What is Marketing?

Marketing includes all the efforts a company makes to attract and keep customers by showing them the value of its products or services. It’s about building connections, sharing useful information, and creating a consistent experience that keeps customers coming back. The aim is to build loyalty and drive long-term growth.

The main elements of marketing are often called the 4 Ps of marketing:

1. Product: The “product” includes everything about your offering that solves a customer’s problem or fulfills a need. 
2. Price: Price reflects the value of a product and shapes how customers perceive the product. 
3. Place: Place ensures the product is accessible to the target audience through the proper channels. 
4. Promotion: Promotion is about communicating the product’s value and driving engagement.

Each of these components works together to form an effective marketing strategy, ensuring that the product reaches, engages, and retains the right audience.

What are Promotions?

Promotions are tactical components within marketing, focused on achieving quick, measurable results. Unlike marketing’s long-term focus, promotions drive short-term action—whether it’s a boost in sales, an increase in brand awareness, or heightened customer engagement.

The core components of promotions include:

• Advertising: Paid media placements are used to increase visibility and brand recall. For example, a 10-day ad blitz across social media platforms to spotlight a limited-edition product launch.
• Sales promotions: Short-term incentives like discounts and bundles that push customers to act quickly. E.g., a weekend-only discount code to increase online sales for a specific product line.
• Public relations (PR): Efforts to shape a positive brand image through media outreach, events, and community initiatives. For example, a company may issue a press release about a new sustainability initiative, gaining favorable media coverage.
• Direct marketing: Personalized outreach via email, SMS, or direct mail, targeting customers to prompt quick action. For example, a fashion brand sends a flash sale text to previous customers, encouraging same-day purchases.

Key Differences Between Marketing and Promotions

Although marketing and promotion are closely related, they serve distinct roles within a brand’s strategy. Recognizing these differences can help you enhance your strategic focus, balancing long-term growth with immediate gains.

1. Scope and focus

Marketing takes a broad, comprehensive approach, focusing on engaging customers at every stage of their journey to build lasting relationships and brand loyalty. It’s all about creating a consistent, long-term impact. 

For instance, a skincare brand might use customer insights to develop products for different skin types, tailoring its messaging to emphasize long-term benefits like healthier, glowing skin.

Promotion, in contrast, has a narrower focus, targeting short-term goals like immediate engagement or sales. It’s a specific, tactical effort designed to generate quick action. 

That same skincare brand, for example, might run a limited-time “20% off” promotion on its new moisturizer to encourage immediate purchases and boost awareness right after launch.

2. Duration and timeline

Marketing is a long-term effort that adapts over time to keep the brand relevant and support steady growth. It involves ongoing evolving strategies to align with changing customer needs and trends.

For example, an eco-friendly cleaning product company might regularly refine its product formulas to reduce environmental impact and communicate these improvements in its marketing to attract conscious consumers over the years.

Promotions, however, are short-term, designed to achieve immediate results within a specific timeframe. They provide a quick boost, perfect for taking advantage of timely opportunities but without the sustained focus that marketing provides.

That same cleaning product company, for example, might run a month-long promotion offering a discount on starter kits to attract new customers interested in eco-friendly alternatives.

3. Goals and objectives

Marketing aims to build broad, long-term goals like brand awareness, customer loyalty, and overall brand value. It’s focused on creating a lasting impact by nurturing relationships and establishing a solid market presence.

For example, a wellness brand might produce educational content about holistic health, helping build trust and credibility with customers seeking a healthy lifestyle.

Promotions, by contrast, target fast results with specific, immediate objectives, such as increasing visibility, boosting engagement, or driving quick conversions. 

That same wellness brand, for example, might offer a “buy one, get one free” promotion on supplements for a week to boost sales and attract new customers quickly. This aims to create a spike in interest without necessarily fostering long-term loyalty.

4. Customer journey impact

Marketing plays a role throughout the customer journey, from initial awareness to building loyalty after purchase. It provides a cohesive experience that keeps customers engaged, and fosters trust over time.

For example, a meal-kit delivery service might use marketing to highlight the convenience and variety of its kits, nurturing the customer from the discovery phase through repeated engagement and membership retention.

Promotions usually target specific stages of the journey, often focusing on the decision or action phases to drive quick purchases.

That same meal-kit service, for example, might offer a “first box free” promotion to new subscribers, prompting them to make their first purchase quickly.

5. Measurement and success metrics

Marketing is measured by long-term metrics like brand health, customer retention, and customer satisfaction, reflecting its goal of steady growth and lasting relationships. 

For example, a luxury car brand might look at metrics like repeat buyers, customer feedback, and brand sentiment to assess the impact of its marketing efforts.

Promotions, however, are assessed by immediate metrics, such as sales spikes, conversion rates, or engagement levels during a campaign. 

That same car brand, for example, might measure the success of a “year-end clearance” promotion by tracking the number of cars sold during the promotional period, capturing the short-term impact on sales.

Understanding these distinctions allows for a balanced approach that leverages both the longevity of marketing and the immediacy of promotions for optimal brand success.

Final Takeaway

Mastering the balance between marketing and promotion unlocks both sustained brand growth and immediate results. Let marketing lay the groundwork for strong customer relationships, while promotions provide the timely boosts that drive quick action.

Ready to sharpen your strategy even further? Explore ÂÜŔňÉçšŮÍř’s extensive resources to gain the insights and tools you need to elevate your approach and drive real results.

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I’m Michael McCain, CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, and these are personal reflections. I am very angry, and time isn’t making me less angry. A MLF colleague of mine lost his wife and family this week to a needless, irresponsible series of events in Iran…

— Maple Leaf Foods (@MapleLeafFoods)

The chief executive of the Canadian packaged meats company used his company’s Twitter account to strongly criticize the Trump administration for its actions that led to the downing of Flight 752 in Iran on Jan. 8. Michael McCain angrily launched a series of tweets at “the narcissist in Washington” following the crash of the Ukrainian flight, which killed the wife and son of one of his colleagues. It was an unusual move for a high-ranking executive to take control of their corporation’s social media account to voice such personal, political views. But McCain “gave great thought” to his remarks, according to Maple Leaf’s VP of communications, and asked to make the posts.

Read more:

A woman who flubbed a simple question on “Family Feud Canada” received $10,000 from the brand she incorrectly referenced. The question, which only had one answer, was “Name Popeye’s favorite food.” Rather than answering “spinach,” as the question was in reference to the cartoon character, the contestant answered “chicken.” Popeyes—the restaurant chain that’s seen plenty of PR for its highly in-demand chicken sandwich—responded to the gaffe by offering the woman $10,000 worth of Popeyes food, tweeting, “Our survey says you got that right. DM us to claim your $10,000 worth of Popeyes. #LoveThatChickenFromPopeyes.”

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After The New York Times about requesting access to user data—as required under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA)—consumers were jarred by companies’ requests for additional data. For example, Berbix, a company that verifies people’s identities when they ask to unlock their data, asks consumers to upload photos of their government ID and to take a selfie. The company then requests a second selfie, but it asks the user to look “happy or joyful.”

While requestors may be flummoxed by the need to upload additional information about themselves, Berbix’s goal is to ensure the requestor isn’t faking their identity by uploading photos they find online of a person. Researchers have shown how relatively easy it is to claim another person’s identity when requesting data, which can allow for the unlocking of information from credit card numbers to passwords. “Regulators need to think more about the unintended consequences of empowering individuals to access and delete their data,” Berbix founder Steve Kirkham told the Times. “We want to prevent fraudulent requests and let the good ones go through.”

Read more:

The latest companies under fire for potentially violating data privacy laws are some of the biggest names in online dating. A new report by the Norwegian Consumer Council finds that Grindr, OkCupid and Tinder, mobile platforms meant for on-the-go romance, have been sharing user’s location information, gender, sexual orientation and dating preferences—and in the case of OkCupid, answers to sensitive, optional questions. The data is handed off to advertising partners, who can use the data as they see fit or sell it to other third-party vendors. These particular findings are troublesome in the European Union, where new privacy laws are being developed, as well as countries such as Pakistan and Qatar that outlaw same-sex practices. As of now, the report is still being circulated and no changes to policy have been reported.

