Spotlight On Stran
Cameras & Collaboration 🎥
A few years ago, we started following two content creators doing something we liked: making B2B content that was honest, useful, and fun.
In 2025 we reached out with an idea: why not collaborate on content for one of our campaigns?
Click the + to learn more 👇
Cutting Through the Noise
We all feel it — internet has gotten loud. AI-generated posts, recycled templates, and content that blurs together have made it difficult for brands to stand out and harder for audiences to know who to trust. We've been thinking about that for a while, and it's shaped how we approach our own presence.
Social media has become a business channel — not just a place to broadcast, but a place where professional relationships form. We've seen it firsthand: people discover vendors through a LinkedIn comment, start a conversation over a shared post, and eventually become clients. The content that tends to open those doors is specific, credible, and made by someone with a unique point of view.
The content that tends to spark those conversations is the kind that carries a point of view, blends entertainment with know-how, and gives people something worth engaging with.
Christina and Ademola both do that consistently. Christina is Head of Marketing at Slate, and she's built a following by sharing a marketing perspective that's refreshingly unfiltered. Her content is strategic, direct, and grounded in experience.
Ademola is the founder of a2media, a video production company focused on B2B brands, and his content carries the same energy: educational, creative, and engaging. We started following both of them on LinkedIn because we liked what they were putting out, and eventually reached out to see if there was something we could build together.
Swag Kits & Social Media
Our first collaboration was straightforward. We curated merch kits for Christina and Ademola, shipped them, and let them create. The content they made about what good branded merchandise looks like and why it matters came entirely from their perspective, which was the whole idea.
What we didn't expect was how far they'd take it. Both Christina and Ademola went beyond the original brief, sharing their genuine interactions with our brand and our team, continuing the conversation across their own channels, and Christina even took it to Substack, writing about how to approach merch the right way.
The Content Blitz
This year, we took the collaboration a step further. Christina and Ademola came to Stran HQ for a two-day "Content Blitz", involving on-site filming to help us create more creative, engaging, and humorous content to spread the word about the 7th edition of our Merchbook.
Before they arrived, we spent time developing campaign positioning, sharpening our key messaging, and doing ICP analysis to make sure we were telling the right story to the right people. We mapped out creative concepts for the video series and came in with a clear direction, then left room to improvise once we were on set.
Growing Through Partnership
This partnership reflects something we try to carry across everything at Stran: a willingness to experiment, to learn in real time, and to keep improving on what's working.
We've watched social media become a driver of business conversations, seen audiences grow more selective about what they engage with, and tried to respond to both of those things honestly. Working with creators who already have trust with their audiences is one way to do that. We're still learning as we go, and we hope the videos will speak for themselves. Keep an eye on our LinkedIn and Instagram channels to see that content go live!
Product Picks:
Fun-First Summer Merch ☀️
Sometimes the best merch just makes someone smile. As the summer continues, we selected two of our favorite items that break up the status quo and spark joy in your audience's life.
Click the + to see the picks! 👇
Cuisinart 1-Pint Wonder Ice Cream Maker
Homemade ice cream has a way of turning an ordinary afternoon into a cherished memory. This compact Cuisinart maker churns out a pint of fresh ice cream, frozen yogurt, or sorbet in about 25 minutes — simple enough for a team social, fun enough for a customer appreciation event.
For brands looking to leave an impression that goes beyond the usual, this is the pick. It carries your logo and creates a moment people associate with your brand every time they use it.
Best for: office socials, customer appreciation, premium gifting, family-friendly campaigns
Kenny Flowers Performance Swim Trunks
Kenny Flowers makes swim trunks people would buy for themselves, which is exactly what makes them work as a branded gift. Quick-dry fabric, a supportive performance liner, and bold retail-quality prints that hold up from the water to wherever the afternoon takes them. These aren't vacation gear that stays in the suitcase — they're the pair people pack first.
When a gift travels to the beach, the boat, the barbecue, and the long weekend, your brand goes everywhere summer does.
Best for: premium client gifting, summer events, travel-focused audiences, executive gifting
Industry News
America's Big Birthday 🎂
July 4, 2026 marks 250 years of American independence, and the brands that treated it as a strategic opportunity rather than a calendar date are taking home the cake.
Here's what the industry is seeing, and what it tells us about how merch decisions get made.
Click the + to learn more 👇
A milestone like America 250 doesn't come around often. The last comparable moment was the Bicentennial in 1976, which means most marketing teams have never navigated a procurement cycle quite like this one. What's become clear leading up to July 4th is that the brands positioned to make the most of it started planning months ago.
According to a recent report from PPAI, domestic merch suppliers have been fielding America 250-related orders from corporate partners for nearly a year. Koozie Group reports that "Made in USA" filter usage on its distributor website is up 3x year-over-year, making it the single most-used filter ahead of full color and assembled-in-USA options. LBU, a domestic cut-and-sew manufacturer in New Jersey, has seen domestic production increase more than 30% compared to last year.
The "Made in USA" Story Is Doing Double Duty
What makes the America 250 merch trend interesting is that patriotism isn't the only thing driving it. Domestic manufacturing has been gaining ground since COVID-era supply chain disruptions, and tariff uncertainty over the past year accelerated that shift significantly. For brands ordering America 250 merch, "Made in USA" is both the right story to tell and the potential answer to a sourcing challenge.
Sock Club's CEO has been making the same case to distributors for over a year: domestic sourcing isn't just a values statement, it's a practical advantage. Avoiding tariff exposure, tightening lead times, improving quality control, and giving brands a story they can stand behind are all benefits that compound. For America 250 specifically, a domestically made product doesn't just check the patriotic box. It also arrives on time, holds up, and comes with a sourcing narrative that reinforces the brand rather than undermining it.
Who's Ordering and Why
The range of organizations placing America 250 co-branded orders tells its own story. According to Koozie Group's VP of Marketing, orders have come in from federal agencies, community banks, global business services firms, and rural electric co-ops — organizations with almost nothing in common except wanting to mark the moment.
That intentionality is what separates a brand moment from a missed opportunity. The organizations that will have something meaningful to hand someone on July 4th are the ones that decided months ago what they wanted to say and who they wanted to say it to.
What This Tells Us About Merch Strategy
America 250 is a high-profile example of something that plays out at a smaller scale all the time: the brands with the strongest merch programs are the ones that plan ahead, connect product choices to a larger message, and treat merch as a communication tool rather than a last-minute line item. The anniversary gave those habits a deadline and a spotlight.
For marketers thinking about the next branded moment on the calendar — a company anniversary, an industry event, a product launch — the lesson from America 250 is worth keeping. Lead time is strategy, and the story behind the product matters as much as the product itself.
From The Blog
Summer Swag To Keep You Chill
Hot weather means more events, more outdoor time, and more chances to put your brand in front of people who will remember it. The catch is that forgettable merch gets forgotten.
We rounded up 10 summer picks built for the heat, the movement, and the moments that actually stick.
