In and Out for 2024: Brand Chain Members Weigh In
Stanley cups, artificial intelligence (AI), print on demand… What’s in for 2024 and what’s out the door? We asked Brand Chain members to weigh in. Read on and share your hot takes in the comments.
👀 IN FOR 2024
Soft earth tones in apparel, directly lifted from retail trends. (I know this is an easy one, but I’m sticking with it. I think it’s part of the continued “catch up” of promo to retail.)
—Joe Favre, Sales Manager, Vanguard
Sustainability: We’ll see progress from suppliers pursuing sustainability in their manufacturing while also providing data to back up their efforts that distributors can use to report back to their clients.
PromoStandards: In 2023, PromoStandards introduced their new Service Provider Committee and began developing a directory of service providers that will be powered by PromoStandards. In my opinion, these service providers will play a crucial role in assisting distributors and suppliers in modernizing through the utilization of PromoStandards. I am excited to see the committee's evolution and output in 2024.
Print on Demand (POD): Customers won’t stop asking for it. In 2024, we’ll see more POD solutions from suppliers and solution providers.
—Eric Granata, CTO, Brand Fuel
What is in for 2024 — besides Stanley tumblers — is AI adoption incorporated into your technology and processes. Adopting and managing to a true customer success philosophy in all areas of your business will be key to accomplish growth and success. It’s election season, too. Any print and promo products that can support a party, organization or candidates’ brands will be in. Kitting and box subscriptions for marketing will continue to grow in scope.
—Glenn Miller, Chief Customer Officer, DemandBridge
Small quantity, inexpensive and custom print-on-demand marketing collateral ordered online by end users. Clients will be looking to hold onto their cash, have more flexibility and personalization, and eliminate obsolescence/waste to reduce their business’ environmental impact.
—Emily Myers, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, BCSI
👋 OUT
Bucket hats — I think they’ve had their day. Polarizing observation, but I call ‘em like I see ‘em.
—Joe Favre, Sales Manager, Vanguard
NFTs: Despite ambitious and headline-grabbing efforts by large brands, the crypto-based asset has yet to find a use case that provides any lasting utility. This leaves crypto-investors holding the bag on what is essentially an electronic receipt that publicly and permanently states that they were caught up in the hype.
Monolithic apps that hold your data hostage: Apps that don’t play well with others and aren’t making efforts to provide interoperability with the rest of the tech stack will become less and less relevant, as no-code automation platforms put the power of application programming interfaces (APIs) in the hands of non-developers.
—Eric Granata, CTO, Brand Fuel
What’s out is pure transactional thinking, selling, management tools, etc. Out, too, is cheap drinkware (due to pressures from Stanley, Yeti, etc.).
—Glenn Miller, Chief Customer Officer, DemandBridge
Large quantity and high-cost print orders that need to be stored in a warehouse (including warehouse fees), where they will get dusty and need to be thrown away when they become obsolete.
—Emily Myers, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, BCSI
By Kristin Frankiewicz