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For many years, the name Hummer—a behemoth SUV made by General Motors—was considered a gas guzzler, and the line was pulled in 2010 when GM went bankrupt. Given the popularity of electric vehicles and gas-efficient cars, it seems odd that the Hummer could fit into today’s automobile landscape, but GM is reviving the brand as an electric pickup truck. Sales are expected to begin in early 2022, with a Super Bowl commercial starring LeBron James slated to air next month. Hummer will return as a member of the GM brand family rather than a standalone brand, as it was before discontinuation. The introduction of the new Hummer falls in line with a trend coming out of Detroit to offer larger electric vehicles while getting rid of many lower-margin passenger car models. As is the case with many electric cars, GM hopes niche customers will pay a premium for the new Hummer.

Read more:

The U.S. Census Bureau plans to spend $500 million on public education and outreach for the 2020 Census, including more than 1,000 ads intended to reach 99% of all U.S. households. The includes advertising, public events, partnerships and digital and traditional media. Many of the ads target immigrant and minority communities and emphasize that data collected is confidential and cannot be shared—including with other government agencies.

Read more:

Hummer photo by Spencer Davis on .

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Just as some customers walk directly to the back of a store, knowing this is where the retailer displays sale items, many shoppers quickly scroll down a web page to seek product reviews. Checking reviews has become second nature to consumers. Looking for a new taco joint? See what’s rated well on Yelp. Torn between two vacuum cleaners? See which has the better star rating.

The age of ratings and reviews was arguably ushered in by Amazon. The company has perfected the art, implementing a standard five-star rating system that allows customers to post photos and videos of products, and even making reviews searchable for those with a specific question or concern. But they’ve also opened themselves up to abuse, spawning fake reviews and manipulated ratings.

Customers still rely on these systems to guide their purchasing decisions. Ethical brands shouldn’t directly guide or censor customer feedback, but they can help build robust, trustworthy review systems that can help answer shopper questions.

Why Ratings and Reviews Matter

According to Pew Research Center, 82% of U.S. adults say they at least sometimes read online ratings or reviews before buying items for the first time, including 40% who say they always or almost always look at ratings or reviews. According to , the typical next step after reading a positive review is for the consumer to visit the company website (50%) or search for more reviews to validate their choice (19%). This marked a notable shift from 2017, when visiting the website as a next step was chosen by 37% of survey respondents and 26% said they searched elsewhere for validation.

The robots are also looking at reviews: Moz’s 2018 research found that review signals—defined as review quality, velocity and diversity—in local search-ranking factors.

Cheryl Sullivan, president of price and promotion at DemandTec and previously CMO of PowerReviews, says that customer reviews—also referred to as user-generated content (UGC)—went from “nice to have” to “need to have.”

“Shoppers have lost a lot of faith and trust in retailers and brands today, and they’re really starting to turn more toward other shoppers,” Sullivan says. “Brands and retailers are starting to realize that [UGC] has to be part of their overall marketing strategy.”

How to Get Customers to Post (Helpful) Reviews

Sullivan says that encouraging shoppers to review a product can be difficult, so it’s incumbent upon marketers to guide them to take action and provide robust content. For example, she recommends directing post-purchase consumers to a display they can fill out with their review, one that asks questions that are customized to their buy.

“We’ll try to get images, we’ll try to get video, things like that up front because that’s more compelling content,” she says.

Many companies compel customers to review their products or services by offering something in return. Perhaps you’ve been to a dentist that offers a free tube of lip balm if you review them on Yelp, or maybe you’ve received email offers to be entered to win a gift card if you review a clothing purchase online. Incentivizing reviews is absolutely a strategy, but it should be done cautiously.

“There is a debate in the industry right now specifically on that question [of ethical incentivizing],” says Jared Watson, assistant professor of marketing at New York University. “There are some who suggest that it creates a biased account of the product when you incentivize reviews. And therefore, when companies choose to incentivize reviews, they’re actually sort of misleading their potential customers. My personal take on it is that [it’s acceptable] as long as you’re forthright about, ‘You’re entered into this contest, regardless of what kind of review you write for the product.’ But anything that helps encourage more reviews is better for the ecosystem.”

If you do plan to use a specific review in marketing collateral, be sure to make that clear to the reviewer. Either explicitly mention that their reviews may be used in advertising upon submission, or contact the reviewer before using it in an ad.

Highlighting Your Reviews

The best reviews go beyond a simple, “Product xyz was good,” and provide details—especially as it relates to use.

“Anything that helps the consumer visualize usage helps,” Watson says. “Obviously, pictures and videos help consumers visualize how it might be used, where it might be placed, how it might fit with other things. You can also do the same thing with text: Descriptive text describing the flavors and the contrast of everything at that restaurant might be more impactful than simply, say, ‘This was good’ or ‘It had a fair price.’ Take some of those descriptive words that might be sort of emotionally laden—beyond ‘I was satisfied with things,’ use ‘I was thrilled, I was exuberant, etc.’ Everything that can evoke emotion and invoke the ability to visualize the experience or the usage of that product helps.”

Watson says consumers often place more weight on the actual text of the review, relative to aggregate metrics. Think of the ability to search reviews for keywords on Amazon, or the way some clothing retailers allow review filters by item size.

“Advertising specific lines or sentiment that comes from other people could help you overcome some of those deficits that you might have in the aggregate categories of ratings or the number of reviews,” Watson says.

Highlighting specific use cases via UGC can help potential buyers imagine themselves using the product or service as well. It’s similar to brands migrating to microinfluencers: It’s easier for a consumer to relate.

“What shoppers really want to see is people like them, that they know—not a Kim Kardashian that’s going to have a makeup crew behind them to make the product work,” Sullivan says. “They want to know what somebody like me, like you [thinks] and how their experience was around this product.”

Be Honest ÂÜŔňÉçšŮÍřt Ratings

Consumers want to trust other consumers, but brands need to do some work to make the whole process more honest and transparent.

Because of the issues surrounding fake and paid reviews on Amazon, some other review companies have instituted systems to check the validity of reviews. For example, Sullivan says PowerReviews combines artificial intelligence and human moderators to ensure content is authentic.

The reviewers aren’t the only ones who need to be honest: Brands need to let all reviews live, not just the best ones. Killing a one-star or angry review won’t win you any new fans—and it can even hurt a brand’s authenticity. It would be akin to saying you don’t have any shortcomings in a job interview. “A lot of people try to prevent the bad ones from going through,” Sullivan says. “There is a misnomer that five stars is good. In reality, what’s good is 4.5 and 4.6. People don’t even trust five stars anymore.”

Brands also have to work against a simple reality: Research by Watson and his co-authors shows that consumers are more willing to trust a product that has more reviews with a lower average rating than a product with fewer reviews and a higher average rating. But the product with more reviews may simply have been on the market longer—it isn’t necessarily the superior item. Watson suggests pointing this out to consumers, or running a promotion seeking reviews and explaining why.

Watson also suggests promoting velocity metrics over absolute numbers of ratings in volume. “[This is] being able to say that over the last week the number of reviews has increased by 10% or the change in ratings has changed by 10% up or 10% down,” he says. “That gives consumers some insight into that time dimension. … Knowing how many people are buying it today or this past week or this past month might be better than knowing how many people bought it over the lifecycle of the product. That’s something that I think managers and retailers from the brand and the retail perspective aren’t emphasizing enough, the philosophy when it comes to word of mouth, because that would be a more accurate picture to the consumers.”

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The media is full of examples of deals that went south. The Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection offered a “” deal at high-end hotels, with other perks, that was pulled quickly when consumers piled on.  A university student used a Royal Canadian Mint program to buy coins on a credit card, collect airline points, and first-class. And United had to deal with individuals who bought refundable tickets for lounge access—and then .

In our study, we find that consumers are becoming better at identifying and reacting to deals. We examine two of the largest U.S. forums that consumers use to look for deals. One of the sites attracts over 10 million monthly users. Consumers use these sites to construct “deals,” or opportunities to purchase products or services below their listed retail prices.

Deals begin with a single user posting a deal that he/she believes has potential unintended value. Unintended value is present when promotional mistakes and loopholes in a deal unlock more value than a company anticipated. The collective then enhances the value of deals by adding additional information to each deal thread. The crowdsourced nature of online deal forums makes them especially adept at identifying, refining, and vetting deals through pooled knowledge and shared trust.

The most desired deals are based on companies’ unintended pricing mistakes or loopholes in promotions. Three broad types of these mistakes or loopholes are: errors in targeting; errors in pricing or promotional terms; and loopholes that allow combining or “stacking” multiple promotional offers together.

