The Promo Column 2020vision
The start of the year is traditionally a time for annual projections, but a new decade calls for a bit more ambition surely. What merchandise predictions can we make for the 2020s? Promotional products commentator, Stuart Derrick, reports.
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’ve cast my eye over the industry and come up with a few trends and themes for the next decade. If I’ve got them wrong, please feel free to get back to me in 2030 and I’ll update my findings accordingly.
The ‘B’ word
Now that it seems like we’re definitely exiting the EU, it’s likely that Brexit will have an effect on the industry. We *sigh* still don’t know what Brexit will actually look like yet, but a few of the parameters are coming into view. Importing and exporting will have new layers of administration that companies will have to deal with, but UK-specific trade deals could open up exciting new markets.
Closer to home, companies wanting to cut the red tape could opt for British made goods. Merchandise groups such as Briman, which represents British manufacturers in this market, have long banged the drum for British-made. This could be a boom time for them.
Gadgets galore
If a week is a long time in politics, it’s equally so in terms of technology – 6.048e+14 nanoseconds to be precise. With gadgets playing an ever greater part in our lives, merchandise has moved with the times, and what was once an expensive option for executives is now filtering down to a broader base of recipients.
Where once a mousemat, or, wowsers, a USB, would earn eternal gratification, people now have higher expectations. Expect wireless chargers, wearable technology, and smart speakers to become part of the promotional offering. And who knows what’s around the corner: autonomous vehicles; domestic robots, perhaps even technology implants. Our growing array of tech also needs accessories to go with it, so phone cases, webcam covers, GoPro mounts, and the like, will still be around, as well as new options that haven’t even been considered yet.
Water bottles from First Editions Even more eco
Environmental products have been around for a while, but as we understand ever more about the footprint that we leave when we consume, tougher questions are being asked about the raw materials, production processes, and logistics involved in merchandise.
Sustainability isn’t going to be pushed back into the recycling box – it’s here to stay. Sustainable options will spread across the merchandise portfolio. As well as popular options, such as reusable coffee cups and water bottles, green concerns will touch areas such as technology where biodegradable tech is already here.
Peak stuff
In an age where it’s not uncommon to hire storage space for our possessions, some of us just have too much. The lookout for merchandise users is to think harder about when it’s right to use a particular item. Is somebody going to be pumped at receiving yet another mug?
Sometimes less is more, and using merchandise more judiciously can make it have a greater effect. Rather than giving everyone that free mug, maybe make it more desirable by awarding it to the employee of the week.
Quality matters too. If you are just giving out one mug a week, you have the option of investing in something that will make others take notice, with personalisation for example, or by opting for a brand that people recognise as really appealing.
Nostalgia comes back Wireless charger from Listawood The datafied life
With so much of our lives associated with technology, data is playing and ever greater role. Life assurance companies monitor activity levels, and car companies monitor our driving skills to calculate premiums. In China, a citizen score feeds in data on areas as disparate as jaywalking, recycling, and missing doctor’s appointments, to determine outcomes such as your ability to book train and plane tickets, or attend a school or university. Merchandise will also get smarter. GPS tags are already with us to help locate lost items. How soon before personal carbon calculators are built into devices such as pedometers or even shoes, letting us walk off our guilt?
| 92 | January 2020
Humans are naturally nostalgic, and apparently, it’s a good thing. Those bittersweet feelings improve our mood and can even aid our mental health.
Nostalgia for the past seems to come around ever quicker in the digital age of social media reminders of what you were up to five years’ ago. Products like the fidget spinner and Mason jars weren’t new when they became popular. Looking back at styles and products from yesteryear will unearth some gems that hit home with new target audiences. Your ‘old hat’ could be somebody else’s ‘totally rad’ (or whatever the young folk say these days.
Old favourites
There’s a remarkable consistency in surveys of the big buys in merchandise. Items like pens, mugs, T shirts, and notebooks are always up there, and with good reason. Although we’re all turned on by novelty, utility trumps it every time.
If something is useful, it will find space in our lives, and that will be as true in 2030 as it is today.
www.printwearandpromotion.co.uk
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