Our owner and founder, Jeremy Picker sat down with Jay Busselle from Equipment Zone to discuss the world of promo today and how it has evolved over the last year. Here’s an expansion on some of the best tidbits.
WHY DESIGN MATTERS
Our team knows Jeremy is passionate about the process of merch curation from design to production and through the screen of a Zoom call, he brought that same passion with him to this conversation as well. Explaining the beginnings of the design process he said, “It’s in your best interest to help your customer before they even get to that design process”.
Design is the first step in making custom branded anything, whether its your logo, your sketch or just a vague idea, design is where every project starts. And as a creative company we are reminded from our passionate “creative geniuses”, and know from seeing hundreds of projects be put out on shelves, design truly is one of the most important selling factors. Picking the garment is of course also essential; you need it fit your audience’s style, age and needs. But design remains the pinnacle of sales, and here's why.
We all can relate to that feeling of seeing a dangling hoodie sleeve, in the most perfect pastel yellow only to pull it from the rack revealing an atrocious graphic reading “LA Leisure & Ratchet Club”. One problem - you aren't Sunday brunching with the girls at the country club gracing the gift shop windows. You are standing in the next fast fashion shop selling gaudy decorated merchandise, disappointed by the amazing pastel yellow that caught your eye.
All to say, that’s why we believe design makes the difference between a disappointing hoodie and a sold out merch launch. It’s our job to be your creative guide from the very beginning of the design process.
PARTNERS OVER PRINTERS
Jeremy goes on to discuss the company's annual trend report with Jay. We use these reports and Pinterest boards to clarify your vision for a project. Describing style, art and design in words is not the easiest way to communicate creatively, but by having visual guides we can inspire and embody your ideas in the beginning of the merch process.
Howard Moskowitz famously found people don’t know what they want and loved to say, “The mind knows not what the tongue wants." When asked, what do you want in a coffee? Most people would say "I want a dark, rich, hearty roast.". But according to Howard only 25-27% of people actually like a dark, rich, hearty roast. And in reality most people like weak, milky coffee. But no one is going to say, when asked what they like, weak, milky coffee (Gladwell). We think the same may be true for design. Perhaps the mind knows not what will sell in the promo market.
We have a saying that we strive to be partners over printers, meaning we don’t just take your art and slap it on an item (though there are many companies that will). Jeremy said we want to help you before you get to the design process. We are professional artists and graphic designers who don’t want to print the “dark, rich, hearty roast” we want to work alongside you and create the merchandise your fans and customers will love - the “weak, milky” kind of design.
