๐ LET’S END UGLY MERCH ๐
Close your eyes and imagine the ugliest piece of merch you’ve ever seen.ย For me, it’s a reusable soft lunch box with a big-๐ pharma logo in bright white letters.
Now imagine that there are — literally — THOUSANDS of that item being “gifted” to people at a company or at a trade show.
Picture the guilt your recipients feel when they reluctantly put that item in the trash (or try to donate it only to discover that Goodwill doesn’t want it either).
๐๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐, ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐๐ฒ, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐๐ฌ.
You know the expression if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all?ย Let’s apply it to merch: if you don’t have anything good to print, don’t print anything at all!ย Zero swag is better than junky, ugly swag.
If you’re feeling frustrated reading this because you’re feeling like there are no good options, let me disabuse you of that idea: ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐, ๐ฃ๐จ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ, ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐.
There are two big keys to arriving at non-ugly merch:
1) Keep your logo subtle; focus on the *values* of your company instead
2) Offer choice of merch whenever possible
I’d love to hear what you pictured when I said ugly merch! Please comment with what you’ve seen ๐