The Backpack: Issue #9

Hey, friends! Welcome to our newly revised (monthly) newsletter, “The Backpack” bringing monthly news that features trends in merch, top articles, podcast episodes, and global news impacting merch life. Miss an article or an episode? We’ll highlight the best of, right here, each month!

The Largest Gathering of Technologists on the Promo Planet

A few weeks ago, a whole herd of tech pros in the promo industry gathered at PromoStandards Tech Summit. Over 150 attendees from over 60 companies jam-packed the premier tech event What’s the buzz? Why all the momentum? And was this more like Bonnaroo, Newport, or Woodstock (minus the mud, drugs, and cool music)? That’s what we wanted to know. For a glimpse behind the scenes, here’s a panel featuring commonsku’s CEO Catherine Graham, along with Jon Norris, COO of Starline; Phil Gergen, SVP Technology Koozie Group; and Donough Deutsch, VP of IT Systems & Operations at Alphabroder. But first, we begin by asking commonsku’s Dave Shultz, what the heck is Tech Summit? Get your 🤓 on here.

Why should merch pros care about the bank run at SVB?

I mean, besides the obvious fear (full economic meltdown). Paranoia aside, on Tuesday, it seemed panic was averted, but by Wed (3/15), the NYT reports bank panic fears were going global, and now, Thurs (3/16), we’re back to panic. So, what to make of the volatility? Take a lesson from the promo pros who survived the 2008 recession: When whispers of economic armageddon hits, remember, not every industry feels the impact. In ‘08, the hit was taken by specific sectors. And since promo sells to a wide swath of industry types, it’s important to not panic but look at your portfolio and consider your at-risk clients. For the SVB crisis, everyone is looking at the (obvious): the tech sector and startups (more than half of US tech and life sciences startups bank with SVB), but because of this, there are downstream effects. Examples of how merch can be impacted are this title and lead statement in Fortune magazine, Silicon Valley Bank just sucked all the oxygen out of SXSW, “Hi folks, Kylie Robison from the tech team here. I’m at ground zero for tech-branded apparel, also known as South by Southwest (SXSW).”

Other industries feared being hit? Mid-sized banks wrote Noah Smith (3/12). Mid-sized banks seemed to falter Monday but then quickly rebound (the NYT reported, 3/14), then fall again. YO! (Yo). The financial sector is the 4th largest sector in the promotional products industry. They key? When crisis hits, be panic aware but informed, and mostly: attuned to the impact on your own portfolio. Don’t crater to an echo chamber that all is lost. When the smell of panic starts, check out PPAI’s 2021 Sales Volume Study and consider the industries that make up your clientele. Double down on the non-affected industries, and be prepared to lean in when others let up. Stay streetwise, backpackers - we got your back!

Size Inclusivity FTW

You might not be a Formula 1 racing fan, but 1.6 billion people are freaks about it. Mercedes AMG’s F1 racing team dropped a brilliant merch collection a few days ago, and it immediately garnered nearly half a million likes and 1k+ comments, and some high praise for its size-inclusive merch selection. Size inclusivity is a hot topic right now, for good reason. And merch pros need to help their clients be informed and proactive; otherwise, you’ll end up quickly conjuring a lotta shade, as Dylan Mulvaney, actress and transgender rights activist, found out. Dylan, known for detailing her gender transition through daily TikToks, dropped a merch collection and got immediate criticism over her lack of size-inclusive options. The TikTok star promptly issued a brilliantly applauded apology (a video that received 1.2 million views) and a quick course correction by offering size-inclusive options without high costs penalizing larger sizes (looking at you, 3XL).

From His-Sethness: Is it a t-shirt brand?

Seth Godin blurbed a tiny little commentary on a big ole’ thing that matters to us: brands + t-shirts. “T-shirt-worthy brands are a very small subset of the whole.” Seth compares t-shirt brands (like Netflix) vs non-t-shirt brands (like Roku) and asks the billion-dollar question: “Why would someone want to wear your name around town? What’s in it for them? Go build that, and the t-shirts will take care of themselves.” What do you think of Seth’s post? Agree or disagree? Can any brand become a t-shirt brand if you approach it with the right attitude and expertise? (We kinda think so). Reply back with your thoughts and maybe you’ll win one of our new fancy backpacks!

Merch Lesson for You: Aldi’s Sells a TrackSuit for $10 - HOW?

Everybody’s talking about discount grocery store Aldi’s fantastic new Merch collection (which looks wildly Marine-Layerish), but here’s what they’re missing about the drop. Yes, we all probably caught that everything is under $10, but did you stop to consider this: How? After all, it’s near-impossible to get a track-suit at a price point of $10. Our educated guess: Aldi’s is –smartly so– subsidizing the rest of the cost so that everything can fit neatly under the $10 mark. Brilliant on-brand tactic for a discount grocer and a lesson for merch-pros everywhere: Get your clients to do the same. Subsidizing the cost of apparel so your fans can buy it cheaper is a ninja-level marketing move, especially since Merch is the new fashion statement and fans love to fly the colors. Mad merch 🥰 to you, Discount Aldi, you quarter-slot-machine-grocery-cart-king you!

All the Profs are in the House

You know you’re guilty of it. We all have that platform or software we use day-in-and-day-out and think: Man, if I just spent some time learnin’ more how to use this, I know it’ll make me smarter, faster, and my life easier. But [sigh] we slog through and say “no” cause we’re “busy,” all the while not realizing we could be a helluva lot less busy (and a lot happier) if we could crank through it quicker! For commonsku users, your time has come. Join Profs Aaron Kucherawy, Erin Burley, Allison Lavigne, Marcella De Ocampo, Amalina Radwan, and Nneoma Njoku on March 22nd at commonsku University and in just 2 hours, learn enough to grow from “no” to “pro!” Power up, backpackers!

[Arena announcer voice]: BAAACKPAAAACKERS…TIME TO GET LIT! (Way too excited about our book club here). We launched a Backpacker read-along series that began with This Is Not a T-Shirt by famed streetwear creator Bobby Hundreds, recommended by Reba Joy, Senior Director of Sales at Rightsleeve, and now we’re reading Phil Knight’s memoir Shoe Dog, recommended by New York Distributor, Ethan Dowie, CEO of Indigo Promotions. Why should merch pros read it? Product innovation, world-class branding lessons, resiliency, and plus, you’ll be the keener on the front row of the movie house (i.e., living room sofa) when you watch the Ben Affleck, Matt Damon flick about Nilke called “Air”, airing (oof) on April 5.

• Ahhh, the tote: Fashion icon, statement piece, and life-container all-in-one. Ksenia breaks down a history of the tote, plus, some of the commonsku team faves here.

• BoldAF: We’ve started a new brand strategy series and kicked it off with a brilliant interview with Mike Schwandt, SVP of Brand Strategy at Imprint Engine, check it out here.

• Fight! Fight! Fight! Liane Davey, keynote speaker at skucamp this fall, said workplace conflict is healthy, do more of it! Some folks loved this episode so much they listened twice. Worth your time you brazen backpackers!

• And yeah, you’ve probably seen the run on Silicon Valley Bank swag which joins a whole host of others who, in the words of defunct swag collector, Christina Warren, flew “to close to the sun,” which makes us wonder: What’s the new phrase for this swag category? Frye’d merch? Ironic Swag? Icarus Merch? What’s your rec, backpacker? Let us know. But first, go delete that Quibi app you still have buried on your phone. It’s time.

• Brand Collabs in AI? Linus Ekenstam built a surreal brand collab using AI with Volvo and Fjällräven. Welcome to tomorrow, today, packers.