Stallion Swag: Which Promo Products are Most Effective?
By: Brittany Bevis
From conventional items like hats, jackets, and towels, to the more unique, like cell phone chargers, candles, and snack cakes, it never ceases to amaze the products stallion owners will use to promote their equine charges.
Just recently, APHA/AQHA stallion Living Large, launched a Facebook contest for the chance to win an insulated thermos emblazoned with “Shaq’s” hunky headshot. One of the most innovative promo products we’ve ever seen was a cell phone charging station at the 2016 All American Quarter Horse Congress out front of Halter horse, PF Premo’s, stalls.
For Erin Bradshaw, owner of APHA stallion, John Simon, she relies on the popular choice of hats and groom towels. “My go-to stallion promo items are hats, hats, and hats!” Erin says. “EVERYONE wears a hat at a horse show; I mean think about it. They’re the best promotional tool, in my opinion, and you can NEVER have too many to give out.” Perhaps it’s the trendy fit or minimalist text, but John’s hats have become so coveted that people even want to purchase them. “John’s hats have become known, and people will actually buy them from me, even if they don’t know us or breed, just because they want one. Those are always go-to, and I always make sure to have male hats and female hats.”
When designing and selecting the perfect promo product, Erin says it’s helpful to think about the items you, yourself, use most often at a horse show. “I always think to myself, ‘What’s something people are going to use? What do I use at a horse show?” With that being said, I do sunglasses, hats, koozies, and groom cart towels. I discovered the towels on a golf website and they’re so genius, because they have a golf bag clip on them and you can clip them on your groom cart. Those are probably my second favorite to hand out, because people ALWAYS need and use towels. I’ll go around on Showmanship days and drop them at the all-around trainers stalls. Ask James Saubolle. He’s had a stack or two dropped off by me!”
Although it’s easy to get carried away, Erin cautions to keep an eye on your pocket book and remember the real reason for the promo product. “Promotion is everything, but you have to be careful on where to draw the line with spending. It’s easy to get carried away, but I always watch costs too. While it’s great to be able to hand out a bunch of swag with your stallion’s name on it, if you’re spending too much it becomes not really worth it.”
For stallion manager, Amy Gumz, one of the more creative (and fun) aspects of her job is to design clever products to promote AQHA stallion, It’s A Southern Thing, affectionally known as “Moonpie.”
“We’ve had lots of fun tying into Moonpie items for It’s A Southern Thing, like food items, vintage Moonpie apparel, candles, etc.” she says. “It’s been very well received worldwide. For example, we have a mare owner who’s an international commercial pilot. She was recently wearing her Moonpie logo jacket in a European airport, and she was surprisingly getting stopped by many people who knew the stallion!
Moonpie’s most coveted items are his hats (and delicious yellow cake and chocolate-covered snack treats, of course!) “The go-to items are hats,” Amy says.”It’s hard to go wrong with the cost and visibility factor. It’s just critical to get a hat (type, color, style) that people will wear. Apparel is often a great marketing tool. It directly hits your target market with name recognition and reinforcement. Least effective are the trinkets that no one really sees, whereas most effective are higher end apparel because people will wear items they like for years.”
Recently, the minds behind AQHA stallion, Only The Best Will Do, unveiled their newest promo product, tail brushes. “Our go-to has been tail brushes with his ad on them,” says owner Shanae Nelson. “We were trying to think of something different that people use at shows and that was affordable. I do believe it helps to promote him, because they’re always used at the shows, so a lot of people see them and it puts him in their minds.”
“The most effective are probably hats and jackets, because they’re always useful and worn at shows. The least effective are the little things that people may see once or just throw away. It needs to be something useful. The most unique promo item I ever saw was an insulated thermal mug with a logo on it.”
Kate Jackson of Three Nails Ranch has the enviable task of working with stallion owners, Billy and Suzonne Franks, to market their eight, Halter stallions: Ecredible, Kid Coolsified, Intensions, Show Stoppah, Coercion, Cali Baba, Incognito Sirprize, and The Home Run Kid. Their promo products serve two purposes; they not only promote their stallion herd, but also their deer branding operation. For example, the Ranch’s logo sets them apart, so they’ve become known as “those people with the antlers.”
“We maintained the logo that was already established for the deer operation and placed it on every type of advertising or promotional item we have. That created a correlation between our logo and the stallions. Then, it drives people to our website or Facebook page to learn more about Three Nails Ranch.”
“We have a variety of go-to swag items from t-shirts, ball caps, letter openers, and mesh bags to lunch boxes, ear warmers, calendars, and of course brochures and flyers. At Three Nails Ranch, we also have a deer breeding operation, so we always try to do items that can be incorporated into promoting both sides of the ranch. We do have some individualized items when it comes to promoting the stallions. For example, in every shipment box we include an 11 X 17 flyer that has all eight of the studs on it.”
From Kate’s perspective, the least effective promo products are those that quickly disappear into a pocket or desk drawer and are never seen again. The perfect promo product is not only one that creates brand recognition for the recipient, but it’s something that’s used frequently, carrying over its visibility to others. “It’s important that it be visible and in front of your audience, which makes items that can be carried or worn more effective products, basically creating a ‘walking billboard.’ The most original item that we’ve seen was a thumb drive with the company’s logo on the outside, but loaded on the thumb drive was a virtual tour of their facility. Although a thumb drive can disappear into the desk drawer, the added step of all their information loaded on it was pretty neat.”
Like Kate, Shelley and Kim Donovan rely on their popular Zzz logo to promote AQHA stallion, Too Sleepy To Zip. From hats to sweatshirts, “Ernie’s” swag must relay their motto that “the proof is in the kids!”
“For Too Sleepy to Zip, we use the Zzzz’s. Our hats and sweatshirts are in HIGH DEMAND, because we only get them made every couple years! We believe that customers that breed to your stud love and are proud to have a hat or shirt to show off their choice.”
One of the ladies is so devoted to the idea of brand recognition that she has a Zzz tattoo! See if you can guess who it is…
Adria Smith, the owner of AQHA Hunt Seat stallion These Irons Are Hot, believes promo products have another purpose besides reinforcing brand recognition. It’s an easy way to say thank you to the mare owners who breed. “Stallion swag makes the mare owners, offspring owners, and the ones showing the offspring happy. It is a small thank you gesture that can be given out.”
“The These Irons Are Hot Ear Warmers are very popular especially during the Quarter Horse Congress. I chose the ear warmers, because I wanted to use an item that I hadn’t seen utilized. The men’s and women’s TIAH hats are also a popular item year round. Also, I think the internet advertising posters/tiles on the media websites, such as EquineChronicle.com, are effective avenues for stallion promotion.”
Jan Shepherd Pittman, the owner of VS Code Blue, uses custom ball caps, wool caps, and gloves as her promo products. “Everyone seems to love ball caps, so that was a easy choice. I picked the wool caps and gloves for our cold weather friends and the Congress.”
As far as her opinion on which products make the worst promos, she believes there isn’t one. “I strongly believe that the least effective item is not an item at all, but how we treat our mare owners. They are the foundation of our industry!”
The most unique item she ever received was from Becky Bailey. “It was hand sanitizer! In our world of germs, it was great!”
The Equine Chronicle fully believes in the power of the perfect promo product. By far, our most popular items are our highly coveted logo hats that Gordon hands out to lucky competitors at horse shows. In the past, we’ve also used logo towels, phone cases, shirts, and even nail files!
