Culture and Business: A Marketer’s Observations of Japan
By Paul Provost As marketers, we spend a lot of time defining audiences, and with good reason – without this understanding, we’re on unstable ground. […]
Insights
We don’t talk about touch much in business anymore. For generations, it was central to how we connected: handshakes at the start of a meeting, a pat on the shoulder to reinforce a job well done, browsing in a store and feeling the quality of products before making a purchase. Then things changed.
Remote work shifted how we interact, COVID eliminated handshakes, wisely enhanced HR regulations eliminated hugs, and e-commerce removed the tactile dimension of shopping. Even today, much of that physicality has not returned. Noting my wife’s diligence with germ control is such that she will celebrate the diminishing of handshakes – but personally I’m still a fan.
The result is a business environment where touch has become rare, and in many cases uncomfortable. Yet when physical touchpoints are scarce, they become more meaningful. That scarcity creates an opening. Apple famously designs its packaging so that opening a new Mac feels like a performance—the slow slide of the box, the smooth finish of the cardboard, the sense that opera music could cue at any second. Starbucks does something similar on a smaller, everyday scale: the fit, texture, and warmth of a cup that feels good in the hand.
These tactile cues are, in a sense, small-scale experiential marketing. Not on the grand stage of immersive activations, but as everyday touchpoints that still shape how we feel about a brand. Branded objects or “merch” which is often given away to top customers and/or at tradeshows, have therefore because an opportunity. They are among the only remaining ways for a brand to be felt, literally, in a customer’s hands. Done well, they reinforce credibility. Done poorly, they can damage it.
Twenty years ago, I was a relatively new marketing director at an electronic payments company. At that time, electronic B2B payments were still pioneering. Reliability and trust were everything. Replacing +300 years of paper cheque usage with a digital system was not a casual transition. We had to earn credibility and trust in every way possible – no mistakes allowed. We also needed to constantly reinforce the sense that we were highly innovative (but not on the ‘bleeding edge’).
That’s why, when preparing for a major trade show, I thought carefully about our display unit experience. In those days, attendees expected vendors to provide a tangible object to take home. Giveaways were part of the unwritten contract: if you wanted people to spend time with you, you gave them something of value. This is before iPods or streaming devices so I sourced sleek branded radios with earbuds – futuristic (at the time), practical, and attention-grabbing. Our staff loved them. Attendees snapped them up. I thought I had made a masterstroke.
However, like virtually every other time in my life when I begin to gloat with pride – along comes the fall!
Halfway through the event, the calls started. The devices were breaking. Some never worked at all. Others failed within hours. Instead of building trust, these branded items made us look unreliable—the exact opposite of what our brand needed to project. My colleagues were upset, and rightly so. Our reputation had been damaged not by our service, but by my failure to select a branded object that was of high enough quality.
That moment taught me something I never forgot: never risk brand credibility on a branded item that doesn’t match the standards of your customer. If it isn’t something they would confidently buy for themselves, don’t put your logo on it.
That incident highlighted how branded items are not a time and place to choose the lowest cost provider or product. They are physical touchpoints in the customer journey. In today’s terms, they are part of customer experience (CX) and brand experience (BX). Every interaction with a brand contributes to perception, and branded objects are no exception. A point of actual tactile contact with anything related to your brand should be given the utmost consideration.
When a branded item fails, it damages the journey. When it works, it reinforces trust. And in a world where customers no longer handle products in retail, shake hands in business meetings, and/or you only provide them with a professional service, branded items may be the only tactile brand encounter customers ever have. In that sense, they function as small‑scale experiential marketing.
A premium-quality thermal tumbler with your company’s logo on it is not just a beverage cup – it’s a daily presence on an executive’s desk, reinforcing your brand with every sip. A wireless charging pad with your company’s logo isn’t just a gadget – it is a reminder of your company every time someone powers up their phone. Each charge creates brand awareness, builds recognition, and generates goodwill toward your brand in the moments when people are most connected to their devices. These objects quietly embed your company into routines, where credibility and positive association are earned without a single word spoken.
Another overlooked dimension of branded objects is endorsement.
Consider an executive wearing a premium golf windbreaker with another company’s logo on the chest. They may never speak about that company, but the simple act of wearing the item is an implicit endorsement. In effect, the executive has become an influencer, not on Instagram but in the everyday spaces where credibility matters most.
Desk space works the same way. A branded object that earns a place on an executive’s desk – a high end pen, a reliable charging device, or a durable document stand – functions as a billboard on valuable real estate. Every glance reinforces brand recall. Every use delivers another impression. In media terms, these are gross rating points (GRPs) earned not through paid spend but through daily relevance.
The implication is simple: branded items are not just physical artifacts. They are media, and they are influence.
Why do these physical touchpoints carry such power? Neuroscience helps explain it.
Tactile Memory Encoding: A 2024 study in *Scientific Reports* found that tactile input—our sense of touch—activates specialized memory pathways in the hippocampus, enhancing recall of physical experiences far more effectively than visual-only cues.
The Endowment Effect. Research published in the *Journal of Consumer Research* by Joann Peck and Suzanne Shu demonstrated that simply touching an object increases a person’s sense of ownership and value for it, even without actual purchase.
Weight and Trust. Cognitive psychology research, including studies summarized in the “size–weight illusion,” shows that heavier objects are unconsciously associated with importance and credibility. I remember years ago when we did a tour of a globally leading home phone manufacturer when I was in business school, and they put weights in the phone receiver – the ONLY function of which was to give the user a perception of quality.
Emotional Recall: Work from MIT’s AgeLab has confirmed that physical interaction triggers stronger emotional responses than digital-only stimuli, reinforcing emotional memory that links directly to brand trust.
Together, these insights reveal why branded items function as more than logos on objects. They are tools for encoding memory, shaping perception, and creating lasting emotional connections.
For executives considering how branded items fit into their marketing mix, a few principles stand out:
Credibility over novelty: A flashy object that fails will do more harm than good.
Utility invites endurance: Items with practical use can last years, delivering thousands of impressions.
Touch deepens recall: Physical contact activates neural pathways that cement memory.
Objects act as media: A desk item or wearable logo delivers impressions every day, like a billboard in miniature.
Endorsement is influence: When someone wears or displays your branded object, they implicitly endorse your brand.
These are not peripheral considerations. They go directly to the heart of brand equity, customer experience, and marketing ROI.
This is just Part 1 of series. In Part 2, I’ll explore deeper neuroscience: how haptics, touch, and sensory memory can be leveraged strategically to design brand experiences that build trust and long-term equity. And in Part 3, I’ll reveal what first stimulated me to write on this topic.
Out of curiosity, “What’s one branded object/giveaway that you’ve kept and used for years – and how did it shape your perception of the company behind it?”
By Paul Provost As marketers, we spend a lot of time defining audiences, and with good reason – without this understanding, we’re on unstable ground. […]
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