It’s about far more than yard signs and bumper stickers these days when it comes to branded campaign merchandise, and doing it well means going beyond the basics.
Audra Grassia, managing partner of Goodstock & Co., said it’s important for campaigns to be thinking more strategically about how items can be both fundraising and messaging tools.
“I think that for too long we’ve seen merchandise as just an extra expenditure in a budget,” said Grassia. “We need to start viewing it as a strategic tool that campaigns can use to really build their brand, build their name recognition, and build their supporter base.”
Grassia’s advice on moving the ball forward when it comes to merch design: identify creative ways to understand what your voters care about and then design around that. Supporters could vote on a design or the campaign could ask them to submit their own design ideas.
“Make it a collaborative effort so other people are contributing to what you’re ultimately selling,” she said.
Something Grassia does expect to advance in the next cycle or two are the production options. She noted that campaigns are still quite limited by what printing machines are able to do.
“There’s still room to grow in the actual production process so that we can be more dynamic, so that we can offer more things on demand. I think there’s a lot of growth and innovation that has yet to reach the production side of the House.”
Listen to the full interview above for more on advice on building name and brand recognition with merch.
