Jack Jolly Takeover: Making More of Merch
Is it even a holiday if you don’t go to the gift shop? Have you even been to the airport if you haven’t strolled through duty-free? Did you even go to the gig if you didn’t buy an artist’s face on a t-shirt.
In the midst of the pandemic, many hospitality brands turned to merchandise to drive revenue in a time where every penny really did count (and customers had surplus cash from lockdowns.) The Guardian even described the restaurant clobber trend as the ‘new band t-shirt’.
But at a time when Marketing departments are already stretched, how can merchandise be weaved into the marketing plans rather than be an extra bullet point on the checklist?
Easy: Toggle.
Toggle will manage the storage and distribution of your merchandise so that you don’t have to.
Here are 5 brands that are smashing Merchandise in hopes to dish up some inspiration for you to do the same:
The Oast House - Festival Bucket Hats
The Oast House, Manchester’s best beer garden (according to this author and a lot of fellow Mancs), is well-known for its live music and its Bank Holiday festivals.
Is there anything more festival than the iconic bucket hat? The great thing about this product is bucket hats are one-size, therefore there’s no hard work in stock management that having t-shirts can cause. No waste, just buy more once sold out.
Beyond that, they reinforce the message that this is a real festival event, offers great social content opportunities for The Oast House, and great user-generated content from guests.
Bundobust Brewery Football Shirt
A brainchild of HIJACK, Bundobust wanted to make the most of the Christmas World Cup - without giving up restaurant space to show the games.
This led to the creation of their sell-out Bundobust football shirt. The brand worked in partnership with fan-led football merchandise brand, The Terrace, to design an on-brand shirt, complete with their own Brewery’s sponsorship across the chest, following in the footsteps of many great breweries like Carlsberg, Heineken, and Newcastle Brown.
Aperol Spritz’ - Merry Spritzmas Cards to drive footfall.
Aperol Spritz teamed up with All Bar One to produce limited edition Christmas cards - each containing a voucher for 2x Aperol Spritz at ABO. A fabulous way to give an experience to Aperol fans as well as support the industry by creating customers in January and February.
What I love about this is the instant gifting nature and the follow-up in-bar experience offered.
It also positions an infamous summer brand, as a winter product which is incredibly masterful.
Simply Roasted Crisps - Rewarding loyalty
Simply Roasted is a brand I’m falling in love with.
Their latest customer woo involves giving away custom keyrings in orders to their most loyal customers. These money-can’t-buy key chains are a great way to drive sales via social, as well as turn brand fans into evangelists.
Budvar - Building on the brand
Like many beer brands, Budvar offers well-considered and usable merchandise. Items that customers can make use of every day. However, what I love about Budvar’s travel bags, is they fit into the wider brand narrative of travel and spirit of adventure they want to associate with their beer.
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Designing merchandise can be fun, and there are plenty of businesses that can help create inventory for you but the most challenging part (in terms of time) is the fulfillment of orders.
Step forward Toggle fulfillment. Toggle’s fulfillment service allows any brand currently selling physical gift cards to be able to offer physical products via their Toggle store - taking the headache out of your next product launc. Book a demo here
