Word-of-mouth often ranks among the most effective marketing tactics. And it makes sense. In the age of AI, ads, and the internet there’s a lot to distract us.
From creating a positive experience worth sharing to being a catalyst for conversation, merchandise has the opportunity to break through the noise of “marketing” and help you tell your brand story in a way that is memorable while providing another source of revenue.
You’ll learn how to strategically use merchandise as both a storytelling tool and revenue driver—integrating it into your current marketing to spark conversation and build brand awareness.
Leah Keggi is a marketing professional specializing in brand strategy and business development. With more than a decade of experience in brand and trade marketing, she has worked cross functionally with sales, operations, and finance teams to build stronger brands while driving measurable business results.
Her work focuses on closing the gap between brand marketing and the end consumer, helping businesses create more intentional, effective connections with their audience. She regularly shares insights, ideas, and resources on brand strategy and creative marketing through her writing.
Leah is also the author of The Merch Blueprint, a practical guide for business owners, marketers, and creatives looking to use merchandise as a strategic tool. The book outlines four core types of merchandise, retail, uniforms, promotional items, and incentive pieces, and shows how each can be used to grow brand affinity, extend reach, and strengthen customer relationships.
Join us in person for CBP Connects Chicago
June 15-17, 2026
Come get inspired, leave with actionable strategies: https://cbpconnects.com/
What This Session Covers
This session focuses on how craft breweries can strategically use merchandise not just to generate retail revenue but also to deepen brand connection, drive word-of-mouth, and engage customers across multiple touchpoints. This approach is crucial for taproom operators and brewery owners looking to strengthen their brand presence, build consumer trust, and ultimately increase beer sales by turning merchandise into a multi-functional marketing tool.
Key Talking Points
- Strategic Brand Building Through Merchandise: Merchandise should be viewed as part of a comprehensive brand-building plan where each item supports reaching the “trust threshold” with customers, turning random interactions into meaningful connections that encourage repeat purchases.
- Three Core Functions of Merchandise: Merchandise tells your brand story (targeting specific communities beyond broad beer packaging), sparks conversations (acting as ongoing word-of-mouth marketing when you’re not physically present), and increases brand engagement (enhancing customer experience both in taprooms and in the community).
- Retail Merchandise Best Practices: Effective retail merch does more than display a logo; it should reflect quality and story, aligning with particular audiences or sub-communities (e.g., biking or art communities). Avoid overusing logos and instead partner with artists or create designs that resonate with your target demographic to foster identity and loyalty.
- Campaign-Style Merchandise Drops: Random or limited merchandise drops can create buzz and media attention even outside beer releases, giving breweries an opportunity to “stay interesting” throughout the year without bombarding consumers with more beer SKUs.
- Uniforms as Brand Touchpoints: Taproom and sales team uniforms can reinforce brand recognition and customer experience. Uniforms don’t have to be the classic branded shirt; consider functional branded bags or apparel that align with the team’s needs and represent your brand subtly and consistently.
- Promotional Giveaway Items: Items like stickers, matchbooks, or pens, carefully matched to the event or person (servers, distributors), can increase visibility and enhance customer experience. Design matters — logos should be visible but secondary to item design to encourage keeping and sharing.
- Point of Sale (POS) Materials: POS materials not only increase brand visibility but also serve retailers by providing branded assets that encourage second purchases. Messaging on POS should include action verbs like “Enjoy” to motivate consumers, be suited to the retailer’s format, and be designed for your target accounts, balancing clarity with visual appeal.
- Merchandise as Sales and PR Incentives: For distributor sales teams, well-chosen branded apparel tied to respected brands (e.g., Carhartt) motivates performance and helps promote your brand on the ground. Keep incentive merch limited edition to maintain desirability and motivate goals. For PR and creators, eye-catching, unique merch can extend brand reach and social media presence, especially when paired with affiliate or sales incentives.
Action Items
- Develop a merchandise plan that aligns each product with your brand story and target community to build stronger long-term customer trust rather than just producing generic logo items.
