A tool used to be a useful thing. A device to facilitate work, as the dictionary puts it, but somewhere in the not too distant past being a tool became a bad thing, and being a complete tool became a really rather rude thing.
We like complete tools (or multi-tools as it might be easier to call them), as they have always been an excellent corporate gift. Swiss Army knives have a beautiful schoolboy style but are they a real 21st century weapon of choice? Probably a good thing the Swiss haven't had to fight a war for 500 years.
If you’re getting into some serious cutting, sawing and screwing you’ll be looking for something that packs a little more punch and that means a multi-tool. And be in no doubt that these puppies can be properly useful when you’re caught between a rock and a hard place.
A few years ago, Aron Ralston, an American student was out tooling around in the Utah desert when he fell down a narrow canyon and managed to wedge his arm between a bolder and the canyon wall. No one knew where he was or how badly he was stuck so he knew he was going to die a slow, dry death. He probably felt a complete tool.
To cut a long story short he decided to escape by cutting off his own arm. Luckily he was armed with something very handy. He did have to break his radius and ulna bones by force, but the amputation itself only took an hour with the two inch blade of his trusty multi-tool.
Aron never named the manufacturer of the tool he used, other than to say it was a freebie type gift. Which sounds a little dismissive to us considering it saved him from looking like an utter tool – and a dead one at that.
The moral of this story is that a branded multi-tool is not just a gift that will be warmly received but one that could really save lives. From Gerbers and Leathermen, to Swiss Army and more cost-effective brands, we can put your company’s good name on something that truly defines the whole idea of useful. And your customers may have an awful lot to thank you for.
