Local Elections, State Elections & Federal Elections always is are emotional and significant event in Australia.  We know we are the lucky country and we hold our politicians to high standards. The elections themselves though are always a bit of a community event.  Regardless of your political pursuasion communities always group together during election time in and around the electoral location and in community meetings leading up to the election.  The day itself is always a fun mixture of democracy sausages, lamingtons, face painting and even an entire market at some locations.

When it comes to promotional products for elections there are several things which you may consider.  Firstly the type of merchandise.  Products for elections can be broadly split into three different categories and they vary for:

1)  Branded Election Merchandise intended to show your support for a party
2)  Branded Election Merchandise intended to pursuade others to vote for a party
3)  Memento gifts for the election occassion or memento gifts for the winner

Below are some recommendations for each category type.

Printed Election Merchandise To Show Your Support

If you are affiliated with a particular party in Australia, Labor, Liberal, Nationals, Greens, Democrats or simply running as an independent then you would want to definitely show off your allegiance during meetings and get togethers.  Therefore visibility is the most important thing.  We would recommend:

• Election Tee Shirts
• Election Caps
• Election Polo Shirts
• Election Jackets

During events like fund raising to show your support with decor.  Therefore you may wish to consider products such as:

• Election Printed Table Cloths
• Balloons
• Umbrellas
• Stressballs

Show your support to your party by making yourself as visible as possible.  Us Aussies are a passionate bunch so really no merchandise is too loud for an election.  Hand products out to party volunteers or what is becoming common practice sell these products as a fund raiser to your supporters.

Printed Election Merchanidse To Pursuade Voters

It is common knowledge that other than policies a huge factor in getting enough votes rests with good publicity and marketing.  Marketing merchandise for elections can be targeted if you have close enough scrutiny of demographics and behaviours or it can be general blanket marketing.  When it comes to merchandise to pursuade voters products visibility is the key.  Much like advertising for consumer products you want awareness and where possible highlight the positives with short captions beneath your party colours and logos on the merchandise

• Election day bags - Non Woven Bags or Calico Bags are low in cost and allow for a huge branding area
• Fridge Magnets - Even Lower in cost and allow for blanket distribution
• Promotional Toys for kids
• Bucket Hats
• Badges
• Mail outs - vases, fold up bottles, pop up mailer cubes
• Tee shirts

With all these products we highly recommend a short caption to be branded with the product.  It may not instantly get you votes but when merchandise is used as part of a wider publicity and marketing campaign your message will definitely cut through to your voter.

Memorbillia for Elections

You may be surprised to learn but there are many avid collectors of merchandise for historic and not so historic events.  In fact it is not just for the collector but almost everyone has some sort of memento for an occassion.  The great thing about memorbillia is that often they come with cool tongue in cheek comedy sketches.  Either words taken out of context, misspelt or simply a bit of humor for the politician or party.  Obviously it is very important to keep all jokes clean and respectful.  Some great products that work wonders as memorbillia for elections in Australia include:

• Branded Mugs
• Umbrellas
• Tee Shirts
• Bucket Hats
• Stubby Coolers
• Pens
• Caps
• Mousepads
• Beach Towels

In fact almost any product would work well as memorbillia for elections simply because the appeal of the product solely rests on how sharp or witty your print image is.  On the other hand memorbillia can also be extremely formal which is where we would recommend a higher end range of product to mark the occassion.  Products like:

• Crystal Trophies
• Branded Glassware
• Porcelain Mugs

These are just a few of the potential products to be used as a memento to mark a serious election campaign.

Author Profile: Charles

Charles is the owner/operator of Cubic Promote. Charles has over 15 years of experience in the promotional product industry, making him an expert on not only the products in our range but also marketing strategy implementation and the industry as a whole. Visit him on LinkedIn.