Everything from a branded pen to an optical mouse is available for companies to offer as essential 'gimmes' at conferences and trade shows, writes Karlin Lillington

They are sometimes called "gimmes" - as in "gimme one of those" - and no technology conference is complete without you bringing home at least one.

Usually a conference delegate ends up with several, collected from vendor stands or tucked into the official conference backpack (indeed, the backpack itself is a "gimme"). They are all branded by the tech company handing them out, and intended to make you remember the company every time you look at it or, better yet, use it.

You know them well, those foam squeeze balls for exercising fingers sore from typing, the branded mug - of late, the metal commuter mug is popular - and the branded T-shirt, the little retractable phone cord for connecting your laptop to the internet, the branded mouse pad, ruler, calculator. Every year something else is "in".

"There's a huge industry around this, everything from executive gifts down to cheap pens. Anything that can be branded," laughs the former sales and marketing director of one of the big names in Irish technology companies.

Like most people who order such things, he prefers to remain anonymous - people don't want anyone else to know what they might be ordering now, as either gimmes or corporate gifts.

But ordering them is essential. "If you want to make a splash at a show, it's one of the best things to do," he says.

His personal favourite giveaway during his time with the company was the retractable phone cords for laptops. "Very useful, and dirt cheap," he says.

Such items start at around 3.50 each for a small number - pens are as little as 44 cent - but the price drops rapidly the more you order, says Mr Michael Morrissey, sales director for the largest Irish company in this specialised sector, Classic Marketing (www classicmarketing.ie).

Set up by Mr Morrissey and his business partner, managing director Mr John Sisson, some 20 years ago, Classic Marketing has 30 people in its warehouse and showrooms in Walkinstown, Dublin, ready to show you how to perk up your company image with mouse mats, mobile phone chargers, drinks coasters, golf ball sets, fleeces, aluminium business card holders, and battery-powered, hand-held fans.

At the other end of the scale are executive gifts such as Maglite miniature torches in presentation boxes, in the €35 range, and higher-priced leather, crystal and electronics gifts.

Costs can be surprisingly low for bulk-buying and branding. For example, an insulated cooler bag that will accommodate a six-pack is under if you want 100 of them, a sports bag is around 15 if you want 50, and a convention bag, is less than 3.

Technology companies have different tastes to any of the other sectors, says Mr Morrissey. "IT people are really quirky. Your average IT person is there in front of the laptop, drinking a lot of coffee, is phone mad, and likes gizmos. So I have a totally different gift list for that industry."

IT companies tend to go for the most casual forms of clothing - where banks will purchase branded polo shirts, IT companies like T-shirts, he says.

Banks will opt for leather gifts or gold items as their giveaways, while IT companies like anything for mobiles or laptop accessories.

"A big one right now for the IT people is the optical mouse," he says - 16.37 for 50.

"Probably our biggest selling item is a SIM card reader, because they're cheap and useful."

Other popular items are computer memory sticks and - maybe because desk workers often have good intentions - pedometers. For special clients, or rewards for good job performance, you can opt for anything from an MP3 player to a digital camera.

Mr Morrissey has 12 sales people, each dedicated to a different sector, whose job it is to stay on top of knowing what "gimmes" the sector seems to be interested in at any given time, and to keep abreast of the latest items available.

Such specialisation is important when an item that might keep a constant flow of people heading for an IT company's display stand at a show will draw no interest in the financial sector, he cautions.

"We do a lot of research on this, we go to the trade shows in China and the US - generally you see things first in China then they filter west."

The Irish IT executive says that a good item will help build a company's brand at a show. This was especially true during the dotcom era, when a good gizmo giveaway helped reel in customers. "In those days customers would buy from the most exciting companies. But it was really hard to sell products and services. You needed to attract attention, you were always worried that everyone was going to someone else's party."

Now, he says, companies spend less on such items, perhaps opting to brand and sponsor an item in the giveaway bag the conference organiser gives to delegates. Sectors that are new and still into creating a buzz, such as mobile data, are bigger on giveaways than sectors like CRM (customer relationship management) or security, he believes.

Another former chief executive at a medium-sized Irish tech company, who now serves as an advisor and chairman of start-ups, agrees: "I tell them [ start-ups] not to spend money on such things. But they might get fleeces or shirts as gifts."

He says his company used to look to do something different - once handing out airline miniatures of Baileys and Jameson on the show stand.

"Then a security guy came over and told us it was illegal to hand out alcohol, so we took them back to the hotel and drank them ourselves," he laughs.

Mr Morrissey says the IT side of the business did die back after the dotcom crash but in the past 12 months has been rebuilding.

"A lot of the big manufacturers are coming back, for example. They want new items every three months or so."

In general, something that sold last year won't sell this year. One of the IT executives agrees: "Mouse mats. First they were really cool, then soon everyone had them, and you couldn't give them away." Mr Morrissey's favourite gizmo at the moment is a metal thermal mug with a button on the handle. "When you press the button, it stirs the coffee. Everyone laughs when they see it." He loves his job, he says. "Every day is different. Every year is different!"