Travel Merchandise – Pick Your Favorite!

Branded Merchandise can be created in many different ways.

Let’s talk about travel merchandise, and how it applies to your business. Where the branded merchandise in Tuscany was reserved, tasteful, and artist-focused, the swag in Rome was ๐œ๐ก๐š๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐œ, ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐œ๐ค๐ฒ.

๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต’๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ต: ๐˜ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ซ๐˜ฐ๐˜บ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜”๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข ๐˜“๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ข ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ข “๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ”, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฌ๐˜ฆ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ๐˜บ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜‹๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฅ, ๐˜ต๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜จ๐˜ด ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ.

The Rome merch screamed “๐ˆ ๐–๐€๐’ ๐ˆ๐ ๐‘๐Ž๐Œ๐„!” while the Tuscany merch said “๐จ๐ก, ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐จ๐ ๐ง๐ข๐ณ๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐š๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ง? ๐จ๐ก ๐ฒ๐ž๐ฌ, ๐ˆ ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ ๐ข๐ง ๐“๐ฎ๐ฌ๐œ๐š๐ง๐ฒ”.

๐–๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐˜๐Ž๐” ๐ฐ๐š๐ง๐ญ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก?

Dropping your logo — and your logo alone — on all of your company branded merchandise is ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐‘๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ.ย It’s the “I AM PART OF THIS COMPANY!” method.

๐“๐ก๐ž ๐“๐ฎ๐ฌ๐œ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ is thinking through the values and special parts of your company and featuring that magic on your merch.

๐’๐จ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐จ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ข๐ง ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ง๐ฒ, ๐‘๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐จ๐ซ ๐“๐ฎ๐ฌ๐œ๐š๐ง๐ฒ?

What do you think of the Rome merch in this video?ย Is it sacrilegious to alter classic art like this, or just fun and silly?

Top 3 Ways to Engage with Branded Merchandise: Italy Edition

I just got back from a weeklong bike-packing trip around Tuscany, Italy. ๐Œ๐ฒ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฌ๐›๐š๐ง๐ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ˆ ๐›๐ข๐ค๐ž๐ 200 ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐จ๐ฐ๐ง, ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐š๐ ๐ž ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐š๐ ๐ž. It was gorgeous, challenging, highly sweaty and adventurous ๐Ÿšดโ€โ™€๏ธ๐Ÿšด๐Ÿผโ›ฐ

(Let’s just say, we did ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต realize how HOT it is in Italy in July ๐Ÿฅต.)

Here are the Top 3 Ways to Engage with Branded Merchandise: Italy Edition


๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น ๐“๐€๐’๐“๐„๐…๐”๐‹๐๐„๐’๐’: I saw *only* tasteful merch in Tuscany. There was no “I’m with stupid” or “my grandparents went to Tuscany and got me this dumb shirt”, no sexual innuendo, no political messaging, no shot glasses. Everything fit into the same general aesthetic and was pretty pleasing!

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น ๐๐”๐€๐๐“๐ˆ๐“๐˜: Aside from a few mostly-tasteful items bearing the town name and lots of cheese-, wine- and olive oil-related products, there wasn’t a lot to choose from. Tourists have a smaller, more curated selection, even in the lower-end tobacco shops.ย Individual restaurants don’t offer branded merchandise.

๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡น ๐€๐‘๐“๐ˆ๐’๐€๐-๐…๐Ž๐‚๐”๐’: It seems that the shops favor art featuring Tuscany, so you can find many items inspired by the vistas around Tuscany or gorgeous hand-painted pottery.

๐๐š๐ฌ๐ข๐œ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐“๐ฎ๐ฌ๐œ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž Go To Market – Custom Print-On-Demand Branded Merchandise ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ž: ๐ญ๐š๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ, ๐œ๐ฎ๐ซ๐š๐ญ๐ž๐, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐œ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐ข๐ ๐ก ๐ช๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ.


I didn’t find much to buy there because the aesthetic didn’t match my personal taste, but I can appreciate that ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐  ๐จ๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฌ ๐ข๐ง ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ข๐ญ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ. (And anyway, when you’re bike-packing you can’t buy anything bigger than your fist because you’ll have to bike with it the rest of the way.)

I ended up buying a very small leather wallet and two tiny rings for me and my daughter.ย We also bought and sent postcards of cats dressed up in regal royal outfits to our kids ๐Ÿ˜ป (๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ-๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ)

Have you seen and bought branded merchandise from international travel?ย What have you noticed about it?ย I was surprised to see so much lower volume of branded merch outside of the USA!

