareness (or annoyance). Depending on the coverage (like the pens) or the sustainability (like my screwdriver set), there is something to be gained just by getting your company name out there.

It’s all about choosing the right approach, the right tchtochke and understanding your current and potential customers. Is your goal to reach the masses, or are you looking for a permanent home in someone’s desk? Even if you don’t generate a new customer, you’ve gained real estate in their home or office, where your company name is present 24/7.

Every time I open my desk drawer, there is a chance that this is the day when I am not happy with my current phone service, and looking up at me is a logo that might have the answer. So, instead of a screwdriver, it’s a little billboard. Although I’ve “driven past it” a million times, today might be the day that I give it a second look.

And should I ever find myself or a friend in need of a bail bondsman, I’ll just ask to borrow someone’s pen.