The best branded merchandise strikes a chord with consumers because it’s timely, clever and well-crafted. Here are some of staffers’ favorite recent examples of “moment merch.”

What Does IMHO Stand For?

C.J. Mittica: BuzzFeed’s merch game has always been strong. This is the site that, after a certain president called them a “failing pile of garbage,” sold limited-edition garbage cans for $49. So when a raging office and internet brouhaha erupted over what the H stands for in IMHO (either “Humble” or “Honest”), there was only one way to settle it: merch showdown. BuzzFeed issued two shirts and let the public vote with their dollars. In my humble opinion, just genius.

The Future Is Female

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...Feminist is a recurring word for #MariaGraziaChiuri. #DiorSS17 #PFWSS17

A post shared by Dior Official (@dior) on Sep 30, 2016 at 4:23pm PDT

Michele Bell: I love the “We Should All Be Feminists” T-shirts, which obviously tie in with the #MeToo movement. I have one, and I like this one too:

Gritty Saves Christmas

John Corrigan: My brother is far more obsessed with the Flyers’ take on The Happytime Murders than I am, even going so far as to try and sneak in the VIP section of the Thanksgiving parade just to meet Gritty. When the National Bobblehead Hall of Fame announced that three Gritty versions would be available for preorder, I scooped up the Rocky steps' version ASAP (wonderful tie-in with Creed II, by the way). Even though it won’t ship until after Christmas, I take great pride in knowing I’ll be the best brother ever.

Staying Strong in the Face of Tragedy

Sara Lavenduski: This past spring, a bus transporting a hockey team between games in rural Saskatchewan had a serious accident with a semi-truck. Half the passengers were killed, including players, support staff and the head coach. Hockey is Canada’s national sport, and there are countless small towns across the country with community teams, and these players are their hometown heroes. It was devastating for the town of Humboldt, with a population of just 6,000 people. In a matter of days, local distributors quickly designed Humboldt Strong shirts that benefited victims, their families and first responders. One distributor had 600 orders in 24 hours.

Just a few weeks after the Humboldt accident, a van driver deliberately hit pedestrians in Toronto, killing 10 people. The industry rallied, and one company quickly designed and started selling #TorontoStrong shirts, gathering 1,000 orders in two days, with 100% of the proceeds going to the victims and their families.

Bobbleheads and Voter Swag

Christopher Ruvo: There are a gazillion (official tally) of these types of moment merch campaigns. Here are a few recent ones off the top of my head:

• Millennial influencers offered merch to help get out the vote among young people.
• The U.S. won its first-ever Olympic gold medal in curling, which naturally led to the creation of the first curling bobblehead.
• This is 2017, but the “Thumbs-Down Guy” gained enough fame to warrant bobblehead memorialization.

Steak-Umm Merch Sizzles

Theresa Hegel: One of my favorite branded merch moments in recent history comes from Steak-umm, the Reading, PA-based purveyor of thin-sliced frozen steaks and sizzling Twitter burns.

here’s a more accurate headline:
“clickbait news site owned by the onion calls family owned frozen meat company on twitter the worst thing on the internet” https://t.co/yN2iZ6DNWx

— Steak-umm (@steak_umm) December 12, 2018

The brand amassed a large online following in late 2017 after launching a tongue-in-cheek campaign to get its account verified on Twitter, then capitalized on the fame by creating a line of wacky apparel. How can you not love a tank top that features a beef-phoenix rising in flames from a frying pan?

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