I still wear T-shirts from vendors at tech conferences that I received years ago. They're durable, and they advertise the company not just to me but to others.
But perhaps the swag that has had the most staying power is stuff I could bring home for my kids to play with. I've gotten company-branded balls, puzzles, figurines, and other toys, and not only do they make a good "Guess what I brought home for you" surprise, but they sit around the house for ages, so you get a lot of exposure to their logos.
One thing I've never gotten as swag, but could see being a good ROI, would be a children's picture book, with a "Compliments of [Brand Name]" on it. With my kids, they would request that I read the same book to them 50+ times, so that's 50+ exposures to the brand.
The trap with shirts is that girls LOVE oversized, soft t-shirts as nightshirts. And since "unisex" shirts are often actually just men's-fit shirts, you have the double-whammy of a) give it to a guy, decent odds his partner steals it, and b) give it to a woman, good odds she doesn't want to wear it as a normal shirt (because "unisex"=men's) but it's a great night-shirt.
I got a Datadog t-shirt in 2016. Amazing quality. I have never worn it; it is my wife's favorite pajama shirt. She says the dog is cute.
...Dang maybe this is actually the master plan, though. I've seen datadog's logo like 50% of nights for the last 8 years.
The catch with t-shirts is they MUST be made of high-quality material. I've been handed so many promotional t-shirts where it's obvious they went with the lowest-cost supplier and they just feel awful on against my skin. Straight to the Goodwill with those.
I agree. The Gildan Heavyweight T-shirts are the kind you pick up at craft stores for $3-$4 a pop. But they tend to be stiff and too warm for my liking.
There are a variety of mid-level T-shirt brands (such as BELLA+CANVAS) that feel so much softer against the skin, no irritating seams, stand up to repeated washings, and are lighter-weight, meaning you can wear them as-is in the summer months, or under something else in the winter months, and it feels comfortable either way.
this is a very SWEng thing to say but I use plain colored t-shirts as a basic item unless there's a reason to dress up. during the fall/winter you can stack a columbia fleece vest on top (which does a great job keeping your body core warm without overheating you or impinging on your arm movement etc). this does a really good job being super comfortable for those with sensory issues etc, and generally looks more presentable than logo tees imo.
I really like the comfort colors heavyweight ones personally - this seems to be the one in my order history. They are plenty soft once you wash them especially if you run a few cycles with some fabric softener. The price isn't amazing right now (my history says $6.50-8 is more typical) but the site ships fast and doesn't care if you're commercial or don't want logos etc.
Bella+Canvas shirts are great. Almost my entire wardrobe consists of Bella+Canvas shirts I picked up at conferences.
I used to get others but most of them are too scratchy or bad in some other way. I used to still get them "because they're free" but what's the point if I never wear them? I do have some extra large but scratchy shirts that are tolerable to wear.
I have a really good Datadog shirt that's not Bella+Canvas.
My experience with Bella+Canvas was that the ratio between the sleeves/shoulders and torso felt really disproportionate in a way that I haven't felt with most other shirts, so they don't really work for me. The material itself did feel nice though.
Just want to +1 Bella+Canvas. I look for 100% cotton, made in the US (insofar as possible) shirts and there aren't that many options, especially stylish ones, so BC has been a staple for me.
I have a bunch of running event t-shirts and they are almost all CANVAS; is that the same as BELLA+CANVAS? Because I love those shirts and wear them everywhere (to my wife’s annoyance).
Yes, I believe so. I loved an event t-shirt so much that I followed up with the organizer to track down the printer and their supplier, since the tag inside the t-shirt has no branding.
At the time, I thought BELLA+CANVAS only sold wholesale, but I now see a retail section on their website!
Looks like there are individual sellers reselling Bella Canvas shirts and hoodies on Amazon for much cheaper, depending on your risk tolerance for Amazon sellers.
The retail store doesn't have the 3001's that I usually get; those are about twice the price on amazon than the other bulk sites. Probably worth it for one or two, but if you want a bulk amount it's worth buying at one of those sites.
I think this goes for anything. I have dozens of water bottles from conferences. I use the Yeti and some of the other nice ones. All the no-name stuff that feels cheap and smells like chemicals… never used them once.
I have a gift branded Yeti tumbler from a blue chip legal firm that I detest (way overpriced work) but it's also the nicest tumbler I have, so it gets the most use. One of these days I'll strip off the logo.
100% High quality t-shirts are a must, anything else gets used as a wash rag. Bonus points if the design isn't too corporate, and logs are a side affect.
My favorite t-shirt to this day is a Chef t-shirt I got at a conference.
why not straight to the trash. why would you feel that some article of clothing that is so poorly made that you refuse to wear it should be foisted upon someone else? this just feels like you trying to make yourself feel good without actually doing any good.
On the one hand, shoppers at GoodWill aren't there at gunpoint, being forced to empty their wallets. Nothing is being "foisted" on anyone.
On the other hand, in a sense many of them are, except instead of gunpoint it's economics that mean their clothing choices have a hard dollar limit on them - and at the end of the day, it's better to have a subpar t-shirt than no t-shirt at all.
So I don't think anyone is being hurt here. At worst, the person you're replying to could have done better by donating the shirts to a charity that doesn't sell the clothing, but gives it away.
Anyway, I hope you made yourself feel good with your comment, even if you didn't do any good.
and they throw away a ton of donations too. they have to, people use goodwill as the substitute for a dumpster, nobody wants your grease-stained metallica shirt with a couple 2" holes in it or the 200th set of hummels either.
Furthermore, in some places (e.g. MA), it's actually illegal to toss textiles in the trash. I'm sure no one cares with a garment here and there but if you have a couple of large trashbags you should probably be donating them.
