[HN Gopher] Lessons learned from bringing promotional sweets to ...
___________________________________________________________________
Lessons learned from bringing promotional sweets to a conference
Author : ColinWright
Score : 84 points
Date : 2024-01-21 12:43 UTC (10 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (shkspr.mobi)
(TXT) w3m dump (shkspr.mobi)
| jawns wrote:
| I still wear T-shirts from vendors at tech conferences that I
| received years ago. They're durable, and they advertise the
| company not just to me but to others.
|
| But perhaps the swag that has had the most staying power is stuff
| I could bring home for my kids to play with. I've gotten company-
| branded balls, puzzles, figurines, and other toys, and not only
| do they make a good "Guess what I brought home for you" surprise,
| but they sit around the house for ages, so you get a lot of
| exposure to their logos.
|
| One thing I've never gotten as swag, but could see being a good
| ROI, would be a children's picture book, with a "Compliments of
| [Brand Name]" on it. With my kids, they would request that I read
| the same book to them 50+ times, so that's 50+ exposures to the
| brand.
| castalian wrote:
| This image of kids playing with commercial merch is so
| dystopian.
| vincnetas wrote:
| whats the difference between merch logos and regular toy
| brand for the kid? they dont care. as a parent i also dont
| realy care if they having fun.
| foofie wrote:
| > whats the difference between merch logos and regular toy
| brand for the kid?
|
| On top of that, some children's shows are clearly tailored
| to push toys and all kinds of things, hoping to create a
| feedback loop of demand for swag-adjacent gear.
| GuB-42 wrote:
| Less so than kids at school wearing apparel with very
| prominent branding. At least, people usually don't pay for
| commercial merch.
| saiya-jin wrote:
| Whats wrong with that? Kids play with anything, wooden stick
| is a great toy anytime for example. That there are some logos
| and not some other logos or pictures they couldn't care less
| about
| winphone1974 wrote:
| All merchandise is commercial. Do your kids wear a Nike
| swoosh t shirt? Okay on an iPad? Love Lego? What the
| difference if it's a Microsoft football or new relic
| slingshot (all things I see from where I'm sitting)?
| Moru wrote:
| Oh! Fun questionaire!
|
| Nike? No, iPad? No, Lego? No, Not sure what the other
| things are.
| mlrtime wrote:
| So you hand make all your own kid toys and clothing, as
| well as all the other things babies and toddlers use?
| bombcar wrote:
| I have a few Lego minifigures branded with a (since merged
| away) corporate logo.
|
| Branded Lego is probably the most durable chotchki you're
| going to find.
| yorwba wrote:
| All merchandise is commercial, but not all commercial
| merchandise comes with conspicuous ads printed on.
| wharvle wrote:
| 1) It's not _as_ bad if the logo or name is at least the
| manufacturer of the object. There's an argument to be made
| that it's a form of standing behind your product: this is
| good enough that we don't think you'll come to think ill of
| us.
|
| 2) Some of us in fact do avoid wearing logos. Nicer (and
| not even _that_ nice, necessarily) clothes, bags, shoes, et
| c. tend not to have them, or at least make them very small.
| Logos for something other than the company that made the
| item would be even worse. Large logos and legible clothing
| more generally signal things I'd prefer not to signal,
| so... I don't. Freebies in that category get worn around
| the house or as a base layer.
| downWidOutaFite wrote:
| That's one of the reasons I don't buy Nike and I cover up
| Apple logos with stickers (which is easier ever since they
| stopped putting a damn backing light on their laptop
| logos). I'm not going to advertise for you for free.
| xattt wrote:
| I used to get all sorts of medically-branded pens and
| merchandise courtesy of my parents. I had an infinite supply
| of pens.
|
| Years later, I was working as a nurse on a medical floor. I
| had a realization that I was filling out an IV med label for
| Avelox with an Avelox-branded pen.
| wlindley wrote:
| Memories: Being in sixth grade and wondering why the
| teacher thought it was odd that I was using pencils with
| "Diazepam HCl" on them.
| avgcorrection wrote:
| The only swag I am comfortable with wearing in public are
| things that look like it might just be a [sweater] with a cool
| image on it. No way I'm walking around with "Castiron LL YR IRn
| ns sIn 1887" on my torso.
| zemvpferreira wrote:
| I actually love these, to my shame.
| maroonblazer wrote:
| Me too! The more obscure, the better. At least in the
| circles I run in, I can always count on someone asking me
| about what's on my torso.
