Open day merchandise: companies, schools and industrial sites

Not all open days have the same aim. Clarify yours before choosing your products:

• Company open days are used to recruit, to showcase know-how or to strengthen ties with clients and the neighbourhood. Visitors are adults, often from the trade.
• School or training centre open days are aimed at secondary school pupils, students and their parents, who compare several institutions in the same season.
• Industrial site visits open workshops, production lines or warehouses to the public; safety plays a central role.

The first case calls for professional products; the second, products useful in a pupil’s daily life; the third, visitor equipment and a souvenir linked to the trade. The same day can also mix these audiences: in that case, plan a shared product and targeted extras.

An open day visitor goes through predictable steps. Thinking about them in advance lets you hand over the right product at the right moment, with no queues and no full arms.

• Reception: registration, badge, visit map. A custom lanyard holds the badge and also identifies your guides and your teams.
• The tour: demonstrations, workshops, conversations with the teams. A notebook and a promotional pen are used to note information and the names of contacts.
• The break: coffee, snack, information stand. A marked cup or water bottle finds its place here.
• Departure: documentation, contacts, souvenir. A bag brings it all together and carries your logo onto public transport and into the street.

Hand things out along the way rather than everything at the entrance: the visitor keeps their hands free during the tour, and each product is linked to a specific moment of their discovery.

For an educational institution, the open day is a key event of the year. Visitors leave with brochures from several schools; your branded item must make the difference when the time comes to choose.

• For pupils: products they will use in class, and therefore in full view of their classmates. Pens, highlighters, notebooks, pencil cases, water bottles, tote bags. The Education selection groups together products suited to this audience.
• For parents: a more understated product, such as a mug or a notebook, together with documentation on the courses and how to enrol.
• For the student ambassadors who run the day: a sweatshirt or T-shirt in the institution’s colours, so that they can easily be spotted in the corridors.

Include the website address or the names of the institution’s social media accounts: that is where pupils will go to find out more, often that very evening.

Opening a workshop or production site to the public involves safety rules. Visitor equipment then becomes the first branded items: high-visibility vests, safety glasses, earplugs. Marked with your logo, they make groups visible and give a serious image of the organisation. The protective equipment selection brings these items together; always have the requirements specific to your site approved by your safety manager.

At the end of the visit, a product linked to your trade leaves a lasting impression: a wooden object for a sawmill, a compact tool for an engineering company, a mug for a food company, together with a sample of your products where possible. Families who come with young children will also appreciate a small game or a creative activity to take home.

Attendance at an open day varies with the weather, communication and the school calendar. Rely on registrations and previous editions, then split your products into two levels:

• a welcome product for everyone, economical and light: pen, lanyard, keyring, cotton bag; low-cost promotional products are perfect for this role;
• a higher-quality product for qualified contacts: promising candidate, future client, family that has submitted an application.

Avoid dating the products: surplus items will be used at the next edition, at a trade show or at an office opening. The volume prices for each product are displayed live, and the lead time, shown on each product page, runs from the approval of the mock-up: place your order as soon as the date of the day is fixed.

Finally, think about what comes after. A visitor who noted your details in your notebook, or who drinks from your water bottle, comes across your name months later, when choosing a course, applying for a job or launching a project. To measure this effect, simply ask candidates, new pupils and new clients how they heard about you.