5 ms·

Maybe it's just me, but I always thought wearing your company t-shirt makes you look obnoxious, specially if no one has heard of the company.

by Mahn 14y ago

gregpilling 14y ago
it is just you (kidding). How would they hear of you? Why not wear a t-shirt! T-shirts are a pretty low-cost investment in promotion. I can buy a black shirt with a single color imprint for $3.50 in small runs. A good pen with the company name on it would cost the same. (source: I have been buying giveaway crud for 20+ years) Giving away a metric ton of shirts can have some other interesting effects. In the early days of my manufacturing company we gave away many shirts to people within the industry. We started getting calls about 'our people' attending events that we did not attend. It turns out that some of our customers really saw other customers at trade events, but there were so many people with our company shirt on that they impression was that we were attending in force - we werent at the trade event. After giving away 20,000 shirts in a four year period, our customers started complaining about having too many shirts. So the technique does not last forever. It did always amaze me the delight a grown adult would show when they were given a $3 shirt. Almost always a better investment than a pen. Best ideas: Have a decent looking shirt that people want to wear; change base shirt colors so people can have an option. Some people like blue, some like red. Give them what they want, it doesn't change the cost of the shirt.
- jjsz 14y ago
  Where do you usually get shirts?
- lsc 14y ago
  well, for $3.50, you aren't getting a good T shirt, so it'd be better to compare it to the $0.25 pens. Personally, I spend about 3x that, maybe 4x on small runs, and get nice T shirts. But then, it's rare I see people that I don't know/ that don't know they will be seeing me wearing the shirts. (and I've only given out a couple hundred) so it's possible that the 'blanket 'em with cheap shirts' strategy works better.
RougeFemme 14y ago
I think wearing your company t-shirt is a good way to get conversations started and would be especially effective if no one has heard of the company.
lsc 14y ago
I worry about that, too. The way I see it, if it's your company, it does scream "I /really/ want to talk about my company" which is certainly obnoxious in some contexts... but not in others. The difference, if it's a well known company, is that the talk is much shorter. "Oh, you work for Yahoo?" you know, they have the whole back story there. with my shirt? The conversation is longer, even if the level of enthusiasm is the same. But yeah. It's a good point. And I'd probably have a better non-professional social life if I put some effort in to different outfits for several situations.

Maybe it's just me, but I always thought wearing your company t-shirt makes you look obnoxious, specially if no one has heard of the company.

by Mahn 14y ago

Maybe it's just me, but I always thought wearing your company t-shirt makes you look obnoxious, specially if no one has heard of the company.

gregpilling 14y ago

it is just you (kidding). How would they hear of you? Why not wear a t-shirt! T-shirts are a pretty low-cost investment in promotion. I can buy a black shirt with a single color imprint for $3.50 in small runs. A good pen with the company name on it would cost the same. (source: I have been buying giveaway crud for 20+ years) Giving away a metric ton of shirts can have some other interesting effects. In the early days of my manufacturing company we gave away many shirts to people within the industry. We started getting calls about 'our people' attending events that we did not attend. It turns out that some of our customers really saw other customers at trade events, but there were so many people with our company shirt on that they impression was that we were attending in force - we werent at the trade event. After giving away 20,000 shirts in a four year period, our customers started complaining about having too many shirts. So the technique does not last forever. It did always amaze me the delight a grown adult would show when they were given a $3 shirt. Almost always a better investment than a pen. Best ideas: Have a decent looking shirt that people want to wear; change base shirt colors so people can have an option. Some people like blue, some like red. Give them what they want, it doesn't change the cost of the shirt.

jjsz 14y ago
Where do you usually get shirts?
lsc 14y ago
well, for $3.50, you aren't getting a good T shirt, so it'd be better to compare it to the $0.25 pens. Personally, I spend about 3x that, maybe 4x on small runs, and get nice T shirts. But then, it's rare I see people that I don't know/ that don't know they will be seeing me wearing the shirts. (and I've only given out a couple hundred) so it's possible that the 'blanket 'em with cheap shirts' strategy works better.

RougeFemme 14y ago

I think wearing your company t-shirt is a good way to get conversations started and would be especially effective if no one has heard of the company.

lsc 14y ago

I worry about that, too. The way I see it, if it's your company, it does scream "I /really/ want to talk about my company" which is certainly obnoxious in some contexts... but not in others. The difference, if it's a well known company, is that the talk is much shorter. "Oh, you work for Yahoo?" you know, they have the whole back story there. with my shirt? The conversation is longer, even if the level of enthusiasm is the same. But yeah. It's a good point. And I'd probably have a better non-professional social life if I put some effort in to different outfits for several situations.