Key Takeaways:
• Education remains the largest market in promo, but distributors must navigate tight school budgets and inconsistent merch programs by building strong relationships and delivering strategic, story-driven campaigns.
• Back-to-school buyers are gravitating toward retail-inspired, personalized and experiential products, including charms, stickers, totes, drinkware and fulfillment kits that create stronger student engagement.
• Technology is reshaping school promo, with growing demand for smart-enabled and utility-focused products like device accessories and reusable cloud-connected notebooks that blend traditional learning tools with modern convenience and sustainability.
Just as the bell rings and school is out for summer, print and promo distributors are already thinking about their fall back-to-school campaigns.
It pays to get a head start, especially with education accounting for such a large share of the print and promo markets. According to Counselor’s State of the Industry report, the education sector was responsible for nearly 14% of overall sales, accounting for almost $4 billion – making it the top market for the promotional products industry in 2025. Additionally, the 2026 Print & Promo Marketing “State of Print” feature found that education was listed as a top market for 36% of print distributors and 46% of promo distributors.
But when it comes to building campaigns for schools, distributors face their fair share of challenges. Despite making up such a large percentage of promo customers, many schools have strict budget constraints, especially when compared to buyers in spaces like healthcare and tech. Proposed federal budget cuts to reduce or eliminate school programs could make schools’ budgetary restrictions even tighter. And many school merch programs lack consistency from year to year, which presents challenges for distributors looking to build and grow relationships with key stakeholders at these institutions.
However, without branded merch to engage the student population, many educational institutions are leaving money on the table. That’s according to a report from Counselor Top 40 distributor Custom Ink (asi/173232), which is based on a survey of 447 K-12 PTA coordinators, booster club leads, athletic directors, teachers and administrators across the country. Roughly one-third of school community event organizers with recurring branded product offerings reported higher-than-expected turnout at their most recent events, compared to only 14% of those with no program at all.
Amid an increasingly challenging and constantly changing education landscape, how can promo companies sell and deliver successful back-to-school campaigns?
Getting Your Foot in the Door
The first step in any back-to-school promo campaign is knowing who to talk to. According to Cortney Goodson, director of contracts and licensing at Franklin, TN-based distributor Blink Marketing (asi/141424), a school’s licensing department is a good place to start when you’re targeting colleges and higher learning institutions.
“Reach out to them and ask if they’re accepting new distributors,” she advises.
Goodson would know: She was an end-buyer before she was a promo distributor, having worked in licensing for a university. In her role at Blink, she manages a team of account executives who sell to colleges and universities. She says that if distributors don’t get a response initially, there are other avenues they can try to get in front of the right decision-makers.
“There are licensing agencies that manage contracts for universities, and you can find out who they are by going through a procurement department,” she adds.
A lot of Goodson’s work centers around helping universities recruit high school students, so keeping a pulse on the latest consumer trends is an important part of building impactful campaigns.
“We don’t try to push a product on someone,” she says. “We really try to help our clients use merch to tell a story.”
That approach helps build trust and allows Goodson and her team to develop a strong relationship with their clients. Budgets will always be a challenge in the education space, she says, but “if you build that relationship and work with them over the years, you might find that you can help them increase the budget.
2026 Back-to-School Wishlist
These are the top products to pitch to schools and higher education buyers for back-to-school season:
- Fidget toys
- Charms, keychains and stickers
- Smart-enabled notebooks
- Retail-inspired totes, backpacks and drinkware
Thinking Outside the Classroom
When it comes to back-to-school promo, creativity is a key ingredient for success. Goodson often encourages her team to continuously pitch innovative ideas, even if they come from somewhere outside of the education sector.
“The higher education space is always looking at other industries to see what they’re doing and what’s working,” she says.
Mariah Lax, director of national accounts and vendor relations at Liquid Screen Design (asi/254663), incorporates creativity into her work in schools by taking a consultative approach with customers, going beyond the surface level of their ask and identifying other potential needs the end-buyer might not even be aware of.
“If a school comes to me asking for pencils, I dig deeper,” says Lax, who last year was named a Print & Promo Marketing Rising Star. “Why do you want to buy pencils? What will you use them for?”
Those questions help her develop a strategy, not just for the back-to-school season – but year-round.
“I like to find out what the different themes are for the year,” she explains. “That helps me think beyond the classroom. For example, consider what people use in the summer and how you can incorporate a school’s branding, like a beach towel as an end-of-year gift.”
Goodson has witnessed a growing trend toward experiential promo, using merch as a catalyst for events and activities that bring people together. Blink Marketing has worked with clients to host hat-pressing events, for example, and recently curated a lapel pin-swap event at one of its client sites to connect alumni with graduating seniors.
