End Brandfill
Why do you buy merch, swag, promotional products? 🤔
If you can’t answer that question, STOP BUYING IT! 🛑
There’s a new term I see more and more called “brandfill,” and it has to do with branded products that are bought and given out with so little intention that they just end up as trash in a landfill. Brandfill is bad!
The cure is to become savvy about buying your promos. Start with the first question you should ask yourself:
❓ WHY am I spending my hard-earned dollars on this swag?
Some reasons to buy products with your logo on them are:
• employee recognition
• building brand awareness
• attracting new hires to your business
• thank you gifts for clients and customers
• identifying the people who work for your company
And so on. Knowing WHY you are spending that money will help you to choose your branded items more wisely.
💡 CASE STUDY
A large and growing healthcare organization was changing its name and wanted to announce the new name to its employees. I suggested a clever item, a logo-changing mug, where the recipients would see the old logo until they poured their coffee or hot water for tea into the mug, at which point the heat would cause the logo to change to the new brand. Perfect, right? A practical item, it shares the brand-change message in a fun, affordable, and creative way.
I didn’t get that order, but I heard later what they did give out. White, plain, boring, old-school golf hats with the new name on them. (Ladies, I can hear you groaning with me already…) I heard about the disappointment from my clients who worked there. Know how many of those hats were just plopped on shelves or put in the trash, not appreciated by most? 😩
This was such a missed opportunity to get a huge team of employees to embrace the new brand! The organization knew the “why” for buying this merch, but they missed pairing it with the right promo for their big announcement and created brandfill instead.
Branded products are an excellent, long-lasting way to grow your brand, business, and organization’s visibility. You just need to choose and use them correctly. Watch for more posts about other things to consider before you buy your merch online or work with the professionals at D and S Designs – we specialize in making you stand out, NOT in the landfill!
