Hey guys,
My team is in it’s 2nd year at FIRST. Last year we didn’t do so well with swag and marketing ourselves. We really want to change this so we can get ourselves noticed. Out of our budget I get $280 to buy swag and tee-shirts and things for the team. Do you guys have any suggestions on cheap buttons and such? I’ve looked online a lot but I can’t find much that will allow our team to really go all out. Am I just missing the good sites or is my mentor asking the impossible of me?
The button making machine is most expensive thing. Our team last year didnt have enough ink in our printers. So, we went to our local office depot and got them to donate 500 pages with 12 buttons on each. This cut the cost of buttons to a minimal. Maybe you could get a local button shop to donate whole buttons. Who knows, the least you could do is ask. 
I hope this helped with the button part.
Depends on the number of kids you have, but I’d venture that team shirts are the #1 item on any image/marketing/swag budget. Shop around, and design for production–fewer colors is cheaper. (You can do pretty awesome shirts on two colors.) Also consider selling shirts as a fundraiser; quantity discounts can be substantial.
Buttons would be item number two on my list; if you can’t afford the equipment, see if there are any other groups at the school or in your community with the machine. Unless you’re on a tight timeline (and you’re not), it’s almost always cheaper to crank them out yourself.
I notice your team is in Florida; you would do well to contact Wendy Austin on Exploding Bacon. Aside from being decent people, Bacon is also one of the most polished teams on this level. They can surely help you find some resources, even if they’re four hours off.
For buttons, you could buy a button machine. I think a good one might take your entire budget, but it’s an investment that will make future button making much cheaper than using an online service.
Pens are also pretty cheap. Or you could make your own giveaways! I have a keychain from the Chop Shop (FRC 166) that’s made out of some LEGO, beads, fishing line and silver sharpie. Honestly, a lot of people would even be happy with stickers that you made by printing on a mailing label. We don’t get enough stickers in FIRST!
EDIT: I was browsing around and found a place that sells stencils… Now I really want to have stencils as a give away; just cut thin lexan on a CNC router/mill/laser cutter/etc!
I would concur with Billfred, T-shirts are going to be the most important investment in your PR efforts. Several years ago, when we were on a tight budget, we made a deal with a local pizza place to buy pizza’s at 5 dollars per large, one topping pizza. We sold those to the students for $1.50 per slice. The profit went into our t-shirt fund, and allowed us to buy shirts for every student. A distinct look will go a long way towards creating a recognizable image, and allow other teams to remember who you are.
Secondly, with the balance of the funds, you have other options than just buttons. As mentioned above, stickers are always a good choice. You can also create small items, that are easily customizable. For example, we have given out glow-in-the-dark bracelets, and added a small tag with our team number on it. I have also seen teams that have gone to sites such as www.orientaltrading.com, bought items in bulk, and then wrote on them with sharpies. You could always get something that is either based on your team mascot/image or based on a game element. One year a team bought flashing soccer balls and wrote their team number on it. I still have one on my cork board in my office.
Lastly, don’t overlook going to local businesses and sponsors and see what kind of swag they may give you. Many medium - large companies will have boxes of swag that they use for marketing. They may be willing to give you a box or two to give out.
Be creative and have fun with it!
Steve
Wow I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a button maker available like that. Stickers is a good idea. I was also going to ask the school’s accountant where she buys the school bumper stickers and if she could order some for us.
Last year we wrote on a bunch of stuff with sharpies but our mentor thought it was a little unprofessional looking. 
Do you think it would be enough if we just had every one wear purple (one of our team colors) one day? Our school DOES bush individuality pretty hard. (We’re primarily an art school so it kinda goes with the territory.)
I’m one of the student ambassadors and I’m pretty sure we still have numbers for our friends in Exploding Bacon. I’ll contact them and see what they say.
I will certianly look into the button maker though. Maybe the school will pay for it and just let us use it. ;D
Thanks!
Why make metal buttons when you can save the world a little by reusing water bottle caps to make buttons! Making them is as cheap and easy as buying the pin part and glueing it on the back of the cap! Then just make a small design and glue it to the front! Pictures below!
