Promotional items are known by many names, including promotional materials (Werbeartikel fullservice) , promotional gifts, and promotional merchandise. Giving away promotional items offers a number of advantages to businesses, who often use specific items for marketing and advertising purposes.
Promotional merchandise has a long history of use in the western world, going back to the election campaign of George Washington in 1789. An entire industry developed around the manufacture and distribution or promo items in the late 19th century, where particular items became especially popular with businesses who wanted to gain market attention. There are a wide range of different products used in promo campaigns, most of which are small and inexpensive to produce. Wearable items are the biggest category of promotional merchandise, accounting for about 30 percent of the total, however, there are many other products also used.

The benefits of promotional merchandise depend on the nature of the business and campaign in question, although there are a number of general advantages that this kind of marketing can offer. Promo items are generally given away to promote a brand, corporate image, product, or event, with corporate names and logos generally printed onto promo items to create continuity between a product and a particular brand identity. Whether it is part of a guerilla marketing campaign or a small aspect of a larger marketing endeavour, this kind of promotion can offer many advantages. While promo items can be given away to encourage brand loyalty and engage existing customer relationships, they are often gifted as a way to attract new customers and create community appeal.

Some of the most popular items used in these kinds of promo campaigns include pens, stickers, key chains, T-shirts, caps, USB drives, and a variety of other small and inexpensive items. Because companies are giving these items away for free, they need to be both cheap to produce and easy to distribute to the masses. In many cases, companies choose to use items that have some kind of endurance, so that they are visible to a wide range of people for a long length of time. Some examples of these kinds of products include bumper stickers, caps, and T-shirts, which if used, will continue to promote a brand or product for an ongoing period of time. While brand awareness is the most common use of promotional items, some other objectives include public relations, employee relations, marketing research, and product introductions.