Can Flash Drives Still Make A Flash Business Gift?

About a decade ago, a sleek new device started appearing in offices and universities across the country. Some called them flash drives, some called them memory sticks, but whatever their name, they were set to change the way data is carried and transferred forever, paving the way for MP3 players, IPods and digital photo frames along the way.

When they first hit the market, flash drives were quite the exclusive item, boasting huge memory sizes and a technical edge over their rival the floppy disc. In the business world they became executive items that were only owned by those at the top of the company and therefore became extremely popular as business gifts, especially at the peak of the economic boom time.

A lot can happen in a decade, especially when technology is involved, and swift advances in the size and quality of the internal flash memory in the devices soon led to prices tumbling, pushing flash drives into the mainstream. The affordability of flash drives has increasingly led to them becoming extremely popular as promotional items, with companies choosing to get their brand noticed by handing out memory sticks adorned with their logo.

With flash drives now becoming a commodity, are they still valuable and effective as executive business gifts, used to reward and incentivise staff and thank customers? Or does their relatively cheap price now make them redundant as business gifts?

To answer this, we can look at the flash drive's predecessor and all time leader in the promotional stakes, the humble pen.

The promotional pen has become integral in the promotional world, reaching the point where almost every home and business in the country will have at least one giveaway pen adorned with the logo of a bank or insurance company.

Promotional pens have become so popular because of the ease in which they can branded coupled with their high practicality, meaning that they will be frequently used and increase the visibility of the brand.

Despite the fact that pens are incredibly popular as promotional items however, there is also a premium sector in the pen market, appealing to gift buyers and executives who want a high quality pen that reflects their personality and status. Although the concept behind a pen is pretty straightforward, the message that it can send out can make a big difference to the way somebody is perceived.

In a business environment, someone is unlikely to pitch to the directors or enter an important board meeting wearing a pair of scruffy trainers, just as they wouldn't enter the same environment using a chewed freebie pen with the logo of a local charity on it. At certain times, especially in the business world, the right pen is more than just a writing implement, it is part of a person's image.

The same can be said of flash drives. As well as promotional flash drives that are becoming increasingly popular, executive flash drives exist that will be more appropriate for certain situations and will make outstanding business gifts. Flash drives made from high demand materials such as silver and carbon fibre can add a certain amount of style and sophistication to a flash drive, putting them at a different level to the cheaper, plastic promotional drives.

Just as pens have a promotional level and an executive level, flash drives can also appeal to the mass promotional market and the executive level market. There are now flash drives for every occasion, and whether you're thinking about Christmas or a little further down the line, executive flash drives still make effective business gifts that are suitable for any occasion.