10 Fun Ways to Use Custom Lapel Pins
With so many ways to use custom lapel pins, the possibilities are endless! But we'll narrow it down to the top 10 for you!
You can find custom lapel pins just about anywhere - theme parks, restaurants, conventions, businesses, and so much more! They’re powerful tools for storytelling, branding, and even community building. But not everyone realizes how many fun ways people are using lapel pins out in the world! Today, we’re going to highlight our top 10 ways to use custom pins! Hopefully you feel inspired and start a free design of your own to add to the fun!
#1 Employee Recognition and Awards
Perhaps the most popular way to use pins is to create employee recognition awards. These pins usually have a design that incorporates the company brand colors and logos, but with an added flair of personality. Sometimes the pins are handed out for years of service, allowing workers to collect more pins as their tenure increases. Other times, the pins are awarded to teams as a celebration of opening a new location, completing important training, or getting a well-deserved promotion! No matter the case, employee recognition pins are a fun way to engage with the people who make your business great and boost morale!
#2 Event Souvenirs and Giveaways
There’s no end to the types of events where you’ll find custom pins. Convention season is full of promotion pins for new products and technologies. Sporting events like the Olympics are famous for designing trading pins for athletes and spectators, music festivals design amazing giveaways for the cheering crowds, and theme parks around the world encourage visitors to collect themed pins. Whether it’s a grand opening, a wedding, a reunion, or some other type of special event, the right custom pin will be the perfect giveaway for all to cherish.
#3 Loyalty Programs and Memberships
We’ve helped our clients design a fair amount of exclusive lapel pins for clubs, VIP groups, and loyalty programs. The Freemasons are one of the most famous clubs that used custom pins to signify membership, but we’ve also helped create pins for Breweries and restaurants, hotels, airlines, and more! Awarding a membership pin is a great way to help people feel connected to your group, fostering a sense of belonging while helping to identify members!
#4 Fundraising and Awareness Campaigns
Pins are great for grabbing attention, which is why a lot of nonprofits and charities design them to help raise awareness and fundraise. Awareness ribbon pins are sometimes handed out to help spread the word at local events, and handed out as a thank you for charitable donations. Like any other pin, special awareness pins help create a sense of belonging to a group while helping spread an important message.
#5 Business Branding and Promotions
Businesses use custom pins for all kinds of promotions and branding events. Pins are oftentimes handed out to customers when they sign up for programs or make big purchases, or given to employees during orientation! Either way, creating a branded lapel pin is a great way to foster a sense of community and welcome new people into your business!
#6 Collectible Pins
Collectible pins are often paired with an event or product launch to help mark important dates. E-sport tournaments will often award players with collectible pins that have important dates, references to the host city, and unique artwork. But it’s not limited to the video game industry - large corporations like Coca-Cola, SpaceX, and others create collectible pins for industry events, rocket launches, and more! When you collect a series of pins from the same organization, it’s like collecting snapshots of all their most significant moments!
#7 Team and Club Pins
Youth baseball, softball, and hockey leagues are well known for their unique trading pin cultures! Teams across the nation design fantastic trading pins to show off player numbers, mascots, and a special sense of team pride. The pins are brought to tournaments and players trade them with opponents, helping build a culture of sportsmanship and allowing players to add to their own expanding collection of team pins! But it’s not just sports teams! The National Beta Club designs amazing trading pins each year to bring to the national conference!
#8 Fashion Accessories and Personal Expression
Sometimes, pins are designed to add a unique touch to jackets, backpacks, hats, or other forms of apparel! Schools have pins for students to wear, and some clothing brands create pins that are included with the purchase of shoes or bags! We’ve also helped companies design custom zipper pulls! A custom pin is an excellent form of personal expression and brand story, and there’s no limit to what’s possible when creating a custom design!
#9 Wedding and Party Favors
Party favors come in all shapes and sizes, and lapel pins are quickly becoming a go-to for couples preparing for their big day! Custom pins are affordable and fully customizable! Couples usually included the wedding date in the design, as well as references to the venue, important quotes and bible verses, and sometimes images! We’ve also designed pins for birthdays, company holiday parties, and all kinds of other special events!
#10 Commemorative and Limited-Edition Releases
Exclusive pins to celebrate grand openings and special events are another fun way to celebrate important dates! We’ve designed limited-edition pins for small businesses, large corporations, and more! They sometimes go to founding members of a club, and other times are awarded to winners of a contest. Creating a special commemorative pin is a great way to build buzz and award your most loyal fan base or customer base. Upgrade options like glitter, spinners, and sliders are all fun options to mark the release of a limited-edition pin!
How Will You Use Your Lapel Pins? Start a Design Today!
With so many ways to use custom lapel pins, the possibilities are endless! Whether you’re looking to promote a business, build a community, or simply create something fun, designing custom pins is a creative and effective way to make an impact. Start designing yours today! We’re excited to work with you!
