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Courting Votes? Send Republicans Food

New study says Republicans far more likely to gobble up promotional food basket than Democrats or independents


TREVOSE, PA – October 19, 2010 – Republicans like food gifts, Democrats prefer logoed pens and independents might scoff at anything less than a brand-name shirt, according to a new study of political party preferences released today by the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI).

An ASI study reveals what Democrats, Republicans and independents think about promotional products, a.k.a. swag (stuff we all get) and freebies, millions of which are distributed during election season along with bumper stickers, buttons and yard signs.

Here are study highlights:

  • Independents get more promotional T-shirts than either Democrats or Republicans.
  • Democrats receive more outerwear than Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin.
  • Independents are less inclined than Democrats or Republicans to take free pens.
  • 86% of Republicans give away the freebies they don’t want.
  • 75% of independents prefer name-brand consumer promotional products, nearly 1.5 times more than Democrats or Republicans.
  • Republicans are nearly 1.5 times more likely to accept a free promotional food basket than Democrats.
  • Independents value promotional swag the most – on average, they own 11.6 logoed products, compared to 9.4 for Democrats and 10.3 for Republicans.

Final results of the 2010 Advertising Specialties Impressions Study will be released in November. For a sneak peek at preliminary results of the breakdown by political party and independents, and the study methodology, click here.

“Want a Republican’s vote? Send him a food basket emblazoned with your candidate’s name. Want to impress independents? Make sure the shirt you send has a brand-name label – or it might end up in the trash bin, along with their vote,” said Timothy M. Andrews, ASI’s president and chief executive officer. “Our study reveals that when it comes to courting voters, you’ll get more bang for your promotional buck if you consider their likes and dislikes.”

According to new results from the upcoming 2010 Advertising Specialties Impressions Study, the average cost-per-impression of an ad specialty item is $0.005, making it less expensive per impression than prime-time TV.

Promotional products, or advertising specialties, are items imprinted with logos or slogans to market a company, organization, product, service, achievement or event. Companies often buy them as gifts for employees or clients and marketers often include them in ad campaigns to dramatically increase response rates.

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) is the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, with a membership of over 26,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties.  Supplier firms use ASI print and electronic resources to market products to over 22,000 ASI distributor firms.  Distributor firms use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain nearly every product in the industry from more than 3,500 reputable suppliers, to locate supplier firms and to market services to buyers.  ASI provides catalogs, information directories, newsletters, magazines, websites and databases, and offers e-commerce, marketing and selling tools.  Visit ASI online at uat-asicentral.com and on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, the CEO’s blog and the ASI Social Network.

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