It’s Friday at 5 PM. The week is winding down, and I’m ready to shut down for the night when I receive an email I need to look at. Let me tell you why.
The email was from a client I knew was in the process of rebranding—a client who, a month or so ago, I had reached out to and offered to help in any way I could. Most importantly, I wanted to provide feedback on the new logo if possible.
Make no mistake here: I was not looking to have an opinion on the look or feel of the new design, but rather to offer feedback on the logo’s feasibility of reproduction on promotional products and apparel.
When you’re a promotional consultant, you’re often playing Monday morning quarterback—getting handed logos after they’ve already been approved and needing to figure out how to make them work on real-world materials. I didn’t want that here. I have a great relationship with this client and knew I could add value early in the process.
Why Logos Fail on Promo (And How to Catch It Early)
From experience, I know that logo design during a rebrand should always consider real-world production, especially across promotional merchandise. Promo has very specific challenges—small imprint windows, non-porous substrates, standard color systems, minimum text sizes, line thickness issues… the list goes on.
So, I told the client: if I can review the logo before it’s final, I can help you avoid major headaches later.
The client replied and sent me the current brand deck. Boom!
Revealing the Problems with a Real-World Mockup
I reviewed the deck excitedly, combing through the branding strategy and design details. When I landed on the new logo options, I immediately spotted problems—both versions posed potential issues for promo production.
To illustrate this, I mocked up both logo options on one real promotional item. I printed to scale. I brought a physical sample. Then I took it all to lunch with the client.
Lunch went great. I got a deeper understanding of their pain points and priorities, and she got to see—visually—why I was concerned about the logo’s application on promotional merchandise.
This is why you involve promo partners early. When you catch these issues in mockup stage, you avoid production disasters later.
What Partnership Should Actually Look Like
Post-lunch, the client asked if I would provide layouts and additional options for the upcoming brand launch events so she could share them with the design firm at their next meeting. I put together 15 or so items with logo options A and B for review at the meeting and sent them to the client (offering to sit in if she wanted).
Now I wait.
A week goes by, and here is an excerpt from the email I HAD to open today:
Hi Kevin–
We had a great conversation yesterday with the agency regarding the brand launch events. I have a laundry list of potential items broken out by event in the attached Excel spreadsheet. I’d like to focus on these items and narrowing down the choices within each category. I am starting to input quantities into the spreadsheet so we know how many to order once we decide on a product…
Thanks for all you help!
Here was my reply:
I am very pleased to hear you had a good meeting, and you are welcome for whatever help I provided. Only two other times in my career (yes, 25-year career!) selling swag have I been included in the branding process at this stage—and I am very excited to have been. So THANK YOU.
You’ll be able to read my gushing nerdy joy in my next blog (thanks for the inspiration). THIS is why you have a relationship with a promotional professional! Partners who are interested in—and invested in—helping each other reach mutual success.
THIS is why we do what we do. When it’s done right, it sings!
I am looking very much looking forward to helping the client with a successful brand launch.
Thinking About a Rebrand?
Don’t wait until the logo is finalized.
Involve your promotional partner early and avoid costly redesigns, minimum order issues, and last-minute production delays.
If you’re thinking about a rebrand and want a second set of eyes (from someone who lives in the world of real-world production), I’d love to help. Just reach out!