What Is Swag?

Not since the days of pirates has swag been so important; and unlike our swashbuckling forbearers, we needn’t navigate the open seas to find some. But what exactly is swag, and why should you be excited about it?

The terms “swag”, “schwag”, and “tchotchkes” all refer to one concept – free stuff! When a company provides pens, mugs, stickers, or anything of that nature, they are giving away swag. This tactic used to be relegated to banks and sports teams, but these days everyone is getting in on the action. Even small companies have realized the value of putting their brand name in front of as many faces as possible.

The scope of swag has increased as well. Paper pads and calendars are no longer cutting it. From stress balls, to t-shirts, to wine bottles… goodies are getting more elaborate. The problem is most businesses fail to recognize the schwag equation:

Relevancy + Uniqueness = Customer Retention

If you are a wine company and you hand out corkscrews - that has relevancy. Unfortunately, it lacks uniqueness and will probably just end up buried in a drawer with twenty other corkscrews. If you are a wine company and you hand out yo-yos - that is very unique. Unfortunately, it has little relevance to your core audience: adults who love wine.

The trick is finding both relevancy and uniqueness to obtain customer retention. In an effort to provide not just concepts but also active solutions, I’d like to present a company that has the swag concept down pat. This business can serve both as an example of how to do swag right, and provide wine industry professionals with a direct contact to improve their schwagability.

AromaPromotions.com realized long ago that coffee was a solid giveaway. After all, “over 55% of Americans drink coffee every day” (2008 Poll conducted by National Coffee Drinking Trends.) They saw that a product hitting so many homes had instant relevancy, and because it wasn’t one of the old chestnuts (calendars, rulers, etc.), also had uniqueness.

AromaPromotions.com also decided to take it one step further. Instead of waiting to see which industries came after them for business, they actively sought out venues that seemed to co-exist with coffee. After initial studies, they realized the wine industry was a perfect fit.

Find The Connection

In a recent ClassicWines.com survey conducted at a Total Wine & More Store, 46 wine customers were asked if they also enjoyed drinking coffee; and if so, was it for the taste, the caffeine boost, or both? A dominant 78% responded in the affirmative that they were also coffee drinkers. When asked if it was for the taste/caffeine/both, 89% said it was mostly for the taste (but the pick-me-up was nice too.) The coffee drinkers also specified that they prefer gourmet coffee over grocery store black.

These high percentages are no accident. Coffee lovers behave in much the same way as wine lovers do. Coffee has its own culture of tasting, smelling, and analyzing. In fact, there is a coffee tasting wheel that bears a striking resemblance to wine tasting wheels. For those individuals who love to break down and enjoy their beverages, wine and coffee seem to go hand in hand.

Aromapromotions.com went to work on establishing an easy access website that is designed strictly for helping market brands. The concept: “why only have your wine brand in front of customers in the evening? Instead, have them wake up to gourmet coffee with your name on it!” Essentially, this would double your exposure time with a small, inexpensive tchotchke.

Of course, it would be a bit underwhelming if they simply tossed a packet of coffee into your wine shipments. People would probably mistake it for package padding or something. Instead, AromaPromotions.com designed a special gift box that fits perfectly with standard wine shipping standards. The dimensions, weight, and style are all carefully created to augment your wine shipment. When your customer or wine club client opens up his/her shipment and sees an elegant coffee gift box with your logo and message all over the packets… you can bet it will make an impact.

It is said that in the business world, you gotta spend money to make money. This is definitely true in the swag world. But if you are going to pull the trigger and swag up – do it the right way with the right concept!

Cheers,

Matthew Apsokardu, Marketing Specialist - ClassicWines.com, LLC

Matthew Apsokardu is the Marketing and Communications Specialist at ClassicWines.com. Matthew’s writing has appeared in various publications, including The Houston Chronicle Online Magazine, Reuters, and the Chicago Sun-Times. Matt works with wineries, retailers and nation-wide brands on customer retention and communication.

This entry was posted by admin on Thursday, August 14th, 2008 at 6:43 am and is filed under Clients, Customer Service, Direct Sales, Marketing, Packaging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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