Ugly promotions: Sweaters get in on the branded apparel act

What most likely started as a lark is now a trend. In fact, people even have parties featuring them. The ugly holiday sweater craze is now at a fever pitch as Christmas approaches and companies are getting in on the fun. People aren’t just looking through vintage and thrift shop racks for these unsightly garments, they’re actually buying new ones and proving that you can wear an ugly sweater well after the holidays end. Businesses can use this trend to their advantage while also showing their humorous side by offering goofy pullovers as part of their branded apparel campaigns.

Ugly sweaters and other humorous promotions can bring good cheer.

Hideous looks, great results
The ugly sweater business is growing so much that 1010data Online Insights proclaimed 2014 the year of this particular pullover. The company tracked the trend, finding that consumers across the country spent more than $6 million on the jumpers in 2014 alone. Gauche sweaters accounted for 4 percent of pullovers sold. Meanwhile, Google Trends showed that when the holiday season arrived in 2014, there were four times as many ugly sweater searches as the previous year and 20 times as many when compared with 2004.

The trend has now spread from wacky holiday parties to include office contests and special events at bars. Even Miller Lite and Budweiser  offer their own knit pullovers for sale to give their promotional apparel a wintry theme.

The Advertising Specialty Institute also noted that the end of the ugly sweater party is nowhere in sight as more shoppers demand the hideous knits and startup clothing stores dedicate their entire inventory to the pullovers.

Using kitsch to promote
A number of businesses already enlist the help of ugly sweaters to market themselves and get more impressions as well as customers. The Vancouver Canucks, one of Canada’s premiere professional hockey teams, began offering a festive pullover in the team’s blue and green colors, The Advertising Specialty Institute reported. The garment also included some unsightly snowflakes, pine trees, plaid and the team’s killer whale mascot making for a pretty busy-looking design.

“Fans don’t see us as someone who makes a product,” Mark Raham, the Canucks creative director, told attendees at the ASI Power Summit Canada. “They see us as an entity that creates memories. So they want us to give them a product at a special event that they can bring home and display, and tell people, ‘I was there.'”

So far, the ugly sweaters are a hit and are now considered collector’s items, Raham told the ASI.

The Canucks aren’t the only team to take advantage of the unattractive pullover craze. In fact, many professional teams from the National Hockey League to the National Basketball Association and the National Football League offer their own take on the ugly sweater.

Other businesses also use ugly sweater-themed parties as promotions to get more customers in the door. Nightclub and Bar, a trade magazine for the bar industry, listed ugly sweater nights and contests among one of its favorite marketing moves. The kitschy, tongue-in-cheek look works on multiple levels when racking up impressions for a brand or business. An ugly sweater gets multiple looks both in person and online. Nightclub and Bar magazine added that many people donning this apparel take photos of themselves, tag the bar and share them on social media. Therefore, businesses can get a free promotion.

While you might think they look tacky, investing in promotional items that display your company’s sense of humor can endear your brand to the public, getting you laughs and impressions while spreading good cheer.