I learned, quite by accident, that carrying around several boxes of the small Cadbury's Flake chocolate around a conference in Las Vegas was an amazing ice breaker to conversation. From there, the next game developer's conference, I dropped about $400 on custom printed sleeves for small Toblerone chocolate bars that I could give away. I've also always carried a different style of high quality business cards from everyone else, so that also became a conversation starter (about $150). I've also done a glossy magazine for my video game company showing off our achievements and projects for the past year (about $2,000). And a pop-up book of projects ($1,500). And a high-quality custom Rubik's cube (about $4 each). And a colouring book with branded crayons (about $1,200). Custom phone cases. Custom phone chargers. Custom USB cords. Custom tools for network admins. Ribbons for conference badges. High-quality tape measures. Custom branded private blend coffee beans. LEGO in our own custom branded box. Digital single-game "game & watch" style toys. So many different toys that endure. Toys seem to always go over well. All those tiny marketing promotions break the ice and have lead to several successful business deals.