According to those in the business of giveaway promotions, we're all alike. Everyone wants the same thing - something for nothing.

In fact, it's likely one of the principles that John Citraro, director of marketing at Cannon Advertising in Cleveland, counts on for business.

"We help clients get their company name into the public eye,'' Mr. Citraro said. "That's what giveaways are all about.''

Cannon provides branded promotional items for numerous Cleveland companies and organizations. Mr. Citraro estimates 99% of the firm's work focuses on product distribution.

And with everything from pens to crystal bowls, Cannon is part of a giveaway industry that logged $18.8 billion in annual sales during 2006, according to Promotional Products Association International, a nonprofit trade group based in Texas.

"We started out in the 1980s as a traditional ad agency,'' said Mr. Citraro, whose firm operates out of a former school building on East 40th Street in Cleveland. "One of our clients asked that we provide some items to support a campaign we'd developed. From there, we followed the industry trend.''

Pens, shirts and lip balm

Stephen Schuldenfrei, president of the Trade Show Exhibitors Association in Chicago, sees that industry trend taking shape firsthand.

"I seem to see more and more companies using giveaways,'' Mr. Schuldenfrei said. "More are using a two-tier system with less-value items for the masses and better items for customers and top prospects. It's a huge industry and growing.''

As director of corporate marketing for Developers Diversified Realty of Beachwood, Lauren Wallace coordinates gift products for 25 trade shows throughout the year.

Developers Diversified's hottest items include pens, hand sanitizer, lip balm, mints and identification badge neck lanyards, all of which are emblazoned with the company logo.

Although Developers Diversified routinely purchases in bulk, it reserves giveaways for prospective clients who approach its booth for information on leasing, building and shopping mall investing opportunities.

"Our most popular item is our pen,'' Ms. Wallace said. "It's better quality than most giveaway pens. People come back year after year to get another one.''

According to figures from Promotional Products Association International, writing instruments are the second-favorite giveaway, making up 9.95% of profits from promotional products. The top giveaways are wearable items, which comprise the largest segment of sales, earning 30.78% of the profits.

So how does Developers Diversified keep its giveaways from becoming yet another piece of trade show swag?

"We can't,'' said Ms. Wallace, who declined to provide details of Developers Diversified's annual marketing budget. "We hope we're picking useful, good products that people want to have. We've never felt the need to offer high-tech items, since that's just a way to draw people to your booth at a show, and we've never had to resort to that - people always come to us.''

Seeing green

Tom Van de Motter, president of Distributors Choice Inc. in Solon, another giveaway supplier, said at the moment, everyone's after anything eco-friendly.

"Clocks, calculators, electric desk supplies, which run on water - anything without batteries,'' he said. "A lot of customers are also requesting items made of natural materials, such as organic cotton T-shirts or anything bamboo.''

The latest pro-environment item to hit the market is an "eco-button,'' a device designed to plug into a computer's USB port. Once installed, the eco-button saves energy by reducing the electrical output of an inactive computer, going well beyond what the traditional sleep mode can offer. Additionally, it provides statistics on the energy saved.

Due to expense, trendy tech items such as USB ports or iPods usually are reserved for contest winners or gifts, Mr. Van de Motter said.

"Items costing between $1 and $15 are generally priced for giveaway,'' he said. "Anything above that amount tends to be saved for incentive or prize-winning purposes.''

Regardless of budget, Mr. Van de Motter believes that promotional products are more effective than any other kind of media.

"Whenever you give someone a gift, it provides them with a happy feeling," he said. "They then associate that feeling with your product. It's all about branding. That's always the goal.''