How Blue Dot uses Swag to Align Values with Impact
Welcome to our new blog series on value alignment as a superpower! Where we look at what companies, trends, ideas are taping into values to create more significant change.
First up, we’re investigating value engagement around swag. That’s right, branded merchandise and employee gifts. T-shirts, water bottles, the stuff you pile on employees to make them feel part of the team.
We’re looking at a company that unlocks the power of swag to amplify a company’s values and boost employee engagement. That company is Green Buoy Consulting’s preferred swag partner, Blue Dot!
Blue Dot sources and provides high-quality branded merchandise designed, sourced and shared for impact. Through their offerings, their clients are able to connect deeper, create more powerful impact, and inspire action amongst their stakeholders. Run by Kelly and Rachele, this company is on a mission to transform the swag industry into one made for impact.
Swag is often one of ten thousand things on an HR department’s list. It can get lost in the todos. But swag is a powerful way to unlock impact. By aligning values with swag, you can quit wasting time and money on stuff that doesn’t get a payback.
Companies can falter when trying to keep their values and mission top of mind while carrying out daily decisions (including swag). Values are often big, bold statements discussed quarterly, but companies can have difficulty embedding them into decision-making and everyday life.
Choosing swag that aligns with company values saves time, energy and makes your swag work for you.
With successful swag, you can engage employees. A branded t-shirt or water bottle is the same as every other company they’ve been a part of. But what if your welcome kit included a branded water bottle that donated to charity, a fair trade coffee subscription, and a scarf that provides a living wage for a woman in Ethiopia?
Connecting goods to causes employees care about and tapping into company values makes them feel part of the team and deeply connected to their job.
By taking the time you’re already using to make a decision that includes your values and creates impact, you’re amplifying existing processes.
Blue Dot includes interactive, virtual impact cards with every purchase, allowing employees and recipients to engage with the story and impact of their product.
Hear about the power of swag directly from Blue Dot co-founders Kelly and Rachele.
GREEN BUOY CONSULTING: CAN YOU TALK ABOUT WHY BLUE DOT WAS FOUNDED, WHY SWAG IS SO WASTEFUL AND HOW YOU’RE HOPING TO FIX AN INDUSTRY KNOWN FOR BEING LESS THAN SUSTAINABLE?
Blue Dot: Thanks, Eliza for highlighting us in this series! After 15 years in the promotional products industry, we saw the incredible amount of waste, or “piles of swag” that accumulates on people’s desks, in the closets, and at company warehouses. We also heard time and time again about the useless things that people get, that they don’t want, and they end up throwing away or giving to a Goodwill. We know that was not the intention of the marketer or HR rep that gave this out. They gave it out to get people excited about their brand! At Blue Dot, we are trying to get rid of the waste, by giving options that people will love, that they will keep, and that is meaningful. And we’re making it easy for our clients to do this. We do this by:
Access to our vetted supplier list, where we curate products that are not only incredibly high quality and unique but are also built with our planet and our people in mind.
Providing an incredibly easy ordering platform for folks to select exactly what they want, so they don’t get stuck receiving something they will never use. Additionally, we let our clients do what they enjoy doing, taking care of their teams, while we take away the administrative headache by order, fulfilling, and shipping their individual orders.
Making it easy to track and share the impact, connect with the brand, and have simple Call to Actions, enabling our clients to track the swag campaign
“At Blue Dot, we are trying to get rid of the waste, by providing swag options that people will love, that they will keep, and that is meaningful.”
GBC: HOW HAVE YOU SEEN VALUES AND SWAG TIE TOGETHER FOR COMPANIES?
BD: An example is a client where one of their values is “go first”, meaning, be innovative. We paired them with a leading tech-for-good product - one might think a simple phone charger - but in fact, our partner supplier is completely innovating in the materials they use - working with incredibly sustainable inputs that you would not believe could make a phone charger. Them being an innovation leader in their industry, tied with the environmental sustainability of that product, led to employees being more excited about receiving it, and to discussions around how they can “go first” in their life and in their work.
Another example is Education. We’ve seen a lot of clients who care about community engagement and education. We partner with suppliers who are not only providing living wages to their factory workers, but also providing upskilling opportunities, training them to advance in their careers, and increase financial literacy through saving programs.
GBC: HOW AND WHY DO COMPANIES USE SWAG TO ENGAGE EMPLOYEES?
BD: Companies use swag as a tool to excite employees about their brand, about the company they work for. It’s more than a logo on a t-shirt, it’s a way for employees to feel connected to their peers, to the company in which they're giving their talent and time to. Swag is a gesture of belonging and pride. Companies are sharing swag through new hire kits to welcome new employees, giving gifts as a follow-up to their annual business conference, and giving employees an online store to order their branded products.
GBC: HOW DO YOU THINK COVID HAS MADE A DIFFERENCE IN HOW COMPANIES THINK ABOUT IMPACT, VALUES AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT?
BD: Covid has made companies think really deeply about employee engagement and how to keep employees motivated and excited to come to work and produce at their best when they don’t have the social interaction they would normally otherwise get. We’ve seen a lot of kitting and drop-shipping directly to people’s homes, something that Blue Dot has the capability to help with. We’ve seen not only New Hire packages, but also annual kick-off events, company anniversary events, and other special occasions being marked with swag.
“Covid has made companies think really deeply about employee engagement and how to keep employees motivated and excited to come to work and produce at their best when they don’t have the social interaction they would normally otherwise get.”
Since companies can’t do large events to celebrate, that budget is getting shifted to send employees nice things. But companies don’t just want their employees to get anything and everything. We’ve been helping companies set up pop-up stores where employees can select the item they actually want, or, potentially even opt-out! While this might sound crazy - we actually love it when folks opt-out of a gift.
At Blue Dot, we believe that you should only “take it if you love it” - we want people to love and use their swag - that gets better impressions for the client, a happier end customer, and a more sustainable world. By setting up the swag campaign this way, the company is only purchasing what they need, and not filling a warehouse with stuff that will get stale or un-used. A win-win for everyone!
Thank you, Kelly and Rachele!
At Green Buoy Consulting, we believe that small shifts can have a lasting impact. Swag is a great example of that. You’re already purchasing it so why not turn it into an opportunity for sustainable impact?
WANT TO TALK MORE ABOUT YOUR SWAG STRATEGY?
SAY HI TO KELLY AND RACHELE AT HELLO@FORTHEBLUEDOT.COM
Images Courtesy of Blue Dot.
Want to be featured in our blog series about value alignment as a superpower?
Email us at hello@greenbuoyconsulting.com.