Branded Merchandise: 7 Powerful Truths from New ASI Research

Branded merchandise is supposed to keep your brand in front of customers. Most of it doesn’t.

There is a reason Checkers runs the most sophisticated loyalty programme in South African retail, and it isn’t pricing. It is that Xtra Savings knows what you buy, when you buy, and what you will buy next. It knows you better than your own spouse does.

Your branded merchandise supplier should be working the same way. Most aren’t.

New international research from ASI (the US-based Advertising Specialty Institute) surveyed end-buyers across every age group and both genders, and the findings quietly tell on an industry. They also tell on the clients who buy from it.

Here is what we found, and here is what Fancy Inc has been doing about it for twenty-five years across South Africa and into Africa.

What do customers actually do with branded merchandise?

More than 90% of end-buyers across every generation view promotional products and apparel as an effective way to improve brand awareness. That is not the insight. The insight is what they do with the item after they receive it.

Over 70% keep it because it is useful. More than 60% keep it because it is good quality. Nearly half keep it because it is attractive. And only between 16% and 24% keep it because the brand on it matters to them.

The logo on your branded merchandise is the fourth reason someone keeps it.

Utility comes first. Quality comes second. Attractiveness comes third. Your brand is the point-of-reference bonus, not the main event.

This is why we ask questions other suppliers do not ask before we quote.

How do customer preferences differ by generation?

Break the research down by age group and the picture sharpens.

Baby Boomers want environmentally friendly products (87%), locally made (81%), and socially responsible (80%) — the most ethically demanding generation surveyed. They are also the only group more likely to feel negative about AI than positive (32% negative, 45% positive).

Gen X are the swag generation: 35% of them call branded items “swag”, more than any other age group. Eight in ten have bought promotional products from an e-commerce site themselves.

Millennials are split three ways on what to call branded items: 30% “merch”, 29% “promo”, 28% “swag”. They are also the age group most likely to feel positive about the advertiser that gave them branded apparel — 78% will think better of your brand because you handed them something good.

Gen Z almost unanimously call it “merch” (46%). They are the first generation to rank social responsibility as the single most important attribute of a branded item (84%). Nearly half believe AI will significantly change their daily life in the next three years — more than any other segment.

Men and women keep items for the same reasons in the same order, but differ sharply on two things: 81% of women have bought their own branded products online (versus 72% of men), and 59% of men feel positive about AI (versus 45% of women).

What does this mean for your next branded merchandise order?

Your marketing manager has, on average, three hours a week to think about branded merchandise. She is not researching generational preferences. She is asking whoever answered the email, “What did we do last year and is there a cheaper version this year?”

That is the gap we fill. We read the brief. We ask who it is for. We match the item to the research.

A pharmaceutical conference attended mostly by women in their forties needs a different gift from a franchise induction pack for twenty-two-year-old new hires. A lodge welcome gift in the Okavango is a different product from a factory staff award in Gqeberha. Not because we say so — because the data says so.

Why does Fancy Inc bring this up?

Twenty-five years of doing this work has taught us that the client who gets the best result is the client who lets us ask the questions. The client who arrives with a product already chosen and only wants a price usually ends up with a cupboard full of unworn branded jackets.

That is not a supplier problem. That is a briefing problem.

It is also the problem this research helps us solve for you. We are your brand partner, not your catalogue. Start with a conversation, not a product code.

Get a quote from a brand partner who reads the brief → /get-quote