The Backpack: Issue #5

All our best, monthly news in one branded pack.

Hey, friends! Welcome to our newly revised (monthly) newsletter, “The Backpack” bringing monthly news that features trends in merch, top articles, podcast episodes, and global news impacting merch life. Miss an article or an episode? We’ll highlight the best of, right here, each month!

Friday, December 2

• Top Merch News: Swimming with the Sharks

• Vibe Check: Vice’s New Bad Habit

• Trends: Gen-Z’s Merch Obsession

• Can't miss content: The Tipping Point, Fab Brands, CSU’s New Digs

• Happenings: Camp with us!

Portal Time! (Live and Kickin’)

Songs were sung. Shenanigans were had. And the merch was the talk of the town. The industry’s revolutionary event –skucon– rolled out to a sold-out crowd at the KMA Center in Las Vegas and through the virtual experience online. You can check out all the skucon highlights here. Oh, and, if you missed it and you want to get in on the next big thing, camp with us! (Details below).

A Shark Tank Experience for Promo

Tom Rector & Co like to dabble in disruption. They asked, “How do bring our clients and supplier partners together in a way that’s radically original and not just a boring end-user show?” Answer? Sharks. Learn how the brilliant team at Screenbroidery put together an amazing Shark Tank experience with suppliers and clients that led to over $620k in sales (and growing!), check out our video interview with Tom here, (which includes vid captured from Tom’s event). And, while we’re celebrating Screenbroidery for their ingenuity, congrats to Tom for scooping up the Entrepreneur of the Year Award at skucon!

We Have to Give It to Vice

They know how to drop. Vice, the edgy news authority, has a new (good) bad habit: merch. They just announced their new merch site and we must tip our hats cause their bold message warms our swaggy hearts: “The thing about merch is that the longer you have it, the cooler it gets—but you’ve got to strike when the iron is hot (aka, right when the drop hits) to get the best stuff. So if you don’t want to end up sweating and combing through eBay or Grailed, you’ve gotta add to cart while the good stuff is still around instead of holding out and, two years later, find yourself sheepishly asking someone at the record store where they copped that hat.” Check out that rad, minimal t-shirt with a working phone number printed on the back. (Yep, we called it. Don’t recommend).

Rad Merchifier of the Month - Notion

We love brands who amplify merch (whom we affectionately dub our Rad Merchifiers), check out what NotionHQ did recently with the launch of the New Year. And note that engagement: 9,204 likes and over 600 comments. Not bad for a nerdy lil’ note-taking app that’s only been around a few years. And if you can’t read it in the fine print on the notecard, below the question “What will you get done this year?” is this simple line: ✅ Get Notion merch. Get. It. (Psst. Got a Rad Merchifier you want to recognize? Give us a shout!)

One More Reason We LOVE Gen Z

The Luminate Year-End Music Report rolled out with everyone from Forbes to Billboard to Rolling Stone using its voluminous data to track trends. Check this merch plus: “Gen Z music listeners in the U.S. spend +21% more time weekly with music than listeners from any other generation.” And the kicker: “They are also willing to spend money to support their favorite artists, especially when it comes to merch.” How does promo capitalize on that trend? Gen-Z loves to support their favorite brands, we hope you have lots more Gen-Z buyers in your client list for 2023.

Go Camping With Us

Did you miss skucon? Or, miss skucon already? 😜 Mark your calendars friends cause dates are set for skucamp Sept 10-13th. What’s skucamp and why the hell are we telling you about it in January? skucamp is a deep dive into critical topics for biz leaders with ample time for peer-led learning. It’s somewhat like a leadership conference… but very much unlike a leadership conference because we cut out all the boring parts. 😎 We’re telling you now because it sells out – fast. It’s intimate, fun, and kept to a small crowd on purpose. We’ll launch in Feb but you can register here to be one of the first to know!

🌟 Three, brief, 10 min interviews with three distributors who have each experienced a turning point in their business, we call it The Tipping Point. [audio | video]

🎓 Oh, hey! Snazzy new commonsku University Portal. You look so smart!

🕺 Fabulous Darling: 5 Distributors with Fab Brands

📢 Want sales secrets from the pros who know? Check out CRO Secrets, here!