The Benefits of Branded Merchandise That’s Ugly On Purpose

Merch thatโ€™s Ugly-on-Purpose is now a capital-t Thing.

At least, that’s the only way I can explain the Pizza Hut hat from Chain that is so highly coveted that it has sold out multiple times.

Why occasionally having branded merchandise thatโ€™s ugly is helpful for your business.

๐€๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ž ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ง๐จ๐ฐ, ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ ๐š๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐ž๐ข๐ง๐  ๐œ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž ๐š๐ ๐š๐ข๐ง.ย ๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š๐ซ:

๐Ÿ‘น It’s a signal of ๐ž๐ฑ๐œ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ. Not everyone is invited to these celeb-infused events. The hat is an IYKYK social signal of an elite society.
๐Ÿ‘น It’s ๐ง๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ฅ๐ ๐ข๐œ, which is super powerful in and of itself
๐Ÿ‘น It ๐ฌ๐ญ๐š๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ — the hat is loud and noticeable. It’s the equivalent of a neon shirt or dying your hair purple.

๐…๐จ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ก, ๐ˆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐œ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž.ย This technique won’t work for every brand but it’s worth considering if a loud design might work for yours.ย If someone who loves your brand wants to wear it as a fashion statement, let them!

Why do YOU think this design is so popular?ย Do you like it, would you wear it?ย And lastly, could a loud or ugly design work for your brand?

Need Help with Branded Merchandise?

Let’s be honest: you’re ๐˜ธ๐˜ข๐˜บ too busy to design, order, and ship the branded merch you need for your business.

In the list of things you need to do for your business, let me guess where branded merchandise and swag falls: โ†˜๏ธโ†˜๏ธโ†˜๏ธโ†˜๏ธ

Merch usually gets assigned to whoever and lands at the bottom of a to do list.
๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ’๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐›๐ž๐œ๐š๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ 9,999 ๐จ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ฌ๐ญ, 98 ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐œ๐ก ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐ง ๐Ÿ๐ข๐ซ๐ž ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿš’๐Ÿ”ฅ, ๐๐จ๐ง’๐ญ ๐›๐ž๐š๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐Ÿ ๐ฎ๐ฉ.ย ๐‰๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ก๐ข๐ซ๐ž ๐ข๐ญ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ.

(๐˜ˆ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฅ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜บ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ง๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ด)

Here’s how we can help with your branded merchandise and swag:

๐Ÿคฉ Come up with fashion-forward, chic branded merchandise designs for your merch
๐Ÿคฉ Figure out what kinds of items to print for your business (tees vs bags, for examples)
๐Ÿคฉ Set up a print-on-demand merchandise shop with no order minimums

… and much more, so you can get to those 9,999 other things!ย If merch is on your list for this summer, DM us or comment and we’ll get it done for you easy peasy.

And thanks to Tara Lenney for the inspo for this blog post. She says: “If Merch has been falling to the bottom of your list for a thousand years like it was mine, let Go To Market loose! They had such great ideas, and also took my fledgling ideas and ran with them. ๐ˆ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ง๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐ ๐จ๐ญ๐ญ๐ž๐ง ๐๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ.”

Tell me, has branded merch ever landed on your to do list, and did it keep falling to the bottom?ย How have you seen this play out in your company?

The Olympics Paris Mascot is a must see!

Have you guys seen the adorable (… ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฅ …) mascot for the Summer Olympics Paris 2024?

In case you missed it, it’s a “Phyrge”, which is a red, triangle-shaped hat worn during the French Revolution that is a symbol freedom, French identity and spirit. ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ท And it’s all over their branded merchandise and swag.

Most importantly, the Phyrge mascot can teach us an important lesson: ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก, ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐š๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ฌ.

Here’s what we can learn from cutie French Phyrge:

1๏ธโƒฃ ๐˜๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ซ๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐ง’๐ญ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐›๐ž ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐š๐ฒ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ฅ, ๐›๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐š ๐ญ๐จ๐ฎ๐œ๐ก ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ฒ.

Most of the Olympics merch is what you’d expect: French symbolism, plays on the Olympic rings, and a lot around “2024”.ย The Phyrge spices up the collection without dominating it.

2๏ธโƒฃ ๐…๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐Ÿ๐ฎ๐ง.

Merch doesn’t need to be serious all the time — you can play around with aspects of your brand and take some liberties with your brand message.

