By Susan E. Campbell
Promotional products may not cost the biggest
buck or cause the biggest bang, yet a company’s
branding efforts would be lacking without them,
the professionals say.
“Give-aways are more than just little chatzkies,”
said Tricia Rehn, who with Matt Rogers
has started Innovative Products, a promotional
products company based in Wilton.
“These items can be very useful for keeping
your company’s name out and your business and
your uniqueness in the forefront,” said Rehn.
Rehn had spent over a decade in marketing
and sales around South Glens Falls and Albany
when she decided to try something different.
Teaming up with mortgage banker Matt Rogers, they started Innovative Products to provide businesses of all kinds with creative, practical and cost-effective promotional merchandise and branding solutions.
Rehn has the creative genes and a solid knowledge of the promotional industry. She said that “Matt is behind the scenes as the numbers guy.” Graphic design is outsourced and overseen by Rehn.
“Promotional items deliver lasting value and impact that conventional advertising just can’t provide,” Rehn said. “They give individualized attention to clients, leads and employees.”
The services provided by Innovative Products, or InnProd, range from employee rewards and sales staff support to branding and merchandising. Some InnProd clients are small, new companies that need help branding themselves from the ground up, according to Rehn.
“We can help them build a logo and an identity to portray consistently to their customer base,” she said. “But mostly what we do is the touchyfeely items that advertise a client company.”
Beyond buttons and soda can sleeves, today’s promotional products can be quite sophisticated and eco-friendly.
“You’d be surprised what you can get made with recycled materials, although there is a slight premium for them,” Rehn said.
One InnProd client wanted something ecofriendly and unique for a trade show hand-out. Rehn obtained recycled cardboard pens and notebooks, and drinkware made from recycled plastic. For a realtor she provided a recycled paper business card printed with soy ink, she said. “It’s amazing what you can put your logo on these days,” she said.
Like a hockey puck stress ball. That’s one item she provided for a client at a trade show in Canada. She had designed and had a trade booth built and provided all the logo-bearing apparel for the conventioneers.
Rehn likes working with wearable products, like T-shirts, safety gear and jackets. “Clients can go directly to a manufacturer for clothing, but we want to be their one-stop shop for promotional items,” she said.
InnProd has “tons of vendors that provide good quality” and with whom Rehn has “solid relationships.”
Rehn is on the board of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and is on the foundation’s Young Leadership Committee targeting the younger market for membership. She is also an ambassador for the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.
“I’ll say yes to most requests” by charities and civic groups, she said.
Rogers is an avid golfer and plays in fundraising tournaments to benefit such organizations as Junior Achievement and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He has also played in some 18 tournaments, which proceeds go to First Tee Foundation, an organization that fosters positive youth development through the game of golf. “It is exciting to embrace the Saratoga community and tap into a new market,” Rehn said.
“We are just beginning and it has been a whirlwind. I love the pace.”
Visit www.innprod.com for more information or e-mail tricia@innprod.com.