Promo Products OR Branded Merch?

Words matter.

How we in the promo space talk about what we do for a living can influence how others view our industry as a whole.

In a Twitter poll during the summer of 2022, Nathaniel Kucsma, MBA and the Advertising Specialty Institute's media team, including Sara Lavenduski, Theresa Hegel and Vincent Driscoll asked which term was used most to describe what we sell.

“Promo Products” was the winner followed by “branded merch” and then “swag”.

But whatever you choose to call them, one thing is for sure.

Branded merch (my vote!) is the only tangible advertising medium to which people say "thank you".

When is the last time you said thank you to a billboard, radio, tv or digital ad? 😊