CASE STUDY
But, critically, how do we swag?
At Twilio, swag merch was big business. The passion for it was like something I had never encountered. Unfortunately, the Global team didn’t have the resources they needed to express their passion.
The brief was: Ethical plus Brand-right plus seasonal plus Global events plus bespoke holiday gifting plus individual ordering within team budgets. And add customization with warehouse-free-drop-shipping?
No problem.
WHAT I SAW
Twilio had just gone through a deep Brand Values exercise. But the results did not run deep.
There was no universal online ordering platform
The Values were not reflected in the $2.25M+ spend on swag & gifting annually
No budget or quality oversights
Distribution of global resources was imbalanced between: global developer relations, sales enablement (ABM), employee engagement, and C-suite gifting.
Aligning, before running
1. Values-based & big-picture
I gathered competitive, cultural, and internal data, defining where Twilio lead and where they followed.
3. Lead vs. Control
Develop programming to make swag an inspired decision, not a default setting.
2. Challenging our Assumptions
I asked the hard questions: do we give Swag away because it’s expected? Where does strategic corporate gifting drive actual value? I built in cultural, social, and consumer influences ensure a higher standard.
4. Research-driven
Swag policies have been about controlling the quality of design. Flipping the script, I wrote a new playbook anchored in an aligned foundation of ethics, universality, and values, and supported by process.
MY SWAG CRITERIA
After investigation, ten criteria defined the actual project brief.
1. ethical 2. Brand-right 3. seasonal 4. Global events 5. developer-first 6. B2B-next 7. bespoke holiday gifting 8. individual ordering within team budgets… And add 9. customization 10. warehouse-free-drop-shipping.
No problem, right?
The resulting swag collection: two collections
CORE COLLECTION: linked to the Brand origins
With massive scale, global needs, one collection was not meeting the requirements.
I built two ways to swag: the core Brand collection retained the core Brand qualities, while the seasonal collection was trend-right, event-ready, and perfect for GTM/Sales gifting.
I also built a third way: NOT buying swag at all. Aligning to the brand ethical and sustainability sourcing guide, a gifted donation to charity was made a viable alternative.
SEASONAL COLLECTION: special, limited-run product
Online Swag Shop platform
Global support, order whenever: through a new online Swag Shop; connected to international production and shipping supply chains
Salesforce integrated for responsible budgeting and notifications (no more purchasing slipping through the cracks; like those neon LMFAO sunglasses ordered en mass.)
Global drop shipping: supported warehousing, so Twilio wouldn’t feel the crunch
Core Brand-approved meets playful limited edition
Ethics-rooted: so teams & regions can support aligned to their values, all levelling up to Brand standards
Twilio internal swag shop ordering platform video walkthrough
Results
89% alignment
Global Ethics Charter
52%
sku streamline
100%
size inclusivity
3 pricing tiers &
4 regions supported
20%+
minority-owned products
Swag made ethical, transparent, and efficient, top to bottom.
The Twilio Swag overhaul included apparel, accessories, consumer packaged goods (CPG), and custom, and seasonal event gifting, supporting everyone from leadership-to-internal culture, international-customers-to-teams-across-the-globe.
I led the team who created brand-aligned, as-niche-as-possible, swag, creative directing our agencies of record to source according to our structured new brand values and original ethics charter. I established the ethical and sustainability sourcing guide, filling in the ordering gaps with ethical options.
Designed in-house (key items 40%) and through agency partners (reworked existing items and sourced items based on Brand guidance 60%).
Client: Twilio
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Twilio global teams (EMEA, APJ, APAC, NAMER)
Season: 2022—2023
Role: Creative Direction, Art Direction, Program leadership
Disciplines: Creative & Art Direction, apparel/CPG strategy, digital design direction
Partners & collaborators: Jennie Janzen, Andrea Gonzales, Stephen Michal
Platform & fulfillment partners: B-corp & women-owned Canary Marketing