Feb 13, 05, 10:48 am #1FlyerTalk Evangelist Join Date: May 1998Location: Texas, U.S.A.Posts: 19,515p.s. Gift Bags And The "Business" Of Free Giveaways In lieu of all the different deluxe gift bags that have been appearing on inaugural and other special occasion p.s. flights these days (such as this weekend's special Valentines gift bag), I thought some might be interested in the growing gift bag industry and the reasoning behind the "product placement" by various vendors in these bags. In the following article:http://biz.yahoo.com/bizwk/050211/sb...8_sb017_1.html...you'll find mention of United's gift bag supplier, Madison & Mulholland, and also mention of the p.s. gift bags.Also on Madison & Mulholland's own web site:http://www.madisonandmulholland.com/...you'll find mention and some celeb photos of p.s. gift bag recipients, and a sample list of celebs on recent p.s. flights here:http://www.madisonandmulholland.com/calendar.htmlAnd as a sidebar, I've personally witnessed cold, cool celebrities go absolutely giddy when presented with one of these, and rip into them and exclaim with delight to their seatmates about what they find inside. Seems everybody loves a freebie!   Feb 13, 05, 11:06 am #2FlyerTalk Evangelist Join Date: Sep 2003Location: MileagePlus Premier GoldPosts: 11,524 Thanks for links PremEx! I read the article earlier too. I've always felt that free giveaways of one's own products was a pretty cheap way of doing business given that your costs aren't typically that high. Just have to make sure you don't give away SO much that you end up giving for free to someone something that they would have paid for anyway!__________________The thing I miss about Air Force One is they don't lose my luggage. - President George Bush Sr.  Feb 13, 05, 8:22 pm #3 Join Date: Feb 2001Location: SFOPosts: 1,038 Quote:And as a sidebar, I've personally witnessed cold, cool celebrities go absolutely giddy when presented with one of these, and rip into them and exclaim with delight to their seatmates about what they find inside. Seems everybody loves a freebie!In a previous life I have travelled with the NFL media circus and I can (well, could ) tell you stories about the most unlikely characters going nuts over freebies. Whether it's a straight handout or a table decoration at the Super Bowl postgame party, it all disappears fast; sometimes into the pockets of people who could easily afford to buy a hundred of the same item from the loose change they have on them. It is nothing short of amazing to see the frenzy. Especially popular are "limited edition" items such as the traditional Super Bowl pins. They are so popular that NFL staffers swipe them by the handful to, in turn, hand them out as thank yous and for favors to the people they deal with. Sorry, I don't know how to bring this back to United.  Feb 14, 05, 4:36 pm #4 Join Date: May 2004Programs: UA2mm,HGPdiamond, AAExPlat, MarriottGoldPosts: 335 Quote:Originally Posted by MrMillionHey, I like the idea of limited edition pins!!! UA could start giving them out for various occasions (example: PS pin, transcon Pin, 1K pin, MM pin, holiday pins, etc.) and I'm sure we'd see a few fellow travelers 'wearing' all that they can collect!!! They could become the 'merit badges' of/for flying!!!  Feb 14, 05, 5:08 pm #5Moderator, United Airlines, Smoking Lounge, FlyerTalk Evangelist Join Date: Feb 2004Location: SFO, CDG, PBIPrograms: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Plebe, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goaliePosts: 27,020 Quote:Originally Posted by PSGlennHey, I like the idea of limited edition pins!!! UA could start giving them out for various occasions (example: PS pin, transcon Pin, 1K pin, MM pin, holiday pins, etc.) and I'm sure we'd see a few fellow travelers 'wearing' all that they can collect!!! They could become the 'merit badges' of/for flying!!!i like the idea too but can you imagine what security would be like .....i wear 4 pins when i fly (us flag, french flag, f/t pin and a "united will stand pin") and i gave up dealing w/tsa over the pins so now i just take off the sweater (won't take off my shoes but i will remove my sweater )  Feb 14, 05, 5:32 pm #6FlyerTalk Evangelist Join Date: Sep 2000Programs: UA Million Miler (lite). NY Metro area.Posts: 13,524 Guess who flew with Jane Ubell last year transcon in Y . When she saw me give the flight att a key ring. She suddenly became very interested. Also, her uncle was Earl Ubell. He used to do the science reports for WCBS here in New York.Jane lives locally; not to far from me.  Feb 14, 05, 5:57 pm #7FlyerTalk Evangelist Join Date: Jun 2000Location: Sunny SYDNEY!Programs: UA Million Miler. (1.9M) Virgin Platinum. HH Diamond + SPG GoldPosts: 32,119 Freebies are certainly a friend winner. I worked for years as National PR Manager for our largest record company. coff. There's a whole book in there abut Freebies. On a lesser scale than the "ps" goodies, UA was giving away decent sized bags of Starbucks new Guatemala Blend coffee late 2004 as many might recall who flew longer hauls in that period. They were on meal trays in First class. (But not coach AFAIK.) I took a ton of domestic flights in the period to renew 1K, and ended up schmoozing via purser any bags that folks left on their trays. I offered them post free to folks here who wanted them, and got a lot of emails. I even schmoozed my way into 2 x RCC's I should not have been using those days, by walking up to the matrons, asking if they'd like a few of these I just had received on my connecting flight, watching them go: "Ooooh, Aaaaah THANKS", and then mentioning I'd like to pop in for a drink if that was OK with them, if club was not too busy. (One even gave me drink chits!) It is a variation on the patented ®© Rudi ®© Teuscher chocolate approach, but it sure worked. On one flight I was out-ranked. A MM UGS sitting in front of me did the "speech" before I did, and got the the lot. He looked like he owned the WSJ, but clearly loved those goodies. Everyone loves a freebie. __________________ 12 year 1K. Haven't booked UA flights in 3 Yrs. Take that. There ARE airline choices. You lied to me, so I'm making them.  Posting RulesYou may not post new threadsYou may not post repliesYou may not post attachmentsYou may not edit your postsHTML code is Off