| delogos wrote:
| I would absolutely wear your hypothetical Cast Iron shirt,
| just as an aside. There's always someone who's interested in
| niche topics.
| 542458 wrote:
| I actually have gotten a children's picture book from a brand
| of cloth diapers that describes a silly and exaggerated story
| of how they invented their core product (a pivot from the two
| founders' masters degrees in aerospace engineering). It is, as
| you suspected, very effective marketing as it is now seared
| into my brain from many re-readings.
| spoonjim wrote:
| I never give that shit to my kids because I know it's made in
| some uninspected Chinese factory
| maroonblazer wrote:
| The catch with t-shirts is they MUST be made of high-quality
| material. I've been handed so many promotional t-shirts where
| it's obvious they went with the lowest-cost supplier and they
| just feel awful on against my skin. Straight to the Goodwill
| with those.
| dylan604 wrote:
| why not straight to the trash. why would you feel that some
| article of clothing that is so poorly made that you refuse to
| wear it should be foisted upon someone else? this just feels
| like you trying to make yourself feel good without actually
| doing any good.
| tom_ wrote:
| Some random suggestions:
|
| 1. other people may not feel the same way about the
| material
|
| 2. somebody else one or two sizes smaller might be able to
| make routine use of it with some other garment underneath
|
| 3. somebody else might feel it's fine for emergency use or
| painting and decorating or whatever
|
| 4. could come in handy for use with an animal
| ghaff wrote:
| Furthermore, in some places (e.g. MA), it's actually
| illegal to toss textiles in the trash. I'm sure no one
| cares with a garment here and there but if you have a
| couple of large trashbags you should probably be donating
| them.
| pavel_lishin wrote:
| On the one hand, shoppers at GoodWill aren't there at
| gunpoint, being forced to empty their wallets. Nothing is
| being "foisted" on anyone.
|
| On the other hand, in a sense many of them are, except
| instead of gunpoint it's economics that mean their clothing
| choices have a hard dollar limit on them - and at the end
| of the day, it's better to have a subpar t-shirt than no
| t-shirt at all.
|
| So I don't think anyone is being hurt here. At worst, the
| person you're replying to could have done better by
| donating the shirts to a charity that doesn't sell the
| clothing, but gives it away.
|
| Anyway, I hope you made yourself feel good with your
| comment, even if you didn't do any good.
| jkestner wrote:
| Goodwill recycles a bunch of clothes, anyway.
| https://www.huffpost.com/entry/what-does-goodwill-do-
| with-yo...
| paulmd wrote:
| and they throw away a ton of donations too. they have to,
| people use goodwill as the substitute for a dumpster,
| nobody wants your grease-stained metallica shirt with a
| couple 2" holes in it or the 200th set of hummels either.
| flir wrote:
| I've never had a t-shirt "feel bad against my skin". And I
| wear some pretty cheap t-shirts. I'll take 'em.
|
| (Or "One man's trash is another man's treasure").
| mlrtime wrote:
| 100% High quality t-shirts are a must, anything else gets
| used as a wash rag. Bonus points if the design isn't too
| corporate, and logs are a side affect.
|
| My favorite t-shirt to this day is a Chef t-shirt I got at a
| conference.
| jawns wrote:
| I agree. The Gildan Heavyweight T-shirts are the kind you
| pick up at craft stores for $3-$4 a pop. But they tend to be
| stiff and too warm for my liking.
|
| There are a variety of mid-level T-shirt brands (such as
| BELLA+CANVAS) that feel so much softer against the skin, no
| irritating seams, stand up to repeated washings, and are
| lighter-weight, meaning you can wear them as-is in the summer
| months, or under something else in the winter months, and it
| feels comfortable either way.
| CobaltFire wrote:
| I have a bunch of running event t-shirts and they are
| almost all CANVAS; is that the same as BELLA+CANVAS?
| Because I love those shirts and wear them everywhere (to my
| wife's annoyance).
| cpeterso wrote:
| Yes, I believe so. I loved an event t-shirt so much that
| I followed up with the organizer to track down the
| printer and their supplier, since the tag inside the
| t-shirt has no branding.
|
| At the time, I thought BELLA+CANVAS only sold wholesale,
| but I now see a retail section on their website!
