Strategy December 16, 2019
Presidential Candidates Sell Branded Holiday Merch
The phenomenon heralds more opportunity for promo products pros.
With the holiday season revving into top gear, some presidential candidates are trying to capitalize with seasonally specific branded merchandise.
President Donald Trump appears to be holiday-merching the hardest. His offerings include a sweater that features the phrase “Merry Christmas” and his 2020 campaign slogan: Keep America Great, or #KAG. “High sellout risk,” the Trump campaign store warned. “Order yours today while supplies last!” The custom-knit sweater was retailing for $75.
Other Trump holiday products include a “Keep America Great” tree ornament, which comes in the shape of the president’s popular “MAGA” – now “KAG” – hats.
Trump tree ornament in the shape of a “KAG” hat
Gift-wrapping paper also features in the Trump collection. There’s a Trump/Pence wrapping paper in a traditional Christmas style, as well as a bold paper that features a pattern of Trump smiling while wearing a KAG-branded Santa hat.
Gift wrapping paper from the Trump store
Trump/Pence Merry Christmas gift wrapping paper
On the Democratic side of the political aisle, presidential candidate Joe Biden was putting a bit of a holiday spin on his logoed swag. The former vice president’s campaign store featured a crewneck sweater in green that combined his trademark aviator sunglasses in a pattern along with snowflakes and “Joe! Joe! Joe!” It was retailing for $50.
Meanwhile, another frontrunner in the Democratic primary, Elizabeth Warren, had a section of her web store dedicated to “Holiday Gifts.” Seasonally themed items included a three-pack of holiday greeting cards. One card features the “W” Warren logo as a Christmas cookie graphic. The other displays a snowflake, blue and white wintery coloring, and the phrase “Grateful down to my toes for you.” The third shows a black-and-white picture of Warren, currently the senior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts, as a child sitting on Santa’s lap. An inside message reads: “All I want for Christmas is big, structural change!”
Elizabeth Warren Holiday Greeting Cards
Bernie Sanders, another candidate who recent polls put toward the front of the Democratic primary pack, wasn’t selling holiday merch per se. Still, the U.S. Senator from Vermont had winter seasonal offerings, such as a Bernie 2020 pom beanie.
The holiday merch is part of the ongoing evolution of promotional products in the political sphere. Candidates and/or their supporters are increasingly creating branded swag based on buzzworthy moments in culture, hot button issues and seasonal happenings like the holidays to generate campaign funds and support. Expect the trend to intensify at the national and local election levels in 2020. Various forecasts project that political advertising spending will fall anywhere from more than $6 billion to nearly $10 billion next year. Part of that marketing push will include promo. Savvy ad specialty distributors will be prepared to capitalize.