*Clarifying addendum to previous post. Though community and experience are, for so many of us, critical, they are not the only reason people go to restaurants. Some people are only in it for the taste [The founder of my dining club claims he couldn’t care any less about experience, but his favorite dining is omakase sushi, so sorry, Mitch, you’re lying to yourself.] Others are in it for the Scene - they want to show that they can afford to be a regular - Noma has regulars, I learned in May. Even these people, however, do not deserve to be murdered if they cannot remember a past course. [*The Menu, said to be based on Noma with a very clear Alinea dessert nod, which skewers the whole overwrought world.].
I love good swag. Who doesn’t? At any given conference you might be packing branded stress balls or drink koozies or more pens than anyone needs to take home. Swag, in theory, is for branding purposes - the bag you carry out of a store is free advertising, as it the college sweatshirt or Kewpie mayo hat. Does a pen really do that anymore? Do people even use pens? [A 30 something friend recently confessed to me that she has to YouTube how to write a check if she ever has to write one. I suspect few pens in that very beautiful Manhattan bag.]
So what’s good swag, and what should be free versus paid? [Is it swag if you have to pay for it? I think so.] Would the swag giver and the swag recipient have different answers as to what’s good? I don’t think so - you want me to like the thing enough to have it be effective advertising and I want to like the thing enough to use it and not just contribute to landfill. If these come together, we have a winner. So we are looking for two qualities 1) I want to use it and 2) someone besides me will see that branding as advertising.
I recently got some next level swag. Alison Fragale has written what will absolutely be the pop business book of the year, and perhaps of next year too. [I would bet on this if anyone wanted. I’m not a big gambler, so I’ll bet an order of fries. I have a friend whose husband is a professional gambler and it’s so stressful that they don’t even tell me about it anymore. Like 6 figure bets.] The book is called Likeable Badass. Do yourself a favor and go order it now. (It also happens that I’m running her book club, so really, pre-order.) I have a pin, and a sticker that says Likeable Badass at Work. The luggage tag is pretty sweet too. But the piece de resistance is this Ember mug. It keeps my very fancy jasmine tea hot and I can adjust the temperature with the app. The remote controlled hot beverage I never knew I needed.
The day I started work at UNC I had HR orientation. They gave us folders and pens and taught us the fight song and brought in Ramses. Not the best swag, but great orientation effort. At each immersion we gave away different swag there - my favorite remains the branded battery pack for my phone - still works 7 years later, so good job there. However, I don’t think anyone has ever seen it, so it’s a half win. Immersion swag reached great heights with the giveaway of an umbrella in London - thematic, useful, cool souvenir. 10/10. Mine was stolen in a kakigori cafe in New York City in 2019 - have never replaced it so now I just get rained on.
We also had a branded backpack at one school. It was a gorgeous one with the program name embroidered on it, and it was the most sought after thing ever- partially because you couldn’t buy it. You only got the backpack if you referred someone to our program and they became a student. [Fairly sure that this cannot be done anymore as it may be seen as “paying” for students, but the mid 2010s were glory times.]
With online programs, it’s often difficult to have to mail out swag - especially if you have students outside the United States. If you can mail it, some of that swag is very worth it! [Also you’re probably mailing diplomas, so look into the logistics there and see what else. you can do.]. There are other ways to engage students thru giveaways. One that I loved was giving away guaranteed registration to an immersion. These study abroad programs filled up really quickly, especially international which were limited to 100 students roughly. We used that as an incentive to fill out class surveys. That doesn’t meet any of my swag requirements, but it did get more surveys, so it worked there.
When ordering swag, refer back to those guidelines - will it advertise to more people than just the recipient and is it something I want to have and I will “use” to advertise. For about the past year Kristin Juszczyk has been blowing up for her women’s sports-branded designs - particularly after Taylor Swift became a very public Chiefs fan. If you can get the #1 singer in the world to rep your online program, you’ll probably get her any swag she wants. But for the rest of us, stick to the guidelines. Super bonus points if it’s so incredibly creative and on brand that I can’t help wanting one. Think the cheesehead hats for “that” football team. [Chicagoans do not post pictures of *that* team.] If KC gets creative enough to create swag that is a Chiefs surfboard they will have mastered the art.
