What you need to know
- Gibson's real estate clients keep reordering printed magnets and cards, and businesses that measure response keep coming back for another run.
- Real estate leads the resurgence Gibson sees across its clients, with agencies briefing magnets alongside their listing and appraisal material.
- One Sydney trades business runs its magnet drops on a recurring weekly cycle, covering fresh streets each run.
- Magnet calendars are briefed from late winter so they are printed and dropped before the new year they cover.
- Response is measured with a dedicated tracked number on the magnet, agreed in the written scope before printing. Call tracking is published from $99 AUD per month plus usage.
Do fridge magnets work for business marketing?
The fairest test of any promotional product is whether businesses pay for it twice. Gibson has printed and distributed letterbox material in Sydney since 2006, and fridge magnet marketing has not gone anywhere: real estate clients keep reordering printed magnets and cards, and one Sydney trades business reorders weekly. Nobody funds a weekly program for a product that does nothing.
The promotional products industry circulates plenty of retention figures about how long a magnet stays on a fridge. Gibson does not publish any of them, because Gibson has not measured them. The argument for a magnet does not need borrowed statistics. It rests on how the object behaves in a house, and on who keeps ordering it, and both of those can be described honestly.
Why does a fridge magnet behave differently from a flyer?
A flyer is read once, near the bin, on the day it arrives. It either prompts an action that day or it is gone. A magnet is different in one decisive way: it is not thrown out with the mail. It is a useful object, so it migrates to the fridge door and stays there, at eye height, in the room where the household makes most of its decisions.
That changes the economics of the piece. A flyer buys one look per household. A magnet keeps being seen for as long as it stays up, for months or years, at zero additional cost per view after the drop. And it is standing by at the exact moment a flyer cannot reach: the hot water dies on a Sunday, and the plumber whose magnet is on the fridge gets the call, because the number is already in the kitchen. None of that requires a response-rate statistic. It is how the object works.
What does Gibson keep seeing across its clients?
This section reports the pattern in Gibson's own client work, reviewed on 24 August 2026 against an analysis of Gibson's current client records, August 2026. It is an observation from one Sydney print and distribution business, not a market statistic.
Two rates set the scale. Almost half of Gibson's current client accounts are real estate offices, and about one in sixteen active clients ordered printed magnet work in the past year. The magnet client is a minority of the base, but a persistent one: the businesses that order magnets keep reordering them.
- Gibson's real estate clients keep reordering printed magnets and cards, run after run, to stay present in their farm areas.
- Real estate leads the resurgence Gibson sees across its clients, with agencies briefing magnets alongside their listing and appraisal material.
- One Sydney trades business runs its magnet drops on a recurring weekly cycle, covering fresh streets each week.
Fridge magnets are back in Gibson's work, led by real estate. The wider letterbox context, including what other industries drop and when, is in how Sydney businesses use letterbox drops.
“A flyer lasts until bin night. A magnet keeps your number in the kitchen for the night the power goes out.”
How do real estate agencies use fridge magnets?
Real estate leads the magnet resurgence Gibson sees across its clients. Agencies engage Gibson for flyer and card printing plus letterbox distribution to support their listing and appraisal campaigns, and the magnet rides on that same machinery. The two standard real estate magnet formats are the calendar magnet, dropped across the farm area ahead of the new year, and the just-listed or just-sold card with a magnet backing, which turns a one-look campaign card into a piece that stays in the house.
The logic is the farm area itself. An agent's brand needs to be present in the same streets between listings, and a magnet on the fridge keeps the agency's name and number in the kitchen long after the flyer that carried it is gone. See the real estate industry page for the full Gibson stack for agencies.
How do trades businesses use fridge magnets?
The trades magnet is the emergency-number magnet: trade, suburbs served, phone number, nothing else. A household does not need an electrician, plumber or locksmith on the day the magnet arrives. They need one suddenly, at an unplanned moment, and they call the number that is already in front of them. A magnet is the one letterbox format built for that delay between delivery and need.
Gibson's client work carries direct evidence of a tradesperson backing this format with money: one Sydney trades business runs its magnet drops on a recurring weekly cycle with Gibson. A weekly cadence means fresh streets each run, building fridge coverage across the service area week by week. See the trades industry page for how call tracking and missed-call recovery fit around trades marketing.
Do menu magnets work for takeaway and food businesses?
