The THREE biggest reasons why people fall in love with festival merchandise:
As a merchandise printing company, we always share all the benefits and opportunities that merchandise can bring with our clients. We also share how selling this merchandise can increase the earnings of producing any type of festival, which is a huge effort.
But, on the consumers (or attendee) side, there are THREE main reasons why they will definitely but your festival merchandise, and these three main reasons can represent a huge opportunity for your company:
Good memories:
It’s no secret that nostalgia sells. We all buy souvenirs from particular occasions that we attend as a way of remembering this event or festival. Aligning your marketing strategies to draw on your potential customer’s emotions and feelings has proven to be a successful, long-term strategy – especially if you’re aiming at engaging with millennials. Plus, we all know that millennials love festivals.
“It’s about trying to go back to a time where things were different. When things are uncertain in the present time, looking backwards is a comforting thing for people to do.”
These are the words of David Sprott, a Marketing Associate Professor at Washington State University and the author of many studies in the area of nostalgia. Sometimes, a long time doesn’t even need to pass for people to want nostalgia. Looking at a wristband you had at Glastonbury in 2016 will still bring a smile back to your face although it happened this year.
Helping to generate nostalgic feelings in people is one of the greatest things that you can do for your customer’s happiness. As Jane Austen wrote in Pride and Prejudice:
“Think only of the past as its remembrance gives you pleasure.”
To show off:
It’s a well-known truth that a large number of people like to brag when they achieve a certain goal; it almost becomes a milestone celebration. Attending the festival of their dreams, whether it’s an annual thing or if it’s the one and only time they’ll ever be attending, most people will want to celebrate this with some form of a memento which says that they were there. This is one of the main reasons that you’ll see so many pictures on social media of a particular festival.
People love to share these pictures and let their friends and the world know that they were part of this excellent time. It’s a matter of status, you’re a part of this select group who attended that particular festival in that particular year.
People always post their status’ on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and any other social media site to increase their status within their social groups or communities. They are also more likely to upload pictures of themselves wearing the merchandise that they bought from that particular festival as well. This means that your festival merchandise can gather some sort of a following as people are sharing their pictures of you wearing this clothing with their friends and family and this will help you gain more exposure through social media.
Another huge benefit of this is that the picture which is being shared will most likely stay on social media for years and it will be remembered on the anniversary of the event. If you’re selling merchandise at the same event the following year, you can also offer a different design and turn your festival merchandise into collector’s items.
The feeling of belonging:
People love nothing more than to feel like they’re part of a bigger picture; we love to be part of a group where we can identify ourselves. Having a sense of belonging is an incredibly common feeling as it means that we’ve been accepted as a member of something. There is a popular saying which goes “Birds of a feather flock together” and as we gather life experiences this is definitely the case.
If we go back to the nostalgia effect, getting printed merchandise helps us to show off the group that we belong to and helps us to identify ourselves to others.
We have had the opportunity in the past to print merchandise for some big events such as the Cannes Lions Festival. The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity is the largest worldwide event that gathers advertising and creative business professionals, marketers, advertisers, designers, digital innovators and marketers working in creative communications, advertising, digital media and related fields. More than 12,000 people from over 100 different countries come together to learn, network and to celebrate – making this a truly global event.
In these two opportunities, we printed T Shirts, wristbands and lanyards among other types of merchandise and promotional products.
“Basically, you guys were a pleasure to work with – one of the better suppliers we’ve dealt with and what you produced was very high quality. The price / quality value can’t be beaten really. Two thumbs up.”
These are the words of Senta Slingerland, the Head of Digital and Creative at Lions Festivals.
We strongly encourage you to print merchandise for any festival that you’re organising or attending. By printing merchandise it will open up a lot of opportunities for you, you can engage with your audience and you can leave a mark on them. It will also generate a buzz which the participants will share. At Garment Printing, we’re able to deliver a wide range of high-quality merchandise and promotional products and we will guide you through the process and offer you the best printing technique to suit your needs and your budget.
Top 5 tips for selling merchandise at festivals
There are some amazing festivals in the UK in all months of the year, for all kinds of interests and hobbies. You might have thought that music festivals were the only kind of festival – but you’d be wrong if so! There are literary festivals, art festivals, food festivals, crafting festivals, theatre festivals… All of them happening throughout the country on a regular basis.
These festivals (no matter how big or small) are a great way of finding an audience for your brand or product – especially if you can find a festival focussed on a specific niche or industry. Take for example an artist. If they can find several art festivals throughout the UK, and can go and network and exhibit at those festivals – not only are they growing their audience, but they can also use the opportunity to sell merchandise too. It’s a fantastic opportunity all round.
If you’re thinking of heading to a festival raise your brand awareness and to sell merchandise, hopefully this article will give you a few ideas of how to make the most of it.
Tip 1: Create some eye-catching signage
There will likely be lots of other people selling merchandise at whichever festival you’ve headed to, so making sure you can stand out is really important. Getting some proper signs made up, and even some ‘photo opportunities’ set up (a flower wall or an insta frame works great!) is another way to attract people to your stand / stall. If people know what you’re selling from a distance, they’ll know straight away if they want to come and take a look, and also professional signage makes the brand look professional too!
Tip 2: Opt for quirky merchandise
Don’t just do what everyone else is doing, try and push the boat out a little bit or think outside the box. If you know everyone around you will be selling t shirts, why not opt to sell hoodies instead? Standing out is a good thing, and being unique and offering something a little different can really help bump up your sales.
Tip 3: Have a variety of prices
A lot of people make the mistake when selling merchandise, is that they invest in selling just one really amazing item, such as a t-shirt or a poster. Whilst this is great, and perfecting one item does work well, it’s also a good idea to look into other items too so you can offer a variety of things, at a variety of prices. For example, t shirts might be your main selling point, but if you also have magnets, badges and prints for people who can’t afford a t-shirt – you’re giving yourself more opportunities to make money. Those people who can only afford smaller items might’ve spent their money elsewhere, but now, because you’re catering to lots of different budget, you’ve given people plenty of choices.
Tip 4: Make your designs easy to see
Another mistake people often make when selling at festivals, is cramming their designs into boxes or (just generally) not thinking about how they’re presented. If you’re selling clothing, wear it yourself! That way it’s really easy for people to see the quality and the designs (even if your retail space is limited). If you’re selling other bits like pens, pencils, accessories – have samples ready and waiting for people to play with and have a closer look at. The last thing you want to be doing is folding and unfolding items, or unpacking and resealing items during a busy day.
Tip 5: Offer a freebie
One of the best ways to get people over to your stall or stand is to offer freebies! A great way to do this is to have drinks or sweets / candy on offer for people who come over to your stall. It’s a nice little welcome, and you might pull people over who wouldn’t have come otherwise. You can also do things such as giving away a lower priced item for free, if someone buys a higher priced item. Say, for example, a free magnet every time someone buys a hoodie or a t-shirt. It’s just an extra ‘thank you’ you can give customers and it’s a nice way to bring people over to your stand.
If you’re heading to a festival soon and you’re looking to explore different merchandising options, here at Garment Printing we specialise in beautiful merchandising products that are also unique and designed well. Our items range from t shirts and hoodies, to pens, pencils, hats, caps, bottle coolers – there’s something for everyone. All our items can be personalised too – which means your merchandise will stand out from the crowd.
Our printing experts will be on hand to help you and ensure you end up with the perfect items to sell to your fans and customers!