Parking Discs, Eyeletting and Promotional Marketing Products that Turn

We don’t think that enough use is made of the humble eyelet in the design of promotional marketing products. The simple task of eyeletting can add car wheels that turn, steering wheels, turning hands on a clock – all kinds of things - but for some reason we just end up with millions of “Volvelles”! However, we include one rather unusual but creative example the use of eyeletting in the manufacture of a promotional marketing product. It involves two internal wheels and produces an irregular bobbing movement – that is our “Bobbing Duck”.

A rather more practical use of eyeletting is seen in the production of promotional swatch cards. Whilst they might lack the playful and amusing attributes of the bobbing duck, swatch cards are very popular indeed. The fact that the user has to rotate each card makes the action of moving from one page to the next a more interesting movement than turning the page in a leaflet. Promotional swatch cards are usually pocket-sized which tends to make them quite a tactile product as well as being user-friendly and informative.

In car advertising and marketing on Parking Discs

Parking Discs are used by local authorities throughout the UK but have yet to be discovered by the advertising industry. Survey results published in Promotions Buyer magazine (May 2008) revealed that nearly two thirds of respondents could name a brand or company / organisation featured on promotional merchandise that is kept in their car. And almost 95% of respondents believe that branded promotional merchandise increases a company’s brand awareness. Almost half have purchased from the branded companies.

Parking discs present a brilliant opportunity for advertisers. There are millions of motorists in the UK who reside in towns where a parking disc scheme is in operation. Each day millions of motorists handle a parking disc at least twice and so each day that parking disc is seen by that motorist at least twice! That’s a lot more than a map, an ice scraper, a pen, a sun shield, a tax disc holder or any other form of in-car advertising!

Parking discs and in-car advertising for insurance companies, breakdown services, motoring organizations

Think of the opportunities for a whole array of industries allied to the car industry… insurance companies, breakdown services, motoring organization, petrol and diesel suppliers, windscreen replacement, car dealerships, tyre companies… parking discs can offer an inexpensive way of ensuring that you giveaway gets noticed more than any other form of in-car promotional merchandise!

Wheel charts, information discs, calculators, volvelles….

One of the biggest problems with wheel charts is that not everyone calls them wheel charts so what do you search for in order to find them? We started off calling them eyeletted discs but others were calling them calculators, ready reckoners and spinners. We went “Googling” ourselves and “Wheel Charts” seemed to be a popular generic term on US websites so we adopted “Wheel Charts” as a name. However, our counterparts in the USA have the same problem. Look at this snippet from the website for Datalizer Slide Charts (www.datalizer.com):

How Did You Search For Us?
Everybody knows our products by a different name. What names did you use to search for us?
Circular Calculators, Circle Charts, Color Wheels, Conversion Charts, Data Dials, Data Disks, Datalizers, Data-lizers, Dial Charts, Dosing Guide Charts, Graphic Calculators, Information Dials, Nomographs, Medical Calculators, Metric Conversion Slide Chart, Plastic Graphic Calculators, Promotional Slide Guides, Slide Calculators, Slide Charts, Slide Guides, Slide Rules, Slide Wheels, Sliders, Slip Charts, Wheel Charts, Technical Calculators, Wheel Charts, Wheel Calculators...

“Reinventing the Wheel” by Jessica Helfand

“Reinventing the Wheel” by Jessica Helfand (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvelles) is a book on the subject of paper wheel charts or circular ephemera of the 20th century. It is a fascinating book if you are into paper and cardboard engineering and it is a welcome addition to our own library. However, whilst the author often refers to the product as a wheel chart, her research tells her that the original term is probably a “Volvelle”.

In her book (p18) she says, “The Oxford English Dictionary traces the etymology of the word volvelle to the medieval Latin, “volvellum” or “volere” – to turn – describing it as “an old device consisting of one or more movable circles surrounded by other graduated or figured circles, serving to ascertain the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the state of tides etc.”

However, Ms Helfand goes on to list several other names including: fact finders, trouble shooters, locators, calculators, slide rulers, convertisors, circular interfaces, calendials and dynameters.

So, going back to our original question, what DO you call these things?