We identify a new form of consumer collective operating in deal collectives, called a micro-resistance network, with a core user base centered on antagonistic discovery of promotions that provide users with short-term power in the marketplace. In deal collectives, market power imbalance is a primary motivator for seeking deals that provide unintended value. Deal collectives often reveal intense antagonism toward companies, but do not seek to permanently alter the market. Instead, they seek fleeting power by extracting every possible source of savings or benefit from a transaction—especially value unintended by market-dominant companies. Our findings suggest a dark side to promotions, co-production, and consumer collaboration.

Deal collectives represent millions of consumers who are motivated to swiftly purchase and share deals. For some users, deals are a means of temporarily co-opting market power against powerful companies by purposefully hurting firm profits. Such behavior is clearly concerning. For many other users, deals represent a way to save extra money and feel smarter than fellow less-informed consumers. This mixed nature of deal collectives makes them a fragile entity, sometimes beneficial to companies and sometimes damaging.

Harnessing this group of consumers can be valuable for companies in certain circumstances, such as when excess stock needs to be liquidated, trial needs to be stimulated, purchases are the first step in a two-part pricing model, or purchases help win a standards battle. Deals are valuable when services or products cannot be stored, since the risk of surplus purchase and storage is reduced. Likewise, deals may have more potential benefit in high-fixed-cost (e.g., software) or high-margin industries since the risk of immediate losses is lower. Deals that are more difficult to execute are more beneficial to companies since they are likely to garner word-of-mouth, but less likely to be widely used. Companies might even consider offering follow-up deals to those that are particularly popular. This would allow companies to leverage the interest generated through viral sharing of a deal as well as any feelings of agency generated by deal co-production. 

Deal collectives can be a potential liability for companies, especially when deal collectives regularly execute deals that result in pricing below cost. Industries with low margins and/or rapid order fulfillment are especially vulnerable since they present limited room for error and time to detect them. Deals on goods that are infrequently purchased (e.g. appliances) limit the value of the goodwill a deal might provide. The presence of unintended value in deals can drive purchase quantities that vastly outpace a users’ own needs, particularly when goods can easily be stored. This can cause stockouts and logistical problems at retailers, restrict purchase of the product by other consumers, and thus invert the intended effect of promotions. At the consumer level, deal collectives may sensitize consumers by training them to not purchase at regular prices, which can take time to undo. Finally, deals may act as a means of expressing and fueling anti-company sentiment and antagonistic consumer actions. 

. 

Read the authors’ slides for sharing this material in your classroom.

From: Colin Campbell and Hope Schau, “,” Journal of Marketing, 83 (November).

Go to the Journal of Marketing

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It’s clear from one glance at that streaming networks continue to dominate. Here’s how some of the bigger players fared, and more on their marketing efforts:

Netflix

Continuing a trend that began in 2013, Netflix pulled in more Emmy nominations than it did the year prior—117 this year, 112 last. It also won four more Emmys than last year (up to 27), including Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie (Jharrel Jerome, “When They See Us”), Outstanding Television Movie (“Black Mirror: Bandersnatch”), Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (Julia Garner, “Ozark”) and Directing for a Drama Series (Jason Bateman, “Ozark”).

. Given that the streaming giant saw more than 40 of its shows nominated, Netflix focused this season on targeted marketing promoting “Ozark,” “Russian Doll,” “Bodyguard” and “When They See Us,” all earning nominations in prominent categories. The Emmy campaign included screenings in a 400-person theater and a reception area where fans could snap selfies in show-themed areas.

Amazon

While Netflix and HBO took home more Emmys, Amazon Prime Video won more of the higher-profile categories. Its original series “Fleabag” was awarded Outstanding Comedy Series, and whose star and creator, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, took home prizes in Writing for a Comedy Series and Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Meanwhile, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” swept both Supporting Actor/Actress in a Comedy Series awards with wins from Tony Shalhoub and Alex Borstein.

This year’s marketing departed from the norm. Citing possible confusion, Amazon had previously branded itself as Prime Video to differentiate it from the online retail juggernaut from whence it came. But they’re now referring to themselves as Amazon Prime Video. “We’ve shifted our focus into saying the products that we make from an original content perspective is an Amazon Original, and that could be anything from a series to a movie to a special,” says Amazon Studios marketing head Mike Benson, .

Disney

Major streaming claustrophobia arrives in November when Disney debuts Disney+, and the competitive urgency increased when . Marketing has already begun for its upcoming slate of shows and films, which includes “The Mandalorian”—a show from the “Star Wars” universe—a reboot of “Lady and the Tramp” and “The World According to Jeff Goldblum.” Subscriptions are available for pre-order as well.

The commercial is just one step in a major marketing blitz. Sarah Vizard writes in , “Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company would be treating the launch as its most important in 15 years, with a marketing plan to match.”

Likely anticipating the upcoming streaming wars, the Emmys broadcast also included ads from Apple, Amazon Prime, Hulu and Netflix.

The field is about to expand exponentially, but advises that streaming services should stand out by thinking small, not trying to be comprehensive. Disney’s ad emphasized that its slate of shows covers multiple genres, meaning it can appeal to niche audiences—such as fans of the movie “High School Musical,” as one of its new shows is entitled “High School Musical: The Musical: The Series.”

Given the amount of upcoming competition in an increasingly fragmented entertainment industry, expect major marketing blitzes come summer when nominations begin.

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Sponsorship spending on music tours, festivals and venues totaled $1.47 billion in 2016, according to Eventbrite’s report, “.” The survey found that 82% of consumers who attend four or more music festivals a year embrace company and brand activations at these events. The most frequent festival attendees engaged with food or drink activations (70%), Wi-Fi access (61%), cell phone charging stations (46%), lounges or relaxation areas (45%) and photo booths (43%).

This year’s , held July 19-21 in Chicago, welcomed 16 brand participants. These ranged from Bai ambassadors passing out free drinks, Acuvue’s mobile music video studio and the members-only Chase Sapphire Lounge. Marketing News spoke with CEO Steve Brecher about his brand’s pop-up Branca Bar at Pitchfork.

Why did Fernet-Branca choose Pitchfork as one of the locations for the pop-up Branca Bar?

Pitchfork has established itself for over a decade as a foundation piece in the festival circuit, sustaining a quality lineup and environment year after year, earning consumer trust and active excitement.

The attendees are a nice mix of existing fans and totally new consumers, giving us an opportunity both for recognition and discovery throughout the weekend.

Additionally, although Pitchfork is a national brand—both through the festival and media property—Pitchfork Music Festival still feels local to the town and neighborhoods of Chicago, which plays into the bigger picture idea that the Branca Bar is not a fleeting, weekend-long pop-up, but rather the continuation of a plan for Fernet-Branca to authentically engage with each city and bolster the strong existing local relationships.

A post shared by (@fernetbranca) on Aug 7, 2019 at 4:45pm PDT

What was unique about this pop-up experience?

The most unique part of the Branca Bar is the design-forward environment that invites consumers to enjoy the brand on their own terms. Rather than throwing together a Frankenstein activation or just trying to peddle products from the main festival bars, Fernet-Branca would rather design and build a truly beautiful pop-up bar that connects the consumer to the rich history of the brand.

The Branca Bar bartenders are encouraged to explain the complexity of the taste and share the Fratelli Branca family brand story, while Fernet-Branca brand ambassadors create a comfortable environment, never too pushy or tense.

What were some of the results of the pop-up at Pitchfork?

There were two ways a consumer could enjoy Fernet-Branca on-site. First, within the Branca Bar activation footprint, guests could sample a small-format cocktail, including the Branca Buck with Fernet-Branca and ginger beer, as well as a Carpano Bianco Vermouth Spritz. Second, full-sized versions of these cocktails were also available within the Branca Bar activation and at various bars throughout the festival footprint. (Editor’s note: Fernet-Branca says the activation earned 246,537 total impressions.)

Any other anecdotal takeaways?

Pitchfork was the most robust lifestyle and music festival on the Branca Bar tour schedule this year and provided a great roadmap for how to integrate and execute similar events in the future. Their extremely organized and professional approach to production left no questions to be asked, and their ability to maintain a familial vibe throughout the entire process, even through some tough on-site weather conditions, aligns directly with the Branca family mentality.

All and all, another great stop on the Branca Bar tour. With the combination of a beautiful brand activation, quality festival and event partners, insanely dedicated portfolio managers, targeted and engaged social media support and an amazing variety of press attention, the Branca Bar is definitely turning heads in each market while creating mass amounts of new Fernet-Branca fans and cementing love for the brand from its countless loyalists across the country.

