Custom Luggage Tags: Summer Travel Series, Part 1

Ever have this happen to you? You arrive at your destination, but your luggage doesn’t. It can be one of the biggest frustrations in travel and can put a real damper on your vacation.  Need a laugh? Take a minute to watch this funny video of comedian Rhod Gilbert on lost luggage.

What’s one way travelers try to help identify their luggage so it can find its way home? They affix a luggage tag. It may seem dated, or a promotional tool that’s been around the block a few times, but travelers still need and use luggage tags. Consider adding promotional plastic luggage tags to your marketing mix.

Promotional Luggage Tag Ideas

The Akron Canton Airport is one example of a company using promotional luggage tags to build brand awareness and loyalty through a non-traditional outlet. They use custom luggage tags as part of their award-winning social media marketing campaigns. When a traveler checks in on Foursquare or Facebook, they are rewarded with a free luggage tag. You’ll find people posting pictures of their free luggage tags on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Instagram. Those posts help expand the social media reach and brand awareness of the airport when the friends of recipients see, like and comment on those photos. The Akron Canton Airport even creates special videos on YouTube each year to unveil their new luggage tag design.

Custom luggage tags are an obvious promotional fit with an airport, but what about other businesses? They could also be used as a promotional gift with purchase for a company that manufactures or sells backpacks, laptop bags or messenger bags. Banks could offer them when someone signs up for a new account to “save” for summer vacations. Other uses include a giveaway for your trade show booth or even a party favor at an event.

4 Tips for Creating an Effective Promotional Luggage Tag

1. Create a design that is fun and bright. Help make it easier for your customer to find their bag when it comes around the carousel and they’ll want to keep it on their bag.
2. Incorporate your business’ logo and a simple, brief message that reinforces your company’s branding in your customer’s mind.
3. Include your website and even try adding a call to action with a special discount code.
4. Discuss the types of plastic cards available with your plastic card supplier to insure you get a quality durable plastic card that will stand the test of air travel.

2 Tips for Your Own Luggage Tag Use

1. People commonly list their home address on luggage tags. This is like giving crooks an open invitation to your unattended home. Instead, list a business address, P.O. Box or no address.
2. Instead of listing your home phone number, list a cell phone number. That way people can’t do a reverse search of your home phone number to locate your home address.

Do you have a favorite luggage tag or lost luggage story?