Here Come The Mugs

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of Proforma Simonetta Freelance, an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

The Ultimate Eco Mug from Debco and the I AM NOT A PAPER CUP mug from IMC were likely some of the hottest items in the promotional products market in 2009. The idea behind the design is to provide a customizable, double walled ceramic mug that looks like a paper cup, but that is in fact reusable.

Well as often happens in the promotional products industry once an item becomes popular it evolves as more manufacturers create similar units, and of course prices go down. We know from Debco that in 2010 their pricing will be reduced and their mugs will be available with colored lids. (I will report the Debco 2010 pricing when I get it in the comments section of this post).

In the meantime two other well establish manufacturers, Numo Manufacturing and Hit Promotional Products have both released their own versions of the I AM NOT A PAPER CUP design.

Numo Manufacturing is bringing to market the 488 Ceramic Double-Wall Tumbler. These 11 oz. White Stoneware Ceramic with Black Silicone Lid cups have an EQP of $4.99 with single color imprint. The imprint area is an impressive 3″ W x 3″ H, expanding to 8.5″ x 3″ H when done with a wrap. That is a significant increase in print area from previous mugs. Prices include a one-color imprint on one or two sides and a multi-color imprint is no problem if the decal method of application is used.

Hit Promotional in 2010 is offering the 7141 11 oz. Double Wall Ceramic Mug with Silicon Lid at an EQP $6.99 and the larger 15 oz. Double Wall Ceramic Mug with Open Handle at an EQP of $7.99.

The print area on the 15 oz. with handle is 2 ½” W x 1″ H, with a wraparound size of 5″ W x 1″ H. On the 11 .oz imprint area is 2 ½” W x 2″ H and wrap around is not available, nor is mutli-color imprinting. Mutli-color imprinting – again via the wrap around – is available on the 15 oz. Double Wall Ceramic Mug with Open Handle.

What Hit does bring to the table is color. Lots of color. Both of their mugs are available in White, Cobalt Blue, Ocean Blue, Lime Green or Black. Lids come in Black or White.

Allen ColorCraft and AdImage are also coming to market with versions of this design. Any of these items would be great for Ecopreneurists looking to move to reusable drinkware in their workplaces, or for Ecopreneurists promoting in the catering and cafe areas.

Ecopreneurists can draw two lessons from this mug fight that our industry seems to be in. First, the promotional products industry adapts to the needs of their audience very fast. With the recycled content bags it was going from 50% rPET content to 100% rPET. For clothing is was more Bamboo please and more colors and styles for recycled content materials.

Both of those changes happened in less than a year, from 2008 to 2009. Now it seem on this mug design the industry is bringing in color, multiple color imprints, and larger imprint sizes, all issues voiced about the fist generation of these types of mugs.

Second, as I have said in other articles, the more eco-friendly alternative items that are purchased by companies and organizations for their marketing efforts, the more new items will be presented to the market as a whole. The promotional products industry wants to sell the market what the market asks for, so the more you buy eco-friendly products the more you can expect price to fall and choice to grow.

If you are an ASI member Tracy Moore is the contact to talk to at Numo and the contact at Hit Promotions is Chris Platt. If you are interested in these items to promote your own business, contact your local promotional items vendor or email info@proformagreen.com for information and pricing.

Tags: Double Wall Ceramic Mug, drinkware, I Am Not A Paper Cup, proforma, Ultimate Eco Mug