Event freebies boost Hoosier industries

Spalding, Tom. Indianapolis Star [Indianapolis, Ind] 04 Nov 2008: C.1. 

When thousands of blue-jacketed teens entered an exhibit hall during the FFA convention in Indianapolis last month, a group of representatives from Dow AgroSciences greeted them with hip handouts: bracelets in FFA's blue and yellow colors.
Not far away, the youths lined up to get temporary tattoos, courtesy of the Indy Racing League. Other Hoosier companies passed out pens.
The trinkets are relatively low-cost promotional items. But in Indiana, the giveaway industry is no gimmick. It consists of a little known yet intricate behind-the-scenes role in the state's tourism economy.
Some Indiana companies make the items. Others help plan the promotions. And others, like Dow, spend thousands of dollars on booth space at convention halls, such as the FFA convention Oct. 22-25.
In preparation for the gathering, Dow used Indiana-based offices of American Identity of Overland Park, Kan., for marketing guidance. That company then ordered thousands of the colored bracelets from Indianapolis-based Norwood Promotional Products, which manufactured them.
Some companies say it's important to have a presence at trade shows, where passing out souvenirs serves as a valuable, hands-on marketing tool.
"You bet there's a reason we (were) so visible at FFA" with the giveaway, said Kenda Resler-Friend, a spokeswoman for Dow. "We want those kids who are obviously in our target market to be aware of who we are as they enter this high-tech business of agriculture. Those kids are going to turn into our customers, regulators, government officials . . . and we want the best (to be) our employees."
While tourism officials love Indy's conventions and events -- which fill hotel rooms, restaurants and shops -- exhibitors like them for an altogether different reason. At the trade shows, thousands of attendees go booth to booth, enjoying candy, samples and other giveaways. Some put their business cards or e-mail addresses in fishbowls, hoping to win a free iPod or other gift. Exhibitors, who pay thousands to rent booth space and give away promotional items, then hope those attendees will become customers.
"It is a self-contained economy, it really is," said Bob Schultz, spokesman for the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association. "That is a revenue-generating opportunity, whether it's the Girl Scouts or FFA or the for-profit corporate events, like Do it Best Corp."
And oftentimes, Indiana companies have been part of the action.
Exhibitors like Christian-themed bookseller Baker Trittin Press of Winona Lake, Ind., were at the Girl Scout show last week at the convention center.
Last summer, the Indianapolis Airport Authority had a presence inside a national conference of minority airport officials held at the Marriott Downtown. The airport, to distinguish itself, handed out 1,000 classy-looking keychains engraved with the IND logo. They contracted with Broad Ripple company Bright Ideas, which provided the keychains.
"It is a bang for the buck, if you get the right things," said James A. Duke, director of diversity programs for the airport.
The airport, he said, normally limits its giveaways to literature, but last summer as a host city of the convention, wanted to make it special.
"We try to find something that is inexpensive, but something people would be likely to use so they keep your name on their mind," Duke said. "This is a way to do it."
During Indiana Black Expo, IndyGo gave away items such as small foam buses used to squeeze away stress, and other trinkets.
The items vary in price, but can run more than $1 each. Still, with the economy slowing, some exhibitors and suppliers say the cost is well worth it.
"Of course, everyone's budgets are being cut, but on average people are still advertising," said Tonya Bullock, owner of Indianapolis-based Promotional Avenues, one of the local vendors that IndyGo uses.
Other Central Indiana companies that specialize in promotional items include Main Event Merchandising Group and JP Frog Promotions.
"They still want to get their name out . . . and trade shows are one of the biggest giveaway locations," Bullock said.
Do they work?
During the FFA convention, at an exhibit put on by John Deere, students lined up at computers to answer an electronic questionnaire related to careers in farming and agriculture. They only had to answer 60 percent of 11 questions right to qualify for one of 5,000 free hats or stuffed toys.
"What we are doing is brand awareness, to build business in the future," said Cheryl Salley of John Deere.
Allison Hoover, 17, State College, Pa., who waited in line to receive a temporary tattoo courtesy of the Indy Racing League, also picked up bags of swag, including free water bottles and T-shirts she received filling out information forms with the U.S. Army. She said the giveaways were nice, but she turned down a chance at a free backpack offered at the booth of West Virginia University, since her college plans are all about Penn State.
"Some of it can be superfluous," Hoover joked.
Some companies have learned that giveaways aren't always a perfect fit. Fort Wayne-based Flavoreeds, a company that manufactures 10 styles of flavored reeds for mouth-based musical instruments like the saxophone and the clarinet, said it will give product samples at its trade show, but only to paying customers this time around.
"We tried to give away samples years ago, but people grabbed them even if they did not play an instrument," wrote Walt Ostermeyer, president of the company, in an e-mail.
Call Star reporter Tom Spalding at (317) 444-6202.

