Swag!

I'm sort of embarrassed to admit it, but one of the things I miss about working is the swag.

Oh, I occasionally score something from a client. I have a logo water bottle from one that I use every once in a while. A former client kept my husband in polo shirts. They were very nice - ultra soft, and wore really well. They were Jim's favorites. In fact, he was wearing one of these logo polos when he died. 

Who doesn't like a freebie?

I was disappointed when I went to the dentist the other day that they weren't doing their usual giveaway of new toothbrush and travel toothpaste. 

And I like it when the bank hands me a pen or notepad, even though the pens are cheesy and tend to fail quickly. 

I know all about those cheesy pens. I was working a trade show once, and our giveaway was a ballpoint pen. Too bad that most of them were leaking into their little plastic holder. A little something to remember us by.

Trade shows were always an excellent source of swag, and one of the pleasures of working a show was strolling around and grabbing goodies. So what if I didn't actually need another stress ball? Swag, baby!

Most of the swag I scooped up over the years is long gone. But I still wear the denim shirt my company gave away at our user group 25 years ago. And I still tote stuff in the excellent LL Bean tote bag from the same company. 

When we bought stuff for our user group, we always ordered one for every employee as well. This was good for morale, and it also helped ensure that there was no shrinkage from the storage closet. At one time, my group had ordered logo golf balls that were earmarked for a client golf outing. By the time we got to the outing, those logo balls had rolled out and disappeared. 

There was a minor scandal at one company I worked for when most of the Helly Hansen parkas that were ordered for a promo for our partner program disappeared. Someone on my team was the lead on that program - but had no control over the internal distribution of the parkas. Poor Donna! She found herself confronting colleagues (from the CMO on down) swanning around in an upscale red parka with the company logo on it. 

This was at Genuity, a dot.com era bust that was insane when it came to swag. It didn't matter what the occasion - internal, external - there was always swag around. We had an offering called Black Rocket that was launched with a ton of fanfare. 

To mark the occasion, there were BR lava lamps, BR coffee tables (I can't remember who those were supposed to be for), BR lunchboxes, BR bicycles, shirts, caps... Some of this stuff was given away, some of it sold online in the company store. Tchotchke sales probably brought in as much revenue as the ill-fated Black Rocket offering. I did my bit by buying Black Rockets in multiple sizes.

What's the latest when it comes to swag?

COVID stuff.

As some businesses reopen and others try to stay in touch with employees working from home, companies are opting for coronavirus-related corporate swag — branded sanitizer bottles, “clean key” tools for pressing elevator buttons and, above all, masks — joining the tote bags, travel mugs and USB flash drives that have long defined company giveaways. (Source: Washington Post)

Sure enough, when I went into FedEx-Kinko's the other day to do some copying and the fellow running the store was sporting a logo'd facemask. Some companies are even selling their logo face masks. (No thanks. Maybe if you gave it to me for free...)

There's a downside - isn't there always? - and that's that some might view slapping your logo on a mini-bottle of hand sanitizer  as exploiting the pandemic for branding purposes. Thus, many are using smaller, discreet forms of their logo. (The FedEx logo mask I saw wasn't screaming, but, admittedly, it's not easy to tone down a logo that uses bright orange and bright purple.) 

For companies that specialize in swag for trade shows and corporate events, pandemic-related swag has been a boon to their business, offsetting the event losses. 

There's more to pandemic swag than face masks and hand sanitizers. Popular items include:

...cozy socks, clip-on Zoom vanity light rings, webcam privacy covers, and branded books and puzzles to keep kids busy for work-from-home staffers.

Some companies have also placed orders for returning workers, including personalized and branded water bottles, mugs or tech gadgets so they don’t get mixed up in the office. “Now, not sharing is caring,” said Kim Laffer-Nick, director of marketing communications at ePromos Promotional Products.

But masks are at present ruling the swag roost, especially as employees tiptoe back to work and companies want to have a more uniform look and feel when it comes to PPE. 

“The mask could become the new fleece vest,” said Susan Scafidi, academic director of Fordham University’s Fashion Law Institute, referring to the popular Silicon Valley fashion staple.

The new fleece vest? A grateful nation thanks you.