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I'm an in-and-out, follow the list, know the layout, largely own-brand supermarket shopper who pays the minimum necessary attention to packaging. Years of internet content have made me selectively blind to anything less attention grabbing than literal naked women (and even then...). But I was lying in bed yesterday reminiscing on being a broke student and getting a "free" Bodum cafetiere by collecting something trivial like two empty coffee packets plus P+P, and some other similar giveaways that I still have in the kitchen cupboard.
Do retail suppliers still do those promotions, or was it a golden age of economic abundance and marketing largesse? What's the best thing you've got from a retail promotion? What do you still regularly use that came as a freebie?
The only one I can think of having seen lately is the tokens on branded yoghurt, which I ignored for years until I one day I caved in to curiosity and looked up the details of the offer. Turns out you basically need to be a commercial kitchen consuming gallons of yoghurt every day to make it remotely worthwhile, and IIRC the offers were split between consumable cross-marketing crap like a sample bottle of artisan moisturiser (which you still needed far too many tokens for) and then jumped up to a weekend in a fully catered holiday cottage, with very little in between.
There are still loyalty and "points" style programs at some retailers and chains but I also feel its become less common. What I see more of now is digital schemes where you reveal a great deal of personal information and allow yourself to be tracked somehow in exchange for discounts on merchandise. I signed up for one at my local big chain grocer and one of the employees claimed that installing the app allows them to follow your trip around the inside of their store to study your shopping habits. IDK they already know I'm there when I use my "shopper card" to get the listed discounts anyway. There have been some pretty good deals using it, probably a couple hundred dollars a year, especially on larger volume deals (Buy 10 6-packs of soda at full price and get 10 more free was the best on I remember, basically 50% off 20 6-packs).
As far as actual stuff like mugs or other household items like that? I've not seen much like this in years really. I remember Pepsi used to have something like this years ago. I can say that this sort of thing is still going strong in B2B sales though. If you have any discretion over some sort of organizational/institutional purchasing you can quickly be swimming in swag. A friend of the family is a buyer for the local mega hospital and their home is packed with all manner of housewares and other items branded by various drug makers or equipment manufacturers.
I've got a couple of things housemates who worked in similar sectors have left behind but honestly most B2B swag seems kind of shitty, although that might have been due to their entry level positions. Stationery. Toys. T-shirts. Nothing you'd really miss (so you leave it behind), and more like a grown up version of the stuff you would have found included directly inside every box of cereal. I suppose it's a different affair if you manage a multi-million dollar budget.
I refuse any loyalty points scheme more complex than "collect 10 stamps to claim a free coffee".
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