This past summer, my family moved out of the family home we had lived in forever. Of course, my brothers and I had long moved out to our own homes, but the family home is the family home, right?
Our mom was excited to downsize, but then we all realized just how much work it takes to downsize a family home that held two adults, three children growing up, then boomeranging back here and there, plus three grandchildren and countless neighbor kids, cousins and so on, over the course of more than 40 years.
There was so much stuff to find a home for or get rid of for good.
We were adamant that we wanted to limit as much as we could going to the landfill. Of course we couldn’t escape all of it, but it was great to find new homes for old furniture. We even recycled our toys from the 1980s. My little nephews are having a ball with our “vintage” Twister set, Legos — yes, we cleaned them — and Operation game. Unfortunately we had gotten rid of our 1970s Playskool Holiday Inn playset long ago.
We made countless trips to Goodwill and other donation sites, and I mixed a lot of my own donations in when I drove loads to Goodwill because this move really put me in in the mood to de-stuff my own house.
On one trip to Goodwill, I looked in the big garbage bag and realized it was full of corporate swag I had accumulated over the years. There were never-worn half-zip pullovers with logos of companies I worked for over the years, stress balls with insurance company logos, roughly a metric ton of Hilton-branded water bottles, Marriott notepads, Best Western tote bags — you name it.
What does this mean for the hotel industry? It means I think it’s time to reconsider swag.
Simon Havenhand, marketing advisor at Northland Properties in Vancouver, British Columbia, posted an article from Fast Company on LinkedIn recently titled, “Can we finally kill off cheap, disposable conference swag?” and it really resonated.
Havenhand wrote on LinkedIn that his company recently vetoed a swag bag at a conference and instead donated $22,500 to a worthy cause.
Elizabeth Segran’s Fast Company article shares all the stats about plastic use, landfill waste, corporate spend on pens, all of it. Our companies make these things for employees to hand out at trade shows to prospective clients and to act as marketing tools to build the company’s perception.
But if we’ve learned anything over the past few years, it’s that people in general are pretty good at discerning what’s real and authentic about any given experience. Is a logo pullover really going to keep you at a company you hate? Is a logo water bottle really going to remind you to call Company X to learn more about hotel franchising possibilities?
Trade shows and business conferences are making their way back to full strength at the same time the travel industry at large is thinking more concretely about sustainable operations, reducing carbon footprints and supporting their communities.
Now is the perfect time to think twice about promotional products and think instead about directing that spend elsewhere. Maybe it’s a donation to programs spreading awareness about human trafficking. Maybe it’s a donation of amenities to a shelter in your community, or the community where the event is taking place.
If the goal of swag is to keep your company and brand top of mind for your employees and customers, I think a worthy donation is a lot more memorable than a plastic water bottle.
And if you still need that swag in your hand, think about making it a little smarter: A metal water bottle guests get at check-in with your hotel logo on it, that they can refill at refill stations around the property and then take home? Now that's swag with staying power.
Is your swag game getting any more sustainable? Let me know. Email me, or find me on Twitter or LinkedIn.
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