Andy Haumersen

In the world of modern business, standing out is the name of the game. One killer way to make your brand unforgettable? Branded merchandise. Whether you're a scrappy startup building your name or a seasoned player deepening customer loyalty, personalized merch is your ticket to the big leagues. Here’s why you should be all in on branded merch: Unique Brand Identity: Branded merchandise lets you craft a unique brand identity that blows the competition out of the water. Slap your logo, colors, and messaging on anything from apparel to accessories, and you’ll boost brand recognition while leaving a memorable mark on your audience. Increased Brand Visibility: Think of merch as your own mobile billboard. When folks use or wear your branded merch out in the world, they’re basically your brand ambassadors, spreading the word and pulling in potential customers like a magnet. Enhanced Customer Engagement: Giving out branded merchandise creates a personal connection with your customers. A thoughtful, personalized gift makes them feel valued and appreciated, turning them into loyal repeat customers faster than you can say “branded mug.” Cost-Effective Marketing: Compared to traditional advertising, branded merchandise is a bang-for-your-buck way to promote your brand. Hand out promo products at events or toss them into customer orders, and the long-term brand exposure more than pays off the initial cost. Brand Loyalty and Advocacy: Branded merch builds brand loyalty. When customers feel that warm fuzzy connection to your brand, they’re more likely to become your biggest cheerleaders, recommending your products or services to everyone they know. Versatile Branding Opportunities: The sky’s the limit with branded merchandise. From unique product designs to creative packaging, you can tailor your merch to reflect your brand’s quirky personality and core values. Memorable Brand Experiences: Branded merchandise isn’t just stuff - it’s a way to create memorable brand experiences. Whether it’s a special gift or a fun promotional campaign, these moments stick with customers and deepen their loyalty. Branded merchandise is a powerhouse for elevating your brand and standing out from the crowd. Invest in personalized products that scream your brand's story and values, and you'll forge meaningful connections, boost visibility, and drive serious business growth. #Branding #BrandedMerchandise #MarketingStrategy #BrandAwareness #BusinessGrowth #BrandedMerch

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If you missed the Retail Media Report Card Deep Dive webinar, it's now available to watch on-demand! Watch The Mars Agency's commerce media team discuss how retail media can be leveraged to drive incremental growth for your brand and what capabilities leading retailers are bringing to the table: https://lnkd.in/gxGRYzvQ #retailmedia #webinar #retailmediareportcard

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Major League Baseball on Monday announced WM, a leading environmental services provider, as the Official Sustainability Partner of Major League Baseball. This is the first sustainability-focused partner in League history, which will aim to elevate MLB’s continued sustainability-related efforts in ballparks and throughout communities. WM will be the presenting sponsor of Major League Baseball’s official Earth Day and Green Week celebrations, which will include a variety of environmental-positive practices and messaging. Additionally, WM will offer sustainability advisory services to MLB Clubs, which includes end-to-end solutions intended to help customers achieve their sustainability goals in waste reduction and diversion, greenhouse gas emissions management, and more. WM also will support MLB Green Teams at MLB All-Star Week, the World Series and other MLB special events, as well as provide support to the League office and its facilities. “As with any event driven industry that prioritizes sustainability at our facilities and in our communities, it is critical that we partner with organizations that share similar values in that space,” said Noah Garden, Deputy Commissioner, Business & Media, Major League Baseball. “This new partnership with WM takes our sustainability efforts to new heights. We look forward to continuing this work with WM as we host best-in-class events that are sustainability-focused driven for years to come.” “WM has a more than 20-year history for its advisory services team, providing sustainability solutions for a variety of customers of all sizes and industries,” said Tara Hemmer, chief sustainability officer, WM. “Our expertise has helped us triple the number of customers in the sports space since 2021 – including leagues, events, teams and venues -- and we look forward to the incredible opportunity to build comprehensive and custom plans designed to improve sustainable operations for MLB and its Clubs.” https://lnkd.in/gEM-rYBF

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You can have as many best-in-breed #martech and #cms tools as you like (and you mostly likely do), but if you don’t have the resources or strategy to support them, they’re just a bunch of shinny sports cars without any gas. #OEG #opsenabledgrowth #marketingops #demandgen 

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If you missed the Retail Media Report Card Deep Dive webinar, it's now available to watch on-demand! Watch The Mars Agency's commerce media team discuss how retail media can be leveraged to drive incremental growth for your brand and what capabilities leading retailers are bringing to the table: https://lnkd.in/dUXpPsT4 #retailmedia #webinar #retailmediareportcard

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🔔 Salt Bae's NYC Steakhouse Closes: A Lesson for E-commerce 🌟 Salt Bae’s viral fame couldn’t save his NYC steakhouse from closing. This reminds us: virality ≠ business success. In e-commerce, it’s tempting to chase viral moments. But here’s what really matters: 1. Strong Foundations: Quality products and stellar service. 2. Customer Retention: Turn first-time buyers into loyal fans. 3. Consistency Over Flash: Sustainable growth over viral spikes. Long-term strategy beats short-term buzz every time. Let’s focus on lasting value! #Ecommerce #DigitalMarketing #BusinessStrategy #CustomerRetention #MarketingLessons

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Liquid Death provides a lesson after lesson in competitive positioning. What sets your product, service and company apart from your competitors? What value do you offer? How is it different from others? Food for thought over the weekend. Happy Friday everyone. #branding #marketing #b2b #digitalmarketing #sparkandmatter

