Campaign idea
Trade show giveaways that leave the hall
Most booth merch is decided on unit cost and judged on whether anyone kept it. Tiering the assortment by what happens at the booth fixes more of that than a cheaper item ever will.
- Where to start
- Three tiers: everyone, good conversations, follow-up
- What to keep simple
- The imprint, because the deadline is the real constraint
- What MerchMaker adds
- The decorated item in front of the buyer before they commit
When it works
Why tiering beats buying one thing in bulk
A single item at maximum volume gives the booth nothing to do with a genuinely good conversation, and it puts the whole budget behind one guess. Three tiers cost about the same and give the team a way to escalate, which is the thing a booth lead actually asks for.
- One item everybody gets, cheap and easy to carry
- One item for conversations worth keeping
- One item worth posting afterwards, in small numbers
What to include
Carry convenience decides survival
The best predictor of whether merch leaves the hall is whether it fits in a bag or a pocket without thought. Totes, bottles and notebooks earn their place on that basis alone; anything awkward to carry ends up in the hotel bin regardless of how good it is.
- Totes, bottles and notebooks as the easy-carry tier
- Insulated drinkware or a decent tech item as the escalation
- Keep size curves out of it wherever possible
How to present it
Show the decorated item, not the blank
Event buyers are approving a look as much as a product. A collection with the client's mark rendered on each item, in the colorway under discussion, ends the conversation about visibility that a blank photo always starts. In MerchMaker a person accepts every render before the buyer sees it.
- Present tiers by booth objective, not by unit price
- Show the mark at its real size on the real product photo
- Keep the assortment short enough to decide in one sitting
Questions
How many items should a booth assortment have?
Three is usually right: one for everyone, one for the good conversations, one for follow-up. Beyond that the buyer is choosing rather than approving.
What about minimums?
Event quantities usually clear the supplier's minimum comfortably. MerchMaker still shows it and still refuses an under-minimum cart line before payment.
Can you guarantee it arrives before the show?
No. Lead times come from your suppliers and decorators. MerchMaker does not generate a delivery date, precisely because it is not the party that can keep it.
See the logo on the product first.
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