Promotional Cups

Bistro mugs won’t fit in your cup holder in the car (and you’d be a little crazy to have an open container like that in your car anyway) but there’s no shortage of cups designed specifically for the car.  Say hello to travel mugs! 

Travel mugs tend to all have the same basic thing going on; a long thinner base to fit in cup holder betters and then a wider upper half.  They also are the mugs that come with lids, making it the only really smart pick for going on a trip. You can find a really cheap one made out of just plastic, but the best ones are built a lot like a thermos with a layer of air between the inside of the cup and the outside of the cup to keep the heat in the liquid.

These are really popular in general, and that popularity has carried over into the promotional items industry.  I can see the benefits, of course.  They’re imminently useful because you can literally take them anywhere, and some even come as part of a thermos set.  There’s still something special about the way a ceramic bistro mug fits in my hand that makes me prefer them on a personal level, though.

Coffee mugs don’t all come in the same shape and sizes, and my favorite type is a big old bistro mug.  This isn’t the more common 12 ouncer that’s kind of short with hard edges, but can be up to 22 ounces of pure warm coffee bliss.  No refills!  The bistro mug is also, to me, one of the most comfortable mugs to hold in your hand.  It starts narrower at the bottom and wider at the top, which just seems more natural than the straight sides you get with a typical desk mug.

As a promotional item it’s pretty great because you’ve got plenty of room for whatever you want to put on it.  The bigger bistro mugs work as a kind of novelty item or something that could have multiple uses.  The only real downside is that the bigger ones don’t have lids and if they have a handle it won’t fit in your cup holder in the car, but that’s a problem all of the regular coffee cups and mugs have.

I’ve sold and purchased any number of promotional items over the years, but a coffee mug has always been one of those things I’ve had a kind of curiosity about every time I’ve encountered them. Not the mugs as much as how a company is planning to use them, really. Sometimes despite my best efforts a client will insist on purchasing one promotional product based only on the price.

This blog is here mostly to try to discuss why a promotional mug should be your choice over the million or so other promotional products. I know for a fact that cups and mugs are great ideas for all kinds of events or businesses. They’re useful to just about everyone, have plenty of room for logo or artwork, and can be a pretty inexpensive option. Instead of a general pitch for how great they are, I’m more interested in what any of you have used them for. Why did you pick out a mug, what kind of mug, where did you get it from?