Notes from the press
Merch program planning notes
For the person accountable for everything guests take home: how to divide the money, pick the item list, and plan quantities that don't end in boxes.
Who these are written for
The person signing off on everything guests walk out holding — a producer, a brand marketer, an agency planner, or a host doing it once and wanting it right. Open the allocation guide if the number is fixed and the split isn't, the item mix guide if you're deciding what goes on the list, the private-event plan if there's a date and no plan yet, and the wedding program note if the audience splits into tiers. One-question versions of all of this sit in the Answers hub.
A few positions recur across all four, because the same mistakes recur across programs. Quantities set from an invite list rather than realistic attendance cost more than any sourcing decision. A short item list at deeper quantities beats a long one at shallow quantities on both price and appearance. Sizeless items carry far less risk than sized ones, which is why they belong in more programs than they usually get. Throughput competes directly with unit spend, so the station count has to be settled before the item spec. And the remainder is a line in the budget whether you plan for it or not. When our thinking on any of this shifts, these notes get revised rather than replaced.