The Promo Playbook by Cubic Promote

Business Marketing & Why We Love Free Custom Merch

• charles-au

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What if your brand felt collectible, not forgettable? We sat down with Wendy Lee and Christina to unpack why small, personality-packed items—plush keyrings, blind boxes, stickerable mini gadgets—can beat traditional ads on both attention and long-term visibility. Instead of asking people to watch, we give them something to wear, clip, and show off, turning backpacks and laptops into living billboards.

Christina explains the Gen Z formula: cute characters, pop colors, and customization that invites self-expression. We dig into the surge in custom plush and why off-the-shelf merch underperforms next to bespoke designs that carry cultural meaning. From Hong Kong snack plushies to campus mascots, we explore how local cues make global campaigns feel intimate, and how surprise mechanics like blind boxes drive repeat engagement, trading, and social buzz.

Wendy brings the operator lens from Cubic Promo: how a well-placed bus ad can seed aspiration that social media amplifies later, why “sale” still triggers action for time-poor parents, and how smart brands treat merch like a product with versions and updates. We talk about the tiny functional camera keyring paired with branded sticker sheets, a modular idea that turns a giveaway into an evolving platform. Along the way, we spotlight Aussie labels building heat across offline and online touchpoints, plus practical tactics to measure success beyond impressions—think dwell time, bag sightings, and user photos.

Looking to turn swag into signal? Hit play for a clear blueprint on design choices, cultural storytelling, and channel strategy that make people proud to carry your brand. If you enjoyed this conversation, subscribe, share it with a marketer friend, and leave a review with the one piece of merch you’d actually keep.

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Charles Liu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-liu-042b9124/

Wendy Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-li-424821161/

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SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to the promo playbook by Cubic Promo. Today we have two special guests with me today to join me in our latest podcast edition. Firstly, we have our general manager, Wendy Lee. Wendy Lee is not as strange as it to this podcast. She's been on episode one as well as episode six or seven, I believe. Welcome to the podcast, Wendy.

SPEAKER_01:

See you again, Charles.

SPEAKER_02:

My second guest to today's podcast is Christina. Christina, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_01:

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02:

So, Christina, um, the audience might not be as familiar with yourself as much as Wendy. Would you like to just share a bit about yourself to the audience out there?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, hello everyone. My name is Christina. I'm still currently studying at the moment. I'm doing a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Communications Design, and I have a background in all things visual design, content creation, and marketing.

SPEAKER_02:

Brilliant. So today we're gonna specifically be talking about a top topic that's very close to my heart, which is on marketing as well as running effective business marketing campaigns. Obviously, with the industry that we're in, I'm gonna make a emphasis on promotional merchandise and listen. Thank you for joining once again. Maybe we start with you, Christina. Clearly, you're I think do they call you Gen Z or do they call you something else now?

SPEAKER_00:

Gen Z.

SPEAKER_02:

Gen Z, okay. So does correct my memory, but Gen Z is what even younger than is it a millennial?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes. Any year after 1997.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, okay. Gosh, you make me feel real old now. So clearly you're the first tier of marketing that marketers target at the young person who has disposable income. Um, Christina, I'll post it over over to you, just a very quick one. What type of advertising grabs your attention?

SPEAKER_00:

Being from like Gen Z, any marketing that has to do with pop culture, that definitely grabs my attention. If you look at one of the most viral advertisements that happened recently, which is Gap, their collaboration with a girl group called Cat's Eye, that one has gone quite viral. And it's probably one of the best marketing campaigns I've seen in a while.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay. And Wendy, I'm not I'm not gonna say the other end of the spectrum.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, thank you. I was gonna need to disclose my you know secret, but we're not asking you for your age, but clearly a little bit older than uh Christina.

SPEAKER_02:

What type of advertising grabs your attention?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh you know, I'm uh stay not a stay-home mom, I'm a mom as well. So, what's grabbing my attention is actually I got two advertisements online that grabbed my attention. One is uh, you know, those case used before and after, not for skin or anything, but for some kitchen chip stuff. I like to see before it was messy, after it was so clean. And then I don't know why. And it's only cost ten dollars. Oh yeah, I'll buy it. Even though afterward, when I bought actually bought the product, it's not usable at all. I fall for the same track over again. And the second advertisement is actually, you know, maybe it feels good, like an impulsive buy for some advertisement, especially the word sale, like you know, 20-30% sale or some Black Friday sale, all of a sudden it caught my attention already to buy. So that's my behavior.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so uh the big events, the big one-off events with attractive discounts that big loud sounds attract you. Okay, very good. I I got a rather uh a simple question, uh, another question here, which is given a choice between receiving free merch in the form of advertising where you have the merch and you have the customer uh sorry, the corporate logo on it, or simply viewing the company online or perhaps on TV, would you prefer to receive the merch or would you prefer to sit and watch the ad? Uh Christina, well, which one would you prefer?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I prefer to collect the merch.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey, me too.

SPEAKER_00:

A lot of a lot of people now love collecting like trinkets. It's become like a new viral trend. Oh yeah. Um, the more trinkets you have, the more cool you are. And then people also love personality and decorating. So I think that merch really helps that.

