How to Promote Your Brand in Swag Bags

Gift bags filled with promotional items, also known as swag bags and frequently distributed at conferences, fund-raisers and high-profile events, help publicize brands and products long after the event concludes. Businesses also give away swag bags at new product launches. The value of the swag given away in the Oscars Gift Bag exceeded $100,000 this year. Sometimes, brands send a swag bag directly to favored or influential customers. Since so many people own branded tote bags, a bag with a company logo can remain a walking billboard for years.

These tips can help marketers create swag bags that customers love.

What’s Your Theme?

Think about the bag first, recommends Joshua Grover-David Patterson at 4imprint. Some tips for selecting a swag bag:

• Match the bag to the event. Green bags made from recycled materials are a natural for environmental events.
• Consider the audience’s needs. Would they prefer a hand-held bag or a hands-free drawstring sport pack?
• Consider a tote with a pocket and branded water bottle.

“Offer the right bag at a major trade show, and it may be the only bag attendees use to carry all their swag,” Patterson says.

Marketers also recommend matching the bag’s contents with the event’s theme.

Krystal D. Carter, president of Danny Kay Cloud, a cloud applications consulting firm, organized its Tech Me to the Movies to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) careers for girls. About 35 teen-aged girls attended its event that featured a private screening of the movie Hidden Figures about female mathematicians who worked at NASA during the Space Race. Carter filled tote bags with college brochures, branded T-shirts, fleece blankets, and custom drinkware for a “mocktail” topped off with dry ice to represent science careers.

The swag bags also included 1950s-style cat-eye glasses to remind attendees of a quote from the movie: “So yes, they let women do some things at NASA, Mr. Johnson. And it’s not because we wear skirts. It’s because we wear glasses.”

Conference Swag: Give them Something Useful

Usefulness is the most important characteristic of conference giveaways.

“Swag bags might be synonymous with events, but if you’re giving away free stuff that attendees have no use for, you can guarantee it’ll end up in the trash before they leave the venue,” stresses Rachel Grate at Eventbrite.

With smartphones now ubiquitous, many people find technology-related gifts useful. Consider touch-screen gloves, spare power banks, keychain USB car chargers, and cell phone wallets.

Seasonal items are often popular: branded flip-flops or sunglasses in summer, hot cocoa kits and a warm hat in winter. If alcohol fits its brand image, beer glasses, tumblers or cork screws may please customers.

Many conference goers appreciate travel-related gifts. They’re more likely to keep items that can be packed into a carry-on suitcase. Grates suggests eye masks. They’re useful, never go out of style, and promote your brand when event-goers travel.

Practical considerations come into play. A more expensive item might mean fewer giveaways in the bag, but it could also create a longer-lasting impression on potential customers.

Avoid heavy or large items as well as items that could pose a security nuisance at airport security gates. Remember that conference goers will probably carry items around the rest of the day and then need to fit them into suitcases.

The most memorable swag is often an interesting experience instead of an item. At a National Association of Broadcasters meeting in Las Vegas, one company offered an evening at a dude ranch. The Oscars swag bag included trips to Tanzania and Hawaii.

One additional trick: put a “coupon” in the gift bag telling the attendee to pick up the swag at your exhibit. Then the attendee sees your product messaging and talks with one of your sales representatives.

Swag Bags for Journalists?

Some PR teams give swag bags to journalists at trade shows or send them to their offices, but –beware — giving swag bags to journalists is problematic. Journalists often consider accepting gifts as unethical. They may decline or return the bags or promptly give them away.

Digital media outlet Quartz evacuated its New York City office when a staffer reported a suspicious package, according to PR Week. They later learned the unmarked metal briefcase was a swag bag sent from a PR firm. A reporter had left the package in the office and intended to donate it later.

“PR people, please stop shipping unrequested things like this,” tweeted Dave Gershgorn, the publication’s artificial intelligence reporter. He didn’t say what was in the package or what PR firm had sent it.

Bottom Line: Swag bags filled with branded giveaways continue to promote businesses long after event attendees return home. However, customers will probably dump gifts they don’t consider useful.