Here’s the adult size large tee that was in my 10-year-old son’s gift bag this weekend. We were in Jay Peak for a ski race and had the best time ⛷️ When he checked in and he saw the shirt, he said, incredulous: “but I can’t wear this t-shirt, it’s way too big!” Yeah kid, […]

I’m really into Marvel movies 🦸🏻‍♀️⚡️💪🏻. My kids and I watched all (𝘢𝘭𝘭!) the Marvel movies in chronological order starting last July. So it was particularly interesting to me to learn that Stan Lee, the creator of so many Marvel Entertainment characters 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞. What’s unique about this is that Stan […]

Your last-minute swag has that “just under the deadline” look to it. 😬 Most people put off buying merch until 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 before they need it. And hey, there’s good reasons why people procrastinate when it comes to buying merch: 🫣 There are too many choices🫣 Your vendor is a 🍑💩👎🫣 You don’t have any new […]

Y𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀 𝐨𝐧𝐞-𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞-𝐟𝐢𝐭𝐬-𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. We live in a time where we can buy exactly what we want — in the size, shape, style, and color we prefer — and have it in hands within a few days. Yesterday I was talking to Rebecca […]

Listen up 📣 There are a lot of people in your audience who love your brand but 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘶𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶, because you’re too high-ticket or don’t have enough spots. T𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝’𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡. Think about all the people (thousands, tens of thousands for […]

If the solar eclipse can have merch, so can your business. There are thousands of solar eclipse swag products available for purchase ahead of the big day, ranging from “my first eclipse” onesies to “TOTAL ECLIPSE” koozies. As expected, some are super cute and clever, and some are absolutely cringe . Before I show you my faves, let’s talk […]

The best branded merch RESONATES.  The worst merch is just crappy corporate logo wear. Yesterday Vin Matano posted that he’s “never seen one B2B company have good swag” and the post has over 300 comments. It’s clearly ruffling some feathers, in his words. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞? 🔑 It communicates the […]

Here’s why most swag sucks: The people who 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐨𝐥 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐠 are separate and distinct from the people who 𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐠. For the people tasked with ordering the swag: 1) Swag is an annoying part of their work 🙄2) They don’t have a design or fashion background 👚3) They aren’t given specific direction by […]

Gift boxes are the salads of corporate gifting. In your salad, you’ve got:🥗 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧: your protein or fancy add-on🥗 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘧𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘸𝘢𝘺: iceberg lettuce or skinny carrot slices🥗 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴: in my case, raisins or a spicy seed In the case of a gift box, you’ve […]

The benefits of employees and fans wearing your merch are so huge that 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 💰𝐩𝐚𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞💰 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡. This is radical because most people’s first thought with branded merchandise is cost and whether they’ll see any profit. Let’s flip this around; here are two of the more obvious […]