SPEAKER_02:

So tell me a bit about the trinkets thing. So obviously Lebu is a very popular type of trinket. Is there a size limitation? Is something too small, or can something be too big? Or even a colour preference, or perhaps an attachment option. What would resonate with people of your age?

SPEAKER_00:

Um, I believe like keyrings are the biggest one. So anything that has to do with being able to show personality or decorate something. So if you look at a lot of uni students at the moment, they have a lot of keychains on their bags and they're all quite small size. Kmart also released a functional camera that's a really small, that's also used as a keyring that became really popular as well. So anything where you can decorate as stickers as well, laptops, that's a really big one, too.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, so expressing personality in the form of trinkets and in this case keyrings. Brilliant. How about yourself, Wendy?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, I actually want to ask Christina before I jump to myself. So keychinks, because you know we sell a lot of keychainks as well. But how what what's the special about you know Gen Z keychain that make it pop rather than our keyring? Like what's what make it pop?

SPEAKER_02:

There's nothing wrong about keyrings, but carry on.

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's nothing wrong, but uh, I would say like I'd never see any Gen Z ordering our keyring.

SPEAKER_00:

I think it's also to do with the design. So a lot of keyrings now they're more gravitated towards making plushy ones. So cute plushy ones if the characters are really cute, if the characters like have like some fun like design about them when it comes to colour or even the size, even if it's like a fun little animals, that gravitates towards Gen Z.

SPEAKER_01:

So uh design and colour that are pop is the key. Okay. Well, that that speaks a lot.

SPEAKER_02:

The word plush seems to really uh resonate because I think we've had two customers in the past two months. Yeah, they have organized uh plush toys from us. Uh one of those at college, another one's a university. Not only name names just in case I tread on anyone's uh toes when it comes to privacy. But prior to this year, I can't even recall the last time we delivered plush toys to a client. So maybe Christina's onto onto a thing.

SPEAKER_01:

And also what's special is that those two clients, they did not order something out of the box that are assisting. They are all custom design plush. Yeah, more. Which again aligns with what we do and in line with what Christina was thinking, uh saying about unique color and design. So they don't like something out of the box, they want to totally design their own toy that speak for themselves, for the client. I mean.

SPEAKER_02:

I I work in merch and I enjoy a lot getting free merch. Is that the same with you, Wendy?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh yes, yes. Well, especially because I work in this industry, I even go out to clothing store, all I'm checking is not the design of the clothes, I check the branding method first. Oh, is this a screen print? Is this a solidation? Then I check the style. So it's a it becomes a habit that whenever someone hands out a merch, I have to grab it. Because no, if we don't have that product, we have to get it next. So we make sure we have all the merch cover in our range.

SPEAKER_02:

It's true, it's true. Our sample room can always do with more samples for sure. Hey Christina, if hypothetically, if budget wasn't an issue for you and you're in a uh advertising marketing, oh by the way, she she is in advertising marketing, by the way. Christina, what merchandise would you create?

SPEAKER_00:

I would create similar to the um Kmart camera, the keyring. I think that's such a smart idea, but I would create like person like personalize it. So I would also with the camera, along with the camera, I would make a range of like stickers to decorate the camera as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, okay, sure.

SPEAKER_00:

And the stickers could be branded with logos, it could have fun patterns, it could be different colors, and each camera has a different set of stickers. That's a good very smart idea.

SPEAKER_02:

Christina, give us two weeks. I swear to God, I mean Wendy will work something out. We'll have it within our range for our corporate and organization customers to purchase literally within weeks. That we can make that happen very easily. Yeah. Thanks for sharing.

SPEAKER_01:

And that tiny camera is actually we can source that ourselves as well. It's a viable basically. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

It is, it is. Hey Wendy, so what's a piece of merchandise that you have not received yet, but you wish you can receive one day? It could be in the form of either free merch or maybe as a corporate gift. What would that be?

SPEAKER_01:

Oh well, stumping in my mind, uh, everybody will laugh at me. Just now when you say that word, oh, I'm thinking it's uh you should give me Bitcoin as a merch.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh, but it's more of a payment mechanism, huh?

SPEAKER_01:

I know, or some Tesla share in that investment.

SPEAKER_02:

That's an investment.

SPEAKER_01:

I know, I know. It's in my wild dream. It hasn't happened yet. It's actually something that will wow me like, oh, that's a good question. I never thought about that. Well, haven't no one gave me a labuboo yet because I'm missing a labu. I have I haven't got my hand on any labuboo. So if someone can give in that hour as a merge, say I believe they have some crossover with Nike or yeah, if they can give me one as a merch for crossover, that would be fantastic. So I can get my lay my hands on one, huh?

SPEAKER_02:

Very good. Christina, same question. What merch have you not received but would like to receive?

SPEAKER_00:

Blind boxes, so similar to the booboos? They all come in a collection, and with each collection you buy a box and you don't know which there's like multiple designs, and you don't know which design you're gonna get. So I think that having like a blind box would be really cool.

SPEAKER_02:

What would you like to be inside the blind box? Because they put all sorts of weird stuff in it nowadays.

