PPAI has officially launched Merch Moves Us, a global marketing campaign designed to strengthen the business case for branded merchandise and elevate the medium’s place in the modern marketing mix.
At the center of the initiative is MerchMovesUs.org, a new platform built to give marketers more than product inspiration. The site brings together research, case studies, planning guidance and other resources intended to help marketers understand where branded merchandise fits, make a stronger case for its use and approach it more strategically.
But the campaign is not designed to succeed through PPAI’s marketing efforts alone.
- A major component of the launch is a new member toolkit created to help distributors take the campaign’s research, language and ideas directly into conversations with clients and prospects.
- Members are being encouraged not simply to share campaign creative, but to use the resources to elevate discussions beyond product and price, connect merchandise recommendations to business goals and help marketing decision-makers explain the value of branded merchandise within their own organizations.
The ambition is to change a familiar conversation from “We need some swag” to “What role could branded merch play in this campaign, experience or business goal?”
“Merch Moves Us is about elevating the perception of branded merchandise and helping the broader business community recognize its power as a strategic marketing channel,” says PPAI President & CEO Drew Holmgreen, CAS. “At its core, the campaign celebrates the ability of branded merchandise to move people, strengthen relationships and create lasting connections between brands and the audiences they serve.
“As one of the most significant initiatives our industry has ever undertaken, Merch Moves Us represents a unified effort to tell our story on a global scale, reshaping perceptions, expanding opportunities and reinforcing the essential role branded merchandise plays in modern marketing.”
Drew Holmgreen, CAS
President & CEO, PPAI
PPAI will also host a LinkedIn Live this Thursday, Aug. 27 at noon (CT), to walk members through the campaign strategy, available resources and what comes next. Registration is now available.
Strengthening Conversations
The launch represents the culmination of an extensive development process centered on a persistent challenge for the industry: Branded merchandise may be ubiquitous, but it is still too often treated as a last-minute purchase or tactical extra rather than a marketing channel to be considered during the planning process.
Research conducted during campaign development identified ROI clarity, procurement pressure, competition for marketing budgets and outdated perceptions among the most significant barriers preventing merch from earning a larger strategic role in the minds of brand architects. At the same time, the research highlighted qualities such as usefulness, personalization, quality, long-term visibility and emotional connection as some of the medium’s greatest strengths.
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That led PPAI to focus the campaign not simply on generating awareness, but on giving marketers stronger reasons to consider branded merchandise earlier, use it more intentionally and defend the investment internally.
The campaign was strategically shaped with guidance from PPAI volunteers – by marketers, for marketers. A marketing task force, formed in 2025, provided essential feedback, and the campaign’s framing was informed by research with brand strategists, marketers, recipients and members.
The result is an approach intended to reflect the questions and pressures marketers themselves face rather than simply repeat what the industry already believes about its value.
Those findings also influenced the campaign’s creative platform.
Rather than defining branded merchandise through a single type of product or application, Merch Moves Us is designed to scale across the many ways organizations use merch – from premium brand experiences and event activations to employee programs, safety initiatives and practical products used every day.
PHOTOS: Behind The Scenes At The Merch Moves Us Production Shoot
Its central argument is that when merchandise is useful, relevant, well made and connected to a clear goal, it can continue creating value long after the initial handoff, through attention, memory, participation, connection, perception and repeated presence in people’s lives.
Members‘ Crucial Role
PPAI’s paid media, partnerships, search strategy and public-facing content are intended to introduce and reinforce that idea with marketers. Members, however, represent the campaign’s connection to thousands of individual relationships.
That makes member adoption a critical part of the strategy.
The campaign’s member toolkit provides research and proof points, case studies, educational and reframing content, planning guidance, public-facing tools and campaign materials that members can incorporate into their own businesses.
The resources are designed to help members:
- Elevate conversations beyond product and price
- Show where branded merchandise fits within the broader marketing mix
- Connect recommendations to a client’s goal, audience and moment
- Use evidence and examples to strengthen the business case
- Explain why relevance, usefulness and quality affect results
- Give marketers clearer language to support internal approval
Members can apply the material in sales conversations, proposals, presentations, planning sessions, client follow-up and their own social and marketing content.
Just as importantly, the toolkit is not intended to script those conversations.
Keep Up With The Campaign! Follow Merch Moves Us On: LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram
PPAI is encouraging members to add their own expertise, examples and perspective rather than repeat campaign language word for word. The aim is to create an industry-wide framework that individual businesses can translate into conversations that make sense for their own customers and markets.
The underlying strategy identified members from the outset as the campaign’s key amplification layer – the group capable of reinforcing the message throughout the client journey and helping turn broad market awareness into actual consideration and adoption.
In that sense, the success of Merch Moves Us will depend partly on what happens through PPAI’s content and advertising investment, but also on what happens in sales meetings, presentations, proposals and planning conversations across the industry.
An Always-On Resource
MerchMovesUs.org serves as the public-facing home for the initiative.
Rather than functioning simply as a campaign landing page, the site is designed as an evolving resource where marketers can encounter evidence, education and practical guidance that helps them make better decisions about branded merchandise.
The hub will continue to add original content each week, with substantive resources and member engagement capabilities coming on line in the months and years ahead, helping turn client awareness into conviction.
Measuring Progress
PPAI is also building measurement into Merch Moves Us from the beginning, establishing benchmarks that will allow the Association to determine whether the effort is changing how marketers perceive and use branded merchandise over time.
“Taking guidance from volunteers and industry leadership, we recognize the importance of building measurability into Merch Moves Us from the start,” says PPAI CMO Melissa Ralston, CAS. “The campaign establishes clear benchmarks for how marketers perceive, engage with and ultimately adopt branded merchandise as a vital part of their marketing mix. We will track real movement over time and demonstrate whether we’re advancing our goal of elevating branded merchandise as a premier marketing channel.”
Melissa Ralston, CAS
Chief Marketing Officer, PPAI
The campaign plan calls for measuring more than reach or impressions. PPAI intends to monitor indicators tied to perception, engagement, share of voice, member adoption and the position branded merchandise holds among marketing channels, supported by ongoing analytics and reporting.
That long-term approach is central to Merch Moves Us. The launch is intended as the beginning of an ongoing industry marketing effort rather than a single advertising push.
For members, it is also an invitation to participate.
PPAI can take the category story to market, create resources and generate attention. The industry’s thousands of individual client relationships give members the opportunity to carry that story further – using the campaign to help clients see branded merchandise not simply as something to order, but as a marketing channel worth planning for.
