Take the guesswork out of product development and sales with these tips from folks who are doing it.

By Susie Boghosian and Jinny Fleischman

CCFA ‘Got Guts’ to Merchandise

By Danny Jovic

When the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America launched its “Got Guts” wristbands last January, they immediately became the foundation’s most popular fundraising item.

“We were confident these wristbands would appeal to a younger crowd, judging by the reaction of my children [to the Lance Armstrong Foundation’s LIVESTRONG bracelets],” says Roger Koman, the CCFA’s vice president of new enterprises. “But we were surprised to see the amount of adults who adopted them. Thankfully, it touched a nerve.”

Having sold more than 300,000 Got Guts wristbands to date, the New York-based CCFA has capitalized on the product’s popularity by launching an expanded line of Got Guts merchandise. The new items include stuffed animals, pins, baseball caps and shirts embossed or embroidered with the Got Guts phrase.

Koman — who moved from the private sector to the CCFA because his daughter has inflammatory bowel disease — felt the message for the Got Guts campaign had to be strong and symbolic to the membership, similar to LIVESTRONG.

The result: the words Got Guts engraved on blue silicon wristbands, aimed at raising awareness about diseases people are reluctant to talk about — specifically Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease.

“The nature of these diseases creates a problem with awareness, but we’re doing everything we can to change that,” Koman says. “CCFA wants people to be able to show others that, even though they have this disease, they can do the same things others do — that they’ve got the guts to do it.”

The CCFA’s selection of merchandise has come a long way in a short period of time. “Two years ago we had no merchandising at all,” Koman says. “And now, after our first year of Got Guts merchandise, we’ve finished the year with retail sales of half a million dollars.”

The CCFA has taken a broad approach to merchandising. First, it’s expanded its merchandising concept to cover CCFA events such as the “Jumping Blue Beans Jump Across America” and the “Speed the Cure Power Speedway” — related products include key chains, jackets, mugs, T-shirts and hats.

The foundation also has started promoting itself through travel mugs, holiday cards and ornaments, Hanukkah dreidels and lunch boxes.

The CCFA’s goal was to build up the Got Guts concept into a robust product line.

“These products appeal to different age segments,” Koman says. “The majority of people buy it for the cause. We have a very intense, loyal following.”

Koman has big plans for the brand’s future. His department currently is exploring the creation of an executive series of products that would include limited edition, high-end handbags, ties and scarves. Or how about trend-setting flip-flops, hooded sweatshirts and jewelry?

“People love the concept, (and) they love the slogan, so we’re building on those demands,” Koman says.

The success of the Got Guts wristbands helped propel the CCFA’s branding efforts forward, creating awareness about bowel disease to people who’d never heard of it before. The CCFA hopes its expanded product line will continue to increase the general public’s awareness and interest, and provide an easy transition into an open discussion about a difficult topic, Koman says.

Danny Jovic is manager of public relations and communications at PFS Marketwyse. He can be reached at 973.812.8883, ext. 249, or via e-mail at djovic@marketwyse.com. For more information about the CCFA’s merchandising program, contact Roger Koman at 212.685.3440, ext. 221, or via e-mail at rkoman@ccfa.org.

But such programs shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. A good deal of thought and effort needs to go into creating a merchandising program that reflects well on the organization. It’s all too easy for a poorly conceived or executed plan to damage a nonprofit’s reputation.

The first thing you, as an organization, need to decide is whether you want to create an actual merchandise business or simply sell some products to generate an additional source of revenue.