March 28, 2006
Trade Show Swag
also known as "The beginning of the end of the crap"
Over the last year I have attended, presented at and walked along over 15 different trade shows, conferences, summits, etc. While this number is not all that staggering, you should note that I have just passed my 10 month anniversary with "Company X".
At these kinds of shows, vendors put lots of crap out on their tables in an effort to lure in customers so that they can have a conversation with them. "Company X" is no exception. I give away the worst, boring, drab crap that my company can find. I used to collect some of these things for myself, Tara and Trevor but I have mostly stopped this activity. There are two main reasons for this:
1) Crap will always be crap.
The companies giving this stuff (I call it stuff even though I hate that word, because it really is the best way to describe it. It really isn't anything in particular at all) didn't go out and buy these items because they thought, "Wow! Dave will really like this gift. I sure hope it fits!" They bought it because it was cheap and unique enough to attract people to their booth for a low price.
Essentially, it's crap, and you are the garbage man by picking it up. A plastic keychain, a pencil, a commemorative pin, a squishy penguin or a cut-rate mouse pad (why anyone needs one these days is beyond me) will NEVER EVER turn into an Ipod or a hot model...so don't waste your time. If your life is so pathetic that a foam light bulb with the phrase "We've got bright ideas!" peeling off in little flakes onto your sweaty palms, then please...by all means....disregard my comments and carry on. Get another bag...those things can get heavy.
2) I don't want to buy a bad story.
Seth Godin would and probably does cry while watching people take these things. If he were a guest blogger on this site, he would be saying the following. Don't buy a bad story. No reason to, it's just not worth it and it is disrespectful of the company to try to lure you in with this poor excuse for marketing.
The only reason why companies really need or use these items is because of bad marketing. If the messaging, look and feel of their booth and documentation, professionalism of their staff etc. was worth its muster, none of this would be necessary. People should feel compelled to speak with your staff because they are approachable and because the booth tells a good story about what you do. The message must fit into the world view of the products this customer is used to buying, as well as the lifestyle they lead.
Crappy swag doesn't truly support marketing efforts; enhance a customer understanding of the products or build relationships. All they do is say "I cost less than a nickel and was made by a small boy in Guadalajara making 11 cents a day! Oh, and by the way, I look forward to living at the back of your junk drawer for the next 9 years!"
Comments
My ex-fiancee's old man worked for some fly by night .com on 128 back when people could do that. After much deliberation, it became clear that the company went broke entirely due to swag. The upshot of this was they gave away some excellent coffee mugs. These mugs held twice as much as a normal cup but didn't have the problem of those huge cappuccino bowls exposing so much coffee to the air that it gets cold really fast. And yet, they weren't nearly as topheavy as you'd probably think had you wasted your time thinking about it.
I still think that the coffee cups were the best thing I was able to keep when we split.