Flash drives as a promotional tool have become more than just a gimmick. At trade shows, where a company's reputation is measured by the quality of the "toys" that they give away at their booths, flash drives have become a mark of credibility rather than a fleeting attempt to grab attention. Over the past two years, we have watched them flourish into the most popular and practical item in the promotional industry.

Of course, with so many companies discovering their own promotional flash drive solution, it's important to stay current on latest trends and ahead of the competition to ensure your promotional flash drive stays relevant and desirable. Over the past year, we have seen the following trends develop in the promotional flash drive industry:

Style KEY

This sleek metallic drive is key-shaped, weighted and built to scale your standard house key. A thin frame blends the key drive perfectly onto anyone's key chain making it easy to manage by minimizing its bulk. Combined with a respectable print area to engrave a logo, this drive is finding a permanent home on many customers' key chains.

Flash Drive for the wallet

USB flash drive styles like "Credit Card" enclose the flash drive in a plastic case a quarter-of-a-centimeter thick and stretch the breadth of your average credit card. Being able to transport data securely and comfortably in a wallet, flash cards are staying connected longer with the prospects. Combined with the maximum canvas space to expose a brand, flash cards are one of the Top 3 hottest trends in promotional flash drives. With few printing limitations, we've seen personal business cards, more extensive brand messaging, full color images, elaborate logos and other clever attention-grabbers.

Custom 3-Dimensional flash drives

It appears the economy is actually prompting more businesses to differentiate to the extreme. Memory Suppliers has seen a spike in our 3-D custom-built requests putting us on pace to almost double our 3-D projects from last year. Plastic, metal, rubber, wood... just about any material these days can be molded to meet any specification. 3-D custom-built flash drives are the ultimate credibility move making the statement, "we have our own unique personal piece of technology to distribute."

Eco-friendly

Preserving the planet has never been so important to an organization's image. A surge in requests for green flash drives prompted an immediate industry response. Today, most respected promotional companies offer green alternatives that are ROHS compliant and certified not to contain Lead, Cadmium, or Mercury. Since they cost the same as all other available drives, it's easy to anticipate a steady demand for nature in the industry's future.

Data-Preload

Though the feature has been around for a while, today over half of our clients are choosing to load content on the drives in advance for their prospects and customers to interact with. Available for little to no charge, the value of discovering the full marketing potential of a promotional drive is off the charts. Like a briefcase for your marketing communications, companies are including software demos, music, flash demonstrations, press kits, PowerPoint slideshows, movie clips, and PDF product brochures.

Compact flash drives

Tiny and practical flash drives like the PQ have been a very popular choice for individuals seeking to minimize the management of a bulky and cumbersome flash drive. Unfortunately, businesses have been challenged by the limited printing area. With the impression of their logo at stake, slender drives with twice the canvas space like the DE are staying consistently among the most preferred.

Biometric

Security of our personal storage is top of mind these days. But as sexy as a drive that requires thumb print verification may seem, it hasn't been a big hit in the promotional industry. With a heavy price tag per unit ($25-$40 each), this drive is not friendly to most organization's promotional budgets. Until the technology becomes a little more affordable, this will remain only a niche need for companies that want to stress or convey "security".

Data-AutoRun

The "auto-run" feature has allowed organizations to pre-program their promotional drives to automatically run presentations, software, or open a website once the drive is inserted into a USB port. Unfortunately, this feature has exposed Microsoft users to individuals abusing the AutoRun setting to propagate malicious software. In response, Microsoft recently announced their plans to disable AutoRun in the next release of Windows 7 as well as future updates to Windows XP and Vista. Apple already prevents AutoRun to initiate. Since the Microsoft user base represents the vast majority of the remaining consumer market, we don't expect this feature to survive longer than another year.

Flash drives continue to gain permanence as the most popular promo item to distribute. But while standards like DE and Twist continue to prove the test of time, the need to keep a pulse on these promotional trends become increasingly important for companies that want to stand out, be relevant, and make the best impression.