Regular readers of my blog will know that I'm always on the lookout for clever, effective and brand appropriate giveaway items for trade shows, VIP gifts, etc. At the recent New York Times Travel Expo there were the usual trite items - the candies, key chains, cosmetic samples. A definite step above was American Express' travel kit with three, 2 ounce empty plastic bottles (you can never have enough of those).
But the prize went to the Korean table with its do-it-yourself mud kit. It seems that a major tourist attraction in South Korea is the Boryeong Mud Festival, which attracts over 1 million visitors a year, 10% of whom visit from overseas. Besides the romping and rolling and good (un)clean fun, it turns out that the mud is a good antidote for wrinkles and has other healthful properties.
Getting down to the point, the giveaway: it's a plastic bag filled with the ingredients for you to re-create your own mud bath at home, which includes a packet of mud, packets of cleansing lotion, body lotion and soap. Now this is what I call a conversation piece!