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Check out this insightful blog post discussing why some wineries don't engage in digital advertising and why they all should. The article highlights the importance of digital advertising for wineries and i’ve seen a significant increase in wineries utilizing digital platforms in recent years. Dive into the details here: https://lnkd.in/dmcCffeD

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🎉 Really excited about this one.... An interesting thing is happening in the performance marketing ecosystem: digital media has become slower and more aggregated in terms of feedback, while OOH and DOOH have become more granular with faster reporting, meaning there's a 'meeting in the middle' and OOH is earning its rightful place in the sales funnel. There's a lot to unpack, but looking forward to chatting on it! #performancemarketing #ooh

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Ads on Grocery TV’s In-Store Retail Media Network Achieve an Average 14% Sales Lift for CPG Brands: NEW YORK, April 16, 2024 — Grocery TV, an in-store digital advertising network reaching 1 in 5 Americans, today announced the results of a meta analysis that showed, on average, consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands achieve a 14% incremental lift in sales by advertising on their network. The meta analysis included studies from the last […] #DOOH #digitalbillboards #digitalsignage

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Last night, at the Canopy Advisory Group event, Jennifer Sey and Griffen O'Shaughnessy discussed the complex dynamics of authenticity and culture within branding. Branding is personality, and staying connected to the true essence of what the brand stands for is more critical than ever as the full-on brand assault of modern life escalates. To guide a brand, the relentless pursuit of knowing who YOU are and staying true to your own value is crucial in an industry that often tries to reshape you into someone you're not. CMOs pour their hearts into the brands they serve so nurturing their own value is a success component. This discussion really connected with me. They discussed how professional feedback can often fuel anxiety and self-doubt. Still, the key is to know your worth and not let others define your limits so you can grow a brand through courageous leadership, rejecting the notion that we must conform to every expectation and instead cultivating the ability to stand out. This core 'knowing' of your own value allows you to build and support brands in a world where art and branding can be confused. Art embodies angst, brand embodies personality, while advertising (should) focus on the product delivered with the brand's personality. Jen, Congrats on the launch of XX-XY Athletics 🍾🍾 #brandingnerd #branding #marketing #value #brand #growth #art #strategy #authenticity #culture #authentic

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Liquid Death do not beat about the bush !!! Quite direct communication that comes like a slap to question marketing BS and get worldwide attention !!! Disruptive strategy in every aspect of it, bold moves and massive business success… I see in Europe a lot of brands cutting marketing budgets and ambition, while private labels take the share of market … Here a proof that strong marketing strategy leads to massive success ! Go for it ! Long live to the brands !! 💪🏼

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Just like their drinks, Liquid Death are refreshing the industry with their marketing campaigns. You never quite know what's coming next from their team. Which is what makes them even more exciting to keep an eye on! #sodamarketing #sugar #murderyourthirst #sparklingwater #liquiddeath #water #marketingcampaign #drinksadvertising

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I love this AD, but not for the product it promotes…🧐 Remember those soda ads with athletes guzzling sugary drinks? Yeah, total BS. Liquid Death Flavored Sparkling has 20 calories and 4g of sugar compared to the sugar bombs in most sodas. That's 10x less sugar… But wait, this isn’t why I’m sharing this.. This isn't just about one brand. The ad game is changing. Brands are roasting each other with hilarious campaigns, pointing out weaknesses and pushing for better products. Think about it: companies are basically studying their competitors and finding ways to improve their own offerings. This fierce competition is ultimately good for us, the consumers! So next time you see a brand playfully mocking another, remember: it might just lead to healthier, tastier options for everyone. Follow me for more Rinor Restelica #LiquidDeath #Marketing #Innovation

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This is a must-read for CMOs! Mars United Commerce recently spoke with CMOs at leading retailers to hear what business challenges they are currently facing. Michele Roney outlines three key capabilities retailer CMOs must build within their marketing organizations to help tackle these challenges. Link to read it in the comments 👇

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New media channels have to prove that they work. Recently, we released an incremental sales lift benchmark for CPG brands using in-store retail media based on 16 studies over the last 5 years. In a follow up interview with Sara Lebow and Arielle Feger at EMARKETER, I had the opportunity to share a bit more about the study and what we’ve seen in terms of adoption of in-store retail media over the last 8 years. In short, it’s been easier for non-endemic brands to jump on board vs. CPG brands primarily because of the budget silos. The non-endemic brands have thought of Grocery TV as another opportunity to reach their audience in a brand-safe environment where they're more likely to be paying attention. The idea of non-endemic in a grocery store is somewhat controversial, but we’ve seen a number of creative, contextual campaigns that tie the environment to the product (ex: credit card companies including messaging about grocery points at the point-of-sale). We're looking forward to providing more benchmarks for both CPG and non-endemic brands to make it easier for them to invest. #DigitalAdvertising #CPG

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Here's a video showing exactly how the ecomm integration works on Roblox in the metaverse of *Walmart Discovered.* And, although we don't have ecomm integration in our Metaverse Lighting Trendhouse project installation for Dallas Market Center's #Lightovation tradeshow, it could have been [ and still could be ]. See the #MetaverseLightingTrendhouse here -> https://lnkd.in/gk-isMVT #hpmkt #dallasmarket #innovationindigitalmarketing #ecommerce #metaverse #roblox #walmartdiscovered

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