Project: Parking Meter Hogs

A September 2008 Star Watch investigation examined the use of "free parking" placards by government employees and officials parking in downtown Indianapolis. Officials revoked the placard system in response to the probe. The day the first story was published, on Sept. 25, 2008, the IRE's Extra! Extra! blog for good investigative pieces picked up the piece and gave it national attention. The stories won the 2009 "Best Government Coverage" first-place award from Society of Professional Journalists - Indiana on April 25, 2009.

Sept. 22, 2008: Star investigation finds scofflaws. Indy city council asked to address parking ordinance problem.
Sept. 23, 2008: Caught! Sheriff to invalidate parking meters.

One of my favorites from the series was that it pressured a judge in Indy to quit using a freebie pass. A placard on the dashboard of this guy's car said simply "federal judge official business." No name. No authorizing signature. No date. No contact information. Nothing to suggest the car's owner had special permission not to feed the meter. It was picked up/reprinted by the Indiana Law Blog Website.

Lastly, here's the video I shot of the parking-meter hogs story courtesy of YouTube.


Follow-up: On July 10, 2010 a different variation of the parking-meter hog scam emerged. The story was entitled, Authorities pursue driver of car showing placard that lets one ignore parking fee.

Musical DNA

"Did you know that almost every song in the world can be SEEN within an easily understandable visual code? That is the beauty of the amazing discovery of Musical DNA [click to see website]. It's now possible to accurately SEE music in its true geometric form. This beautiful and exact visual code makes musical creation and mastery accessible to more people than ever before."

Those of the words of the Indianapolis startup I profiled, featuring Ken Lemons, and I did a video as well.

Web work: Black Widow sells her lair

Turned a nice multi-media package on this day that was a big hit. The "Black Widow" pool player was selling her home in Mooresville. I got the scoop but didn't just turn a Web story (which, by the way, was the No. 1 read online story for that day). I also recorded the audio of our phone interview and mixed it together with photos using AVID and put together a multi-media package for the Star.

Web work: '08 flooding

Collaborations can be an important form of storytelling, and can provide muscle even if you are far away from where the event is taking place. I co-wrote the story below about devastating floods in Franklin, Ind., working from my desk in Indianapolis with a copy editor who served as field reporter. I also took the photos shot by a teen and assembled them together in a video montage, with the sound being a taped interview between the two of us. It was produced on deadline.

Man vs. nature: one tough fight. One family's experience, Home on high ground becomes refuge for others

BY TOM SPALDING AND MICHELLE WATSON

FRANKLIN, Ind. -- Garry and Terri Petersen looked out for their neighbors Saturday while keeping a close eye on the creeks.
Hurricane and Youngs creeks, generally shallow enough that you can wade through and catch crawdads and minnows, spilled over their banks and sent a torrent of brown water through streets that had not seen such a deluge in residents' lifetimes.
With property higher than most, the Petersens' Civil War-era home served as a shelter for about 30 neighbors who, like many in the community, were either inconvenienced or flooded out of their properties.
As he spoke by phone Saturday evening, Garry Petersen said water was within a stone's throw of his house.
"We've got bags packed," he said. "Several of our neighbors have lost their homes. It's quite sad. It's the highest everyone's ever seen it."

UFO mystery in Kokomo

I had some big-time fun with this story as chronicled in depth by Advance Indiana.

A look in the aisles

I did a print story and a video profile of the new Central Indiana Division president, Bob Moeder. Quite interactive!