These Are the Promotional Products People Keep for the Longest Time–and the Ones They Dump the Quickest

People Keep Apparel for Over 10 Years

We were impressed to discover that some people are keeping their swag for a decade or more. Kids have turned from chatty toddlers to sullen teens, political administrations have been voted in and out, and these true believers are still holding onto the t-shirt they acquired a decade ago.

It is most likely to be a t-shirt, or some other type of clothing. Although we should give an honorable mention to bottle openers, which came in second place, six of the top 10 items people had kept for 10+ years were apparel. Specifically, t-shirts (first place), fleeces (third), headgear (fourth), jackets (fifth), button-downs (seventh), and sweatshirts (eighth). Rounding out the top 10 were blankets (sixth), bumper stickers (ninth), and mugs (tenth).

This will all make complete sense to anyone who still has a college or even high school hoodie buried in their closet. We form emotional attachments to clothing maybe more than any other product. That’s particularly true when it’s branded to represent a company or event that had special meaning for us. Our survey backs this up: 63% of participants said they’d kept a promotional product for sentimental reasons.

Top Promotional Products People
Have Kept for More Than 10 years

1. 

   T-shirt 24.25%

2. 

   Bottle opener 21.20%

3. 

   Fleece apparel 20.25%

1. 

   Headwear 19.96%

2. 

   Jacket 19.86%

3. 

   Blanket 19.67%

Rank	Item	% Who Have Kept for 10+ Years
7	Button-down	19.26%
8	Sweatshirt	18.78%
9	Bumper sticker	17.70%
10	Mug	16.78%
11	USB charger	16.39%
12	Footwear	16.10%
13	Pen/pencil	15.70%
14	Lanyard	15.55%
15	Koozie	15.45%
16	Flash drive	15.33%
17	Polo	14.94%
18	Coaster	14.86%

Rank	Item	% Who Have Kept for 10+ Years
19	Keychain	14.57%
20	Sticky notes	14.09%
21	Tote bag	13.57%
22	Lunch bag	12.28%
23	Stress ball	12.24%
24	Sunglasses	12.17%
25	Plastic cup	11.98%
26	Backpack	11.94%
27	Power bank	11.93%
28	Mouse pad	11.91%
29	Highlighter	11.43%
30	Tumbler	11.18%

63% have kept a promotional product for sentimental reasons.

Quality Logo Products

People Value Usefulness Above All

Before you think we’re all a bunch of softies, when it came down to why people kept promotional products, usefulness outstripped everything else. A resolute 84% of respondents gave that as their reason for keeping promotional products. Quality came in a respectable second, at 62%. Aesthetic appeal was close behind, at 54%. Company association was a healthy fourth, with 29%.

From this, we learn that the best way to get your branded product into people’s hands is by choosing something they actually want to use. If you can do that, not only will they be excited to receive it in the first place, they’ll probably keep it.

Would it be nice if the number one reason someone wanted a product was because they’re a massive fan of the company? Yeah, it would. However, it’s not all bad news. One group of people that apparently really love swag are employees.

When asked where they got the merch they’ve had the longest, 54% said their workplace. Just under half of people (47%) said that having a promotional product makes them feel closer to the company. When asked what they would do with a promotional product they used frequently once they’d left the company, 91% said they would continue to use it.

Understanding Promotional
Product Retention

Top Reasons People Keep a Promotional Product

1. 

   Usefulness 84%

2. 

   Quality 62%

3. 

   Aesthetic appeal 54%

4. 

   Company association 29%

Where People Keep Their Promotional Products

Rank	Item	% Who Keep
1	Closet	56%
2	Work desk	45%
3	Kitchen	35%
4	Car	13%
5	Garage	12%

Where People Have Received the Promotional Products They’ve Kept the Longest

Rank	Item	% Who Have Received
1	Work	56%
2	Community event	41%
3	School	25%
4	Conference	21%
5	Trade show	20%
6	Mail	18%

47% say having a promotional product makes them feel closer to the company.

Quality Logo Products

People Use or See These Products Every Day

One of the main purposes of promotional items is to get your brand in people’s faces (in a nice, friendly way) on the regular. Choosing a product they’ll have for 10 years is one way to do that. Another way is to choose a product they’ll use or at least see every day.

Utility wins again here. The top five products people use every day are, first, mouse pads, then pens/pencils, keychains, calendars, and day planners. The top five products people see every day are pen/pencils (first), mugs, water bottles, highlighters, and tumblers.

Based on this data, pens and pencils seem to be the product people have the most daily interactions with, whether that’s using them or just seeing them lying around. However, I’d also like to make a case for mugs.

Hear me out. At the center of the Venn diagram of these categories sits an item that people 1) keep for 10+ years, 2) use every day, and 3) see every day. Well, 32% of people use a mug every day (putting it in 12th place in that category), and 30% see a mug every day (second place). And 17% keep a mug for 10 or more years, which is 10th place. Assuming that all these people are actually some of the same people, that is a lot of potential impressions for your brand from one humble mug.