The menu magnet is a long-standing format for takeaway, pizza and local restaurant businesses, and the method is generic rather than anything Gibson claims from its own client work. Dinner is decided in the kitchen, near the fridge, often under time pressure. A magnet carrying the shop name, cuisine and phone number keeps the business in that room at that moment, and it survives long after the printed menu it arrived with has been recycled.
The common approach pairs the two: a full menu drop with a magnet attached, so the household keeps the number even when the menu goes. Response is measured the simple way, with an offer code or a mention at the counter tied to the drop.
When should you order magnet calendars for the new year?
From late winter. That is not a Gibson statistic, just production arithmetic: a magnet calendar needs artwork, a proof, a print run and a distribution window before the year it covers begins, and each of those steps takes real time. Businesses that want a calendar magnet on fridges in December or January brief the job months earlier.
It is late August now, and this is the point in the year when calendar magnet orders start. A calendar is also the strongest natural argument for the magnet format: a household that keeps it gets a full year of daily use, and the business name printed on it is in the kitchen for every one of those days. Real estate agencies treat the calendar magnet as an annual farm-area fixture for exactly that reason.
How do you measure the response to a magnet drop?
Put a dedicated tracked phone number on the magnet, used nowhere else. Every call to that number is then counted, recorded and attributed to the drop, whether it comes a week after delivery or a year later. That long tail is the point: a magnet keeps producing calls well after the drop date, and only a number that belongs to the magnet alone can prove it. Gibson publishes call tracking from $99 AUD per month plus usage, and call attribution is available only when call tracking is included in the agreed campaign scope.
The measurement decision is made before the artwork is finalised, because the tracked number has to be printed on the magnet. This is also where the shape of the supplier matters, as a plain scope fact: a print shop prints the magnet, and a distributor delivers it, but neither carries the tracked number and the call reporting in the same scope. Gibson quotes printing, letterbox distribution and call tracking in one written scope when all three are wanted. The full method is in how to track letterbox drop ROI.
Which Sydney areas does Gibson cover for magnet printing and distribution?
Gibson delivers across more than 155 suburbs in inner Sydney, St George, Sutherland Shire, the Inner West and Eastern Suburbs. Magnet printing itself is not geographically limited; the distribution scope is confirmed against those regions before the campaign is quoted.
If you know your format, quantity and target area, send the brief for a written quote. If you are still working out the piece, start with the commercial printing service page for the production side, or the letterbox distribution service page for coverage and delivery oversight.
Frequently asked questions
Do fridge magnets work for business marketing?
Yes, and the clearest evidence is that businesses keep paying for them. About one in sixteen active clients ordered printed magnet work in the past year, Gibson's real estate clients keep reordering printed magnets and cards, and one Sydney trades business runs its magnet drops on a recurring weekly cycle. That is an observation from Gibson's own client work, not a market statistic.
How much do business fridge magnets cost?
Gibson does not publish a magnet price on this page because the honest answer is a scoped quote. Quantity, magnet size, stock, finish, artwork condition and whether letterbox distribution is included all change the price. Send the brief through the quote page and the written quote states exactly what is included.
Which businesses use promotional magnets the most?
Gibson can only speak to its own client base. Almost half of Gibson's current client accounts are real estate offices, and real estate leads the resurgence: agencies keep reordering printed magnets and cards to stay present in their farm areas, and one Sydney trades business runs its magnet drops on a recurring weekly cycle. Food and takeaway businesses are the other long-standing users, with menu magnets a standard format.
When should a business order magnet calendars?
From late winter. A calendar magnet needs artwork, a proof and a print run before it can be dropped ahead of the new year, so orders are typically briefed from late August onward. A calendar dropped in December or January sits on the fridge for the year it covers.
How do you measure the response to a fridge magnet?
Put a dedicated tracked phone number on the magnet, used nowhere else, so every call it generates is counted and attributed to the drop. Gibson publishes call tracking from $99 AUD per month plus usage, and call attribution is available only when call tracking is included in the agreed campaign scope.
Can Gibson print and distribute magnets across Sydney?
Yes. Gibson has printed and distributed letterbox material in Sydney since 2006 and delivers across more than 155 suburbs in inner Sydney, St George, Sutherland Shire, the Inner West and Eastern Suburbs. Magnet printing and letterbox distribution are quoted together in one written scope when both are required.
