Imagine going to out on a Friday night to one of New York’s premiere nightlife events. You party with beautiful women and some of the most influential designers in the fashion industry. You burn some of the finest trees known to man and wake up around noon the following day. Your iphone is vibrating, but it’s not the newest tweets from that model you met last night.
It’s paypal and you just sold the hottest merchandise on the streets and made $12,000 over the last 12 hours.
No, you’re not Diddy and it really can happen to you. If you understand Branding and Merchandising. Today i’m specifically going to talk about the Merchandising aspect.
When talking to a client recently, I tried to explain Merch the best way I knew how. Merchandising and it’s close cousin endorsements have been around in the lifestyle, music and entertainment industry for a long time. Merchandising, or merch for short, is selling different brand related apparel to customers and fans.
The merchandise sold could literally be ANYTHING creative you can think of. Skateboards, jewelry, Snap backs, shot glasses, underwear, glasses, socks, umbrellas, swiss army knives, lighters, pens, key chains, books, book bags, and the most obviously popular (yet unoriginal) t-shirts.
With so many talented people in today’s marketplace, it’s more important than ever to be competitively creative with your brand.
When a brand works hard to build and manage their image, over time people who embrace and appreciate that brand, turn into customers. Music artist for example tend to find more creative and financial success in the independent lane. Artist are finding that they can capitalize on their image and sell appropriate merch at live shows,pop-up shops, or through websites like BigCartel and Merchdirect. You can even sell merch on tumblr if your ship’s tight! Merchandise is one of the most creative yet unappreciated ways brands can build and increase their image.
Merch is nothing new in the entertainment & lifestyle industry. Remember when Jacob the Jeweler came out with the colorful big face watches that Jay-Z & Roc-A-Fella made popular? Everyone had to have one? It doesn’t matter if you’re Jay Z, with an internationally recognizable brand, or a culturally influential clothing & lifestyle brand like Supreme. Merchandising is a cool way anyone can build their brand, increase exposure and make some additional income.
Ok. How do I decide what to sell and why would anyone buy it?
You have to consider your audience and what their interest and social habits are. From product placement, product promotion, to product appeal, the marketing of different merchandise needs to be thoughtfully planned out in a way that makes sense. Twitter, instagram, tumblr, music, movies and videos are great outlets for a brand to build and increase it’s image. Once you decide the right outlet for YOU, it’s important to map out a plan and consider the best way to execute your campaign.
Off the top of my head, here are some brands that have capitalized off of their image and sell merchandise consistent with their image.
Karen Civil | Good Wood Beads
Meek Mill | Dream Chasers
40oz van | Balmain-inspired Snapback
Odd Future | Pop Up Shop
Pusha T | Play Cloths
Kevin Hart | Laugh at My Pain
Mac Miller | Stuff
How awesome would it be for you, your friends and complete strangers to wear something with your name on it? In the words of Pharrell “My nigga you can do it too”