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Three new buildings sit nestled against a hillside, centered around a small lagoon and surrounded by plants. One building, the , is considered one of the greenest on Earth, awarded four of the highest green building certifications and producing its own renewable energy on-site. The second, the , is a former public works building, which now prioritizes the health and well-being of its staff and features photovoltaic solar panels on its roof. The third building, the , is a children’s learning facility constructed from non-toxic materials that hints at the green possibilities for modular structures.

They make an impressive trio, as eye-pleasing as they are eco-friendly. They appear not on the California coast, but tucked into the Pittsburgh landscape, emblematic of an ongoing rebranding of a city once described by American author James Parton as “hell with the lid taken off.”

Today the former steel capital of America has become a leader in sustainability. It’s not a surprise to Pittsburghers, though, who kayak its rivers and work in its LEED-certified buildings.

But for those outside of the city, this new image hasn’t always been as obvious. Pittsburgh has been a success story among Rust Belt cities that struggled after the industrial decline of the 1980s, as it now touts its prowess in technology, education and medicine. Yet how can a city rebrand itself as a green metropolis when one of its most beloved icons, the Pittsburgh Steelers, harkens directly to its gritty past? The answer isn’t to launch a massive campaign, but to tell a story that resonates with locals and impresses outsiders.

“There is a sort of common sense of place, which is wonderful,” says Bill Flanagan, a broadcast journalist and chief corporate relations officer at the . “There’s enough collaboration … that we seem to be staying on message and marketing. A big part of that is just delivering a message that resonates.”

Urban branding is an opportunity to convey the city’s image to the world, giving it a competitive advantage regionally and internationally. A found that “without a brand, cities will be less able to shape the powerful image that leads to sustainable urban development.”

Pittsburgh isn’t trying to change its history, but it is trying to help the audience see its sustainable future. The three buildings previously mentioned are part of , an institution that opened in 1893 and has helped bond the city’s past and future. The new, ultra-green facilities sit behind the original building, were designed and built primarily by Pittsburghers and other Pennsylvanians and are worthy of the world’s attention.

Perhaps the most internationally recognized example of Pittsburgh’s new story came in 2017, after President Donald Trump, in reference to pulling out of the Paris Agreement climate pact, said, “.” : “As the mayor of Pittsburgh, I can assure you that we will follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement for our people, our economy and future.”

Yet Pittsburgh’s rebrand—its storytelling strategy—has been more focused on inclusion than retorts. City stakeholders are working to reach beyond the young people lured in by tech jobs and captured by its livability, to include longtime residents who feel pushed out or to outlying suburbanites who rely on jobs in the fossil fuels industry. But Pittsburgh is no stranger to competing forces: While it was once a leader in steel production, the region was also home to conservationist Rachel Carson, author of the landmark environmental science book Silent Spring. There’s room for both stories in its history books.

The city’s enthusiasm to rebrand by telling an inclusive, green story was evident when 10 leaders, representing public and private stakeholders, quickly agreed to participate in an interview with Marketing News. Assembled at Phipps Conservatory, with the trio of internationally recognized green buildings as a backdrop, the group discussed the progress Pittsburgh has made in its sustainability efforts. What was perhaps more telling was that they spent less time hyping what they’ve accomplished and more time mulling over how to meet new challenges.

Attracting Visitors

Ten years ago, Pittsburgh played host to world leaders at the 2009 G-20 Summit—but the location choice baffled some. “They literally laughed at the White House press room,” recalls Flanagan. The White House cited Pittsburgh’s ability to rebound economically from a struggling Rust Belt city and, as Flanagan puts it, the region saw an opportunity to milk its moment in the spotlight.

“We’re going to have thousands of reporters in town—do we just try to spin it and tell this wonderful story about Pittsburgh?” Flanagan says. “We made a conscious decision very early on in the process: We are going to just be completely honest. We’re going to talk about the things we do well and [that] we’re proud of, and we’re going to talk about all the work we have left to do.”

The bet was that being honest would give the city more credibility. Flanagan says they tracked about 7,000 stories written about Pittsburgh after the G-20, most of which were positive and articulated the city’s transformation.

The city tries to be authentic by showing rather than telling. CMO Tom Loftus points to 2005 as one of the first times the rest of the world, or at least the nation, started to take note of Pittsburgh as a green locale. That summer, the city hosted the CITGO Bassmaster Classic, placing its rivers in front of television audiences.

“It really launched Pittsburgh as a green and friendly city and got that image out of people’s minds of the smoky industrial city that it used to be,” Loftus says. “ESPN was showing people fishing on the rivers in Pittsburgh and pulling up big bass. That’s something that you can’t put in a brochure or put in a video and try to promote.”

The city continues to ride a media wave of acknowledgements. In addition to the international focus from the 2009 G-20 Summit and President Trump’s comments, The Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Pittsburgh as the in the U.S. in 2018, behind Honolulu, per its criteria of healthcare, culture and environment, education, infrastructure and stability. in 2017 and 2018.

But Pittsburgh has also had to battle less savory rankings, such as receiving all F’s on the .

“We have so many shoulders to stand on and so much to celebrate; at the same time, we’re not there yet,” says Scott Bricker, executive director of BikePGH. “We still have some pretty bad air quality and some things that are wrong. I think the story is more about [how] we’re trying and we’re making the right investments and we’re leaning into this effort to change the story, to make the region more green or the city more green and sustainable. … It’s not, ‘Come here and experience the most green city on Earth.’ We can’t do that because it wouldn’t resonate with people.”

Although there’s room for improvement, the city appeals to sustainability-seeking visitors with its existing buildings and activities. For instance, the became the largest LEED Gold Certified convention center in the world when completed in 2003. It’s now the highest-rated LEED Platinum Certified convention center in the U.S. Or take the , a series of events and activities for the approximately 2,000 interns from 35 states and 25 countries based in the city during the summer. It’s part of an effort led by the Allegheny Conference to convince the interns to stay and make Pittsburgh their home, and many of the activities are designed to showcase the quality of the region, including its outdoor spaces.

“People are taking note of Pittsburgh,” Loftus says. “From a marketing standpoint, we adopted the branding ‘Pittsburgh. Mighty. Beautiful.’ to keep on letting people know that you’ll be surprised by our beauty as soon as you come through the Fort Pitt Tunnels or come across Mount Washington. You’re not going to believe how beautiful it is. And it’s not just us, it’s people that are visiting that are telling us that.”

Bill Campbell, vice president of marketing and communications at Chatham University, says that for a city of Pittsburgh’s size—its metropolitan population of 2.3 million makes it 27th-largest in the U.S.—it has an outsized number of cultural, educational and environmental qualities and amenities at its disposal. His own university is a pioneer in the green educational space with the . Campbell says a visitor coming through the city and immediately encountering facilities like the convention center and Phipps Conservatory is presented with a very green picture of Pittsburgh. “These things illustrate what matters to the city,” he says.

Another piece of marketing collateral that hyped the city to outsiders came from the city’s pitch to become home to Amazon’s second headquarters. The video looked at Pittsburgh’s past and present, and the narrator acknowledged, “You’ve probably heard something about Pittsburgh,” before the scenes of steel mills gave way to images of green spaces and self-driving cars. It was a nod to the better-known titans of the city—steel, the three rivers, Fred Rogers—and a nudge to consider what else it has to offer.

A Leader in Sustainability

As Pittsburgh has worked to rebrand as a sustainable region, it’s sought to position itself as a leader in the field. This includes individuals like Richard Piacentini, president and CEO of Phipps Conservatory, who has led the award-winning green efforts at the center—although he was sure to note that the commendations aren’t the point: “If we think it’s right, we’re going to do it even if it doesn’t get us points.”

Piacentini can rattle off the efficient qualities of the various facilities at Phipps: how natural light is bounced in the offices to reduce the need for artificial lighting; what a challenge it is to locate carpet free of so-called Red List building materials; how all water is captured, treated and reused on-site.

One of Pittsburgh’s more successful rebrands has been as a leader in education, which has also helped the city up its sustainability game. Piacentini says local universities—namely the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University—were included in designing the Center for Sustainable Landscapes. “[A] lot of times, people build green buildings and nobody knows if they work,” Piacentini says. “We offered that building to both universities to say, ‘We’ll let you put sensors all throughout the building and you can use it as a lab for your students.’ They’ve both written, I think, six research papers based on that building.”