3๏ธโƒฃ ๐“๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž’๐ฌ ๐š๐ง ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐š ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ ๐œ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ž.

See all pixar movies ever for examples, but turning an inanimate object into a character (๐˜ด๐˜ญ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ’๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ) is a really easy win.

Have you seen the Phyrge mascot?ย What do you think of it?ย Love or hate it? And more importantly: do you see an easy way to add whimsy to your own brand or company?

Taco Bell’s Newest Merchandise

Taco Bell, what the ๐Ÿ’ฉ๐Ÿ™…๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ is going on with your merch?


This store violates everything I know about best practices for branded merch:
๐Ÿ‘Ž The shop is super logo heavy, and their logo is… old and uninteresting
๐Ÿ‘Ž There’s nothing creative, playful or reflective of their brand or brand values

There is one thing they get right, which is their use of current trends:
๐Ÿ‘ They are using tone-on-tone (purple-on-purple, gray-on-gray), which is in right now
๐Ÿ‘ They’re offering matching sweats sets
๐Ÿ‘ Their models are young, diverse and cool

Still, I hate this.ย They tried to go chic but they’re … Taco Bell.ย ๐“๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐๐จ๐ž๐ฌ๐ง’๐ญ ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐œ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐.

If you’re a fast food chain and you’re making branded merch, taking yourself seriously is a miss. Your merch should be FUN.ย McDonald’s does this incredibly well, bringing in high end designers to make ironic and playful branded merchandise that’s loud and in your face (on purpose).

Our social media manager disagrees with me on this and likes their merch.ย What do you think?ย Do you think their merch matches their brand?ย I’m not a fan or customer of Taco Bell so I may not be the best person to judge.ย Who do you think wants to wear this?

The Gold Standard for Branded Merchandise

The โšœ๏ธgold standardโšœ๏ธ for branded merchandise is this: does someone who has no connection to your brand still want to own and wear it?

(๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต: ๐˜ช๐˜ง ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ’๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ซ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜บ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ด๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ด, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ด๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ.)

๐‚๐ก๐ž๐œ๐ค ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐š๐ง๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐š๐œ๐ก๐ข๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ฆ of branded merchandise so freakin’ good that I covet it despite having no connection to the company or brand.

The tee above is part of the absolutely adorable, clever, beautiful and fashion-forward merchandise by the Orlando Squeeze, Orlando’s Major League Pickleball team.

I don’t play pickle ball and I’ve never been to Orlando.

And yet: this shirt is so freakin’ cute that it’s in my shopping cart. The entire line is cheeky, trendy, and covetable.ย Their design team ๐˜ค๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ช๐˜ต.

๐‡๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž ๐ญ๐š๐ค๐ž๐š๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ข๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ž ๐ญ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐:

โšœ๏ธ ๐‹๐ž๐š๐ง ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฅ๐จ๐œ๐š๐ฅ — the more specific you can be about your origins, the better.
โšœ๏ธ ๐’๐ญ๐š๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐๐ฒ — this look is very of-the-moment and appealing
โšœ๏ธ Try a variety of designs, but ๐ค๐ž๐ž๐ฉ ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ that moves through your merch so it looks like a unified shop

What do you think of this tee?ย Would you wear something branded that you had no connection to other than liking the merch?ย Finally, do you play pickleball, and if so, have you noticed the massive amount of pickleball merch in the world?

Olivia Rodrigo’s Merch

Let’s look at an artist whose merch gives me a ๐˜ณ๐˜ถ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต every time I see it: Olivia Rodrigo.

Every single item of branded merchandise on Olivia Rodrigo’s page embodies her music and personality, from the design of the items to the way every item is styled.ย It’s also worth noting that Olivia herself models each item with cute photos.

๐Ž๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐š’๐ฌ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐Ÿ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐Ÿ๐ฅ๐ž๐œ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฉ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง๐š๐ฅ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ก๐ž๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐œ. ๐‹๐ž๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ฌ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐’š๐’๐’–.ย Here’s how you can be more like Olivia:

โžก๏ธโžก๏ธ ๐Œ๐š๐ค๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ โฌ…๏ธโฌ…๏ธ

Olivia Rodrigo’s brand is rebellious, against-the-grain, sexy and girly, and her merch is exactly that. Is your brand’s merch reflecting your brand’s personality?ย 

Also… how freakin’ cool is Olivia’s merch?ย Go take a look and tell me what you think.ย The first time I heard her music it took me **right back** to when I first heard Alanis Morissette’s You Outta Know.

