Swagapalooza: “A book tour for physical products”
Monday night we attended Swagapalooza, an event that consists of a room full of bloggers, tweeters, and digital influencers who gather to judge five-minute presentations from creators of new and unique products. Alex Krupp, the founder of the event, described it as, “a book tour for physical products.”
The event took place at The Double Door on Milwaukee Avenue, a venue typically known for their live music, and the turnout was great. We saw a lot of great products, and even got to take home a bag full of FREE goodies—also known as the “Swag Bag”! A live twitter feed was shown on a large flat-screen in front of the presenters, and people were tweeting through every second of the show. It proved to be very entertaining.
Among the presenters was Seth Frey and Michael Prince who introduced the BuzzBrush®, a 2-in-1 keyboard and LCD screen cleaning accessory. The product was designed by our team at Beyond, from research and conceptualization through to manufacturing. It’s intended for both the promotional and retail market and can be found next month in Bed Bath & Beyond stores.
A few of the tweets streaming live during the presentation included:
“This product @buzzbrush is an AWESOME idea for career fairs and conference swag!!! “
“@BuzzBrush catch line = “get a good buzz going” clever. clever.”
“Yesssss to @BuzzBrush! I need a couple of ’em cuz my keyboard is harboring all types of crumbs!”
“The germaphobe in me already is in love w/ @buzzbrush!”
Overall, it went over really well with the audience and with the product’s full customizability, people loved the idea even more.
You can learn more about the development of the BuzzBrush® here and can view the video below.
Another cool product that’s perfect for those who tend to lose important items was a system called FoundIt™ which connects the founder and the owner instantly if something is lost. It would work great for items that are hard to replace, like cell phones, laptops, keys, or your camera. The only catch is that you have to hope that whoever finds your lost item is kind enough to return it. Check it out here.
Hooray Puree (hooray-puree.com) presented their nutritional and organic shelf-stable (non-refrigerated) vegetable purees for retail, restaurants, schools, hospitals & military. The vegetables offered include broccoli, carrots, spinach, cauliflower, and butternut squash. They talked about sneaking the purees into baby food, as well as spaghetti sauce, macaroni and cheese, and smoothies. They also mentioned adding the spinach puree to brownies—not sure what we think of that one!
The Pong Deck (pongdeck.com) was presented by two guys who thought of the idea while at a bachelor party in Vegas. Their goal was to make beer pong better by incorporating cards that are broken into two categories—action cards and drinking cards. Best part is, the cards are waterproof (or so they say). Great gift for those who enjoy a game of beer pong with a twist.
The product branded “Fizzies®” may bring back some memories for the older generation. The effervescent drink tablet is being brought back from the 70’s and now provides a healthier, great-tasting and fun beverage packed with Vitamin C. We have yet to try it, but you can check out the product here.
The other featured products included Monk fruit, the book Read This before Our Next Meeting, AcquaFibra flavored water, and Red Frog Events.
Fruit Sweetness™, which is made from monk fruit (biovittoria.com), was presented as being 150 times sweeter than sugar, but is a natural, calorie-free sweetener. It is currently found in Kashi products worldwide.
Al Pittampalli introduced his book, Read This before Our Next Meeting, in which he proposed to start a revolution in the world of meetings. As he stated, “meetings are what prevent organizations from doing amazing work.”
AcquaFibra (acquafibra.com) is flavored water with fiber introduced. It is offered in four different flavors.
Red Frog Events (redfrogevents.com) seems like a great event for those who like to have a good time, while also getting some exercise. We might have to check out Beach Palooza that takes place in Chicago this year.
It was a fun and interesting night thanks to the Swagapalooza team and those that presented. We look forward to seeing which of these products make it big!
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