THERE'S gelt in gifts of gadgets and gismos and if you want to find out exactly how much ask David Tysall of Response Marketing, of York. He can shower you 250 calculators at a time so your sums can't go too wrong.

For that matter he can throw in a host of logo-ed T-shirts, rulers which at a twitch change signage in the prismatic light or even a gonometer, that oh-so-useful contraption used by orthopaedic surgeons to measure bone angles (if you feel so inclined!).

At his sleek offices at the Fishergate Centre David (pictured right and on the front page), a 29-year-old former golf pro, proves in waves of branded brollies and carrier bags, pens, torches and multiplicities of mugs the old maxim that "it is better to give than to receive" - only he adds the rider "and more profitable too."

It is precisely because so many firms have rallied to David's goody-bag philosophy since he began this venture 11 months ago that he has taken on staff - and is now entering the New Business of the Year category of the Evening Press Business Awards.

Relaxing in a hammock - well, why not make use of stock while you can? - David says: "We started with the aim of setting up a promotional gift company that would be enjoyable to work in, profitable, and most of all, operated with integrity."

And he was helped along the way by Norman Whyte, chief executive of York Business Development who steered him and his partner, Charlotte, towards the council-subsidised premises at the Young Business Project in Fishergate. And with extra support from York accountants Garbutt and Elliott and Roland Harris, chief executive of the York and North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce, all David's gab of the gifts began to turn into gold.

By distributing a new catalogue, setting up a supplier-sponsored website (www.response-marketing.co.uk) and clinching major deals with the likes of Leica in Cambridge, Spring Recruitment (for whom he is now the official group supplier) and a major car manufacturer whose details for the moment must stay a secret, he has exceeded his first year's turnover target. "Any moment now we will top £100,000," says David.

So why the success? Rather than offer businesses the "shotgun effect" of advertising, he says, he offers the rifle effect helping firms to reward their existing customers, boosting staff morale with corporate clothing and arming sales teams to get their foot in the door.

"For years drugs company salespeople have used the technique of offering GPs a chance to see their names engraved on a freebie fountain pen. They accept happily and the salesperson says: 'OK, I'll be back next week.' It's an automatic open sesame.

"And there's nothing like a handful of pens given to the switchboard operator to smooth a path all the way to the boss' phone."

Logo-bearing mouse-mats may be hackneyed but, asks David, "what other medium forms so much a part of many decision makers' working lives?"

David began as a golf professional teaching the sport in Tenerife, but returned to London as a trouble-shooter for the retail chain American Golf, helping to open new stores and ensuring brand conformity.

Then he moved to York as a busi

ness sales rep for the Evening Press before breaking free into the world of free gifts.

Does he have promotional golf balls? David, whose handicap is now six, smiles. "Millions of 'em," he says. "What colour?"