University involvement can provide unbiased messaging to the public, removing any presumed spin that could leak to news from the government or other organizations. of city mayors, policy and funding experts suggested that the seal of approval from respected third-party, non-governmental organizations such as universities can boost the credibility of a project, particularly when trust in government and politicians is low.

“The more people you have at the table—organizations, government, foundations—that’s actually what creates the believability and credibility,” Campbell says. “As an external or internal marketer, you want to point to that because it says this is a group effort.”

Mayor Peduto has also worked to be a leader in city-led sustainability efforts. In 2018, he announced the creation of , a strategic plan to address city challenges through initiatives for clean air and water, livable housing and economic opportunity. The plan was developed in conjunction with the , whose member cities make up a global network intended to offer help and educational resources to others. The city also released its in 2018, which includes a goal of 80% greenhouse gas reductions from 2003 levels by 2050. The Natural Resources Defense Council called it a “bold, comprehensive strategy for change.”

The city has been particularly drawn to positioning itself as a leader among cities with a similar size and shared past: mid-sized, post-industrial towns.

“We’ve been intentional about who we play with,” says Grant Ervin, the city’s chief resilience officer. “Just yesterday, we signed an agreement with the city of Aarhus, Denmark. … We create this relationship with people who are challenged with the same things that we are, which is a post-industrial economy.” Ervin rattles off a list of Pittsburgh’s collaborative cities: Glasgow, Scotland; Dortmund, Germany; and Gelsenkirchen, Germany. This network of cities with backgrounds similar to Pittsburgh are working on issues related to climate change, equity, energy and mobility. “We’re more comfortable with St. Louis, Tulsa [Oklahoma] and Cincinnati because they’re dealing with the same size, scale and challenges that we have, so the lessons that we can learn are transferable and scalable,” he says.

Bringing Residents into the Story

In , a web resource on place branding, researcher Dalila Brosto said cities are successful in their branding when their residents find it believable. Brosto, a knowledge and innovation adviser at the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy, researched city branding to promote sustainable development, finding that the best outcomes depend on cooperation between the residents and governments.

“We need to make sure that the conversation includes everybody, that there is a pathway for everybody to see themselves as part of the story,” says Joylette Portlock, executive director of .

Part of the story of Pittsburgh’s modern renaissance is that plans for inclusion didn’t always keep pace with change. The result has been some negative press for the region, tripping up its progressive brand story. A City Lab article from April, “,” focused on the Lower Hill District, a region of the city that once saw the construction of a highway and the now-demolished Civic Arena displace about 8,000 people—mostly low-income black renters. New redevelopment plans for the Lower Hill aim to be green and more inclusive, but the affordable housing crisis in the city continues. In recent years, Pittsburgh has seen an influx of tech companies, whose young employees have priced out longtime residents in some neighborhoods.

“We’re still grappling with a lot of issues that we need to overcome to get to a more sustainable place,” Portlock says. “It’s important for people to understand that sustainability—we’re not just talking about eco-friendliness. In order to think about a society that can sustain itself, it’s not enough to just think about how we use natural resources, although that is a very important piece. It’s also about, how do we care for each other and how do we generate economic prosperity for all? The sustainable solutions for Pittsburgh, for this region, are going to come from looking at the intersection of those things and not making the trade-offs that may have led to some of our social and economic issues in the past.”

One way the city has worked to communicate its commitment to all residents—not some—has been through deliberative forums. These public meetings differ from more traditional New England-style town halls and aim to engage differences in the community as positive resources. These forums consist of small group discussions, rather than main speakers with audience respondents. The city has also begun to provide food and childcare at the community forums, as well as language services.

“It has been really important, the work that the city’s done and others to pull out that inequities are still a problem here,” Portlock says. “But that is also part of this story of the transition, that we’re not there yet. Part of where that story is now is a much more intentional approach … to figure out how to make sure the tables are inclusive.”

Many of the city’s green updates are particularly appealing to younger generations looking to ditch their cars in favor of bikes or otherwise reduce their energy footprints. This newer, greener story can feel at odds with the rest of the region, though: Of the 2.3 million people who live in the metro area, only about 300,000 reside in the city itself. Allegheny County, where Pittsburgh is located, is made up of 130 municipalities. Getting everyone on board with a new, sustainable vision can be tricky.

“People outside the immediate city or maybe the immediate urban core of Allegheny County, to see themselves in this narrative also is a challenge,” BikePGH’s Bricker says. “They can’t see themselves in this story. They come to the city potentially on weekends or for work and they don’t understand these investments and they have a very visceral, negative reaction to it. We’re challenged with [determining] how to reach these folks who have an outsized effect on the change that we are trying to create here, even though they really don’t live in the city.”

It may not always be that if you build it, they will come. Instead, Pittsburgh has tried to stretch its sustainable practices outward. For example, Chatham’s Eden Hall campus, home of its Falk School of Sustainability, is about a 35-minute drive from its main campus in the city.

“We found that the partners that are there at first were skeptical,” Chatham’s Campbell says. “But as time has gone on, [they] have become big supporters and partners and now we have great relationships with the township. The township has a sustainability officer that they’ve put in place. The good of Pittsburgh going out where it’s applicable in other areas is important, because to just sit there and say it from the city defeats the purpose.”

The Ongoing Story

It’s impossible to talk about the story of Pittsburgh without also mentioning one of its greatest challenges: population loss. The city lost a sizeable chunk of its population, which once stood at 676,000 in 1950, when the Rust Belt lost its manufacturing prowess. Population figures have continued to slide, but recent U.S. Census estimates suggest the number is beginning to stabilize. Somehow, even these losses are viewed as an opportunity by city stakeholders to further Pittsburgh’s story. With fewer people in the region, the residents have taken up the mantle to get things done themselves.

“There are a lot of cities where you can’t see the fruits of your labor,” says Anna Siefken, executive director of the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University. Herself a recent transplant to the city, she’s been impressed with residents’ willingness to roll up their sleeves and involve themselves in the city’s narrative. “In Pittsburgh, you have a very direct connection to something that you can work on. You see a problem and it’s very entrepreneurial, which is a part of the DNA.”

Piacentini agrees: “Pittsburgh is all about innovation. Something that I’ve noticed since I’ve been here is you can’t tell someone in Pittsburgh, ‘You can’t do that.’ They’re going to find a way.”

The industries in the city have changed, and it’s certainly become greener, but the working spirit has continued to be part of the city’s story—one that’s still being told and aims to be inclusive of everyone who helped and continues to build it.

“One of the reasons that we have such a strong sense of place is because the people who live here and are happiest here are invested, are integrated into their communities in a way that you don’t see in a lot of other places,” Portlock says. “That’s a strength. But it makes it harder in some ways to tell the story, because for those who are already integrated it’s obvious—you don’t need to explain it. But for people coming here, that’s a story that we need to get better at telling.”

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On her weekly box of ugly fruit and vegetables from , Rachael Samuels noticed a hashtag. It appeared next to a writeup asking customers to take a picture of their produce and post it to social media under the hashtag #cookingugly. Samuels’s initial reaction was not to post, but she kept reading. For every photo posted, Imperfect Produce donates five pounds of food to people in need. It sounded like a big impact for such little effort, so she took a picture and posted it online.

“Not only do I know how my [user-generated content] is going to be used, I also know that it’s going toward something good,” Samuels says. “It’s not just self-serving for more people to buy their products.”

User-generated content (UGC) is content created and posted by users online. Samuels, manager of social media at , often works with UGC, sharing what customers have said about Sprout products, as well as tips, tricks and tidbits from the social media management company’s events. Samuels says that she wants Sprout’s UGC to show that the company stands for open communication, that being real and empathetic are the best ways to connect with an audience.

Sprout Social and Imperfect Produce aren’t alone in using UGC, and it’s proved to be effective in engaging audiences. two-thirds of consumers trust the opinions other consumers post online. And although influencer marketing campaigns have been ascendant for the past few years, a report from Stackla finds that . Additionally, several research studies have shown that

To run a UGC campaign—or better yet, have a UGC mindset—brands first need a story.

1. Find Your Story Theme

Telling a story unifies the unique consumer voices with the brand voice, Samuels says.

Sprout Social’s story is about open communication and empathy, but a brand’s story can be about anything. Consider Imperfect Produce’s story—it’s a subscription box company that wants to quell food waste, so its story frames consumers as role players in reducing food waste. Brands such as have found tremendous success with targeted UGC content.

These stories all relate to the brand, but also start consumer conversations. Their stories aren’t arcs, plots or endings—they’re themes. These story themes can be invaluable in guiding what kind of UGC fits with the brand and the tone of its posts online.

