The 3-P Principle

Why branded notebooks are a good investment

What is the 3-P Principle?

Introduction

We live in a digital age, one that was even predicted to be paper-free, and yet companies buy branded notebooks. Why? What does stationery offer that can’t be provided by technology, or that technology can’t do better, faster and cheaper? It is a question that many people ask and yet the stand-out fact is that even the biggest, slickest tech companies on the planet have notebooks branded. Over the years we have provided work for companies such as Google, Facebook and Microsoft as well as Twitter and Spotify. If any company could find a technical solution to meet a need it would be one of them, and yet they chose an analogue solution to their requirements.

Quite simply they have understood that pen and paper is a positive addition alongside technology, that it reaches parts that software can’t. In this short article we will set out our ‘3-P Principle’ on why branded notebooks are actually a good investment.

1 Powerful

Using pen and paper allows greater creativity, encouraging ideas to form that might never happen with software alone. Many of the best ideas will start out sketched in a notebook because there is a freedom and simplicity that comes with writing that just doesn’t exist on screen. By encouraging people to use pen and paper you will be encouraging creativity. The pen is mightier than the sword…and software it turns out.

2 Productive

There have been plenty of studies carried out over the years that will show how the act of writing with is a more effective way to work. From simple to-do lists through to sketching out designs, from taking notes at a meeting to simply doodling streams of thoughts and recording them. When we write we engage the brain more than when we type, and so we remember it more. We are more likely to convert what we hear into our own words, and so the notes are our personal notes.

3 Permanent

For many people one of the goals of a notebook is to give them out to customers as a promotional tool. If you get the design right then your customers will have a notebook that they will want to keep and use. A notebook typically has a lifespan of weeks if not months, meaning your name will be in front of the customer each and every day for some time. That is powerful marketing you can’t buy. Except you can buy it – it’s a branded notebook and we sell them!

If you are giving books out to your team then the same principal applies – you can subtly add any message you want to convey and they will be reminded of it each and every day. An example might be a simple page added with your core company values. Even just your logo on the cover is a message reinforcement of sorts.

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