In recent years, onboarding employees & customers with corporate swag packs have become a popular trend among many companies, as more organisations recognise the importance of creating a positive and engaging experience for new hires. If you took a tour of THEMPC’S warehouse and you will see that this trend isn’t going anywhere! Our shelves are filled with items for corporate swag packs for some big brands like Pepsico, UKG, Firemon, Exclusive Networks and TipJar – and these are just some of the brands that have trusted us to create something bespoke for their brand.
Why has this trend become so popular?
The purpose of onboarding, employee & corporate swag packs is to make the first impression the right impression and help new employees feel welcomed, valued, and excited about joining the organisation. It reinforces a sense of belonging and fosters a positive company culture right from the get-go. These packs often include a combination of company-branded items, practical tools, and fun goodies.
For Pepsico, their packs provide new starters everything they would need for their first day! Kitting their employees out to become brand ambassadors from day 1!
Here are some of the most popular items that can be found in onboarding and employee swag packs:
- Branded apparel: T-shirts, hoodies, hats or backpacks with the company logo or slogan. These items can be worn by employees to showcase their affiliation with the organisation. A premium laptop bag can be used to hold the rest of the items in the pack, reducing the use of cardboard and making the packs more economical.
- Office essentials: Items like notebooks, pens, and sticky notes with the company logo. These practical items can be used by employees in their day-to-day work and help promote the brand. Also, we encourage customers to review the wide range of sustainable options now available in the market like the amazing Oceano notebook which is 100% recycled, biodegradable, acid & chlorine free and made from FSC responsible forestry paper.
- Tech gadgets: USB drives, phone chargers, or portable power banks with the company logo. These items are not only useful but also reinforce the organisation’s tech-savvy image.
- Drinkware: Branded water bottles, coffee mugs, or tumblers. These items are not only eco-friendly but also encourage employees to stay hydrated or enjoy their favourite beverages. Our personal favourite is the ocean bottle, this is a company on a real mission to make a change with a 100% carbon natural product – for each one sold they save 1000 bottles heading for ocean waste. What a powerful brand to associate with your own logo in the hands of your employees & customers!
- Welcome letter, postcard, or handbook: A personalised letter, postcard or handbook that provides essential information about the company, including its vision, values, and policies. This helps new starters understand the organisation better and sets expectations from day one.
- Snacks & Sweets: Eco sweet boxes, vegan or gluten free snacks, biscuits, or crisps, because everyone loves a snack! These items can be personalised to individual’s dietary requirements so no employee is left out or has something they can’t enjoy; this also reinforces that the company cares about each employee.
- Fun items: Stickers, keychains, stress balls, or other small items that add a touch of fun and playfulness to the pack. These items can create a positive and light-hearted atmosphere within the workplace.
Here’s three promotional ideas that will help you draw in the crowds at events and ensure they remember you:
- The best freebies for events are items that are small, light and useful. Business promotional items such as promotional Pens or eco-friendly boxes of vegan gummy bears will always make the perfect exhibition giveaways, but we’d suggest that you mix this with some higher priced event giveaways too.
- Combine low value event items with the opportunity to walk away with higher priced promotional corporate gifts. In 2023, THEMPC has seen a surge in interactive stand games, such as branded Cornhole games, Wheels of Fortune or Don’t Buzz the Buzzer. By nature, people are competitive and giving the chance to win a higher value prize such as a trendy Solo Stove Bonfire or an attractive vacuum coffee maker (which will be delivered beautifully gift wrapped after the event) can draw in the crowds. Need help developing a game? We can help with that as well as event giveaway ideas.
- Want to elevate your event gift experience? Gift wrap your giveaways for exhibition and other events! (remember the neuroscience bit about unwrapping gifts). We offer branded tissue paper, branded tape, gift boxes, and personalised tags – and we even offer a gift-wrapping service, so your promotional items come delivered direct to your event – event-ready.
Emma Marsh co-owner of THEMPC, comments:
“In every case, we strive to create corporate gift boxes that feel special and convey a sense of the company’s culture. No company is ever the same, their business values are always different, so we aim to provide something bespoke every time. Our mission is to understand the customers aims and provide them with solutions to help them stand out! With my team you are in safe creative hands to make your packs stand out!”
Make your corporate SWAG packs fun like this coffee kit for Thales, which includes the essentials to complement the premium travel mug in the pack!
The design and contents of onboarding, employee or customer corporate swag packs can vary depending on the organisation’s culture, budget, and preferences. Some companies even allow employees to customise their swag packs by choosing items from a selection. This personalisation adds an extra layer of engagement and ensures that employees receive items they genuinely appreciate.
For one of our customers UKG, we have helped them with a bespoke customer appreciation campaign, setting up bespoke click to claim website landing pages which their customers then claim SWAG packs from. These packs are held in our UK and EU warehouses, orders are received by our team who take care of all the logistics – we ship the packs on demand and help UKG show their customers a token of their appreciation with their insiders campaign.
The innovative software behind these claim pages is our very own SwagOnline, developed by our own team to streamline merchandise management, and reduce the administrative side of managing marketing collateral. SwagOnline is a centralised merchandise management portal and can be tailored to our customers’ requirements. Our SwagOnline microsites can be linked with bespoke campaign pages, capturing new starters details in a custom-built claim page, sending the order directly to our team to take care of order fulfilment and delivery.
One of our recent favourite packs for Exclusive Networks includes items selected to perfectly complement each other in terms of quality, style and perfectly matched to their brand pallet.
Ordering your Corporate SWAG Packs
Overall, onboarding and employee swag packs have become a popular trend as they help create a positive first impression, boost employee morale, and foster a sense of pride and loyalty towards the organisation.
Get in touch, give us your brief, we will ask you lots of questions to allow us to add our creative flair to your kits!