Media and Marketing for Consumer Brands

Merch Madness: Turning Branded Products into Walking Billboards

by Editorial Team

Merch Madness: Turning Branded Products into Walking Billboards

One number you can take to the next board meeting: U.S. promotional products sales hit a record of roughly $26.6 to $27.1 billion in 2024, confirming branded merchandise as one of the most durable, cost-efficient ways to keep a brand in front of customers. Sources: PPAI, ASI Central, and SellersCommerce.

Stanley spent roughly 110 years as a maker of rugged vacuum bottles before a 40-ounce cup turned it into one of the most visible brands in America. After the Quencher found an audience on social media, Stanley's annual sales climbed from $73 million in 2019 to a reported $750 million in 2023, according to CNBC, Forbes, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and the #StanleyTumbler hashtag gathered more than 300 million views. Retailers began posting signs limiting how many cups a shopper could buy.

The cup did something a paid ad rarely achieves: it went everywhere its owner went. Carried into offices, gyms, school pickups, and coffee runs, each Stanley became a walking billboard that its owner chose to display and often filmed for millions of others to see. For a marketing leader deciding where brand strategy dollars work hardest, the Quencher is a clear demonstration that a branded product people love to carry becomes owned media that travels on its own.

The principle is one of the oldest in the discipline, and the data supports it. A large consumer study from the Advertising Specialty Institute, reported by ASI and PR Newswire, found that 85% of people who receive a promotional product can recall the advertiser, and that branded items deliver impressions at a cost as low as a tenth of a cent apiece. A well-chosen product turns everyday use into continuous, low-cost exposure.

A product people carry is media they choose to display

Branded merchandise earns attention in the settings paid media rarely reaches: the commute, the gym bag, the kitchen counter. Because people return to items they find useful, the same mug or tote delivers repeated impressions day after day, and that repetition builds the familiarity that drives recall at the moment of purchase. The ASI research reinforces the point, finding that more than half of consumers keep promotional products for at least five years, and that households hold around 30 branded items on average, according to ASI and PR Newswire.

Stanley shows the ceiling of the effect. More than 10 million Quenchers found homes, and each one carried the wordmark into public view every time its owner took a sip, converting ordinary hydration into brand awareness at a scale that would cost a fortune to buy through traditional channels.

The marketing lesson: A useful branded product is owned media the customer chooses to carry. Everyday utility buys years of repeated impressions and compounds brand awareness at a fraction of the cost of paid placement.

Merch that reflects the brand earns real affection

The strongest merchandise expresses what a brand already stands for. Stanley's heritage of durability made a rugged, oversized cup feel authentic, and Supreme built an entire identity around a single red-and-white box logo that fans wanted to wear. That logo became so culturally valuable that VF Corporation acquired Supreme for $2.1 billion in 2020, according to CNBC, VF Corporation, and Marker, a figure that reflects the brand equity a beloved mark on a piece of apparel can carry.

When merchandise matches a brand's personality and values, customers treat it as a badge rather than an advertisement. An eco-minded brand that offers a genuinely reusable bottle, or a design-led brand that ships a beautifully made tote, reinforces its brand equity with every use, and the emotional connection turns buyers into advocates who promote the brand by choice.

The marketing lesson: Merchandise that mirrors the brand identity converts a product into a badge of belonging. Alignment between the item and the brand's values deepens affection and turns customers into willing ambassadors.

Quality turns a giveaway into a keepsake

Durability is what keeps a branded product in circulation. An item made well enough to earn a permanent spot in a bag or on a desk keeps delivering impressions for years, and the ASI findings quantify the payoff: over half of recipients keep promotional products for five years or more, and roughly 40% hold onto a favorite for more than a decade, according to ASI and PR Newswire, with apparel generating the highest advertiser recall of any category.

Stanley's stainless-steel build gave the Quencher the permanence that turned a single purchase into a daily habit and a lasting display. A thoughtfully made product signals that the brand values its customers, and that impression of care travels alongside the logo everywhere the item goes.

