Unhelpful

About a year ago, I left the lights on in my minivan and returned to a car that wouldn’t start. I kept an emergency kit in the trunk for just this sort of situation. I opened the kit to find that the jumper cables were super short, maybe four feet. When a stranger offered to help, she had to maneuver her car to just the right angle so the cables would reach. So, while the kit helped me get home, the awkward experience made me add a set of high-quality cables to my Christmas list so I could toss out the toy ones. The emergency kit was a good idea that didn’t quite deliver.

Helpful

Contrast this with the tote I keep in the back of the van, beside the new jumper cables. Inside is a picnic blanket, sunscreen, chapstick, bug spray, paper plates, napkins, and plastic silverware. When the weather’s nice and I’ve got the kids, we’ll regularly stop at a park, a parade, the pool, or a school game. That bag has made the day more than once. And more than once, I’ve felt genuine disappointment when I realized I’d left it at the house.

Relationship

The difference between event swag and relationship merch is simple: one encourages interest or excitement when it’s received, the other generates appreciation when it’s used.

Quality

A high-quality gift needs to be more than just a neat idea; it needs to be genuinely useful. Consider the products that find a home in your car, in your pocket, or on your desk: they’re well-designed, durable, and solve a real problem (how’s that for a reputation). Whereas, the items that fail when they’re needed aren’t just forgettable: they’re junk. And junk doesn’t build brands.

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