To Swag, or Not?

Nobody would have missed the delectable images of Swag - on full display - recently on this platform. Newly recruited professionals showing off what they got on the first day of joining a company has become the norm now - taking off from the posts of the Instagram world, to LinkedIn, 'Swagging' is now akin to bragging.

This is exactly what the companies had hoped for - free publicity - and now a marketing head somewhere who suggested the merchandise at a shockingly exorbitant price, is breathing a sigh of relief.

In India alone, the Corporate Merchandise or gifting industry is set to grow by 200% in 2022 from last year's INR 120,000,000. In the U.S., it is expected to grow to USD 306 Bn by 2024.

So really, to Swag or not, is a very valid question.

Interestingly, SWAG used to be a term to describe stolen goods wayyyy baaack....in the 1700's. After that, this word earned many more accolades by those who used it in different contexts. Jay-Z?started bringing the “swag” in 2003, but it wasn't until 2007 that the word started to catch on.

Let's back up a bit more.

The A-Z of Swagging

Swag is just another word for the?branded products created by businesses to use for promoting their brand - what we called merchandise in advertising. These were usually created and given to the company employees, customers, and potential customers to increase brand recognition and engagement but also to drive sales and penetrate new markets. Branded merchandise, in fact, is known to be one of the most effective forms of marketing, though earlier it was more cost-effective than it is now.

How so? Earlier, a branded pen, a button or a cap was considered the ultimate merchandise from the company. So, it was cost-effective. Now, it is expensive watches, Amazon vouchers, backpacks, iPads, iPhones and what not.

When did companies start to Swag?

Research shows that branded merchandise tends to stay longer in the customer's or employee's home, longer than the message of the company. Companies didn't mind employees using branded pens. Competitors could even oust one another from the customer's mind by the quality and impact of the merchandise - and the color. But the branding of merchandise as an idea actually hasn't been around for too long.

One of the very first pieces of branded merchandise was in the U.S. - a campaign button! This was back to the days of election of George Washington in 1789. He used the button to advertise himself! The 19th century had some advertising calendars, rulers, cards, and caps, but it wasn't very organized or significant enough to become a large industry by itself as it is today.

Only much later, in the 1970's, there was a huge demand for such promotional merchandise by companies who wanted to print their logo on everything. In the 1980's, 'leave something behind' became a mantra for ad agencies who sold ideas for branded merchandise to companies as part of the advertising plan, and wanted every moving target to sport a logo. They earned commissions from the printer and the supplier of the Swag - it was good business.

In our context, in 2022, is Swag, as we call it now, really that important for Corporates? Why has Swag caught the imagination of new employees who don't tire to post what they have got from the company? Do we pin it on tech companies who started it in a BIG WAY to cheer up the serious technologists? Or is this a part of the on-boarding strategy, to 'charm' the new arrivals from Day 1? Or is it just a token of appreciation, overdone?

It is a bit of everything now, in my view. But it is important to know when to 'swag' and when not.

General Swagging Guidelines:

Here are some general guidelines that can make a company look cool and respectable while 'swagging', not boastful and rich (a few looked that way a couple of years ago when they gifted iPhones to new employees - seriously painful to watch, followed by large doses of FOMO.)

So:

1. Give Swag when you want to commemorate a very special occasion that involves milestones achieved en-masse in the company. A badge of honor for all having survived!
2. Give Swag when you want your customers to remember you AND THE DISCUSSION you had. Don't leave notebooks or pens or coffee mugs. Nobody cares anymore about those things. Put a little more effort into giving what matters in relation to the business and the intent. If it is intellectual or frightfully essential, it will matter.
3. Give Swag when you want to appreciate your teams for something they never thought they could do, much less you imagined they could achieve. Nothing is sweeter than sudden and unexpected swag. Reward!
4. Give Swag when you want everyone to remember you at an event where nobody cares about you or your logo or your business. But do make that Swag an intrinsic part of the event, or prospective customers will leave it behind on the table.
5. Give Swag when you want do something at a community level - a Run, a Tree Planting Marathon, a Clean-up Drive - so that everyone feels united and one when they set off together for the task at hand...wearing the Swag.

To Swag Up:

Don't give Swag when people join - that instant gratification thing only works when you want to acquire a customer and you are trying to impress, before they become committed to you. You're not doing direct marketing, please.

If anything, the obscene basketful or truckload of Swag most certainly looks like a BIG bribe and stokes a lot of envy (of course, you could be going for that kind of thing to attract candidates that you haven't been able to recruit for SO LONG!).

The challenge is, even if the joining experience was distasteful for some of the newly recruited employees, they will never tell because of the Swag, pretend it never happened to them (but they will never forget either!). They will post the pictures of the Swag on LinkedIn of course, just because the others did. Peer pressure!

And the more expensive the Swag, the worse they would feel later. And for a long time.

Think about it. This or that, the point of the Swag is to make someone feel good - for a very, very long time.

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