I attend a lot of trade shows where exhibitors are vying for people's attention. There are expensive displays, glossy brochures, multimedia presentations, attractive booth personnel and all sorts of handouts. That's all good, but it's something else that is most likely to attract my attention and make me stop at a display. A bowl of candy for a quick pick-me-up. I know, it has nothing to do with business, but when you walk the show floor it's just nice to get a little treat. I am then likely to stop and see what the vendor has to offer. A few weeks ago I was at a convention in Las Vegas and a couple of vendors actually had personalized candy bar wrappers! Since candy has so much drawing power already, I thought that was a terrific idea.

Think about it: chocolate is universally appreciated, so why not use it to convey personal or business messages? Design a candy bar wrapper with a company logo and slogan, or a personalized message for a party or an event. Or wedding favors or holiday party handouts. I can think of a hundred applications for party favors, business promotions, or ad specialties.

Meetings and presentations are often dry and boring. But imagine starting out a meeting with handing out professionally wrapped candy bars where the wrapper carries your company logo, a personalized greeting, and the meeting agenda is printed on the inside of the wrapper! Talk about an instant ice breaker.

Or think of a party or event where people don't know each other and some may feel a bit awkward. Now imagine handing out personalized favors with fun messages. Everyone appreciates the sweet treat and the wrappers can be a great conversation starter.

When I came across the idea, I initially had some concerns about a third party handling chocolate bars. However, the ones I saw had the tamper-resistant plastic factory wrapper intact underneath the customized wrappers. I've also seen the bite-sized mini chocolate bars with custom wrappers, and those still have the silver or gold foils, and apparently you can also get larger size Belgian chocolate bars with the personalized wrappers, and even some custom chocolates with company logo imprints.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea of these personalized candies. In this day and age, almost everyone has the capability of designing their own message or graphic that includes logos, pictures and text, so the opportunities are endless. I can think of birth announcements, baby showers, baptisms, bridal showers, confirmations, bar mitzvahs, sweet sixteens and plenty of other occasions where a little personalized chocolate favor is just perfect. In business, I can think of all sorts of chocolate ad specialties for business promotions, corporate events, retreats, training seminars, user group meetings or office parties, to name just a few.

One potential concern is shipping. Won't candy bars melt while in transit? I did some research and found that most companies that offer personalized candy bar wrappers also ship just the wrappers so you can get the candy and put the wrappers on yourself. Some also offer shipping in a cooler for a small extra charge. So next time you need to make an impression, think of custom candy bars!