5 Tips to Winning Branded Merchandise Campaigns

Executing a successful merchandise campaign takes a keen eye and a thoughtful plan. Jay Deutsch, CEO and co-founder of BDA shares five tips.

1. Begin with the end in mind: What’s the goal of the project? Ask yourself, where you’d like the product to end up? In a child’s room, in a professional’s office, etc. Select a branded premium that becomes part of your target’s personal life, like a high-quality red polo that someone would actually wear.

2. Know your target demographic: There are so many choices and uses of branded merchandise so it’s important to match the right product or brand with the demographic. For example, if you’re going to a highly affluent golf event use Titleist ProV1 golf balls as a premium gift versus the more accessible Maxfli Noodle golf balls.

3. First impressions: With one-time events make sure attendees leave with a premium item that will continue the affiliation and create a lasting relationship. And integrate the premium with something that drives consumer action, like a coupon, or a series of events that requires people to come back again.

4. Be tasteful: Merchandise when done right can create brand affinity. But when done wrong – for example, if the logo is too small and unreadable or if the colors are off brand – it can actually hurt the brand. The North Face put branding on its jackets over the left shoulder in a very unique place but did it tastefully. “This is what makes or breaks the campaign, it’s the attention to details,” Deutsch said.

5. Picking the packaging: If you roll up a polo shirt and tie it with a nice ribbon instead of throwing the shirt on a desk then you’ve got something. The packaging should represent the branded item indicating there is something special inside. Another idea is to put items in a box printed with the story about what’s inside.