Key Takeaways
• Retro Appeal Drives Engagement: Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2025 merch taps into nostalgia with vintage logos, proving that retro branding can resonate with audiences.
• Subtle Chic Enhances Brand Perception: Minimalist designs on totes and bottles give an elevated look, showing that understated branding can boost desirability and usage.
• Custom Creations Strengthen Brand Identity: Apple’s custom pins highlight the power of unique, brand-specific merchandise.
It’s one of the most anticipated merch drops in the technology world – and it just hit.
I’m talking about the limited-edition and giveaway swag that Apple releases annually in conjunction with its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The 2025 incarnation of the event kicked off Monday, June 9. There was ample branded merchandise to support it. In that, there are some business-building takeaways for promotional products professionals.
First, some quick context: The merch, available only onsite, carries a cool cachet for techies who attend – a way of showing you were there at this important conference where Apple showcases new software and technology to developers (or at least that you were willing to pay markups on secondhand-seller sites to secure some branded goodies, but I digress).
Here are three swag strategies promo purveyors can glean from WWDC 2025 merch.
1. Rock the Retro
There’s a wonderfully retro feel to shirts, hoodies and other items that Apple is selling for WWDC in its onsite Apple Store. The apparel pieces’ feature takes on Apple’s original rainbow logo. Set on plain black or white bases, the logo jumps, evoking the bygone early days of what turned out to be a technology revolution. Relatedly, another incarnation of the rainbow logo emblazons apparel too, presented in the Apple Garamond font.
Promo Application: Vintage vibes are in the air. Clients big and small can tap into this. Say, for instance, a customer’s business has been around for a few decades and had a couple different logos. The company can create merch for employees, for giveaway to customers and even potentially for sale that features the original logo with messaging about the business’ longevity.
There is, for instance, an auto garage near me that’s been in business for what seems like eons. I see old trucker hats hung up in there from the ‘70s that have the shop’s name and old logo on it. If the business re-released such caps, I’d for sure purchase one. I doubt I’d be the only one.
Even brands newly launched can tap into a vintage vibe with the right messaging and design.
There’s a psychology to retro’s appeal. People tend to sentimentalize the past, looking back with rose-colored nostalgia at what they tell themselves were better times. The desire to do so can prove especially strong when current events are turbulent, a word that can apply to 2025. As such, brands that evoke vintage in their merch efforts can connect with audiences longing for perceived-to-be simpler times.
2. Go Subtle Chic
As part of swag gifted to attendees, Apple provided totes and water bottles. The colors and branding on each are of note. The tote and water bottle are black. They feature “WWDC 2025” in a kind of muted gray and low-sheen silver. The skinny font for the WWDC branding on the bottle is simple, muted. The print on the bag is oversized, taking up the face of the tote, but remaining unostentatious. As such, both items have an understated, subtly chic look that elicits the aesthetics of high-end fashion brands.
Promo Application: Take the cue from Apple and go subtle in the on-product branding for customers, whether it’s for merch for employees or outside recipients. Not everyone wants to walk around with bold, blazing logos. A quieter approach, with a touch of elegance and class, especially when paired with a nice product like a higher-end stainless-steel water bottle, can prove a hit with many end-users. They’ll be less walking billboard and more successful sophisticate. That could well compel recipients to use the product more, bringing it with them in public. That can only help your clients.
3. Create Custom Products
In another savvy swag move, Apple gifted WWDC attendees pins that are custom cut and designed into specific, well-known elements from its brand. For instance, there’s a rainbow-colored “hellllllo” pin – a great piece that carries the retro feel that appears on some apparel, while also done in the script of the “hello” that greets users of iPhones, iPads and Macs during the initial setup process. There’s also a multitasking Octopus emoji pin and an event-particular “WWDC 2025” pin.
Promo Application: Are there elements of your clients’ brands that can be turned into products? If so, there’s opportunity to create custom items based on these. Perhaps your client has a mascot: Consider transforming the character into a custom plushie – or follow Apple’s example precisely and make a pin in the mascot’s likeness. You can even create custom items in line with the tastes of audiences that your clients target.
Certainly, some promo pros have had success with this approach. Rielly Troyer of Michigan-based Proforma Printhouse (asi/491465), Counselor’s 2024 Distributor Up-and-Comer of the Year, created a custom Lego-style block toy in the shape of a dump truck for a bank client that targets the construction industry.
The toys were a success and Troyer posted about the project on LinkedIn. A Fortune 500 company saw the post and contacted Troyer. They wanted a custom block toy of their company’s flagship trucks built. Troyer pulled off the order with aplomb, seamlessly delivering about 60,000 units.
Back to Apple, though. Ultimately, the WWDC collection can prove fertile ground for swag idea inspiration. And one thing’s for sure: WWDC merch is a great testament to the staying power of well-done branded merchandise in general. For instance, one X user posted that 2025 marked 20 years since first attending WWDC. How was this milestone symbolized in the social media post? With a pic of a branded WWDC 2005 backpack:
