Custom keychains with carabiners – a functional promotional product for active brands
2026-10-02
Keychain with micro-details – how do you preserve fine details on just a few centimeters?
2026-10-14
On September 16 and 17, we were at EXPO XXI in Warsaw for the Marketing Festival. Two days of trade shows, meetings and conversations with people from the marketing, advertising and event industries. On the second day, we also attended the second edition of the PIAP Connect & Knowledge conference.
We came back from Warsaw not only with new contacts and ideas for future projects. We also took away the conference’s central theme: „Not just a promotional product.”
As a promotional products manufacturer, we paid particular attention to this message because it reflects the way we look at promotional products ourselves. With every project, we care not only about how the product looks, but above all about who it is intended for, how it will be used and what role it should play for the brand.
Value comes first. What does the recipient get beyond the product itself?
A promotional product can simply be a keepsake from an event. But it can also serve a specific purpose. A keychain can double as a bottle opener. A magnet can feature NFC. A product can be designed so that the recipient wants to keep and use it, rather than simply take it from a booth and put it aside.
A good example is a project we created for Funky Fluid, where we combined a classic keychain with a bottle opener function.
In projects like these, it’s not just about how the product looks. A promotional product should have a clear purpose for the recipient - be useful, suited to their needs, or simply interesting enough that they want to keep it. That’s why, instead of only asking “which promotional product should we choose?”, it’s worth starting with a different question: what should this product give the recipient?
Then comes the relationship. What stays with the recipient for longer?
A promotional product can be part of a brand’s interaction with its audience. We receive it at a trade show, conference or event, or simply as part of an interaction with a company. That’s why it’s not just the moment of handing it over that matters, but also what happens afterwards. Will the product stay with the recipient? Will it remind them of the brand? Will it bring back an association with a specific place, event or experience?
A good example is a project we created for Suflidowo. The brand’s characters were turned into colourful keychains that recipients could take with them and keep for longer.
In this case, the promotional product doesn’t stop serving its purpose when it is handed over - it stays with the recipient and continues to remind them of the brand.
And finally, the brand. More than just a logo on a product
A logo can be featured on a promotional product, but it doesn’t always have to be its most important element. Sometimes the shape of the product itself, its form or the way a distinctive element is used can say more about the brand. In that case, the product is not just a surface for a logo - it becomes part of the brand identity.
A good example is magnets inspired by specific places - restaurants, hotels, stadiums or other distinctive locations.
In a project like this, the brand is not added to the product. It becomes the starting point for creating it.
We’re back with new ideas
The Marketing Festival and PIAP Connect & Knowledge were, above all, an opportunity for us to have conversations - about brands, audiences, events and ideas that are only just taking shape.
And that’s what we’re taking back from Warsaw. There is no one-size-fits-all recipe for a good promotional product. It all depends on what it should do, who it is meant for and how it should connect with the brand.
If you have an idea for a promotional product but aren’t sure how to turn it into a design, we’d be happy to talk it through with you.
