When Sarah Wells, CEO and Founder and Sarah Wells Breast Pump bags, wanted to stand out at a recent trade show, she turned to ThinkShapes Mail for a handout as unique and quality oriented as her product.
Wells gave birth to the idea of the “Maddy” bag in 2011 after the birth of her daughter. A fashionista at heart, when she transitioned from maternity leave back to the corporate world, she felt carrying an ugly breast pump bag was like “wearing a Chanel suit and dirty sneakers.” The Maddy bag, named after her now toddler daughter, carries any model breast pump easily and discreetly, along with all the items a purse would normally hold. In order to promote its stylish functionality in a memorable way at trade shows, she worked with the ThinkShapes team to come up with a card shaped like a mini Maddy, and displayed it as if on a handbag rack.
“Tons of people commented about the cards. A representative of a major online baby website said this is the coolest piece she had ever seen. It was fun standing there having them hang on my finger and hand them out, too,” said Wells.
In addition to being memorable, a big bonus in using shaped handouts is their potential for retention. Shapes tend to get shared more often, and held onto longer than other square or rectangular pieces.
“I could tell visitors to my tradeshow booth were going to keep the card. The quality of the materials and the uniqueness of the handout meant folks were going to hang on to them and reference them later at home. That’s huge!” said Wells. “I have been to tradeshows where you instantly see handouts dropped on the ground outside the venue or in the trash. In fact – as I was exiting the venue, a woman in front of me accidentally dropped her ThinkShapes shaped mailer from my company. She turned around and picked it back up and put it in her purse. I was really pleased. These handouts look and feel special.”
Plus, shaped handouts are very economical. If businesses are going to entice people to a trade show booth with a water bottle or coffee mug, they’ll probably spend anywhere from $2 to $10 each for the bait. For far less (as in under a dollar each less), businesses can create custom shaped handouts that leave a lasting impression, provide far more detail on products, services, and offerings, and help drive traffic to their websites.
