The Event Doesn’t Start at the Booth: How Pre-Event Mailers Increase Meetings and Engagement

The event doesn’t start at the booth: it starts two to four weeks earlier, in the inboxes and mailrooms of the people you most want to meet. Pre-event mailers are targeted physical packages sent to key prospects, customers, or speakers ahead of a trade show, designed to secure meetings and start the relationship before attendees […]

The Employee Onboarding Kit Guide: What to Include, What to Avoid, and How to Scale 

What Is an Employee Onboarding Kit?  An employee onboarding kit (sometimes called a welcome kit or new hire kit), is a curated collection of branded merchandise and practical items given to employees at or before their start  date. Done well, it’s the first tangible signal that your organization invests in its people. Done poorly, it’s a box of forgotten items that ends up […]

How to Build an Employee Store: A Step-by-Step Guide for HR and Marketing Leaders 

What Is an Employee Store?  An employee store (sometimes called a company store or branded merchandise portal), is a dedicated platform where employees can browse, select, and order branded merchandise. It may be fully employer-funded, employee-funded, or a hybrid model where employees use an allowance toward a broader catalog.  Employee stores have become one of […]

The Airport Test: Why Most Trade Show Merchandise Never Makes It Home 

Walk through any airport security line the Friday after a major trade show and you’ll see the truth about trade show giveaways: branded tote bags abandoned at the TSA bin, stress balls left on armrests, stacks of glossy one-sheets stuffed into seat-back pockets. After all, if an item doesn’t survive the trip from booth to boarding gate, […]

Your Trade Show Booth Is an Experience, Are You Designing It That Way? 

Trade show experience design treats an exhibit not as a static display of products and giveaways, but as a connected sequence of touchpoints that begins before attendees arrive and continues long after the show floor closes. For Marketing Directors and Event Marketing Managers planning their 2026/2027 calendars, this distinction matters more than ever. The average exhibitor now spends […]

How to Cut Costs on Branded Goods and Uniforms During Fall 2026: A Strategic Guide 

By IDX | Branded Goods & Uniform Solutions  What Are the Biggest Cost Drivers in Branded Goods Procurement Right Now?  In 2026, businesses managing branded merchandise and uniforms face a perfect storm of cost pressures: volatile freight rates, rising material costs, and the compounding inefficiency of fragmented supplier networks. The U.S. promotional products market has […]

Merchandise Program Analytics: How to Cut Costs and Improve Employee Experience 

Merchandise program analytics, the practice of turning ordering history into operational intelligence, is what separates mature branded merchandise programs from programs that simply reorder what they ordered last year and hope for the best. Most organizations running an employee merchandise program are sitting on a meaningful asset they’ve never fully used: their own data. Applied consistently, that data can […]

How to Forecast Merchandise Demand When You Have No Historical Data 

Launching a new employee merchandise program means making inventory commitments before you have any merchandise demand forecasting data to work from, and the cost of getting it wrong runs in both directions. Order too little, and you’re delaying new hire onboarding kits, scrambling for stock, and creating a poor first impression. Order too much, and you’re absorbing sunk inventory […]

The Operational Side of Anniversary Campaigns Most Organizations Overlook

Anniversary campaigns are often viewed through the lens of branding, storytelling, and employee engagement. But behind every successful milestone celebration is a complex operational effort involving planning, procurement, fulfillment, and distribution. As organizations prepare for major commemorative initiatives, from company anniversaries to large-scale national observances such as the upcoming America 250 celebration, the ability to […]

America 250 Campaign Ideas for Brands, Teams, and Communities

America 250 marks the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026, creating a once-in-a-generation opportunity for organizations to engage employees, strengthen community connections, and tell meaningful stories about their impact. For brands, municipalities, schools, nonprofits, and employers, America 250 is more than a commemorative event. It’s an opportunity to bring people together through shared […]