Reward Spotlight: Cool New Laptop Sleeves January 20, 2010
By Donna M. Airoldi
Laptops might be on the expensive end for some of today’s incentive merchandise budgets, or require a few too many points for high redemption levels, but reward planners can include a more affordable related item that portable computer users are sure to appreciate—laptop sleeves.
One of my most cherished merchandise items is a high-end sleeve that can also be used as a thin briefcase. I never would have bought it for myself, but I received it as a gift from a former co-worker when I left the staff of Incentive nearly three years ago. I still use it to this day. It protects my computer investment and makes it easy to cart the machine around, whether for work or for play. It also has a cool pattern that garnered a fair number of compliments from friends and strangers. (At least it was cool three years ago.)
More importantly, the market for sleeves will grow as demand for portable computers continues to rise. So here’s a look at two new sleeves on the market today that hopefully will bring the same long-term appreciation from your employees or customers.
Toffee Toffee, based in Sydney, Australia, makes a beautiful leather sleeve for laptops and notebooks sized from 13.3-inches to 17-inches in black, red, pink, brown and green. The exterior is made from handcrafted pebble-grain leather, while the interior is padded and lined with a polyester fabric. One-year warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship. Buy online from Toffee.com or at Amazon.com Regular sleeves start at $79.95 at Amazon, $99.95 at Toffee. Limited edition sleeves are $159.95.
Personalized Laptop Sleeves Allentown, NJ–based promotional products company Personalized Laptop Sleeves introduced a new line of customized neoprene sleeves earlier this month. The fabric is typically used for wet suits, but also makes a great protective cover for laptops. It’s also more affordable compared to other types of materials.
The zippered neoprene laptop sleeves are available in 35 different colors and come in three sizes: standard: 10.8-inches x 14.2-inches x 1.25-inches, large: 12.4-inches x 14.6-inches x 1.25-inches and X-Large: 13-inches x 16.4-inches x 1.25-inches. Businesses can add their logo for free in one of 27 different colors ranging. Starting prices range from $12 to $23.50, with minimum orders from six to 12, depending on the style.
Personalized Laptop Sleeves also offers neoprene laptop bags and laptop sleeves made of scuba foam. The materials in its eco-friendly line consist of a minimum 85 percent post-consumer recycled waste. Budget laptop sleeves sell for as little as $3.50 each.
Incentive/IMRA Sales Excellence Awards Winners Announced Incentive magazine announced the winners of its 15th annual Sales Excellence Awards earlier this week, celebrating the best and most successful independent representative firms in the industry.
U.S. Travel Association Forms Meetings, Incentives, Trade Show Council The U.S. Travel Association has created a new board member council that will build a proactive meetings and incentives research, communications, government relations and promotion agenda, it announced yesterday.
President Signs Travel Promotion Act President Barack Obama today signed the Travel Promotion Act into law, creating the public-private Corporation for Travel Promotion tasked with marketing America as a tourism destination around the globe.
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