Hi Richard,

Do you know which sort of distribution media you were thinking of for this merchandise, the target markets and what sort of messages and budgets?

Also is this for WMUK promotion or fundraising?

A few ideas I'd love to see tried once we are a registered charity are:

Promotional:

Mousemats and mugs are two of the best ways of getting a longterm marketing message into people's homes and offices.

for new/potential editors

Mousemats are unlikely to break in the post, there is a natural affinity between Wkimedia and your mousemat, (subconsciously our supporters will like to have their mouse moving round on a WMUK mousemat); Mousemats are a really convenient place to have a list of Wikimedia projects and a one liner - "you've probably already tried out our encyclopaedia www.wikipedia.org, but have you also visited:

www.wiktionary.org our online dictionary" etc etc

For experienced editors just the logo and a jumble of different vaguely familiar templates and codes {{fact}} #redirect [[target]] etc etc

Mugs are a bit more expensive to post and have less room for printing than a mousemat, but a mug is possibly the most effective way to get your brand and a short message circulating for yonks round an office or staffroom. "Warm thanks from Wikimedia for supporting us through payroll giving" with Wikipedia, Wiktionary etc listed in a smaller font would make for a great promotional mug design, and I suspect quite a few people would email in for one if we asked our donors "Have you asked your Payroll department to sign you up for our payroll giving campaign yet? If so please us your name, address and Postcode to get a free mug for your staffroom or office kitchen."

I worry about [Citation needed] stickers, it would be just too <s>tempting</s> easy to apply them while going up escalators. Might make good novelty cufflinks though.

Tshirts also have their drawbacks, not least because you need lots of different sizes and both male and female shapes.

I'd also be cautious about pens. Aside from the wikileaks connotations, they have less space for logos and messages than mousemats and are less likely to be communal and therefore widely seen than mugs. Any pen good enough not to look like a cheap charity pen gives an overly profligate look to the charity that gives it away, and any pen that looks appropriately cheap risks leaking and doing your image more harm than good.

On the fundraising side, once we are a registered charity we will be in a lovely position to supply some feel good gifts for that always difficult Dad market. Most obviously through charity calenders - I'd love to see Majestic Titan in calender form. But Mousemats and mugs work here as well, though obviously with more of a quality picture and less marketing than the free promotional ones. Calenders have the disadvantage of being a somewhat seasonal and highly perishable product, so I'd be cautious unless we can do a deal with whoever gets the racks of charity calenders into WH Smith etc each Christmas. Mugs and mousemats can if over ordered be stored for years before being handed out, and at any time of year would make great gifts for curators etc at GLAM events (especially as they are low enough in value that even in most Public sector organisations they don't have to be declared as gifts).

Another fun one would be flipflops especially as a great early summer gift for the campus ambassador program to hand out to students. But I don't know what the costs are here, especially if you want special [citation needed] tread ones.

Hope that's of interest

WereSpielChequers

On 12 September 2011 15:41, Richard Symonds < richard.symonds@wikimedia.org.uk> wrote:

All,****

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I’m looking into replenishing the chapter’s supplies of merchandise, but rather than the standard fare of key rings and stress balls, I’m wondering if there’s any interesting requests people have. Obviously, we’re constrained by cost, but if you’ve got any ideas, I’d love to hear them. Some suggestions that have already been made – ****

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**· **Badges printed with the QR code for the Wikipedia page on QR Codes****

**· **Wikipedia logo-shaped cookie-cutters****

**· **Merchandise printed with Wikipedia memes such as [citation needed], [edit], or maybe phrases like “Wiki Loves Museums” or “I Write Wikipedia”****

**· **Business card-size cards with DYKs printed on them****

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We’re looking for things that’ll be easily understandable by the general public – something that would make the average person want to edit. That said, feel free to make any suggestions, even if you think they might be unworkable – they might be usable in future campaigns or as part of a bigger project.****

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All the best,****

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Richard****

___________________****

Richard Symonds****

Office Administrator****

Wikimedia UK****

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richard.symonds@wikimedia.org.uk philippe@wikimedia.org****

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