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 […]

Is anyone else completely in the thrall of Love is Blind this season?? 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐛𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 (𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐝) 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐚𝐭 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯: I find myself washing dishes as slowly as possible and folding laundry with precision as I watch the drama unfold […]