Squeeze commuting troubles away with new Washington Bridge stress ball

WARWICK, R.I. (WLNE) — It’s no secret the Washington Bridge is causing headaches during commutes, so a company in Warwick came up with a creative way to relieve stress while crossing the bridge.

Epic Promotions, a family-owned branding company, is sending bridge-shape stress balls to its clients.

“It just reminded us of the bridge, it was kind of just a coincidence, and we said this is definitely it so we have to do something,” explained Keith Couto, co-owner of Epic Promotions. “With everything that’s going on right now with the bridge, we just thought it would be a unique idea to try and do something that was bridge related.”

Couto said the westbound closure of the bridge has created a challenge to get deliveries to and from the East Bay.

But with the challenges came inspiration for their newest item.

“We hope that if some of our clients and prospects are going across the bridge, instead of looking at their phone they can just give it a good squeeze,” Couto said.

The stress toys come with ‘five tips to thrive’ while commuting over the bridge.

Couto said the toy is a unique idea to promote the own company and give other companies a creative idea for their next product.

“We get comments such as ‘this is super unique,’ ‘oh my god this is awesome’ and ‘this is the best thing I’ve seen in a long time’ because, again, the main topic right now is the bridge,” Couto said.

Epic Promotions also sent bridge stress balls to RIDOT Director Peter Aliviti and Governor Dan McKee, who should be receiving them in their mailbox soon.

“Hopefully, they can look at it in the way it’s intended,” Couto said. “Its light, its fun, to add a little levity to the situation. We think they’re all doing a great job.”

“We understand what’s happening,” Couto added. “We just have to kind of live with it, unfortunately, and this kind of our way of helping ourselves and others get through it.”

Some of the the tips to get through a Washington Bridge commute include phoning a friend, having a snack, not scrolling on your friend, and, of course, squeezing your stress ball.

If your company is stressed over the commuter crisis, the stress balls can be purchased in bulk by emailing Epic Promotions at info@epicpromos.com.