Along with a centralized story theme, Samuels says that it’s a good idea for the brand to have a hashtag that centralizes UGC.

“If everything’s aggregated underneath the hashtag or a location tag, that makes it so much easier to find,” she says. “It also makes content so much more discoverable and more likely to catch on.”

2. Know Where the Emotion Originates

Good UGC often expresses a feeling. In a , Shiri Melumad, J. Jeffrey Inman and Michel Tuan Pham found that consumers who create UGC on smartphones create more emotional content than those who create content on PCs. The physically constrained nature of smartphone screens drives consumers to create shorter bursts of content that focus on their overall experience and how it made them feel, the researchers found.

“To the extent that firms are invested in learning about their customers’ genuine emotional reactions to their product or service, our findings suggest that it would behoove them to focus more on content generated by customers on their smartphones,” says Melumad, an assistant professor of marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Content created on smartphones is more emotional and more positive. Researchers found that consumers’ writing when creating UGC on smartphones was 10 times more positive than negative. “It’s kind of surprising,” says Inman, a professor of marketing and business administration, as well as dean for research and faculty, at the University of Pittsburgh.

To take advantage of this increased emotion, Inman suggests that brands use social listening programs to find what consumers are posting about the brand, as well as what device they’re using to post. Then, brands should consider giving more weight to the content posted through smartphones. People pay more attention to more emotional content online, Inman says, and tend to be better persuaded. Melumad says that consumers writing on smartphones are limited by the space, but so are smartphone readers, what Inman calls a “double-whammy.”

3. Ask Before Sharing

Samuels says that companies should ask permission before using UGC from consumers. Asking permission can prevent any hiccups or anger from people who didn’t want their comments shared widely. Asking also gives companies a chance to connect with people who create UGC about them.

“You should be asking about their experience and about their story and getting some details to provide more color and context as you share,” Samuels says. “I also think that not outlining expectations up front—asking for something with no incentive or no context into how their content is going to be used in return—can really suck.”

4. Cross-Promote and Share Adjacent Content

Cross-promoting with clients, consumers and others can be a great part of a UGC campaign, says Bernard May, founder and CEO of internet marketing company .

“Work by the philosophy of doing well by doing good,” he says. “At the onset of your cross-promotion collaboration, it’s a good idea to outline the order of operations and expectations. For example, [say], ‘We will write this article, share it on this site and link it to this page by this date.’ Strive for the same written commitment from the other party. This will help you find out from the beginning if this is a worthwhile collaboration. Remember: Your time is valuable.”

In addition, Samuels says that sharing brand-adjacent content can be a good way to engage consumers. Like UGC shared by the brand, this adjacent content—articles, videos, infographics and case studies by outsiders—should fit the brand’s story. She cites REI as an example; the company will frequently share articles on nature written by other people as part of its .

5. Avoid Influencers

Influencers, while trendy, won’t lend the same credibility to a UGC campaign, Samuels says. Social media managers who find good UGC should always ensure it’s not coming from an influencer. They can come across as less authentic because readers may assume that they have been paid for their words.

To figure out who may be an influencer, Samuels says that she looks for the “” hashtag on the person’s social media timeline. She also looks to see what else that person regularly posts about. If someone regularly features products in their posts, such as different kinds of soaps or scrubs, Samuels says that she worries they may be an influencer and will appear less genuine.

6. How to Start a UGC Campaign

Unlike marketing campaigns that can take a metric-based, studied approach, May says that you never know what may inspire discussion from your audience. A well-guided UGC approach, therefore, will take some experimentation.

“So, start talking,” May says. “Not every topic or question will resonate and not everybody will agree, but just getting the conversation started is a huge success.”

May suggests testing your UGC by posting a question to each social media platform to see how the audience reacts.

“You may have just found the best platform to gain UGC for that particular topic.”

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When Meredith Thomas was growing up, her mom went to a lot of conferences.

Thomas, an assistant professor of marketing at Florida State University, remembers branded conference swag lying around the house. She returned to college after trips home with branded totes and other promotional items in tow. As many college students know, the send-off haul is often one part care package and one part “don’t return with this.”

“Once you get home, you don’t want them anymore,” Thomas says of conference swag. Promotional products have a way of appearing to be prized loot, but once the sunglasses, flash drives, stress balls, pens and T-shirts make it home, they often fail to—as Marie Kondo would say—spark joy. The items that looked so shiny and bright, sitting in big bowls or fanned out at conference booths, now look cheap and out of place among the carefully chosen products in your home or office. They’re dumped in the trash, exiled to the junk drawer or sent off with the college student.

The disposable swag problem has been acknowledged by the promotional products industry itself, with some companies and conferences actively trying to fix it. But many more outside of the industry sat up and took note in November 2018 when Fast Company published an article titled, “It’s time to stop spending billions on cheap conference swag.” (The page title hits even harder: “The $24B promotional products industry is an environmental nightmare.”)

“When you think about all of the energy and resources that go into making just one of the tote bags that I have just thrown into the trash—only to end up in a landfill—the impact is staggering,” Fast Company’s Elizabeth Segran writes. In her search across promotional product websites, she found that “They’re all competing with one another to sell products at rock bottom prices. The companies buying these things are looking to get them out to as many people as possible, while maximizing their marketing budget.” She likens the industry to fast fashion, which has come under fire for its unsustainable products and use of factories with poor labor practices.

The arguments and comparisons made were unflattering, and the industry was quick to respond. While some were fairly straight rebuttals—Paul Bellantone, president and CEO of Promotional Products Association International, said that environmental responsibility is one of PPAI’s core pillars—other responses included more acknowledgement of the issue: A blog post from commonsku, an order management software company for promotional products distributors, wrote that, “Elizabeth was right about a few things.” A January feature story in Promo Marketing Magazine, titled, “‘We could get rid of cheap swag altogether.’,” went a little deeper: “Despite the best efforts of a handful of forward-thinking companies, organizations and individuals, the perception that promotional products are mostly cheap novelty stuff—the proverbial trinkets and trash—is alive and well. And, more than that, it’s a perception rooted in reality.”

But the industry was sure to point out the other reality of these items—they tend to work. By PPAI’s estimates:

• 65% of advertisers cite promotional products as highly effective in reaching consumers and contributing to brand recall.
• 88% of marketers recommend promotional products.
• More than 80% of promotional products are used for more than a year.
• Eight out of 10 consumers pass along promotional products versus throwing them in the trash.

Segran herself acknowledges the appeal of promotional products. She begins her Fast Company article by confessing that she has canceled her New Yorker subscription and re-subscribed just to get a new version of the magazine’s tote bag. Some giveaways are enjoyed and even coveted, the ideal promotion for the brand. But many still get tossed, which not only fills landfills, but chips away at hard-wrought brand equity.

Marketers have two options when choosing promotional products to represent their brand: They can be the New Yorker bag—sought-after, functional, reusable and building positive brand awareness—or they can be the cheap earbuds tangled and forgotten at the bottom of the bag, destined for a landfill.

The Problem with Bad Swag

If promotional products—cheaply made or not—are being tossed as often as Segran suggests, it’s certainly not a good look for the promotional products industry. But it’s also bad optics for brand managers. Companies pour time and money into perfecting the brand, agonizing over voice, fonts and colors. But a bad promotional product can derail that brand story and instead suggest a disconnect in messaging. For starters, a tossable giveaway can highlight a disconnect between claims of corporate responsibility and company actions.

“There are so many companies right now trying to be good corporate citizens and they’re finally discovering that events are where their members or their guests, where their stakeholders see them,” says Nancy Zavada, president of MeetGreen, a sustainable conference management company. “There’s a quote that says events are windows to a company’s soul because you get an opportunity to peer in and see how a company might actually be doing. If you say that you’re going to save oil as an organization and then you have plastic bottles sitting up on the speaker’s podium, that’s a disconnect.”

Telling a corporate responsibility story through items must also be authentic. There’s no shortage of available promotional products that call eco-consciousness to mind: pens that resemble a bamboo stick or stress balls shaped like the earth. Although often categorized as a green or “eco” product on websites and sold alongside truly recycled items, they’re often eco-friendly in appearance only. “The promotional products industry has a lot of greenwashing,” Zavada says.

