A New Year has now begun and many businesses are making plans to counter the effects of the recession and cost of living crisis, by creating internal and external campaigns, designed to engage existing customers, attract new customers and motivate their employees. Annual and seasonal trends affect promotional merchandise in various ways, so as we begin the new year, we’ve included some of our own insights into how fashion, consumer, cultural and seasonal trends might impact what products are popular and what behaviours may impact successful campaigns.
1- Eco / Sustainability
This trend is fast maturing from a specialist area of interest into the new standard or default for sourcing branded merchandise products. Against a backdrop of concern over green-washing and ineffective offset schemes, there is greater scrutiny over the integrity of green and sustainable claims than ever before.
Our customers are eager for innovations that comply to the highest standards which include how they are produced as well as how they perform as branded assets.
Our suppliers are working hard to achieve ever-more stringent compliance standards and to improve what they do and how they do it.
Last year we launched our very own Geiger Green Live event, a product showcase dedicated to sustainable products and practices. An event that we’ll be repeating this year and which along with our Platinum EcoVadis rating, establishes Geiger as a supplier with the highest possible credentials for supplying credible, sustainable solutions.
We expect to see even more product ideas and an increased emphasis on more sustainable packaging solutions throughout 2023.
If you’re interested in finding out more about our Geiger Green Live event – register by email.
To view our latest Eco brochure click here and watch out for updates throughout the year
2 – Employee Wellness
An emerging trend in 2022 which is set to continue this year is Employee Wellness. Against the backdrop of the pandemic, the cost of living crisis and a labour shortage affecting employers, employee wellness campaigns are designed to help retain and protect talent within organisations. Showing workforces how valuable they are and the need for everyone to look after ourselves and each other.
The Wellness Journal has been a major product used in this sector along with the emergence of Wellness Packs, healthy snacks, water bottles to encourage water consumption, fitness trackers and other accessories to help the work life balance and encourage positive lifestyles.
Discover our top 10 Employee Wellness ideas here:
Learn about the Wellness Journal here:
3 – Merchandise Packs
How we send and receive promotional merchandise is a trend that has been growing for the past 12 months and is set to continue. The ability to create and send ‘packs’ of promotional gifts, each representing a different theme or category, is proving very popular. The success and the impact of the gift is increased by offering multiple items rather than just a single item. 
There’s no limit to what can be included in the pack and the breadth of use.
Popular themes include:
- new starter packs
- employee wellness packs
- brand relaunch packs
- back to work gifts
- thank you/reward/recognition packs
- employee engagement packs eg movie night pack, pancake day pack,
- event packs
Find out more about our Workplace Merchandise Packs here:
4 – Digital engagement
How we engage with our customers using digital media is also set to increase during 2023:
- how we buy
- how we engage
- how we measure
At Geiger we use our own in-house merchandise e-tail platform that provides all our customers with easy access to approved merchandise ranges, ideas and customer support. We develop online experiences to provide a secure environment for our customers to use and order branded products and learn about the latest ideas.
More and more our online tools are being used not only to discover new ideas but also to make purchases. Using our secure order aggregation pop-up shops, we are able to provide online stores for limited-time campaign materials and/or to host bulk buying windows where multi-location businesses are able to combine their collective spend to reduce the unit cost of items and optimise their marketing budgets.
To find out more about our technology solutions and to request an online demo, get in-touch with our team.
5 – Major events
With the Winter Football World Cup now concluded, the sporting calendar this summer looks rather sparse compared to previous years, until the Women’s World Cup in July and the Rugby Union Word Cup in early autumn. There will of course be the traditional calendar of events that always attract huge crowds, broadcasters and sponsorship activity, and more events yet to be announced, but two specific dates of interest include:
The coronation of King Charles III will no doubt create a spike in nostalgia and patriotism in promotions, events and celebrations across the UK. Adding patriotic images: flags, realms, coat of arms etc can create distinctive and memorable promotional materials – commemorative mugs, coins, bunting and other gifts including this amazing Chocolate Welsh Guard edible figure.
This summer will also be filled with outdoor music festivals and events, and recently Elton John was announced as part of the stellar line-up at Glastonbury! Whether you’re a headline sponsor at a major festival or a supporter of a local town fete, we have hundreds of ideas to help your brand optimise the impact of its involvement in any event; from event signage, banners and seating to branded event dressing including balloons and bunting – we can supply it all!
Whilst custom wellies and umbrellas might be an unfortunate necessity, we can also supply; sunscreen, sunglasses, face paints and event water bottles.
Whatever event, whether you’re attending or just promoting your association in your own environment, we can supply the branded assets to make sure your brand is a huge part of the party!
