March 20, 2020
Help Struggling Restaurants, Musicians With Merch
COVID-19 is crushing cash flows for restaurants, musical acts and businesses tied to live music performance. Promo, however, can help.
The outbreak of COVID-19 in the United States is drying up revenue streams for bars, restaurants, clubs, musical artists, and organizers of music festivals and events.
Government-imposed shutdowns aimed at ensuring social distancing means that bars and eateries of all kinds in locations around the U.S. are either going to take-out only operations or closing down, at least temporarily.
Relatedly, the shuttering of bars, nightclubs and other entertainment venues, along with the cancellation of festivals like SXSW and the general risk that comes with frequent widespread travel, has resulted in musical acts having no place to perform. That’s a big deal, as live performance is where musicians earn their bread and butter in an age in which album sales have dwindled.
thanks @JoshhTerry for asking my opinions for this! https://t.co/5i5hCAJyhT
— hayden s (@haydster__) March 19, 2020
What does this all mean for promotional products distributors? It means there’s an opportunity to help. Sales of branded merchandise can provide a lifeline of revenue for these potential end-buyers during a time of unprecedented economic disruption. Indeed, as Eater reports, merch sales can help keep bars, restaurants and other eateries afloat amid the stormy economic seas. Meanwhile, musical acts and music media across the country are encouraging fans to support entertainers by buying their merch, as this example from Austin, TX illustrates.
Here are potential merch solutions to consider for these clients.
Gracie’s Ice Cream in Somerville, MA sells merch that includes this T-shirt. Eater Boston was encouraging locals to support the shop – and many other local food and drink establishments – by purchasing such branded merchandise.
Educate restaurant and music industry clients about the merch opportunity: You want to be a partner to your clients – a consultant not just an order taker, right? Then get proactive. If you have clients in these niches, contact them immediately and educate them about how others in their market are strategically using promotional products to keep revenue trickling in. Then, offer strategies and support on how they can promote their merch. If the initiatives gain traction, these clients could soon be turning to you for more swag in order to keep fueling their sales. Even if that doesn’t happen, you’ll have strengthened the relationship and helped clients in their hour of need. That effort will likely come back to you in the form of sales when things normalize.
Create merch for livestreams: Of late, musical acts that range from Neil Young to Coldplay to Dropkick Murphys have live-streamed performances. It’s been a way of connecting with and entertaining fans in lieu of live shows. All musical artists, even those with much smaller followings, can do the same thing – and they can offer special branded merchandise to commemorate the streams, as Dropkick Murphys did for their Saint Patrick’s Day livestream (see below Instagram post). Savvy promo pros will talk to record labels, band/tour managers and the musicians themselves about creating special merch that goes on sale during the livestream and then remains on sale for a limited time thereafter. This creates a sense of uniqueness and scarcity, which could help drive purchases.
Turn takeout into a swag sales point: Advise food and drink establishments that they can generate additional revenue by tacking on swag sales to the takeout orders they fulfill. For instance, a pizza place can advertise to customers that if they spend $5 more on their order, they can get a pizza cutter. It can be branded with the establishment’s logo, contact information and a message of thanks for support in difficult times. In the same vein, bars/restaurants can offer inexpensive branded bottle openers as a takeout sale add-on.
Go full in on altruism for local businesses: Riot Printing in Knoxville, TN, was raising money for local bars and restaurants by printing and selling $20 T-shirts that say “I Support Knoxville Service Industry.” Proceeds are being donated to the Knoxville Services Industry Relief Fund, which benefits area bar, restaurants and health/wellness service workers put out of a job by coronavirus shutdowns.
Consider undertaking a like-minded effort in your locale. Find out if a similar fund exists and offer to support it with merch sales. If there’s not a fund and you have a number of restaurant/bar clients in an area, it might be in your interest to coordinate starting one and to then provide supporting merch. Work with suppliers/decorators so that the shirts and/or other products can be done at cost. If, like Riot, you print in-house more’s the better. Sure, it’s some work, and you’re not making money, but you’re helping make a positive difference – and think of the goodwill it will win you. When life returns to the economy, the bars and restaurants that survive will remember who came through for them.
Turn cancellations into a cause for merch: Create special merch that – TACTFULLY – plays off the COVID-19 disruption. Perhaps you were working with a canceled music festival or bands that had to call off tours. Consider creating T-shirts, tanks, hoodies or other items with messaging themed around the unfortunate nixing. As a hypothetical example: “Party Hardy 2020: The Festival That Wasn’t.” Put messaging on there that thanks people for their support and that says something like, “See you next year!” Coordinate with festival organizers and sponsors to see about getting the sponsor’s names on the back of the tees, which could lead to the sponsors covering merchandise costs. The swag can be promoted heavily through social media and the local/music industry press. The promotion can funnel folks to a web store where the merch can be purchased.
Musical acts can take a similar theme and promotional approach for tour-themed merch. If they already have printed tour merch, for instance, they can cleverly modify it by having the word “canceled” printed over the front, as if to look like a stamp. (Something similar was done for Boston’s canceled Saint Patrick’s Day parade.) These clients can pitch the merch to fans as a kind of quirky collector’s item.