I actually have gotten a children’s picture book from a brand of cloth diapers that describes a silly and exaggerated story of how they invented their core product (a pivot from the two founders’ masters degrees in aerospace engineering). It is, as you suspected, very effective marketing as it is now seared into my brain from many re-readings.
My son was gifted a toolset by his aunt and uncle for Christmas. Plastic tools, belt etc...and a little voice box which every 3rd press or so extolls the virtues of John Deere tractors.
Those slogans are now going to be stuck in my brain forever, so I've got to hand it to them (no one realised it did this before they got it).
A month after I met my now-wife, I went with her to
Thanksgiving at her sister's house. My nephew was two at the time, and he had three magnets: a horse, a frog, and a duck. Each of which made the respective noise when you pushed a button on the magnet.
Naturally, being who I am, I took it upon myself to swap the circuit boards around among the magnets. Apparently this caused some distress a couple days later when my nephew discovered that the frog now made horse noises.
We did not give our wedding guests the opportunity to object to our union.
TL;DR: it sounds like you have an opportunity on your hands!
About 6-7 years ago, I attended a hacker convention and of course I made the rounds to pick up swag.
American Express had brought a limited supply of fidget spinners, and they were in extremely high demand. I was unable to secure one of my own.
PayPal had the best cache of stuff. They had this earphone holder that was designed like a fishbone. You were supposed to wrap the cord around the "ribs". Then I also picked up a shirt that said on the back "report phishing attempts to phishing@paypal.com".
I wore the shirt in public and a woman accosted me at a bus stop. She asked me if I worked for PayPal, which I denied. Then she told me anyway about some dispute she had. I decided to stop wearing the shirt and other swag that wasn't directly related to me.
All merchandise is commercial. Do your kids wear a Nike swoosh t shirt? Okay on an iPad? Love Lego? What the difference if it's a Microsoft football or new relic slingshot (all things I see from where I'm sitting)?
1) It’s not as bad if the logo or name is at least the manufacturer of the object. There’s an argument to be made that it’s a form of standing behind your product: this is good enough that we don’t think you’ll come to think ill of us.
2) Some of us in fact do avoid wearing logos. Nicer (and not even that nice, necessarily) clothes, bags, shoes, et c. tend not to have them, or at least make them very small. Logos for something other than the company that made the item would be even worse. Large logos and legible clothing more generally signal things I’d prefer not to signal, so… I don’t. Freebies in that category get worn around the house or as a base layer.
That's one of the reasons I don't buy Nike and I cover up Apple logos with stickers (which is easier ever since they stopped putting a damn backing light on their laptop logos). I'm not going to advertise for you for free.
Yep, LEGO endures. I've done entire branded boxes filled with a custom instruction booklet, such as "build this diorama of our video game studio" or "this is a character from our upcoming game" or "it's a LEGO GameBoy with our game on the screen." And it has to be LEGO. Anything else is considered cheap and reflects on your company.
I used to get all sorts of medically-branded pens and merchandise courtesy of my parents. I had an infinite supply of pens.
Years later, I was working as a nurse on a medical floor. I had a realization that I was filling out an IV med label for Avelox with an Avelox-branded pen.
This dutch web shop selling mostly printer ink includes very nice ballpoint pens with their branding in the packages. End-result: Those pens get used by news readers and youtubers all over the place.
Whats wrong with that? Kids play with anything, wooden stick is a great toy anytime for example. That there are some logos and not some other logos or pictures they couldn't care less about
> whats the difference between merch logos and regular toy brand for the kid?
On top of that, some children's shows are clearly tailored to push toys and all kinds of things, hoping to create a feedback loop of demand for swag-adjacent gear.
Mom's a nurse, so we grew up with about everything in the house being branded drug merch. The diflucan dolphin beanie toy is probably my favorite. As an adult, I wish she had brought home Viagra swag. They gave out some hilarious stuff.
The only swag I am comfortable with wearing in public are things that look like it might just be a [sweater] with a cool image on it. No way I’m walking around with “Castiron ᴀʟʟ ʏᴏᴜʀ ɪʀᴏɴ ɴᴇᴇᴅs sɪɴᴄᴇ 1887” on my torso.
I detest branded clothing. why should I be paying a company to advertise for them? LV, Boss, etc. I know for most they want to show off the logos hoping it makee them look like they have taste and/or money. It's crazy to me tho. Some of the designs are atrocious
more on topic though. You know the there are branded children's book right?
Very age dependent but my toddler son loved the CNCF animal logo plushies. They got tons of use and did not feel wasteful like the direct to landfill stuff I’ve gotten at so many conferences.
I think the best piece of swag I ever got was a high-quality fidget spinner from Pluralsight. Even though fidget spinners were a fad, they're still pretty cool to have around. That one from the conference is still around in our house somewhere, and people still play with it.
I've also brought home so much garbage, that was fun to play with for a couple minutes but either broke or had no lasting interest. If you're in charge of choosing swag, please think about whether it has any lasting value. It does say something about your company's values and follow-through.
I would agree with the other comment: commercial merch is dystopian. This month I finally disposed of my simple, black HP (not HPE) T-shirt. It is truly dystopian what the current merch doesn't hold up for.. does a quick 24 - 08 math .. 16 years!
But perhaps the swag that has had the most staying power is stuff I could bring home for my kids to play with. I've gotten company-branded balls, puzzles, figurines, and other toys, and not only do they make a good "Guess what I brought home for you" surprise, but they sit around the house for ages, so you get a lot of exposure to their logos.
One thing I've never gotten as swag, but could see being a good ROI, would be a children's picture book, with a "Compliments of [Brand Name]" on it. With my kids, they would request that I read the same book to them 50+ times, so that's 50+ exposures to the brand.