-Dave
That’s crazy clever.
Great idea! Thanks!
You’re welcome! If you need any help with anything just pm me!
-Dave
Does your team have a mascot that you could incorporate into the swag? Team 33, the Killer Bees, make antennae as part of their swag, and it’s a very recognizable thing (here’s a picture from 33’s website) . I don’t know what the associated costs are, though.
I am so using the term swag to reference the marketing division of the team!
T-shirts are defiantly the most important swag item you can buy. They provide an easy reference point for other teams, judges, sponsors and the general public to notice and remember you. The will unfortunately take up a vast majority of your budget, if not all of it. Like Billfred said it’s pretty easy to lower the cost by buying in bulk, using one design, and as few colors as possible. This happens to be what 1902s team mom does for a living so PM her (her username is wendymom) and she’ll be able to give you more details on pricing and stuff like that.
As for other giveaways try to be as creative as possible. In our rookie year Exploding Bacon was having trouble finding funding for pins as well, so instead of going the traditional round button route we bought about 10 dollars worth of foam core, 500 pin backs (cost about 3.00 at a craft store) and a few sticks of hot glue and we created our Wilbur face on a rocket pins. They turned out to be pretty popular and we’ve stuck with this method ever since.
A picture of our pins can be found here:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/24628
The bottle cap pins are a great idea as well, pretty much anything that incorporates a team logo can be made into a great memorable pin.
The above mentioned items are all good.
There are two things that I received as swag years ago that I continue to use at every event I go to.
One is a little retractable tape measure. The team put their number on it.
The other is a small whiteboard (around 12" by 12") with an attachable dry erase marker. The team’s name and number is printed on the top. Teams can use this to post their schedule or “back in 5 minutes”.
Years ago Team 7 made a “Robot on Board” (a take-off on the “Baby on Board”) sign with magnets that they gave out to every team. I continue to see these at events.
I have no idea what the cost of these items was to the teams. I just know they travel in my “kit of parts” (a portable box on wheels that goes with me to every event.)
That reminds me of a similar thing that we got a few years ago. It was a larger whiteboard with our team number at the top, and it had columns and rows outlined with some sort of tape, with headings for “Match number” “Time” “Blue Alliance” and “Red Alliance” at the top. It was always a staple in our pit, and was a lot more simple to use than a whiteboard with lines drawn on (it looked neater, and having contrasting colors between the lines and the marker colors made it easier to read).
I have received swag such as: anadized 8020, bandannas with team numbers screen printed on, pins, pens, mini cd-roms with team logo printed on them, and the data was team info, lanyards, badges, engraved keyrings, mousepads, mini tape measures, laundry bag sack, t-shirts, pencil cups, stickers (Moe365 had a great sticker in 2001, or 2002), dog tags, bandade holders. 
Some other suggestions are customized pen drive, rubber stamper, post-it notepad, mini flashlight, business/trading cards with team info, mini screen cleaner brush.
Thanks guys. This helped a lot.
We have a set of 3 brothers in our team and their mother happened to have a button maker we could use so I ended up buying supplies for these online. We’re having each kid pay $3 to buy their own shirt. (up to $6 if they can afford it.) I found a great local business who was willing to do it for just the cost of the tee shirt. It’s all beautiful screen printed stuff too. With the left over money I bought little flashing octopi to write our team name and number on and give out to each team. We’re also going to use our photo printers to make copies of a team photo to give out. We’re an art school so they’re really good quality epison printers. For this year’s competition we’re also going to do trading cards with our robot’s weight and stats on them.
For the trading card, don’t forget to put the Center of Gravity as a stat
We were also talking about trading cards at work today. You could make cards pretty cheaply since printing seems like a good tool you have available. have fun little stats for each student. (this one has an electronics ability of +5, this one is weak against snow, that one has +10 for spirit, etc.) Put your team logo on the back (and learn how to align duplex printing) and you will have teams trying to trade for a full set in no time.