Hello 2020! As we head into the new year, it’s the perfect time to resolve to improve your pin game. Retailers, makers and brand marketers are all tapping into the ever-popular trend of pin badges to drive revenue, promote brands and reach new customers.
A key perk of pin badges is their speed; many can be designed, manufactured and delivered in just a few short weeks. Which also makes them a great medium to leverage timely moments in news, sports, fashion or pop culture. They’re also a creative way to do good. For example, a ten-year-old boy recently made koala pin badges to raise money for the devastating wildlife fires in Australia; he had over 300 orders in the first two days! The question now is, how will you use them? As you plan out your new year campaigns, here’s three ways to up your pin game in 2020.
1) Get Creative
There are countless ways to use pin badges to promote your brand or service. Consider planning a pin badge promotion to give away special limited-edition badges to prospects or customers. Or, if you’re looking to diversify your retail shelves in 2020, try incorporating pin badge sets into your merchandise strategy. For luxury brands, pin badges offer an accessible price point to introduce customers to your products. Coach, for example, offers a whimsical line of affordable keyrings, patches and charms. There are even special luxury pin badge collections for specific audiences, like gamers. Many breweries are tapping into the pin badge trend to boost sales, engage enthusiastic beer fans and keep the public up-to-date on new brews and promotions. For example, check out Orkney Brewery’s pin badge game, which features full-colour stainless steel badges of the brewery’s top beers, like this Raven Ale pin badge. Or Blackpit Brewery’s vintage-inspired collection of “Quality Ales” badges. Pin badges and other small accessories make great gifts to round out your other merchandise offerings like clothing, hats and bags.
2) Go Collectable
One trend that continues to gain momentum year after year is collectable badges. We see these popping up everywhere, from beer makers to the sports and entertainment industry to theme parks. Often, retailers will sell these on a “limited time” basis, which adds a compelling element of exclusivity and fancy.
They’re also quite fun! Merlin, for example, creates a collection of collectable pop badges for its various theme parks. Certain badges are only available at certain parks, which makes collecting them a welcome challenge. Merlin often releases limited edition or one-off pins through various social media contests, further gamifying the company’s pin game and promotions.
Your ideas don’t need to stop with pin badges, either. There are many cool ways to transform your brand into covetable collections for your unique customers. For example, we recently collaborated with Dropdead on a special clothing and accessories line with Universal Studios to honor the 25th anniversary of the iconic film “Jurassic Park.”
The Drop Dead x Jurassic Park line includes some very special badges, patches and keyrings (check out the great keyring that looks like a fossilized mosquito in amber, from the movie scene). We were honored to help design a line of neat accessories to accompany the line, which has been one of the brand’s largest collaborations to date!
3) Think Greetings
Who doesn’t enjoy getting personal mail, especially a lovely greeting card? Another way to up your pin game in the new year is to incorporate pin badges into special greeting cards. Within your company, these would make great welcome gifts for new hires or rewards for staff members who hit certain goals. Cards are a lovely and personalised way to connect with prospects and customers for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays or as a special follow-up and thank you message for service-based firms, once a job is complete.
Greetings cards with matching pins would also be an affordable addition to any online shop or retail store, including key point-of-checkout locations. We can all agree that greeting cards are great, but those with a little matching pin badge may be seen as even more whimsical and memorable amongst your prospects and customers.
Lastly, keep in mind that today’s pin badges are available in a vast range of sizes, shapes, materials and finishes, including three-dimensional designs and jeweled embellishments. Many producers offer a full range of Pantone colours to ensure a perfect reproduction of your unique branding or artwork. So, get creative, go collectable and think greetings in 2020!
We’d love to know more about your goals and help you design the perfect products to drive revenue, promote your brand and reach new customers this year. Please get in touch with us anytime.