The marketing lesson: Craftsmanship extends the life of every impression. Choosing fewer, better items that people keep for years produces more exposure and stronger brand affinity than a larger run of disposable pieces.

Distribution turns merch into a movement

How a branded product reaches people shapes how far it travels. Supreme built demand through weekly limited drops that customers lined up for, turning each release into an event and each buyer into a billboard, according to CNBC and Marker. Stanley expanded its reach through vivid seasonal colorways and retail collaborations that sold out quickly and filled social feeds with unboxing videos, generating earned media that multiplied the brand's visibility far beyond the units sold.

Partnerships extend the same reach with credibility attached. When creators and ambassadors whose audiences match the brand carry a product into their own content, the item lands with the trust those voices have already earned, and the resulting posts introduce the brand to communities a company might otherwise take years to reach.

The marketing lesson: Smart distribution turns a product into a shared experience. Limited releases, timely collaborations, and aligned creators convert merchandise into earned media and give a brand differentiation competitors find hard to copy.

The Broader Takeaway

For a CMO, branded merchandise connects directly to the numbers that define a healthy brand. Impressions and advertiser recall feed brand awareness, the affection a beloved item creates strengthens customer retention and customer lifetime value, and the shareable moments that great merch produces deliver earned media across the customer journey. Measuring the lift is straightforward with the right framework: track impressions and recall, gather customer feedback on the products, and compare sales before and after a program to calculate return on investment.

The thinking travels well beyond drinkware and streetwear. Any brand with a product people are proud to use can turn that product into a channel, provided the item reflects the brand, earns its keep through quality, and reaches the right hands. A cup, a hoodie, or a tote becomes a daily advertisement that customers are glad to carry.

Partner With RSL News Inc.

At RSL News Inc., we help brands turn everyday products into brand strategy and customer experience programs that travel, pairing every merchandise campaign with a measurement framework that proves the return. If you want to design merch your customers are proud to carry, let's talk.

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References

  1. CNBC, "How a 40-Ounce Cup Turned Stanley Into a $750 Million a Year Business." https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/23/how-a-40-ounce-cup-turned-stanley-into-a-750-million-a-year-business.html
  2. Forbes, "Stanley Cup Craze Floods TikTok Feeds, Raises $750 Million In Revenue." https://www.forbes.com/sites/marcuscollins/2024/01/05/stanley-cup-craze-floods-tiktok-feeds-raises-750-million-in-revenue/
  3. U.S. Chamber of Commerce, "What Businesses Can Learn From the Stanley Tumbler Sales Phenomenon." https://www.uschamber.com/co/good-company/launch-pad/experts-on-stanley-tumbler-success
  4. Advertising Specialty Institute, "2020 ASI Global Ad Impressions Study Proves Promo's Value, Effectiveness and Affordability." https://asicentral.com/press-releases/2020-asi-global-ad-impressions-study-proves-promo-s-value-effectiveness-and-affordability/
  5. PR Newswire, "ASI Surveys Consumers To Prove Promo's Power & Effectiveness." https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/asi-surveys-25-000-consumers-to-prove-promos-power--effectiveness-301822772.html
  6. PR Newswire, "ASI Research: Promotional Products Deliver Impressions at a Fraction of a Cent, Outrank All Other Ad Channels." https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/asi-research-promotional-products-deliver-impressions-at-a-fraction-of-a-cent-outrank-all-other-ad-channels-302767274.html
  7. CNBC, "Vans Owner VF Corp to Buy Streetwear Brand Supreme for $2.1 Billion." https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/09/vans-owner-vf-corp-to-buy-streetwear-brand-supreme-for-2point1-billion.html
  8. VF Corporation, "VF Corporation Completes Acquisition of Supreme." https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201228005260/en/VF-Corporation-Completes-Acquisition-of-Supreme
  9. Marker, "How Supreme Created the Most Valuable Logo of All Time." https://marker.medium.com/how-supreme-created-the-most-valuable-logo-of-all-time-998eef02710e

AI assisted in creating the content featured in this post and image.

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