1.PROFILE – Identify your target audience; ensure that innovative products are right for them

2.ORIGINALITY – Search the market for innovations unlikely to have been seen or given before

3.APPEAL – Assess the product’s ‘Wow’ factor and its potential to excite the recipient, their colleagues and friends

4.FUNCTION – Steer away from gimmicks with no practical value

5.QUALITY – Make sure the product actually works and offers a long life

6.SUITABILITY – Check that the innovation is relevant to your company and its promotional message

7.BRANDING – Establish whether the product is actually capable of being personalized

8.AVAILABILITY – Check the product’s availability at the time you need it

9.PRESENTATION – Complement the innovative nature of the chosen product with a suitably modern means of presentation

10.DELIVERY – Ensure that the product is appropriate for the intended route of distribution, its suitability for mailing – both home and overseas – or personal presentation and tailor delivery plans to suit