|
| https://shop.bellacanvas.com/
| code_biologist wrote:
| Just want to +1 Bella+Canvas. I look for 100% cotton, made
| in the US (insofar as possible) shirts and there aren't
| that many options, especially stylish ones, so BC has been
| a staple for me.
| paulmd wrote:
| this is a very SWEng thing to say but I use plain colored
| t-shirts as a basic item unless there's a reason to dress
| up. during the fall/winter you can stack a columbia fleece
| vest on top (which does a great job keeping your body core
| warm without overheating you or impinging on your arm
| movement etc). this does a really good job being super
| comfortable for those with sensory issues etc, and
| generally looks more presentable than logo tees imo.
|
| I really like the comfort colors heavyweight ones
| personally - this seems to be the one in my order history.
| They are plenty soft once you wash them especially if you
| run a few cycles with some fabric softener. The price isn't
| amazing right now (my history says $6.50-8 is more typical)
| but the site ships fast and doesn't care if you're
| commercial or don't want logos etc.
|
| https://www.jiffyshirts.com/comfortcolors-C1717.html?ac=Whi
| t...
| al_borland wrote:
| I think this goes for anything. I have dozens of water
| bottles from conferences. I use the Yeti and some of the
| other nice ones. All the no-name stuff that feels cheap and
| smells like chemicals... never used them once.
| code_biologist wrote:
| I have a gift branded Yeti tumbler from a blue chip legal
| firm that I detest (way overpriced work) but it's also the
| nicest tumbler I have, so it gets the most use. One of
| these days I'll strip off the logo.
| acdha wrote:
| Very age dependent but my toddler son loved the CNCF animal
| logo plushies. They got tons of use and did not feel wasteful
| like the direct to landfill stuff I've gotten at so many
| conferences.
| justsomehnguy wrote:
| I would agree with the other comment: commercial merch is
| dystopian. This month I finally disposed of my simple, black HP
| (not HPE) T-shirt. It is truly dystopian what the current merch
| doesn't hold up for.. _does a quick 24 - 08 math_ .. 16 years!
| japhyr wrote:
| I think the best piece of swag I ever got was a high-quality
| fidget spinner from Pluralsight. Even though fidget spinners
| were a fad, they're still pretty cool to have around. That one
| from the conference is still around in our house somewhere, and
| people still play with it.
|
| I've also brought home so much garbage, that was fun to play
| with for a couple minutes but either broke or had no lasting
| interest. If you're in charge of choosing swag, please think
| about whether it has any lasting value. It does say something
| about your company's values and follow-through.
| NoZebra120vClip wrote:
| About 6-7 years ago, I attended a hacker convention and of
| course I made the rounds to pick up swag.
|
| American Express had brought a limited supply of fidget
| spinners, and they were in extremely high demand. I was unable
| to secure one of my own.
|
| PayPal had the best cache of stuff. They had this earphone
| holder that was designed like a fishbone. You were supposed to
| wrap the cord around the "ribs". Then I also picked up a shirt
| that said on the back "report phishing attempts to
| phishing@paypal.com".
|
| I wore the shirt in public and a woman accosted me at a bus
| stop. She asked me if I worked for PayPal, which I denied. Then
| she told me anyway about some dispute she had. I decided to
| stop wearing the shirt and other swag that wasn't directly
| related to me.
| atomicnumber3 wrote:
| The trap with shirts is that girls LOVE oversized, soft
| t-shirts as nightshirts. And since "unisex" shirts are often
| actually just men's-fit shirts, you have the double-whammy of
| a) give it to a guy, decent odds his partner steals it, and b)
| give it to a woman, good odds she doesn't want to wear it as a
| normal shirt (because "unisex"=men's) but it's a great night-
| shirt.
|
| I got a Datadog t-shirt in 2016. Amazing quality. I have never
| worn it; it is my wife's favorite pajama shirt. She says the
| dog is cute.
|
| ...Dang maybe this is actually the master plan, though. I've
| seen datadog's logo like 50% of nights for the last 8 years.
| humbleferret wrote:
| The most memorable piece of swag I've ever received (not given
| out) was a small Hydro Flask thermos - I use it all the time.
|
| Thinking about the use of sweets at conferences, I'd assume they
| are most effective at the end of a conversation.
|
| Eating a sugary sweet might just trigger a small release of
| dopamine, creating a psychological association that paints the
| interaction - and by extension, the person involved - in a
| positive light.
|
| No idea if there is any truth to this, but could be the reason
| some services leave sweets in a bowl at reception sometimes?