But mouse pads and pencils are cool too.

Promotional Products That
Make a Daily Impact

Promotional products people use daily

Rank	Item	% Who Use Daily
1	Mouse pad	47.64%
2	Pen/pencil	45.10%
3	Keychain	45.08%
4	Calendar	41.17%
5	Day planner	41.03%
6	Hand sanitizer	38.21%
7	Water bottle	36.64%
8	Highlighter	34.16%
9	Notebook	33.77%
10	Lotion	33.08%
11	Sticky notes	32.62%
12	Mug	31.53%
13	Phone stand	30.49%
14	Headphones	29.96%
15	USB charger	28.40%

Promotional products people see daily

Rank	Item	% Who See Daily
1	Pen/pencil	37.15%
2	Mug	30.02%
3	Water bottle	25.94%
4	Highlighter	23.55%
5	Tumbler	22.19%
6	Calendar	21.90%
7	Sticky notes	21.33%
8	T-shirt	21.13%
9	Plastic cup	20.67%
10	Keychain	19.61%
11	Hand sanitizer	19.24%
12	Notebook	19.20%
13	Lanyard	18.87%
14	Bumper sticker	18.43%
15	Headwear	18.25%

Quality Logo Products

People Kept These Products for Less Than a Year

Now we come to the less fun part of our survey, in which we find out which products people kept for less than a year.

It’s not all doom, gloom, and lousy ingratitude, though. We realized that people keep some products for less than a year because they last for a year or less. For example, hand sanitizer, lotion, and calendars. With that in mind, we created two categories for our survey: products kept for less than a year including those that expire or run out, and products kept for less than a year excluding ones that expire or run out.

In the list that factors in products that expire or run out, it’s these that make up most of the top 10–the top seven, to be specific. We’re talking (in order) calendars, hand sanitizer, lotion, day planners, notebooks, sticky notes, and highlighters. Interestingly, all of these are in the top 11 products that are used daily, which could indicate that the reason people don’t keep them for more than a year is, indeed, because they run out thanks to daily use.

So what are people not keeping? The top five products people kept for less than a year that don’t expire or run out are, in order, PopSockets, headphones, bumper stickers, fidget spinners, and sunglasses.

To explain this, we should probably consider the top three reasons people gave for keeping a product: usefulness, aesthetics, and quality. PopSockets and fidget spinners are very useful to some people but not to others. Headphones are useful but the quality varies. And bumper stickers and sunglasses come down to aesthetics.

But wait, there’s a shocking twist in this tale. A surprising number of items high on the list of non-expiring products people kept for less than a year ALSO appear high up in the list of products people kept for 10+ years. For example, bumper stickers (third and ninth respectively), koozies (17th and 15th respectively), and USB chargers (9th and 11th respectively).

While these appear to be contradictions, they may actually reinforce the importance of understanding what people want from promotional items. People won’t stick an ugly bumper sticker on their car, but they could have one they like for a decade. If you give them a koozie when they really need a mouse pad, they’ll probably throw it away. And if you give them a good quality USB charger, they’ll keep it for a decade–unlike one that breaks in less than a year.

Promotional Products That
Last Less Than a Year

Not including products that expire or run out

Rank	Item	% Who Keep for Less Than a Year
1	PopSocket	44.93%
2	Headphones	44.75%
3	Bumper sticker	40.74%
4	Fidget spinner	39.53%
5	Sunglasses	39.42%
6	Stress ball	38.48%
7	Lunch bag	37.54%
8	Phone stand	37.44%
9	USB charger	36.48%
10	Footwear	34.63%
11	Power bank	34.57%
12	Plastic cup	33.87%
13	Button-down	33.61%
14	Portable speaker	33.33%
15	Coaster	32.82%
16	Lanyard	31.82%
17	Koozie	29.84%
18	Water bottle	29.20%
19	Drawstring bag	28.97%
20	Keychain	28.92%

Including products that expire or run out

Rank	Item	% Who Keep for Less Than a Year
1	Calendar	66.67%
2	Hand sanitizer	62.94%
3	Lotion	57.46%
4	Day planner	57.18%
5	Notebook	47.56%
6	Sticky notes	45.99%
7	Highlighter	45.07%
8	PopSocket	44.93%
9	Headphones	44.75%
10	Bumper sticker	40.74%
11	Fidget spinner	39.53%
12	Sunglasses	39.42%
13	Stress ball	38.48%
14	Lunch bag	37.54%
15	Phone stand	37.44%
16	Pen/pencil	36.86%
17	USB charger	36.48%
18	Footwear	34.63%
19	Power bank	34.57%
20	Plastic cup	33.87%

Quality Logo Products

Conclusion

People find real value in promotional products, as long as you choose them with care. Consider what they will find useful, and choose high quality products over something that won’t last. You can also play on sentiment, especially if you’re shopping for gifts for employees. And if you want them to be thinking about you 10 years from now, you can’t beat a t-shirt–except maybe with a mug.