The solution seems to be doing your homework and spending a little extra on items that align with the quality your brand stands for. You could reach out to someone like Denise Taschereau, CEO and co-founder of Fairware Promotional Products, who can get nearly any promotional product for her clients from an ethical supplier. Her company has been at the forefront of the ethically sourced promotional products movement, often pushing to change the supply chain itself (the latest trending request, she says, is recycled ocean plastic). But just because something is ethically made, doesn’t mean it will resonate with the user. Here lies the second disconnect: Just because it’s sustainable, doesn’t mean it relates to the brand. Sure, Taschereau could get you 400 fidget spinners made with recycled plastic and manufactured with union labor in the Bronx—but how does that toy relate to your company?

“Do you want your brand represented with a fidget spinner? Is that who you are?” Taschereau asks. “Maybe you’re super playful and fun, maybe that is the right thing. But if it’s not, then are you a fad-based company? Are you a company that is okay with having your brand based on something that will probably be obsolete within the season?”

One of Taschereau’s top cringe products—and maybe one of the most popular promotional products—is the stress ball. “We get these sustainable brands that call us and they’re like, ‘We want stress balls.’ No you don’t,” she says. “Sometimes we’ll talk to their sustainability people and say, ‘You need to talk to your marketing people because they’re about to give something out that is so off-brand that it’s going to do damage.’” But recently, Fairware got a request from a research center that works with patients with mental health issues, specifically around stress. The organization requested brain-shaped stress balls. “I actually thought, you know what, there’s a fit.”

Perhaps the worst possible impression a bad promotional product could provide is a trash can filled with logos. Sponsors vie for the chance to be the constant visual in conference photos, the logo on the bag that everyone is carrying. But make a poor promotional product choice and your logo can only compete with discarded coffee cups.

“Visibility is a huge factor and the last thing you want is for people to see your brand in the garbage,” Thomas says. “That’s a horrible connotation, especially if there’s a lot of them there. You’d be better off not to have sponsored anything than for that to happen.”

Reimagining the Trinkets

As people become disillusioned with wasteful promotional swag, there has been some movement to the opposite end of the spectrum: no giveaways at all. UKGovCamp, a public sector “unconference,” announced in 2018 that it was going swag-free. Instead, it would give companies the option to sponsor food and drinks, daycare for attendees’ children or a bursary to cover attendee travel costs. Capital One had a #GoSwagless campaign in 2018, urging companies to use the budget and resources normally allocated to giveaway items to support a nonprofit. Other brands have opted to sponsor experiences at events, rather than give out items.

But it’s tough to argue with the ROI figures that PPAI cites. And despite minimalism trends, people do seem to enjoy getting free stuff. As an example, Taschereau references a viral 2013 video of Paul McCartney at a New York Nets game: The former Beatle, with an estimated $1.2 billion net worth, was captured trying to catch a free T-shirt (he did finally snag one two years later).

If people are inclined to grab whatever swag you lay out—or shoot from a cannon—the promotional product suppliers and the companies ordering from them are charged with thinking ethically. “It’s been a long, slow curve,” Zavada says. She started MeetGreen 25 years ago and has watched the industry slowly take up the sustainability cause. “It’s moving faster right now. …. The radical transparency of social media has had a big impact.”

One of the biggest industry movers on ethical standards came through the creation of the Quality Certification Alliance in 2009. The organization certifies supplier processes as they relate to product quality, product safety, supply chain security, social accountability and environmental stewardship. According to its website, QCA has certified 27 suppliers.

Choosing a more ethically produced product comes with a price tag. A 100% post-consumer recycled fabric tote bag sold by 4imprint, the largest distributor of promotional products, costs $4.45 each at a quantity of 100. A bag of the same size (and with far more color options) made of the thermoplastic polypropylene is sold by the same company for $2.19 each at a quantity of 100. Is it worth spending extra on better-made products when people seem willing to snag whatever you lay out? Yes: Because consumers don’t make emotional connections with junk.

Todd Weaver, a professor of business at Point University, has studied sustainability and anti-consumption. He says people who purchase repurposed goods find the items to be more interesting because they have a story. Those consumers are more likely to keep the repurposed items and value them more highly. Weaver points out that if the goal of swag is to give something away to promote your brand, and the consumer is expected to have an ongoing engagement or connection with the item, “It would certainly make sense to give them something that’s not just like everything else that they get.”

A generic, cheap gift can signal that the potential lead or client isn’t special.

“Just like all consumption, so much of it is tied up into people’s identity and self-concept,” Weaver says. “The things that we consume, oftentimes we’re consuming them for symbolic or identity-expressive reasons—especially if the goods are going to be consumed in a public or social setting.” This latter point may explain why so many giveaway T-shirts are hidden away at home for use as sleep shirts. Sure, they’re not so bad—but they’re not cool enough to wear in public.

Weaver references the 2017 Cone Communications CSR Study, which found that 63% of Americans are hopeful that businesses will take the lead to drive social and environmental change. Consumers aren’t likely to pick up a copy of your CSR report, but they’d be more likely to believe you support the cause if your promotional giveaways suggest as much.

Accurate Representation

A consumer doesn’t want to believe their business is only worth a 49-cent promotional notepad, and a company shouldn’t want to be represented by a forgettable trinket. Promotional products should match the company’s strategy and mission.

“If we’re working with someone like Aveda that has biodiversity as a core guiding principle, we wouldn’t bring a recycled tote bag to them,” Fairware’s Taschereau says. “We need to bring an organic cotton tote bag to them. If we’re dealing with a recycling company, we’re going to [recommend] recycled polymers. We try to match the product with the strategy or the mission and the mandate.”

But not every company buying promotional products is the size of Aveda, and the suppliers are also often small companies. The reality is that marketers working on a shoestring budget—and who hear the siren song of ROI claims around promotional products—will be drawn to buying 300 pens for 59 cents each. The other reality is that the fierce competition within the promotional products industry means often having to focus on price over quality. As noted in the Promo Marketing article, “smaller (promotional products) companies … can’t refuse sales so easily, especially not on the basis of some intangible, far-off concerns.”

Make giveaways a central part of the promotional strategy plan, Taschereau advises. Rather than make a last-minute decision before a conference, marketers can take time to better intertwine their brand story or strategy with the giveaway. Take Patagonia, for example: The famously eco-friendly retailer was rolling out a new workwear line to compete with Carhartt. As a promotion, it gave away branded carpenter pencils, an item that aligned with the new product line (and likely cost very little).

Successful marketers use their limited marketing funds to give away a smaller number of well-made promotional items. “There’s this mentality of, ‘I’m supposed to give away something to everybody who walks by my booth’ or ‘I’m supposed to have T-shirts for new employees,’” Taschereau says. “It’s just really thinking strategically about merchandise.”

Thomas, now attending conferences herself, hearkens back to those useful totes from her mother she was sent to school with. She’s planning an event at Florida State in May, and functionality is a high priority for her giveaway plans: Her team is considering branded umbrellas as a nod to the region’s rainy spring season. They’ll be optional, of course, so they’re not foisting unwanted products on anyone. “There’s more of a focus on not burning people out with these things that they don’t want anyway,” Thomas says. “And if they do get something, it seems to be with functionality in mind.”

Thomas suggests smaller logos could create a more appealing aesthetic for those hoping to use the functional products in their lives without feeling like a billboard. “It’s this simplicity movement of wanting less stuff, less text, less everything in favor of simple, clean design.”

Whatever the aesthetic, the products that stay out of junk drawers and landfills connect the dots: They can show the consumer that the company values them enough not to offload cheap, repetitious junk on them, but these products can also tell the story of the brand’s ethics or campaign strategy. As appealing as a cost-saving, trendy knick-knack may be, Taschereau cautions: Do you want to be the logo on the selfie stick, or you want to be the experience that warrants the selfie stick?

Swag Differently

Some companies are rethinking swag entirely. These eco-friendly options have myriad ancillary benefits: they’re trackable, Instagrammable and even edible.

Branded Food

Danielle Baskin was invited to a barbecue in honor of a friend selling their start-up company, Scroll Kit, to WordPress. Wanting to celebrate her friend’s success and contribute to the meal, she applied Scroll Kit’s logo to the avocados she brought to the party. “I noticed that people were taking pictures and putting it on Instagram,” Baskin says. “I thought, ‘Oh, actually this is really good swag.’ People really like avocados, but they’re taking pictures of it because it’s very novel. It’s pretty effective for marketing because you don’t have to bring this artifact home with you, it doesn’t sit in a closet or get left in a drawer—it doesn’t become a problem. But it also gets more views than a water bottle or something you’re used to seeing.”