| sva_ wrote:
| Offering any kind of food surely makes it more welcoming.
| tmtvl wrote:
| Good idea, I'll take some surstromming to the next event I
| attend.
| Volundr wrote:
| I can say with confidence you will be remembered.
| KptMarchewa wrote:
| Hydro flasks are great the first time, cool the second time and
| then are quite meh. I've got like 5 till now and ran out of
| people to give them to.
| CobaltFire wrote:
| My most used merch is from a coffee company that sent my unit
| an absolute ton of coffee on deployment when I contacted their
| coordinator. Due to their market they have a specific person
| who ships those care packages of older coffee out (I promise we
| don't give a damn if it's older on deployment; free decent
| coffee is amazing). They sent me a hydro flask as a bonus for
| being the one to reach out and I've been using it for years
| now.
| kgwgk wrote:
| If you want to stay with sweets, just put them in a metallic box
| with your logo. The mint box is likely to stay around much longer
| than the mints.
| masklinn wrote:
| A good quality well sized tin is always appreciated, no matter
| the material really.
| dylan604 wrote:
| but you just specified a tin is always appreciated. you
| didn't say a well sized container is appreciated. so, it
| seems the material does matter
| tourmalinetaco wrote:
| "A tin" is not specifically tin, so it can be of varying
| materials.
| whartung wrote:
| Indeed, but there's something tactile about a tin box
| over, say, a plastic box. Mind there are some rather nice
| plastic boxes, but I think a cheap tin box rates a bit
| higher than a cheap plastic box.
| yetihehe wrote:
| If you bring free sweets to a consumer show, you will get a lot
| of happy smiles on small faces and unmeasurably small business
| effect. At least you get some smiles, so not a total waste. Some
| customers will probably be a little less likely to do business
| with you because they think you are trying too hard, but I don't
| think it's a big effect.
| CPLX wrote:
| As someone who's the owner of a national conference business my
| tip is branded chargers. Literally everyone needs them and is
| incentivized to keep it around.
| delichon wrote:
| A medieval war horse is too much responsibility for a gift and
| it isn't ethical to brand one. But a Dodge sports car is
| acceptable.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Counting down until somebody names a sports car Destrier
| macksd wrote:
| I have a SUSE power strip (1-plug-to-3) that I pull out at
| airports when everyone is contending for outlets - very popular
| move. I have a little bag with pouches for chargers and
| adapters.
|
| Really anything that is handy for business travelers is going
| to land well with a lot of people at conferences.
| bombcar wrote:
| Anything involving power is a good option - travel adaptor
| plugs, 1 to 3 adapters, USB cables, etc.
| geerlingguy wrote:
| Those little USB-A to C/mini/Lightning adapters are gold, and
| I'm up to like 6 of them now, all get regular use. They can't
| be as expensive as a shirt or some of the other knick-knacks.
|
| Otherwise, stress balls and bouncy balls are always a hit to
| bring home and give to the kids.
| wkjagt wrote:
| Anything travel related probably, as a good number of people
| will have traveled to the conference, and will likely travel
| to other conferences and will take the banded thing with
| them. Where it's probably even seen by the correct audience.
| gnicholas wrote:
| Definitely a popular item, though in certain markets (like
| HNers), there may be considerable hesitation to plug a
| phone/computer with sensitive business info into a charger of
| unknown provenance.
|
| I used to take these but no longer do, since I don't want to
| risk any shenanigans anywhere in the supply chain.
| bongripper wrote:
| Where do you source your chargers now where you can track the
| entire supply chain?
| gnicholas wrote:
| Most of my chargers came with the devices, and I assume
| Apple checks those pretty carefully. I have a couple bricks
| from Belkin or other well-known brands that have never had
| issues with security. I don't think most charger companies
| are at risk for this, but I think the very cheapest ones
| might. For example, the cheapest TVs are monetized by
| telemetry because the purchase price alone doesn't make for
| a sustainable business model. I would think the same thing
| might happen with chargers.
| spking wrote:
| Everyone in Silicon Valley knows the importance of swag.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9eIgg0ArDg
| iambateman wrote:
| Conference booths are usually heavy on sweet and light on salty.
|
| If you are organizing a booth, consider salty or savory options
| (popcorn!).
| AnimalMuppet wrote:
| And if you do popcorn, let your guests season their own bag to
| their own taste. Have regular salt, butter-flavored salt,
| and... whatever that other weird stuff is that people put on
| popcorn.
