Advice for choosing a promotional football

The most popular branded sports merchandise product is the promotional football. Used as a giveaway at trade shows, for competitions and as corporate gift at events. This articles deals with the various types of promotional balls, how to choose the appropriate ball and how to ensure the design is as impactful as possible. So here is what you need to consider

The most popular branded sports merchandise product is the promotional football. Used as a giveaway at trade shows, for competitions and as corporate gift at events. This articles deals with the various types of promotional balls, how to choose the appropriate ball and how to ensure the design is as impactful as possible. So here is what you need to consider

  1. What is a promotional football?

Footballs vary in quality from the FIFA approved match ball to training balls and promotional balls. The difference is the materials used in construction and the consequent effect on the weight of the ball. To be a Match ball the weight must be 410-450g. The construction is not specified by FIFA but generally they have a 4 ply structure. That is the outer panels are a laminate of 4 plys. This gives the ball weight but more importantly for a playing point of view means the ball will hold its shape much better.

In the promotional products industry however the giveaway does not need to meet these stringent requirements. Most exhibition giveaways are a 2 ply ball and more than good enough for a kick around in the park with the kids.

The match ball is invariably made from TPU – a form of soft polyurethane polymer which is highly resilient and expensive. The promotional ball is made from PVC which is much cheaper although similar in appearance. Pavilion will also be producing a non- PVC equivalent in late 2020 to avoid the environmental issues of PVC.

  1. Ball size

A standard football is known as a Size 5 and is generally 680 mm in circumference. The promotional ball matches the FIFA match ball in size but there are other promotional balls, namely mini footballs. The problem here is that there is no standard for the size of a mini .football and sizes will vary from manufacturer to manufacturer. Typical mini ball sizes range from 36cm -48cm in circumference.

  1. Panel structure

The iconic panel structure that most are familiar with is the 32 panel structure composed of pentagons and hexagons:

However, this is not the only panel structure and in some ways the standard 32 panel has some limitations on the design and branding that can be applied. Firstly it is important to realise that the football is not printed when a ball. Printing is done before the panels are stitched together. This means that designs which run across a stitch line are in danger of misalignment. This should not occur with a manufacturer of quality and images frequently cross a stitch line but the buyer should be aware:

Promo Ball

There are a couple of ways around this issue. One is to use a completely different panel structure such as the 6 panel structure used by Slazenger:

6 panel promo  football

But note these are generally more expensive, though they do give large areas for the design. The alternative (and same price as a 32 panel) is a 28 panel which gives more area for the logo by providing a ‘double panel’ in four places on the ball:

28 panel promotional ball with logo

  1. Design

Firstly it worth saying that because each ball design is created from scratch and printed on the flat panel, then it is possible to print every panel and have quite complex designs. Full ink coverage of a panel is possible but often if the panel is a single block colour the panel will be created from a coloured PVC rather than ‘flood’ printing the panel. This is done to avoid white areas in the seams.

The design which sits on the ball seems at first glance to be straightforward but there are a couple of things to be aware of. Most balls are printed with a screen print method. This means that bold blocks of colour look great. However the tonal capability of screen does have its limitations and so creating a ‘photo’ image is really not possible. Balls can be printed by a digital process but the volumes need to be in excess of 250 size 5 balls in order to justify the expense. However striking results can be achieved with the digital process:

The other thing to bear in mind is that the ball is a sphere. Sounds obvious but when thinking of the artwork preparation using standard Adobe design tools the way a ball is made up needs to be considered. The artwork template can look a little daunting:

Trying to get your mind around how the above fits together and which panel matches with which is not for the feint hearted! It is very easy to place two panels together with images looking upside down compared to the adjacent panel. The easiest way is to let Pavilion do this for you but we are happy to supply the template for designers to have a go and advise if we think it will look odd when the ball is made up.

Promotional footballs with logo