Running a campaign with branded products is a great tool for businesses looking to engage with their target market, celebrate the launch of a new product or simply increase their brand awareness.
When it comes to planning a campaign, many businesses tend to just have the end result in mind.
When branded merchandise is involved there are a number of factors that need to be carefully considered.
From ideas and concept, through to design and artwork, testing of the product, shipping and delivery, these are all key things that you need to be considering throughout the planning of your campaign.
So how do you plan a successful branded merchandise campaign?
Determine your critical path:
A critical path is ‘the sequence of stages determining the minimum time needed for an operation’.
When it comes to a campaign, you need to consider when you want to launch the campaign and work backwards from that date, to help determine when each stage of the planning needs to be completed by.
You also need to allow time for potential delays that could affect the smooth running of the critical path.
Without this effective planning, your campaign may not be able to launch on time.
Select the right supplier:
Finding and choosing the right supplier is one of the first key things you should do when planning your campaign.
If you already have an idea in mind for the products you want, you will need a supplier who offers this product at a spec that you are happy with.
However, if you don’t yet have any ideas in mind, you need to find a business who will act more as a partner than just a supplier. They should be able to work with you and help you think outside of the box, bringing innovation and creativity to help you and the success of your campaign.
Consider the artwork required:
Once you have determined the product(s) you want to include within your campaign, you need to consider what the supplier will need to create it.
Do you have artwork that can already be used?
If not, you may need a separate graphics/design agency to create your artwork, which will then need to be passed onto your supplier. So, you need to consider the additional costs and also the potential delays and how this could impact your critical path.
Is your design practical?
Before you finalise your design and go into production, it is important to consider a number of things from practicality, to shipping and even environmental factors.
For example, you need to ask yourself:
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How will we ship or transport the product? Consider how you can make the product stackable or easy to flat pack, as this will help to condense the number of boxes required and therefore help to reduce shipping costs and the impact on the environment.
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Does the product tie in with you, your brand and what you represent? Is it relevant? If not, this could result in a negative reaction or affect how successful the campaign is, as people will see right through it. It needs to be relevant and provide clients with something useful.
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Does it reflect your green agenda? If you have been making green agenda a big part of your core values, it is important to consider whether the product is environmentally friendly. If not, you need to consider ways you could change this.
With years of experience in the industry, we have worked on campaigns with clients across a variety of sectors and have knowledge which can prove invaluable to businesses who are not familiar with the planning of campaigns.
We are delighted to work closely with our clients, becoming an extension of their business to truly understand their aims and vision, and provide advice for campaigns on everything from critical path and design, to conducting testing of products to ensure compliance and more.
We are much more than your average supplier.
If you are looking to run a campaign but don’t know where to start, we’d be more than happy to work with you to turn your ideas into a reality.