(Tamar Weinberg is a) Schwag Addict

Online shoe store Zappos has just about every shoe you ever can imagine. And they don’t stop with shoes. Zappos also is great at marketing itself in every single way possible, from using Twitter to taking care of people in the rain.

At SXSW, Zappos had a limited number of Ogio laptop bags. Here’s one:

They also had some bags for carrying schwag 🙂

For the after-parties, there were shot glasses:

Did Zappos stop there? Nope! When it rained in Austin, they had a large number of volunteers offering to hand out plastic Zappos raincoats to those of us who didn’t come equipped with rain gear. Yes, I was actually one of those people, but the raincoat didn’t make it back home with me.

(Photo courtesy of cogdogblog).

Overall, the Zappos movement is hitting hard, and it’s because of brilliant people (hi Brian Kalma!), a dedicated team, great marketing, and an impressive selection of shoes.

The VOIS business social networking site etched itself into memory also at SXSW as their team handed out “My Name Is” stickers at every single party and event. The name tags came in pretty handy!

It’s an idea so simple in nature but one that really does make you look … and remember who VOIS is.

Randy, Craig, and the rest of the South Florida team: you guys rock!

In March, I was pleased to make the acquaintance of several folks from online invoicing site FreshBooks who were handing out one of the smartest pieces of schwag of the event: hangover kits. Naturally, you didn’t have to go get them yourself as they were hanging these little kits on your door so that when you arrived, dazed and confused, back at your hotel, you had something to fall upon for the next morning.

Here’s a picture of me with the FreshBooks team in Austin:

This is a close-up of the hangover kit (or better phrased as “survival kit”):

But that’s not all FreshBooks has done. Sunir Shah, the Chief Handshaker at FreshBooks, told me that they took their creativity a step further at the HOW Design Conference two months later in May. You can see photos of their creative booth (and schwag, too!) by looking at this sweet Flickr photoset. If you want to see more and the execution, check this incredibly awesome time lapse video:

Finally, a little later in May at the MediaBistro Circus, I personally met Saul Colt, Head of Magic at FreshBooks. He had the coolest shoes on (and the shirt I highlighted once before).

The shoes:

And the shirt, once again!

FreshBooks is awesome. They have a compelling invoicing product (which I use), creative marketing minds, and a super team. 🙂

At SXSW, there was one pretty unique piece of schwag — so unique that I had to bring it home though the tin can got dented in my luggage. Regardless, this RG/A Turf ‘N Tin is more memorable than other pieces of schwag. Check it out.

You can grow your own grass in this thing! Pretty cool, eh?

When the grass is grown, I’ll provide an update. Till then, stay tuned!