swag

How to get reporters' attention at Web 2.0 Expo

NEW YORK--In the press room at the Web 2.0 Expo at the Jacob Javits Convention Center here, there are a ton of fliers, stickers, and press kits lying around for us reporters and bloggers to peruse.

It's kind of hard for any one of them to stand out. Unless you're like collaboration software start-up Octopz, which we reviewed last year.

The company's strategy: Leave out some bright turquoise-and-green stuffed octopi, free for the taking. No corny company logos, no attached pitch, just a cute stuffed sea creature with a flash drive press kit tied around its … Read more

D6: The swag rocks

Finally! After attending dozens of tech conferences in the past few months where the best giveaways were mints and baseball hats, I land at the D6 conference (all stories), where the goodie bag has, historically, fulfilled the potential of being, you know, good. This year at D6: some nice toys. See the video for the rundown.

In truth, I found last year's swag bag a bit more entertaining. Hard to top YouTube tube socks.

Click here for full coverage of the D: All Things Digital conference.

Photo tour: The Google booth at Macworld

I'm a sucker for good show booths. Yesterday I got to sneak a peek at Google's Macworld booth while folks were still setting up, and wasn't sure what to expect in the way of new stuff. Today (to my surprise) the Mountain View-based company had one of the most jam-packed booths despite the lack of any new service offerings. What was the big-ticket item, though? The swag, and to be more specific--the Google swag scavenger hunt.

Google was offering four tiers of swag for expo-goers: Cub Scout-style merit badges, a rubbery grip pad for any portable device, some colored tube socks (not the cool YouTube ones from D5), and a pair of black flip flops with the Google logo on the top.

The setup rallied four stations showcasing Google's various product offerings, including Google Earth and Maps, the recently updated iPhone mobile service, and applications for OS X like Google Desktop, Picasa, and Sketchup, which had been showcased at last year's expo. At each station event-goers had to talk to a Google rep about the service in question to get the hallowed red Google stamp of approval. For each stamp you got on your card, you'd get to graduate to a higher level of swag, or get multiples of the lower tiered items.

Here are some shots from the booth. Let's start with some of the stations:

… Read more

LifeStraw water filter designed for developing world

In way of tech conference swag, the LifeStraw is definitely unique.

Matthew Nordan, the president of nanotechnology firm Lux Research, delivered the morning keynote for his company's annual conference earlier this week where he talked about the disruptive potential of materials sciences.

Although he's working with very technical topic, Nordan puts on a good show. There was the nanonickel-covered ping pong ball that he tried unsuccessfully to crush with a hammer.

Then he brought out a bowl of muddy water that he got from a local woodland. This was nasty-looking water with lots of brown things floating in … Read more

DemoFall swag: Meh

I really like the Demo conferences. They're great tech showcases and great events for schmoozing with entrepreneurs, power brokers, and writers.

Usually an indicator of the success of a conference is the heft of the goody bag you get when you check in. But although DemoFall 2007 (more) looks to be well-attended and well-supported by sponsors, the "swag bag" at this event is paltry: A hat. Some mints. A pen. Some surf wax (the sole cute item, from Qualcomm). And magazines.

I know that Demo grande dame Chris Shipley is trying to run a high-class joint here … Read more

Salesforce.com: Chocolate on Demand

It's a well-known fact among those of us in the tech industry that Salesforce loves to package free chocolate--and sometimes other swag along with its press kits. It's kind of notorious. So when I saw today that Salesforce sent me a package (despite the fact that my beat of social media, pool toys, and The Colbert Report has nothing to do with customer relations management) my immediate reaction was "Hey, chocolate!"

So I opened up the package, and to my dismay, I saw some kind of strange white box instead of shiny foil wrappers. CRIPES! A Salesforce missive without chocolate? That's criminal. And disturbing.… Read more

D5 conference report: Swag out the wazoo

I'm at the D5 conference, the one put on by the Wall Street Journal's Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. It's a high-end schmoozefest, and like many executive conferences of its type, all attendees are presented with "goodie bags" filled with conference sponsors' promotional items when they check in.

I've seen overflowing goodie bags before, but nothing like this. In fact, the D5 bag is actually two bags, one of which is a very nice Timbuktu backpack. For my report, see the video.

I'll be reporting on the happenings here from the conference ballroom … Read more

My TiVo gets me, it really, really gets me

Most of the swag companies proffer to entice reporters to write about them is predictable and boring--pens, book bags, shirts, etc. You know, things I can buy myself, thank you. But it's not every day I receive swag that's so utterly ridiculous I feel the need to blog about it. (So, good job, Hazmat Media, whoever you are.)

Inside a nondescript padded envelope delivered to my desk yesterday was a two-page, single-spaced missive titled, "My TiVo Gets Me." Best of all, it was accompanied by a black, felt headband sporting TiVo antenna ears.

According to the … Read more

At RSA, high security meets high fashion--sort of

Pictured here are just some of the many doodads up for grabs at the RSA Security Conference, taking place in San Francisco this week. Once again, our own National Security Agency remains one of the organizations that showed it knows how to make a splash at the show. This year they gave away these handsome blue-and-white tote bags that look like they came straight from a department store.

And, if you waited patiently in line, you could get this commemorative Department of Homeland Security medal. It's actually quite heavy. You can also slip it into your wallet and pretend … Read more