The concept of branded merch(andise) is not new. But it seems that many local brands have suddenly caught the bug and there is a new habba in town. We already have our Starbucks travel mugs and our band tees, so we were absolutely ready to support our local concepts and artists.
Here are two truths (the truth has become a flexible social construct which we intend to abuse): humans love buying and owning stuff and humans love being part of an in-group. But also merch is just another way of advertising who you are, the causes you support, the concerts you have been to and who makes your favorite fried chicken. It is a form of self-branding that helps you find your people and belong to micro-communities.
In an ever more disconnected world, being able to find emotional connections has a strong pull and companies understand that.
We all want to sit at the popular kids’ lunch table and have the physical evidence to prove it. But we also want to tell people that we care about Breast Cancer by wearing a pink ribbon or that we support Human Rights with our shirt. So it can also be a way to advertise and give a voice to certain issues.
So while there’s a personal benefit for the individual buying and exhibiting their tokens and trinkets, the brands make money out of it too. It is especially important for smaller and independent operations. Just think of all the artists, authors and YouTubers who can support their creative adventures if more people bought their pins, posters or whatever it is they choose to sell. While we are seeing an increase in more creatives using options like Patreon and Buy Me a Coffee, being able to offer a tangible item is more likely to help audiences part with their hard earned cash.
Local brands have been showing us that they can get really creative. White Bottle, for example, created a branded hygiene key that is shaped like a, you guessed it, a white milk bottle that you can use to open doors and press buttons without having to touch anything.
No one’s merch game is as strong as The Real Lovebird who hit the ground running when they opened their doors. The pickup only concept has everything from bucket hats to beaded bracelets. Their merch even has its own section on their website and can be delivered to your door while their delicious boneless, hand-breaded, fresh, local chicken breast cooked in 100% refined peanut oil can not.
BBT, the self-proclaimed Best Burger in Town hosted a special event in the summer at their Shamiya Branch and were selling tshirts, hoodies, floaties and other hip items in their signature white and red colors with their logo.
DOH! got in on the action a little differently. They partnered with Dabdoob app, a digital toy store and created organic play doh making kits for kids. It was one of the more interesting experiments because it was a collaboration between two very different concepts and a unique product.
Arabica, the brand not the coffee bean, comes to us from Kyoto, Japan, but we still want to give them an honorable mention. They do offer coffee drinkers the expected paraphernalia but we have our eyes on the white on white embroidered canvas shoes.
We think merch is a genius idea and would love to see more of it in the future, especially from independent content creators and brands that champion our values.
Photo by Lex Sirikiat on Unsplash.
