Branded items — mugs, bags, clothing, notebooks, trade-fair materials — are one of the oldest forms of communication, and they still work for a simple reason: they're objects that stick around. A good piece of merchandise is seen every day for months; a bad one is thrown away before you've left the car park.
Like any investment in communication, it comes with upsides and risks. It's worth looking at both before ordering a thousand units.
The upsides
Lasting presence. A useful object keeps the brand in view long after the campaign has ended. It's the opposite of an ad, which disappears the moment the spend stops.
Natural circulation. A bag, a cap or a T-shirt gets worn in public, and passes the brand on to people who were never the intended recipient. Something people actually like gets lent, gifted and talked about.
Customer relationship. Giving something to an existing customer is a gesture of recognition, especially when it's tied to a specific moment — a project wrapping up, a delivery, a company anniversary.
Personalisation. Unlike an ad, the item can be chosen to suit whoever's receiving it: technical materials for industrial clients, something for home use for end consumers.
The risks
Cost per unit. Small quantities or high quality push the price up fast. And the bill doesn't stop at production: there's branding, shipping, storage and the distribution itself.
Waste. Items nobody wants end up in the bin, and these days that doesn't go unnoticed. A poor-quality object isn't neutral for the brand: it's a bad impression with the logo printed on it.
Lack of visibility. If the item is used at home, in a drawer, or only by your own team, the communication effect is next to nothing. It's worth asking, before producing anything, where that object is actually going to be used.
How to decide well
Four questions that settle most of the bad decisions:
- Who's receiving it, and where will that object actually be used?
- Is it useful enough to survive a clear-out?
- Does the brand apply well to that material, or does it end up illegible and distorted?
- How many units are genuinely needed, and can you reorder later?
On the last one: it's almost always better to produce fewer and reorder than to fill a warehouse. On the third: applying the brand to different materials is graphic design work, and it doesn't get solved by emailing the logo file to the supplier.
A small run of well-thought-out items is worth more than a large run of whatever comes easiest. And merchandise pays off best when it's part of a moment — a trade fair, a launch, an opening —, which is the territory of brand activation. For everyday use, the equivalent is stationery: business cards, folders and letterheads the company uses every week.
Producing branded materials?
Tell us what you have in mind and who it's for. We'll help choose the right items and prepare the files for production.