Branded Swag for Employees? Yep, We Do That Too
As an HR admin, being tasked with providing branded items to your employees can be a big undertaking. First, you need to find out what employees want because let's be honest—not everybody wants that ceramic mug, right? After getting some feedback on desired products, you then have to source them through a third party. That third party has to make money, so you know the products are going to be marked up like crazy AND require order minimums. Instead of ordering only 100 of those fancy flashlight keychains, now you have to order 10,000. Nobody needs 10,000 flashlight keychains. Where would you even store 10,000 flashlight keychains?
Mind-numbing meetings, countless catalogs and endless emails start to pile up alongside the swag samples you've been given. As you sit there at your desk with 10 versions of tumblers and 17 fidget spinner pens you start to wonder...isn't there an easier way?
Yes. There is.
Introducing the company store, where employees can redeem their points for a huge variety of items branded with your company logo and choose from hundreds of colour options, sizes and much more.
Now you can provide company swag directly through Awardco and let us take care of the logistics. Gone are crazy markups way above MSRP. Banished are the catalogs that left you catatonic, the order minimums, the shipping costs and the choice paralysis. In their place you find order, simplicity and a whole lot of fun swag that you can let your employees choose from. It's time to set your employees free to fly their swag flag however—and wherever—they like.
With this feature enabled in the platform, anyone will be able to redeem points for a variety of high-quality items varying in price that can be branded with your company-specific logo. Say goodbye to working with a 3rd party vendor for your company swag and hello to a turnkey solution for branded items.
How It Works
- A turnkey solution. Enabling the company store feature on your platform is easy—all you need is a full colour vector file of your company logo. Once you have that, contact your account manager and they’ll get your store set up for you.
- Fun features. The store is preset with over 50 items ranging from apparel to accessories, with hundreds of colour combinations to choose from.
- The store experience. Redeeming points in the store is the same experience as redeeming points in any other reward network on the Awardco platform. Users will enjoy a familiar look and feel to the product redemption pages.
Setting up the store is as simple as contacting us and providing a full colour vector file of your logo, and we’ll take it from there. Our team will then build out your store and make it available on your platform. Within 2-7 business days your employees will see the company store as a redemption option for their points, and they can start repping your company with swag from t-shirts to laptop bags.
Company Swag FAQ
You might have some basic questions about company swag, like what it is, why is it useful and what's the best swag you can get. We're here to help answer those questions!
What Is a Company Swag Store?
A company swag store is where employees can go to get company branded items. Sometimes these swag stores are physical places, but more often they're virtual catalogs where employees can order company-branded things to rep their company pride. Here's some of the most common things most company swag stores have:
- T-shirts. Most everybody loves a good, soft t-shirt to wear at work, at home, when sleeping, when painting or when doing yard work. T-shirts are great because they let your employees show their company pride at all times.
- Dress shirts. For those more dressy employees, polos and button-up shirts are a big hit. Brand these with a classy small logo over a pocket and you've got a great option for your sales team to wear to presentations!
- Mugs. Good for drinking all kinds of beverages. Or for holding pens. Or snacks.
- Jackets. If you live somewhere that gets a little chilly, this is a really popular option. Jackets can be casual (like a t-shirt with sleeves) or classy. Their versatility is what makes them so popular for employees.
- Computer bags. Carrying around the stuff you need to get work done can sometimes be a chore if you don't have a bag to put it all in. Plus, a bag can protect your I.T. investment because you give employees a protective place to put their work computer in.
- Hats. Hats are versatile, fun and protect you from harmful UV rays. What's not to like?
- Blankets. Warm, cosy, snuggly, packable...blankets are the warm hugs of company swag.
- Bluetooth speakers. A branded speaker to play some tunes while working on a personal project? Nothing says your company loves you quite like a little box of sound with your logo on it.
What is the best company swag?
Besides the list above, the best company swag has two things in common:
- The employee has some choice in their swag. Providing choice is paramount. If you give everybody a t-shirt, that's great. But some people might not have wanted a t-shirt and, as such, it'll end up at the bottom of their closet or in a donation bin. If you give employees the power to choose their own swag, it will make them all the more likely to use and wear it.
- The swag is useful. Even if that use is to wear it, swag that's useful in some way is much better than swag that's not. For example: think of a fun challenge coin or pointy acrylic service award you might give out as a swag item. Cool, yes, but useful? Nope. Try getting swag people will use like a bag, hat, water bottle, desk mobile phone holder or something like that.
- The swag is sustainable. Nobody likes waste, and we're big proponents of reducing waste in everything we do. When you give out swag, see if you can find swag that's sustainably sourced and produced. Your employees will thank you for it and you'll be doing your part to save the environment.
Why Do Companies Give Out Swag?
Good question. Here's another good question: why do people give gifts on birthdays? The answer to both of these questions is this: you value someone and want to convey that value, so you give them something to show them you thought of them and appreciate them in your life. Companies give out swag for similar reasons—to thank employees. An added benefit of giving out swag is free advertising. If your employees wear or use your swag, people will see your logo. You'll have much more visibility in your community and will be able to better serve your community. And recruit talent. And retain talent because your employees are proud to work there. It's a win-win-win.
If you have further questions about Awardco's own swag store, how it works and how it can help you, please don't hesitate to reach out. We’re excited to offer this to all HR admins to help increase employee engagement and company pride. Now you can give employees the option to choose something for themselves, display their company pride and remove all the hassle. Now that's what we call letting your flag fly.
For more information on the specifics of this programme, please see our support article on the subject.