Is there ever a good time for junk swag?

My love for race merch might (๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต) supersede my hate for junk swag.

Which leads me to ask: is there ๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ a good time for junk swag?ย My answer might surprise you. ๐Ÿค”

My husband finished theย GFNY Franceย Grand Fondo yesterday, an 85-mile bike race in the hills of northern NJ. At the expo, he was handed the following bright green branded things:
๐ŸŸข drawstring bag
๐ŸŸข a mini pouch bag
๐ŸŸข luggage tag
๐ŸŸข eye mask
๐ŸŸข pen

This part is key: he was also given a pretty bomb neon riding Jersey that everyone in the race has to wear to compete.

In general, I love the bright green branding and the “Be a Pro for a Day” slogan.ย The eye mask is pretty clever (though junky) and I can see people using the luggage tag when they’re traveling to races. The pen and the two bags are semi-useful trash. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™€๏ธ๐Ÿ—‘๏ธ

I’ve never had any use — not one — for a drawstring bag. Why do we still make these?

๐๐š๐œ๐ค ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฆ๐š๐ข๐ง ๐ฉ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ, ๐ˆ๐’ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐ž๐ฏ๐ž๐ซ ๐š ๐ ๐จ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฆ๐ž ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฃ๐ฎ๐ง๐ค ๐ฌ๐ฐ๐š๐ ?ย ๐ˆ ๐ฌ๐š๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐ž๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ž๐ซ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฌ๐ž ๐œ๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ:
๐ŸŸข the junk items are strongly branded (like these) and have clever uses that are appropriate for your audience
๐ŸŸข โœจyou also give out a high-quality itemโœจ that includes some choice (in this case, size)
๐ŸŸข there are options to buy high quality merch of your choosing (in this case, these were at the expo)

So in the end, yes, you can sometimes (rarely) give out junk swag with my blessing, as long as you meet these three criteria.

What do you think? Do you enjoy swag bags like this? And most importantly, have you ever (ever!) used a drawstring bag??

Our Hot Take on Branded Merch

Let people opt out of your branded merch.

As much as I am heart-eyes for branded merch and swag, I believe that ๐จ๐ง๐ž ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ ๐ซ๐ž๐š๐ญ๐ž๐ฌ๐ญ ๐ ๐ข๐Ÿ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐œ๐š๐ง ๐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ž๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฒ๐ž๐ž๐ฌ ๐š๐ง๐ ๐Ÿ๐š๐ง๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ž๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ž๐ฆ ๐Ž๐๐“ ๐Ž๐”๐“ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐ซ๐ž๐œ๐ž๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐  ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐๐ž๐ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ง๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ž.


Think about:
๐ŸŽ The onboarding box that has a bunch of filler you donโ€™t know what to do with
๐ŸŽ The branded shirt thatโ€™s cute but just not something youโ€™d ever wear
๐ŸŽ The really nice branded mug that can never replace your favorite mug

There are a lot of reasons that people may not want your swag, and itโ€™s not always because itโ€™s ugly or itโ€™s junk. They just might not want it ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿปโ€โ™€๏ธ

๐“๐ก๐ž๐ซ๐ž ๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐ฌ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ž๐š๐ฌ๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐š๐ฒ๐ฌ to get your merch into the hands of people who want it and out of the hands of people who donโ€™t:

1๏ธโƒฃ ๐Ž๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ ๐œ๐ก๐จ๐ข๐œ๐ž. Let people choose their own merch!! This is the best and easiest way that everyone gets exactly what they want โ€” no more, no less.

(We can set up a print-on-demand merch shop for you that makes this super simple at Go To Market – Custom Print-On-Demand Branded Merchandise)

2๏ธโƒฃ Have ๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐Ÿ ๐๐ข๐Ÿ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ซ๐ž๐ง๐ญ ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ to hit a wide range of needs and preferences. Iโ€™m talking about wearables and non-wearables, subtle and loud messages, plan and jazzy styles.

3๏ธโƒฃ Offer a ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ฉ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง for your would-be recipients where they can choose to have the company donate money to charity in place of receiving merch.

If you offer lots of choices for branded merch and swag, youโ€™re likely to make a wide variety of people happy. Even cooler: ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎโ€™๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ก๐š๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐›๐ซ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ง ๐ฆ๐ž๐ซ๐œ๐ก ๐ข๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ž ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฒ๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐œ๐จ๐ฆ๐ž.

Have you ever received well meaning branded merchandise that you didnโ€™t want? What did you end up doing with it?