In this episode, Jeremy Parker, the co-founder and CEO of swag.com, shared some fascinating insights into the world of promotional products and swag. He mentioned that his background as a documentary filmmaker led him to the realization that he wanted to pursue a different career. This ultimately led him to start a T-shirt company, which served as a valuable learning experience in manufacturing, marketing, PR, branding, and e-commerce.

Parker shared how swag.com was born out of his observations of the changing promotional products industry. He noticed that the industry was growing, but the buyers were getting younger, and they desired a more efficient and streamlined experience for purchasing promotional products. This led him to envision and build the next-generation promotional product company, where the front-end experience was highly automated, while the back-end operations involved a lot of manufacturing and coordination.

An interesting highlight was when Parker described the launch of SwagSpace, a division under custom ink. They provided the technology developed over nine years at swag.com for free to allow anyone to sell swag to their audience. This initiative aimed to simplify swag sales and open a new revenue stream for various businesses, such as screen printers, event planners, and designers.

The conversation delved into how Swag.com monetized the free technology it provided to partners, leveraging its buying power and dynamic pricing to maintain margins while increasing sales for its partner distributors.

Another key highlight was Parker's discussion on integrating AI into their systems. He detailed their upcoming AI helper tool, allowing the system to curate offerings, automatically create mock-ups, and interact with clients to streamline the entire product selection and design process, making it faster and more efficient.

The dialogue also touched on the importance of quality and the significance of swag that people actually want to keep, emphasizing the impact of meaningful and practical swag on enhancing brand connection.

Additionally, Parker shared anecdotes of unique and unconventional swag requests, such as the case where a company wanted to customize high-quality backpacks for employees, with the logo subtly placed on the inside lining, creating an exclusive, personal connection to the brand.

Overall, the episode provided valuable insights into the evolving world of promotional products and swag, the role of technology, and the importance of connecting with an audience through thoughtful and purposeful swag.

To get in touch with Jeremy, you can visit swag.com or swag.place. Use swag.com. If you want to buy swag or if you're a manufacturer and want to work them. Use wwag.space if you want to start selling swag to your audience. Jeremy's email is jeremy@swag.com.