The first known promotional products in the United States are commemorative buttons dating back to the election of George Washington in 1789. During the early 19th century, there were some advertising calendars, rulers, and wooden specialties, but there wasn’t an organized industry for the creation and distribution of promotional items until later in the 19th century.

In 1904, 12 manufacturers of promotional items got together to found the first trade association for the industry. That organization is now known as the Promotional Products Association International or PPAI.  PPAI represents the promotional products industry of more than 22,000 distributors and approximately 4,800 manufacturers.

Promotional products by definition are custom printed with a logo, company name or message usually in specific PMS colors and specialized format. Universal Imprints helps end-users (you) create artwork in the correct format and correct size for the job. Since Universal Imprints is well-aware of several manufacturer's capabilities, Universal Imprints can save you time and money searching for a printer or manufacturer who can produce and ship the end-user's products on time, on specification and in the required quantities

Promotional merchandise is used globally to promote brands, products, and corporate identity. They are also used as giveaways at events, such as exhibitions and product launches.

Almost anything can be branded with a company’s name or logo and used for promotion. Common items include t-shirts, hats, keychains, posters, bumper stickers, pens, mugs, or mouse pads and business cards The largest product category for promotional products is wearable items, which make up more than 30% of the total.

Brand awareness is the most common use for promotional items. Other objectives that marketers use promotional items to facilitate include employee relations and events, tradeshow traffic-building, public relations, new customer generation, dealer and distributor programs, new product introductions, employee service awards, not-for-profit programs, internal incentive programs, safety education, customer referrals, and marketing research.

Promotional items are also used in politics to promote candidates and causes. Promotional items as a tool for non-commercial organizations, such as schools and charities are often used as a part of fund raising and awareness-raising campaigns. A prominent example was the livestrong wristband, used to promote cancer awareness and raise funds to support cancer survivorship programs and research.