SPEAKER_00:

Similar to like the trinkets and the booboos, like a small plushie, even like key rings. Um, I think because it's such a big thing at the moment, I think that's where that's good.

SPEAKER_02:

Hey, do plushies always need to be based on an animal?

SPEAKER_01:

No, it's based on any design.

SPEAKER_02:

Any design.

SPEAKER_01:

I was gonna touch on that. I just realized a really trendy trend that's happening in China, but not in Australia or other countries yet. The big follower, little red, though. You heard about little red doll and Timor. You know, they got those 10 billion, 1 billion followers. I forgot how to call it in England. Chinese hot follower people, they actually create their own blind box now. So they have their own blind box and then they design their own figurine. They are so cute. So it's it kind of resembling them but in a cute way, and then they also have products and other figurine design put in a blind box, and it's only exclusive for their life house only, and they're selling it pretty well.

SPEAKER_00:

On top of what Wendy just said, there's actually a Chinese brand that just released a blind box merch collection. It's a Vita soy. Oh, yeah, yeah. So it's a very famous uh beverage company, so they do like soy milk, hong concept. I joined them all the time. Yeah, yeah, me too. And they just collabed with Australian, major Australian uh grocery Asian grocery stores, so like Tong Li, for example, and they all have their own blind box um merch collection at the moment. So every if with every Vitase purchase, you get a free blind box, and the blind boxes are their products, also a pineapple bun, like little Hong Kong snacks. Oh well, we'll buy that. Yeah, they're all plushies, it's available right now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

So two things I I hear is the word cute and personality. So in a summary, would you say that it is needing to launch something that's very cute and has a lot of personality that would resonate the most with customers?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, especially in the Vitasaur case, yes, because say pineapple bond and the other case, it's all actually speaking the word Hong Kong, but it's all Hong Kong signature food, and you incorporate that into a miniature, it's actually cute as well as it have personality for Hong Kong and that's unique.

SPEAKER_02:

Some cultural elements there for sure. For sure. Random question Aussie brands, which of the brands do you think market themselves really well? So obviously we've got Vidasoy, but that's more of a foreign company, really, because that's an overseas brand from what I gather. What are there some of the local brands that kind of you think, oh okay, they market themselves well? Or maybe a local restaurant, or maybe it's a multinational company that has an operation here, perhaps. Does any any come to mind that you think do really well?

SPEAKER_00:

One comes to mind. Um, it's a clothing brand called Fate the Label. It was started off by an influencer. I believe her name's Britney Lee Saunders, and her way of marketing is very authentic, and it shows she also shows the behind the scenes of the way that the products are made, the way that the clothing is the way it's the way that the clothing is made to fit every single like body type, and that's a really big message for that brand that she wants to create an inclusive range for everyone, and I think the marketing behind that is really good.

SPEAKER_02:

So uh we talk about t-shirts and hoodies, or are they a little bit more elaborate?

SPEAKER_00:

So it's more of like a basic clothing wear, like like work tops, going out tops. It's more of like a fashion clothing brand, and they also do a lot of denim products as well.

SPEAKER_02:

Okay, interesting. I've never heard of that brand, to be honest, but clearly they're doing really well.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, because what's jumping in my mind straight away when you ask that question is White Fox. Because two years ago, you never two, three years ago, you never heard of that brand, and all of a sudden it pops everywhere in on the bus. But back then I wasn't really active on social media. But why? Like I wasn't on social media, they must have done a really successful campaign in social media because bus and all that is not enough to attract social media.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh no, you'd be surprised. You see, they do the bus quite strategically because the buses go to all the primary schools and high schools, yeah, and all of a sudden, all the young ladies they see these models and they see the message and it becomes aspirational to them. So, in a way, they probably do better offline than online.

SPEAKER_01:

But why would people wearing a big hoodie with the word white fox on it? Because you know, shopo is another another successful company. I've never seen a lot of people wearing shopo shirts. Well, white fox.

SPEAKER_02:

Chopo doesn't seem to have shirts, they seem to have evening wear. Now, I'm clearly the wrong person.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, showpo on there. But I see a lot of not just girls, there's men, they're different genders, they all wear white fox and with big white fox on men wear white fox?

SPEAKER_00:

Yes, they have a men's range. Yes, but before white fox became like the like a name for themselves, they're more of a fast fashion brand. So any um designer brands or any brands that are more on the expensive side, when they come out with a viral design, they will dupe it. That's how they gain their followers at first, and then over time, once they gain more traction, that's when they started releasing their own clothing line, White Fox. And then that's why the name became so popular.

SPEAKER_02:

There you go, learn something new. Hey ladies, thank you so much for joining me on this episode of the promo playbook. It's it seems like there's a lot to talk about because I've got a solid list of seven questions. Clearly, we will have to make a part two. So, everyone who's listening out there, please stay tuned for part two. And thank you for listening. And please do subscribe. And if you do have any comments and feedback, please leave behind comments and feedback on your social media channel of your choice. All the links below. Thank you so much. And goodbye, everyone.

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Charles Liu

Host