Logo merchandise is popular with corporate entities, sports teams and musicians alike. The idea of a catchy custom promotional logo, slogan and image is rooted in biology, since our memories are hard-wired to pick up certain triggers and rely on a combination of methods to remember things. Therefore, if someone reads a pamphlet, they’re likely to forget your name or message. However, if they’ve received logo merchandise, they’re getting the sensory stimulus of both sight and touch, while linking pictures and words to derive meaning. Additionally, they will have your promotional merchandise for years to come, so every time they use it, they will be making a connection with your brand, which will likely lead to sales and repeat customers.

Logo products make the music world go round. Just ask Paul Stanley, singer for KISS. “We sell about 2,700 products around the world,” says Stanley. “So we’re the largest and biggest merchandising band of all times and have been for years.” He said their logo merchandise encompasses everything from clothes and dolls, to condoms and funeral caskets. The imprinted merchandise certainly pays off too, earning the band something like $48 million last year. Any band, established or new, will tell you that it’s not the ticket sales or the record sales where they make all their hard-earned cash: it’s the merchandise.

If you think about it, even cities use logo merchandise to promote a certain idea, image or eye-catcher. If Berkeley California had a brand, it would probably be tie-dye. Chicago is “the Windy City.” New York is “the Big Apple” (not to be confused with Apple Computers). The City of Colorado Springs, home to the U.S. Olympic Committee headquarters, has added the Olympic rings to the city’s logo products, a deal which has undoubtedly secured their future partnership with the committee.

You may choose a retailer to market your logo merchandise or you may opt to set up your own online shop to cut out the middle man. CafePress.com is a great site for t-shirt design, where you can put your designs up for free and only pay a small fee to make what you actually sell. Many marketing gurus advise using your logo merchandise as promotional product advertising or trade show giveaways to entice potential customers. This style of marketing (sometimes called “guerilla marketing”) is usually structured around some big event or festival to hit masses of people at once. Remember, spending a little bit of money now can yield big results later!