(Tamar Weinberg is a) Schwag Addict

A few months ago, I got this awesome package in the mail from Promopeddler. They have such cool promotional products. Also, out of the blue, I ran into Monte at Pubcon in Vegas this past November, and that was a treat. (Hi Monte!)

I took photos of most of the items, but since I had to create a video of one of them, this post was delayed.

The video I took is of the slick sweeper. Apparently I was off when I thought it was shoe polish. (Doh!)

Next, though, we have some cool imprinted golf tees. I didn’t get any imprints but this would be fun for my next trip in at the putt putt 😉

I also found myself with ear plugs which come from a ready to mail first aid kit. Fun!

For traveling, having <3oz. bottles is REALLY brilliant. I had been looking for a place to buy these for a long time but then the aero-fresh travel kit arrived at my doorstep unexpected. Rockin!

Now I don’t really drink coffee, but getting logo imprinted gourmet coffee means I can invite some people over for breakfast.

And finally, to celebrate going green, there’s a custom imprinted grocery bag that tops everything off.

Thanks guys!

I really like pens that light up. Most of them have a simple light that just shines bright in a dark room. And in other cases, like for Business.com, there’s just a whole lot more to the pen:

I really like colorful lights. 🙂

This past weekend, I went to Sears as part of a promotion for their Don’t Just Give a Gift, Grant a Wish campaign. I was given a $500 gift card to buy whatever I wanted in the store, but the goal was to pay it forward. On my social media marketing blog, I write about the highlights of my journey. Here’s a picture of me at the store enjoying a lot of the toys I was able to score for those less fortunate:

But there’s more. I’m hosting a contest on my blog where you can choose one of three gift packages to keep for yourself or to give a special someone. If you are interested in learning how to score one of three $500 gift packages, click here for more.

Once upon a time, before Google became stingy about gift giving, it had a variety of really cool pieces of swag. You may have remembered the Google rocket pen which lights up — and this is an item you were actually able to score at trade shows. Google also had once awarded advertisers with a really cool fridge. And if you went to the Google store, you’d have found a nifty beanbag chair.

I still have photos to upload of the latest Google schwag, but let me put it this way: given that the only thing I see at Google lately is a wad of Silly Putty, there’s not much to feature here. Google is responding to economic times by skimping on quality and quantity despite expectations to the contrary (and this is not only my opinion!). That said, we can still reflect on the times when Google had good schwag, and hopefully they will return to their earlier ways. While we’re all suffering from the economy, I can’t help but think that it’s still nice to consider promotional materials to put a smile on the faces of those who are directly impacted by the financial crisis.

See? This is a Google frisbee that I got at an event earlier this year. And it rocks. I hope to see more of these in the future.