Corporations big and small love their branded swag. It doesn’t matter whether it’s an exclusive brand partnership launch, a shop local initiative or a company Christmas party prize pack; people love getting and buying swag and companies love getting their brand out there. Here is a case study showing you 2 different times that corporations threw their logo onto branded merch with varying degrees of success that hopefully we can learn from.
Tim Hortons Tim Biebs
Everyone has seen the Bieber Ball, or Tim Biebs commercials from Tim Hortons recently. Tim Hortons famously partnered with Justin Bieber to launch a limited run of new Timbit flavors. I tried them, they are sugary and delicious. I was surprised by how effectively this campaign was launched after Tim’s ruined their famous roll up the rim contest and spent millions advertising how bad their coffee used to be. What I am not by surprised is how fast their branded Swag got snapped up! Bieber is a powerhouse and adults, and kids alike are big fans in Canada. In connection with the brand launch, they also launched a line of merchandise including logo’ d tote bags, fanny packs and beanies (toques). The pricing on this merchandise is out of this world.
All of the items are worth a few dollars as swag, but once you add the Timbiebs logo to them, they are selling for closer to $30 each… but in the resale market rampant demand for the merchandise had it sell out fast and then end up on reseller sites for thousands of dollars! We got ourselves a beanie and no, we are not reselling it, it’s going into the swag vault for future generations.
The Edmonton Oilers launch a Support Local Campaign
Their campaign features goods that are designed in Edmonton, made in Canada. This project was launched by our friend Kyle Nichols using his new company Local Soft Goods and is a great step by the Oilers away from made in China and large brands like Reebok and Under Armour to the local community. The branding is simple, using woven labels and tone on tone embroidery instead of blazing orange logos across the chests. This subtle branding is a step away from the Oilers traditional style.
Where fans seem to be a bit put off is that the pricing doesn’t align with what people expect of a hoodie ($214) or a toque ($40). Even the Tim Hortons Justin Bieber toques are 25% less than the Edmonton Oilers local toques.
An extensive search on Twitter only found people complaining about the prices, but I have no doubt people in the arena were snapping it up.
Dance Fusion Christmas Onesies
Local popular kids dance studio dance fusion wanted a fun and creative way to engage their dancers with branded clothing for Christmas. We came up with the idea to make custom made in Canada Christmas Onesies for the dancers (and their parents!). The Promo Addict team worked with the management team at Dance Fusion to come up with a fun and funky design using their logo as well as some cool design elements and bright colors to make this one of a kind piece extra special for their dancers.
Kids these days love wearing onesies to bed, to school, to dance and more, I honestly feel like onesies are the new oversized hoodies from last year. Similar to the oilers campaign, the made in Canada products are quite a bit more money than a similar made in China product, but supporting local like this keeps a significantly higher percentage of the profits circulating in your own community.