Hello, friends.

Good morning, PromoPepper readers! It’s Masters Week, so we decided to focus on the famed golf tournament in our Deep Dive. During the annual tournament, the Masters merch shop reportedly earns $850,000 per hour!

Today’s newsletter rundown:  
Merch around the Internet
Deep Dive: The Masters
Grandma’s Sweater
Interview with Josh from PPAI
Promo Job Postings

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10 of the strangest merch items from companies that crashed
FTX fortune cookies and Theranos gift cards offer souvenirs from recent business disasters.

‘Swifties’ wait in long lines for concert merch at ‘Eras’ tour
Fans lined up on Thursday just to get tour merchandise ahead of her show.

Fans Claim Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour Merch Fades Considerably After One Wash
Some fans — many of whom waited for hours to get their tees — are finding that the merch doesn't quite live up to their expectations and are sharing their disappointment on TikTok.

Red Sox Opening Day: Merch, stress and 'guarded optimism'
Really fun read/interview with the manager of the Red Sox Team Store.

FIRST LOOK: ‘See You in the Fog’ Halloween Horror Nights 32 Merchandise Arrives at Universal Orlando Resort
Halloween Horror Nights merchandise has arrived at the Universal Orlando Resort. Following up on the announcements today, the first merchandise release for 2023 has arrived. Can you smell the fog yet?

Grateful Dead’s Latest Cosmic Camping Merch Is Inspired By The Band’s Early Beginnings
The Grateful Dead is more than just a band, they’re an entire community. And their latest merch collection, Cosmic Camping, is an example of what happens when you bring the community together.

PEEPS offers a bunch of new merch this Easter season
Easter is right around the corner and what says Easter and spring more than PEEPS? But PEEPS have become more than just the candy chicks and bunnies. The candy brand has a ton of different merch from shoes to nail polish to dolls.

Merch sales a slam dunk as SDSU’s Aztecs head to Final Four
Aztecs swag is selling fast at the SDSU bookstore following the team’s historic win Sunday against the Creighton Bluejays in Sunday's Elite Eight matchup.

Investigators warn of fake Final Four merch
Before you buy a hat or jersey to remember the Final Four, law officers are warning you to watch out for fakes. They say fake gear vendors are growing and getting ready to rip off sports fans big time.

Star Wars Shirts And Lots More Cherry Blossom Merch Are Coming To Nats Park This Season
The Washington Nationals may not win a whole lot of baseball games this year, but at least there will be dueling Star Wars Hawaiian shirts.

See Dolly Parton Relive Her Playboy Bunny Days
She brought attention back to the fabulous look when she announced she'd created a new line of merch inspired by the cover. 

Michigan Bar Turns One-star Review into Hilarious New Merch
If you're a restaurant or bar owner, you probably deal with a few haters no matter how buttoned up your business is. There will always be someone who wants to complain about what you're doing.

As A-List Designers Peddle Metaverse Merch, Decentraland’s Fashion Week Makes A Muted Return
Crypto may be struggling to emerge from winter, but at Decentraland’s second annual Fashion Week avatars are downloading digital swag and emoting the night away like it's 2021.

Ariana Madix releases ‘cooler than you’ merch post-Scandoval
The “Vanderpump Rules” star is moving on from Scandoval (and taking jabs at her ex) with a new collection of merch.

If you desire to acquire an Augusta ball cap, polo shirt, or garden gnome (yes, you read that correctly), you must physically travel to Georgia and visit the Masters pro shop located on the club grounds.

To gain access to the shop, one must possess a ticket for a practice round or a badge for tournament play, or have a benevolent friend who possesses either of these and is willing to take orders for you. The rarity of Masters merchandise is attributed to the fact that only a limited number of patrons, around 40,000, are fortunate enough to win a ticket through the Masters lottery each year.

To accommodate the large crowds and long lines, a new shop was built in 2018, which is twice the size of the old one. During the annual tournament, the shop reportedly earns $850,000 per hour. Golf Digest provides a comprehensive list of the merchandise that was available at the last tournament.

For many Masters patrons, it’s about the merch. And the gnome.
Masters Tournament merchandise can be had from the source for just one week every year, and numerous patrons Saturday admitted that scoring the collectible cups, the hats and tees, the chairs, umbrellas, and other swag was just as much the reason – if not more so – for their being here than the golf itself or the beauty of the Augusta National Golf Club’s immaculate course.

WATCH THIS:

Pop-Tarts Is Launching Its New Flavor With Grandma-Chic Sweaters

The limited-edition swag celebrates a cozy new Pop-Tarts flavor, Frosted Banana Bread.

Editor’s Note: This week, I interviewed Josh Ellis, Publisher & Editor-in-Chief, of PPAI Magazine. PPAI stands for Promotional Products Association International.

Josh has been really helpful with his feedback on PromoPepper so far and I was excited to share his thoughts on the industry below!

If you'd like to be interviewed for a future PromoPepper, reply to this email and we'll get you on the schedule.

What is PPAI?
PPAI is the leading non-profit trade association serving suppliers and distributors in the promotional product marketplace, primarily through market access, resources, and advocacy. It was founded 120 years ago and has the mission to be the voice and force to advance the promotional products marketplace for the benefit of our community.

What is your role at PPAI?
I am the publisher and editor-in-chief, overseeing all of our media efforts, including industry news and service content. My team is engaged in reporting and research and oversees the Association’s awards and recognition program.

What do you love most about the promo industry?
First of all, it has been extremely welcoming to me since I arrived in December 2021. Within PPAI and across the industry, people have been gracious and helpful. But I’m also inspired by the creativity and attention to detail we see in the work of distributors and suppliers alike. As an editor, both of those things are central to my own work, so it’s cool to see how others are channeling the same skills in different ways through tangible products.

How do you think the promo industry evolves over the next 5 years?
The larger trend has been toward consolidation – larger companies bringing their smaller competitors into the fold, often with the backing of private equity. That is going to continue to an extent, although our research for 2022 does show that many of the smaller companies have been successful in rebounding from the pandemic. It’ll be interesting to see how emerging technology, especially AI, is leveraged across the industry, and a good bet that the companies who use it well are going to succeed over those who insist on doing things as they’ve always been done.

How do people find you?
All of my work and our team’s work is published through the PPAI Media site. We publish a set of email newsletters also, which is how most people prefer to access our content, having it delivered straight to their inboxes. Anyone can subscribe here.

Click on each link to see the application/job description page:

• Sales Project Support Manager @ ePromos

• Promotional Product Sales @ Big Star Branding Inc.

• Supply Chain Promotions Planner @ Martin-Brower

• Account Manager @ Greco Promotions

• Help Desk @ Totally Promotional

• Merchandising Buyer @ Pinnacle Promotions

• Brand Marketing Manager @ Facilisgroup

We have so much more to say but we're saving some for next time. Reply back with your comments and/or questions and we’ll utilize them for the next issue!

Have a great rest of your week,

J.