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Awards

Best Marketing Video - Snugz/USA Inc.

From Ghostbusters to The Goldbergs, you don’t have to go far this summer to find the 1980s coming to a screen near you. Supplier SnugZ/USA Inc. (asi/88060) also captured the nostalgia with its “Zip-it (Next Day Ship)” video. “We were trying to find fun ways to create awareness for our new service,” says Jeff Anderton, senior content strategist at SnugZ. “Someone started singing ‘Whip It’ and we all saw it in our heads.” Here’s how the supplier, whose video was voted tops by ASICentral.com visitors, went back in time.

1. Anderton and his team conceived a character – the Zip-It Man – who would promote the company’s next-day shipping service. Rather than rip off Devo completely, they decided to take the Weird Al route and make a parody of the song using newly written lyrics. Anderton says they gained licensing rights and went to work on recording. “We actually created real-world advertising like you see in other industries,” says Chris Duncan, senior graphic designer at SnugZ.

2. The team was given the freedom and budget – the bicycle helmet in the video cost $500 to be custom-painted to match SnugZ’s branding – to make visual pieces that can be repurposed for distributors. Duncan says they hired professional voice artists to record the “Zip It” voiceover, which has also been used throughout the company’s website in an integration of video, Web and social media campaigns.

3. Other characters in the video are all actual employees at SnugZ. “I’m always afraid to use in-house talent, but this time it worked out,” Anderton says. “The workers even did their own wardrobes and makeup. Internally, it did great things for morale.”

Watch the Best Marketing Video here!

Rock Out

Looking for more nostalgic rock? The contest’s runner-up video, “We Will Rock You” from Outstanding Branding (asi/288519), has it in spades. To honor Britain’s “Promotional Products Rock” week, the London-based distributor used Queen’s signature track with employees rocking out in Freddie Mercury mustaches (along with one epic wigged guitar solo). “We love to be different, creative and innovative, so we came up with the idea of a parody video,” says Sales Director Andy Thorne. The video energized the staffers, garnered 25,000 YouTube views and won a Constant Contact digital award. Watch their video here!