<\/p>\n
Tomato sauce purses, sandwich flip-flops, and now\u2026a bucatini bikini.<\/p>\n
Despite food-inspired fashion being all the rage this summer, Nicole Landesman, VP of marketing at Banza\u2014the chickpea-based food brand that created the \u201cbucakini\u201d\u2014told Marketing Brew that its involvement in the trend is purely coincidental.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing this for a long time,\u201d Landesman said of the company\u2019s merch. She cited a collaboration Banza did in 2021 with beaded-accessory designer Susan Alexandra on pizza charms as one example.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the time, we saw on social that there were a lot of wearable food items,\u201d Nicole McNey, director of earned media at Banza, added. \u201cEvery single time we launch, people just love [merch] and so that\u2019s why we always try to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to the bucakini\u2014created to promote the company\u2019s recent bucatini release\u2014Banza also has a T-shirt line with actor Drea de Matteo on the horizon, according to McNey.<\/p>\n
Companies create branded merch for several reasons: to get people talking online, drive media coverage, or collect customer data. At Banza, McNey said creating merch is about driving buzz on social and turning product releases into bigger moments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe launched bucatini in June and we really wanted to give people a reason to keep talking about it over the following weeks,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
After a brainstorm around what a summer product could look like, McNey said the team decided to zone in on bucatini looking like a pool noodle and the similarity between the sounds of \u201cbikini\u201d and \u201cbucatini.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banza tapped designer and long-term partner Marianna Fierro to create the swimsuit\u2019s pasta pattern. According to Landesman, it was important for the branding to not be too obvious, hence the small \u201cb\u201d tag on the back of the suit.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur priority with all swag is designing things that we think people will really want to wear, so to us brand comes second,\u201d she said. \u201cWe try to find subtle ways of integrating Banza into the design in a way that doesn\u2019t detract from what the messaging is or what the idea is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Landesman added that quality is also something the brand considers, with the swimsuits featuring hand-embroidered noodles from a local embroiderer in New York. \u201cWe try to find ways to elevate each piece of merch in a way that we think is cool enough for our own team to be wearing. And that sometimes comes with finding niche partners to bring that vision to life,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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Merch doesn\u2019t make up a \u201chuge chunk\u201d of Banza\u2019s] budget on the marketing team, Landesman said, noting that\u00a0 the team is \u201cscrappy about it\u201d to ensure that they\u2019re able to deliver high-quality products that reflect well on the brand.<\/p>\n
To get the word out about the $59.99 bikini, McNey said Banza tapped Yu Ling Wu from the Netflix show The Circle<\/em> to model the product, as well as other creators like Callie Wilson, who is known for cooking in a bikini, and Jill Burrow, who made an \u201cedible\u201d bikini<\/span> out of Banza\u2019s noodles.<\/p>\n Once released, McNey said the 100 bucakinis produced in the first batch sold out within the first two days.<\/p>\n With bikinis shipping out this week, time will tell how much organic social content comes from bucakini owners. McNey said engagement to date has been promising: \u201cA fun anecdote that our team pulled from this launch was that our launch posts had an equal amount of shares and likes, which shows everyone who’s liking it is also sharing it with someone.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to creating social chatter, Landesman said the bucakini was also about making people smile and building the brand image. Looking at comments on social posts about the product, she said, \u201cThe sentiment was so positive. And I think to us, that was a huge indicator of success.\u201d<\/p>\nThe bucatini does not<\/em> stop here<\/strong><\/h2>\n