Baskin is a serial entrepreneur, and one of her first companies—Inkwell Helmets—gave her experience in printing on unconventional surfaces. After seeing the response to her avocados at the party, she launched Custom Avocados in 2016, expanding to other fruits and vegetables in 2018 and renaming the company Branded Fruit. She attributes the appeal of her products to two main factors: companies trying to be eco-friendly but still providing physical swag, and the universal appeal of food. “People like oranges, people like avocados, people like clementines,” she says. “It’s different than a pair of sunglasses. Not everyone needs or likes this type of sunglasses. They might not be stylish.”

The fruits and vegetables are sourced as locally as possible (not a terribly difficult feat, as Baskin is located in San Francisco). She also packs the fruit in a way that doesn’t create unnecessary waste, unlike many promotional items that are individually wrapped in plastic. She’s highly aware of the waste that can be created in the manufacturing process, having visited factories and manufactured products for her other businesses in China. For cheap items in particular, Baskin says, the waste occurs not just when the final consumer receives and tosses the swag, but also in the manufacturing process during quality assurance testing, or if there’s a flaw when the item comes off the assembly line, such as an off-center logo.

The branded fruits may be a bit more expensive than bulk plastic items, but they’re not out of line with the cost of, say, a notebook. Her lowest-cost items, clementines, are $3 each and avocados cost $5 each. But unlike those notebooks, Baskin’s branded fruits and vegetables are likely to have a bigger impact because of how unique they are.

“I go to a lot of conferences and you get this particular notebook and a tote bag and a pen,” Baskin says. “It’s stuff I already have. I talked to someone who’s been in the promotional items world for 25 years and they said, ‘We don’t see new things as frequently. This is what really excites us—nobody has printed on fruit.’”

In addition to being highly Instagrammable, some brands have used Branded Fruits to create an entire experience for event participants. For example, a liquor company requested a cocktail recipe be printed on grapefruits. The company made the grapefruits available at a bar so people
could take one home and have a cocktail recipe that involved grapefruit juice and the company’s product.

Branded Fruit was profiled by Fast Company in December 2018, after which Baskin says she received about 300 inquiries for her products. “I thought, ‘Oh, it’ll die out, this is trending online,’” she says. “But it hasn’t at all.”

Digital Swag

Digital companies such as Event Farm, an event and experiential marketing platform, are coming up with ways to maintain a dotted line between attendees and sponsors long after the physical trinkets are forgotten. Ryan Costello, CEO and co-founder of Event Farm, likens the shift toward digital swag to invitations. Save for major events such as weddings or other milestones, invites have largely gone digital—and they track the experience even after it ends, with platforms such as Evite asking attendees to upload
photos from the event.

“It’s not just because of sustainability, but it’s more efficient, it’s quicker, it’s trackable, it’s all these things,” Costello says of digital swag. “Not only does that check a box of [being] better for your global footprint, it also provides more value.”

Event Farm has created products such as a digital gifting wall, where event attendees can tap their event ID or a wearable to receive exclusive digital content: coupons, videos or white papers. It can all be highly personalized
to the attendee. The benefit to the company is that they’ve captured the person’s data and can send customized follow-ups.

“I get the brand awareness value,” Costello says. “Having a connection with the brand—that’s what events are about, it’s not just about handing out swag but, how do I really engage? This is my chance to authentically engage with a human for an extended period of time. If it were just about giving T-shirts to people, why don’t you just mail them? Why are you having the event in the first place?”

The trend may be more relevant as the demographics of conferences and events change. It’s easy to see the benefit of digital swag when you consider the younger attendees of Coachella or the Ice Cream Museum: Would they rather have the water bottle or the selfie?

Costello’s company is in the early stages of another event platform, a sort of digital memory bank that would store event swag—those personalized, exclusive pieces of content—along with photos and content from sessions you may have missed because you opted to visit a different track. It acts as loss prevention. Rather than lose the important business cards in the bottom of a free tote bag filled with tossables, a digital memory bank allows users to retrace their steps and relive the experience.

“It’s another way to remind the person that the thing that you wanted the most, here it is—and here are the other things that you can still take advantage of,” Costello says. “I think we’ll see conversion go up. We will get those coupons converted more because they can access it again in a place where they want to go to, because they have other things of value there—as opposed to that gift bag.”

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Reflection is hip right now. Personal and professional mindfulness trends hype the benefits of contemplating and celebrating. For some, the act of reflection might mean meditation or journaling. For marketers, reflection often means building a case study.

The goal of case studies may be to attract new customers, present a new idea or promote yourself to a potential employer. Whatever the purpose, these structured reflections can have major implications. For example, Marketing Charts found that .

But where to begin a case study can seem overwhelming—and what works for one won’t work for all. Sometimes, the best-designed reflections come from good preparation, with wiggle room to be surprised.

What Projects Are Worth Turning Into Case Studies

Kristie Ritchie, VP of marketing at , says that case studies should be crafted anytime a marketer or company tries something new or innovates the brand, product or its approach. Case studies can be crafted for product launches or when project results are outstanding. “Really, anything can be turned into a case study if you have the right information and story,” she says.

Case studies are being used to attract new customers, so they should include examples that are relevant to the audience. “Case studies are meant to mirror the diversity of customers to make it easier for customers to see themselves or their use case,” says Sam Balter, senior marketing manager at .

Balter uses website building and hosting company as an example. The company tapped well-known actors Keanu Reeves and Jeff Bridges to draw attention in its commercials, but then highlighted the actors’ stories to mimic how regular customers would use the product. The average Squarespace user hasn’t starred in a cult classic movie, but, the ad suggests, if Squarespace is good enough and simple enough for Bridges to make a website for his spoken-word and ambient sounds album, it’s good enough for the average user’s small business.

“You probably want to focus on people who are slightly above average in terms of name recognition,” Balter says, but those high-profile spokespeople should still have a use case that will resonate with the most common customers.

When to Begin Working on a Case Study

There are at least two schools of thought on case study writing: Start as soon as the spotlight project or campaign ends, while the details are still fresh, or start even sooner. “Work on it throughout the process by having someone document milestones, program changes and results,” Ritchie says.

There’s also an argument for postponing case study creation. Balter says that the hiatus depends on the type of project you’re highlighting. For example, a website redesign intended to improve traffic won’t show results for at least a few weeks. Balter argues that marketers should consider case studies to be evolving pieces of content that receive occasional updates rather than static pieces set in stone.

When to Use a Template

Reflection is nice, but when time is short, a prepared template for case studies can keep work on schedule. Ritchie suggests preparing different templates for different types of campaigns. “A brand campaign case study might look totally different than a shopper marketing case study,” she says. Many templates will include similar elements, such as business challenges, insights, strategy or tactics and results. Some may flow better as a story than a formatted report.

Just as the same format shouldn’t be used for every type of project, Balter cautions against jamming a case study into an inappropriate template and missing what makes each project unique. Marketers should leave room for flexibility, as special stories can be the difference between a forgettable study and a memorable one. Marketers should include details that may only seem important to an individual client or company, Balter says, because they inject interest into the case study and provide relatable content.

Steps to Build a Case Study

1. Determine Its Purpose

Is the case study intended to lure new customers? Is it for an industry presentation? Determine the criteria that will make it successful. Knowing the target audience and what questions they need answered will drive the content and choice of template.

2. Find the Example That Best Fits the Goal

Use a case study from a particularly compelling client (especially one that is recognizable). If the case study requires reaching out to a company for approval or to learn more about the results, start with a pre-interview. “You don’t necessarily want to set expectations,” Balter says. “You want to reach out and say, ‘I’d love to hear about your story. I work on our customer success team, I’m just looking to learn more.’ Start with something that allows you to get that information without promising too much.”

3. Gather the Basics

Have a team member track core information as the project progresses. You’ll also collect final data and results—anything quantifiable. “It’s good to keep this information factual, so you can take a journalistic approach to writing case studies—find out what’s valuable to the reader and adapt the story to that,” Ritchie says.

4. Produce in a Compelling Format

Some case studies will lend themselves best to video, particularly if the subjects are well-spoken. Don’t push a format that doesn’t fit the content. A technical-heavy case study won’t be visually interesting, and the important pieces may be best communicated with a chart anyhow.

5. Leave Room for Something Unique

As Balter suggests, a subject may give you a one-of-a-kind story. If the case study is internal, Ritchie recommends including lessons learned. Whatever the purpose of the case study, there’s an opportunity to inject something memorable.

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