One marketing avenue that has certainly been under-exploited these last few years is the promotion of your brand on promotional rucksacks. The reason a lot of companies neglect rucksacks is because they are expensive to produce, expensive to distribute and do not necessarily yield better responses than cheaper promotional gifts. However, there are a few tried and tested strategies available that can help you make use of this incredible advertising space and gain an edge over the competition that they simply won’t be able to crack!



A rucksack is a huge advertising space for someone to be carrying around on their back for you. The obvious attraction of promotional rucksacks is that if you hand them out to highly mobile people they will be seen by large crowds on a daily basis. However, the mistake a lot of companies make when they put their logo on promotional backpacks and drawsting rucksacks is that they choose a rucksack that they would like to wear themselves.

These rucksacks usually have many pockets, zippers, thongs, patches of netting, seams and other details. These details make for a better rucksack, but unfortunately they detract from their effectiveness as a promotional tool because it is unlikely that anyone besides the owners of your promotional rucksacks will remember what company name is on them. Studies have shown that the best advertising space is space that is not contested. This means that when you are choosing a rucksack design to carry your brand, the simpler the better.

It is far more cost-effective, and far more effective from a marketing point of view, to use cheap, “haul-all" promotional rucksacks instead of highly detailed and more expensive backpacks. Most rucksacks are a simple drawstring bag made from a high strength, durable material. Remember: the longer your promotional rucksack lasts, the more people will have a chance to see your logo.

If you do want to go for more expensive promotional rucksacks, you can actually have your logo printed on various name brand rucksacks. Again, it is always best to look for uncontested advertising space. In other words, pick a rucksack that is large enough to carry your logo, small enough to be carried by anyone without inconvenience, and simple enough to make your logo stand out.

Color choice is also vital. Most rucksacks are gray, black, brown or some other fairly dull, cold color. Bright yellow or red promotional rucksacks stand out in a crowd of people and attract the eye. However, remember that certain colors have different effects on viewers. Yellow might attract attention, but it tends to make people feel like they are in a hurry. Red also attracts attention but it can make people aggressive, anxious and impatient. These are states of mind you don’t want potential customers to associate with your brand.