Community | Buzzworthy IMAGE: Trader Joe’s IMAGE: Creative Goods/broadwaymerchandiseshop.com Made You Look Clever merch and promos grab the attention of fans and make lasting impressions, from a must-have grocery tote to April Fools’ Day gags. Compiled by Rachel Zoch 1. Broadway’s Hottest Souvenir Is … A Box Of Tissues? Clever merchandise for new musical The Notebook includes custom tissue boxes and hankies – and, of course, branded notebooks. As it turns out, the petite cube of tissues – decorated with the show’s watercolor silhouette logo – meets a real need, with dozens of audience members posting about how much they cried during the show. Creative Goods, the company behind BroadwayMerchandiseShop.com, which curates and sells merch for dozens of shows, showed the boxes as sold out online within a week after the show opened, and they were still marked “coming soon” a month later. Among the other show souvenirs is an old-fashioned white cotton handkerchief, embroidered in blue with the show’s typeface logo and “Inside the sadness there is joy” in script, and – of course – a leather-bound notebook. 2. Trader Joe’s Mini Totes Spark Merch Madness Bags are perennially popular in promo, consistently ranking No. 1 on SAGE’s monthly report of the 25 most popular products for at least the past year. Trader Joe’s may have the strongest branded bag game in the grocery business, with a variety of styles and materials to choose from. When the company released a miniature version of its beloved canvas tote at the beginning of March, fans on TikTok sparked a frenzy that saw the $3 bags sell out quickly. Shoppers stormed stores and resale sites to get their hands on the bag, not unlike the stampedes for Stanley tumblers in Target stores earlier this year. In response to the outstanding demand, Trader Joe’s announced via that they will be restocking the mini totes later this summer. 88 • JUNE 2024 • PPAI
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