- Design and launch limited-edition merch drops independent of beer releases to create buzz and maintain customer engagement throughout the year.
- Equip your taproom and sales staff with branded apparel and accessories that reflect your brand identity and encourage them to upsell retail merchandise during customer interactions.
- Match promotional giveaway items (e.g., stickers, matchbooks, pens) to specific events or audiences, focusing on quality design and strategic logo placement to encourage retention and sharing.
- Create point-of-sale materials with clear, action-oriented messaging tailored to your ideal retail accounts, ensuring they are durable and appropriate for seasonal or evergreen use.
- Incorporate merchandise as part of distributor sales incentives by partnering with respected apparel brands, limiting availability to increase motivation, and using merch as a tool to build brand visibility through your sales force.
- Use merchandise in PR outreach and creator partnerships by developing distinctive items that grab attention and encourage social sharing, and explore affiliate or online sales channels to increase reach.
- [00:00 → 04:12] The session opens by framing merchandise as a strategic tool to expand a brewery’s brand beyond direct sales. Leah emphasizes that merchandise works best when integrated into a broader marketing plan aimed at building consumer trust and connection across many touchpoints. Merchandise appears in sponsorships, retail, taprooms, events, and social media, serving as small but powerful drivers of brand engagement to help sell more beer.
- [04:12 → 07:27] Leah breaks down merchandise’s three primary roles: telling your brand story with targeted designs that speak to specific communities rather than mass appeal; creating ongoing conversations via word-of-mouth when consumers display your merch; and increasing brand engagement by extending the customer experience beyond the taproom or event. She illustrates this with examples, such as Terrapin’s Osprey backpacks, which branded not just customers but distributors and created opportunities for continued messaging.
- [07:27 → 14:03] Diving into retail merchandise tactics, Leah stresses selling items in gift shops and online while using merch as consumer incentives or fundraising tools. Merchandise can flexibly support causes or community collaborations with fast turnarounds, sometimes faster than craft beer releases. She highlights the importance of quality and moving beyond logo-centric merch towards artful, story-driven designs that build identity. She also discusses “campaign drop” merchandise, using Betty Crocker’s viral drops as an example, explaining how such releases can generate attention independent of beer launches.
- [14:03 → 16:18] Uniforms are presented as a way to enhance customer experience and reinforce brand recognition, with flexibility around different team needs. Leah shares insights on how subtle brand presence—via bags or brand-aligned color choices—can build recognition through consistent visual cues. She advocates training staff to upsell merchandise by visibly wearing it.
- [16:18 → 18:50] Promotional giveaways have high value when thoughtfully matched to occasion and audience. Stickers remain a staple for beer festivals, while matched items like pens for server trainings or matchbooks for bonfire-themed beers help forge relevant brand associations. Logo placement and design priority are key: the best merch features strong design with logos incorporated rather than dominant.
- [18:50 → 22:30] Point of sale is critical for brand visibility and retailer relations, sometimes more so for the retailer than direct consumer impact. Providing branded pitchers or glassware supports retail partners and encourages repeat sales. Action-oriented language on POS, like “Enjoy,” drives consumer momentum. Leah advises customizing POS materials’ messaging and sturdiness based on the account type and usage (seasonal cardboard vs. sturdy evergreen displays).
- [22:30 → 27:55] Merchandise plays a dual role in sales and PR incentives. On sales incentive programs, partnering with respected apparel brands ensures the incentive is desirable to distribution reps; keeping items exclusive helps motivate effort and enhances brand visibility in accounts. For PR and creators, bold and playful merchandise that stands out—for example, Bush’s Baked Beans branded bucket hats—encourages social sharing and conversation, extending the brand’s reach and buzz. Leah encourages supporting PR merch with affiliate or sales incentives to leverage broader audiences.
- [27:55 → 28:43] To close, Leah reiterates the overarching purpose of merchandise: to tell your brand story, spark conversations even when you’re not present, and deepen customer engagement in alignment with your marketing strategy to boost beer sales. She highlights her book The Merch Blueprint for deeper tactics and invites continued conversation via LinkedIn.