|
| Plus, if you've got a popcorn maker, the _smell_ will draw
| people to your booth.
| wffurr wrote:
| One of my colleagues had a big movie style popcorn maker on a
| small table near his desk. Whenever we fired it up, it would
| inevitably summon people from all corners of the office to
| stand around eating popcorn out of the small cardboard boxes.
| It's pretty great.
| whartung wrote:
| ...and if you let it burn, it'll summon the fire
| department!
| bsenftner wrote:
| I remember during the console wars and then again during the
| dotcom craze some sag was pretty damn nice. I remember a
| PlayStation backpack that lasted far longer then my PSX. During
| dotcom, I remember getting a laptop bag that was amazing, like a
| Swiss army knife, from some networking company that I used far
| longer than that company existed.
| morelisp wrote:
| Those Sony backpacks are (probably, were) something. I had a
| Vaio backpack that lasted me from ages 17 to 22 as a "daily
| driver" laptop and general purpose bag, then 22 to 35 as a
| grocery and travel bag - though if I'm being honest those last
| few years were more emotional than rational.
|
| Unfortunately no manufacturer information other than Sony on
| it. :(
| TomasEkeli wrote:
| licorice! salty licorice. many people don't like them, but even
| more people haven't tried them. a sure-fire conversation-starter.
| apantel wrote:
| Another problem is you can't click on a sweet to open a browser.
| jonah wrote:
| I came across an entire carton of MongoDB coffee mugs at the
| thrift store a few years ago. Excess merch...
|
| My favorite swag was an Intel spaceman/clean suit guy doll - but
| he's stuffed in a box in the shed somewhere.
|
| I had a really nice Timbuk2 laptop backpack with some big corp's
| logo on it. Super functional and well made bag but I never used
| it because I don't like wearing/displaying logos in general.
| ghaff wrote:
| Oh yeah, the bunny people. Andy Grove was apparently really big
| on those at one point. Think I have one in my office. I either
| have another one someplace or I tossed it.
|
| I admit I have so much merchandise from over the years from my
| company and others. I've dumped a lot but some I really like
| and use regularly.
| gnatolf wrote:
| We had a very interesting and successful run with branded BBQ
| tongues. They are very cheap, unassuming and large enough that
| you could see them sticking out of bags here and there.
|
| It was by far the oddest giveaway at that conference. The 13th
| pen just doesn't yield any reaction at all. The tongues were a
| bit of a conversation starter.
| wffurr wrote:
| Do you mean "tongs" or like jerky dried Ox tongue or something?
| sdenton4 wrote:
| All the ox tongues hanging out of people's bags, remnants of
| drool and blood pooling on the floor...
| quercusa wrote:
| One early 90s Comdex, some company gave out 4' fiberglass rods
| with _Beatings will continue until morale improves_ on them. I
| have no clue what the company did (something with printing,
| maybe), but everybody in Vegas was carrying one. I kept it for
| years in the corner of my office.
| HL33tibCe7 wrote:
| The company name and logo are very forgettable imo
| wodenokoto wrote:
| The article ends by asking for favorite swag. At Gitex I got a
| small bottle of hand sanitizer with a clip so I can hang it on my
| bag. Great idea. Useful item and I'm carrying some company's logo
| with me for months after the show.
| cco wrote:
| At my current company I love trying to come up with fun and
| creative swag ideas that are actually worthwhile and enjoyable.
|
| Last year our creative pick was hot sauce [1]. We bring hot
| sauces into there office to share with coworkers and I got the
| idea into my head to bring that same thing to conferences.
|
| [1] https://stytch.com/blog/developer-conferences/
| AlbertCory wrote:
| Here's one you wouldn't think of: Penn Jillette (of Penn &
| Teller) wrote about his radical diet that took off 100 pounds,
| and kept it off. It ends in a regular vegan-type diet, except
| he's allowed to take days off now and then.
|
| Anyway: for the first two weeks it starts with eating _only_
| potatoes. No butter, no sour cream, no fat. Then other foods get
| added in.
|
| Here's the giveaway part: he would go to show business parties
| and say to people, "Would you like a potato?" He claims a lot of
| people would say, "A potato? Sure!"
|
| https://www.amazon.com/Presto-Pounds-Disappear-Other-Magical...
___________________________________________________________________
(page generated 2024-01-21 23:00 UTC)