The Company: ADVOC8 (asi/156136), a Washington, D.C.-based branded merchandise agency
The Promo Pros: Ben Adams, founder and managing director, engagement; Chelsea Cox, senior brand merchandise manager
The Client: Stadia, a cloud-based gaming service developed and operated by Google
The Job: Provide branded merchandise for Stadia’s holiday season pop-up activations around the world

STEP 1

Nail the Pitch
Adams, Cox and the rest of the ADVOC8 team know that one good job can lead to another. That proved true yet again with Stadia. An existing client that was a big fan of ADVOC8 referred the distributorship to the Google gaming service. With that foothold gained, Adams and Cox developed a savvy strategy and strong pitch that won them the business.

“When we pitched this project, part of the decision to work with us was made by the fact that our team stayed pretty close to the creative direction and mood board they had put together,” says Adams.

STEP 2

Come Up With Unique Solutions
The project centered on providing merchandise for in-person Stadia pop-up events across the globe. The activations occurred in the holiday season of 2019 – early days for the Stadia brand. Recognizing that, Adams and Cox knew it was a pivotally important promotion to thank fans and generate buzz, something that, it was hoped, would be helped along by positive social media posts about the events and the merch.

As such, ADVOC8 needed to provide superior swag that would really stand out. They delivered just that, especially through the 500 LED hoodies they provided. “They were a unique product that played into Stadia’s branding,” explains Cox. “They use neon in much of their branding, so the literal use of LED was an homage to this.”

The hoodies featured LED piping and multiple imprint placements.

ADVOC8 also provided 500 full-color printed double-wall travel mugs and 250 full-color sublimated Sherpa-lined blankets. “For the mugs and blankets, Stadia’s branding did most of the work with its unique gradient,” says Adams.

STEP 3

Ship Smart and Build Trust
The cool merch was free, but would-be recipients had to earn it by completing fun scavenger hunt-style challenges at the pop-up events. Still, for the Stadia devotees to score the swag, the merch had to reach the activation sites. That was a little easier said than done, but ADVOC8 handled the challenges with aplomb.

“Our biggest challenge came from global shipping,” says Cox. “To help with this project, we added an international shipping and customs expert to the project team to help us to ensure that deliveries were made on time.”

Shipping wasn’t the only hurdle Cox and Adams had to clear.

“When we came on to the project, the client’s recent experience with another agency involved some misalignment in understanding of ways to properly use their brand assets, so there were a lot of early conversations on helping them to build trust in an agency,” Adams says.

Ultimately, the merch helped power what turned into successful marketing campaign that propelled the Stadia brand forward. “After the merchandise started going out to fans, the client got a lot of positive feedback on various social media channels and on Reddit,” says Adams. “The merchandise helped Stadia build brand loyalty and awareness among its earliest fans.”

STEP 4

Identify Additional Opportunities
“After this project, we were brought on to support their brand ambassador program, creating similar custom and personalized merchandise for their brand ambassadors,” Cox says. “This included kitting and shipping merchandise around the globe out of our fulfillment warehouse.”