“School’s Out.” “No More Mr. Nice Guy.”
Music fans recognize Alice Cooper for these massive hit songs, or any of his 30 albums and 50 million records sold. They might remember his 2011 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Even movie buffs likely recall Cooper’s brief but iconic performance in the comedy classic Wayne’s World, in which, upon meeting the eye shadowed rocker, Wayne and Garth drop to their knees and chant “We’re not worthy!”
That wasn’t quite the reaction of Vivianna Fernandez, promotional account manager at Picnic Time, PPAI 100’s No. 75 supplier, when a distributor responded to a “New Items Coming 2025” email blast by saying that her client, Cooper, loved one of the products. But she definitely did a double take.
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“I thought, ‘No way. The Alice Cooper?'” Fernandez recalls.
The product inquired about was a cheeseboard designed to look like a turntable for vinyl records. What better validation can you get than interest from a rock legend?
Cooper was seriously looking to put his brand on these cheeseboards. He wanted pricing and a virtual mockup.
Branded Merch + Music + Supporting Teen Creativity
The event that Cooper had in mind was scheduled to happen before the cheeseboards were set to debut, but when a supplier comes out with a product that stuns a client, a distributor usually isn’t going to let that opportunity slip away. Of course, there was an even bigger event around the corner.
- In December 2025, Cooper held his annual “Christmas Pudding” fundraiser concert.
- The event raises money for Alice Cooper’s Solid Rock Teen Centers, which provide free after-school training in music, dance and art.
- Along with Cooper, the 2025 event included members of The Eagles and Collective Soul.
Picnic Time was commissioned to provide a party favor for the donors of the fundraiser.
“Each guest at his Christmas Pudding Fundraiser received a turntable board,” Fernandez says.
Branded Merch Powers Connections
They say that it’s impossible to buy something for someone who has everything. When money is not an obstacle and life experiences have piled up to the point where you start forgetting memories that would be unforgettable to others, then when you run into something that you’ve never seen before, it’s probably going to stick with you. That’s the potential of branded merch; it can make a star see something like a cheeseboard and garner the same response it might from one of his fans.
Fernandez ran into the distributor at a recent industry event and was told that the product has continued to be shared within the music community.
“She told me Alice loves the turntable so much he’s even gifted a few to some of his buddies, apparently a couple of rock legends,” Fernandez says.
While this may seem like a fairly specific test case, PPAI Research has found that trends in the branded merchandise market have actually been heading in the direction of unique, higher quality products tailored to specific interests, as opposed to large qualities of low-cost, catch-all products.
“Flooding a room with cheap pens isn’t a strategy anymore,” says Alok Bhat, market economist and research and pubic affairs lead at PPAI. “Consumers have figured that out and so have the brands seeing real ROI from merch.”