Goodson adds that she has witnessed an increased demand for kits and fulfillment projects, a trend that blew up during the COVID-19 pandemic when schools and institutions were looking to engage students from their homes.
“In this past year, we’ve seen these fulfillment projects coming back,” she explains. “It’s really nice to see those boxes and items being put together and shipped out. It’s another way to create an experience.”
Saadia Bryant, vice president of marketing, product & design at Counselor Top 40 supplier Gemline (asi/56070), has also noticed this trend from her end of the supply chain.
“Distributors are asking for fewer, more versatile SKUs that can be bundled into kits, as well as products that demonstrate clear utility, longevity and, increasingly, a credible sustainability story,” she explains.
Products & Trends To Keep an Eye On
Heading into the selling season, there are plenty of products trending among K-12 and college students – although they might not be the typical items one would expect.
For one, Lax says, NeeDoh (a popular brand of sensory toys) and similar fidget products are replacing previously sought-after push popper-style fidgets. For those unfamiliar, it’s a squishy cube that you can squeeze in your hands.
Nicole Zuniga, sales enablement manager at PCNA (asi/66887), is seeing a trend across categories that she refers to as “smart value.”
“It’s the idea that people aren’t just looking for swag,” she explains. “They want something that’s meaningful and useful. And the more practical an item is, the more value they’ll assign to the brand. People want merch items that they would buy themselves anyway.”
For example, one product that Zuniga has seen take off recently is a keychain with small bags that look like treats, such as pizza slices, pretzels and ice cream scoops.
“They’re very economical, but they’re also fun,” she says. “You can put your AirPods in them, or maybe your vitamins.”
Personalized accessories, more generally, are still very much in vogue, Zuniga adds.
“My daughter is in kindergarten, and she has charms all over her backpack,” Zuniga says. “We’re seeing that same exact thing with high schoolers and even those going into college.”
It’s a trend that has permeated through the entire promo ecosystem – Counselor named “personalized accessories” its 2025 Product of the Year based on the growing popularity of these items. Searches for custom stickers grew 40% year over year, while search terms related to straw toppers climbed 34%.
Another trend suppliers are seeing in the education sector?
Retail-inspired gear. “If there’s an item that looks exactly like something in retail or has similar features, that’s always very popular,” says Zuniga. For example, a school might not have the budget for an Owala, but they may be able to find an alternative that offers a similar look and feel and sits a bit closer to their price point.
“There’s a stronger emphasis this season on brand, identity and perceived value, with students gravitating toward products that feel more like retail,” says Bryant, adding that she sees this trend grow across categories like drinkware, bags and accessories.
In fact, some of Lax’s favorite products for back-to-school are tote bags styled to match the aesthetic of the classic Lululemon or Trader Joe’s tote.
“You can design it to match the school’s branding,” she explains.
Smart Enabled & Tech Integrated
With the rise of AI and the ever-evolving use of technology in the classroom, products that creatively integrate tech devices are becoming increasingly popular.
“In K-12, students require tools that support device-based learning, which has elevated categories like audio, charging and protective accessories,” says Bryant. “In higher education, technology is deeply integrated into the student lifestyle, driving demand for products that enhance convenience and connectivity.”
“This [rise in technology] hasn’t eliminated demand for physical products; instead, it has raised the bar for what those products need to do,” Bryant adds. “Promotional items are increasingly expected to solve real, everyday problems, whether that’s keeping devices powered, organized or protected.”
Despite the rise in smart-enabled promo products, classic school supplies like the beloved paper notebook aren’t going away anytime soon. Instead, students are using these items along with technology that makes learning easier and more effective. In fact, Zuniga of PCNA has witnessed a return to the journal, pointing to several studies that show people are more likely to remember facts when they write them down as opposed to typing them on a device.
But that doesn’t mean tech can’t be paired with notebooks or journals. Zuniga offers the example of Rocketbook, a cloud-connected collection of planners and notebooks that allow users to take notes using paperlike material, then upload to an app.
“I can erase the page, clean it up and then I can reuse that exact same notebook again,” she explains. “It’s a really nice way to be able to take that note, file it away and be able to look it up really quickly.”
An added benefit: It’s eco-friendly. Unlike a traditional notebook that often gets thrown out after it’s used, the Rocketbook can be repurposed for notetaking multiple times. And unlike paper notebooks that are often destroyed if they get wet, Rocketbook comes with a dry-erase feature.
“So, you get it a little wet, you can wash it and then you’re able to start fresh again with the same exact notebook and pen,” Zuniga says.
It’s a reminder that even as systems and technology become more advanced, classic items will always have a place in promo. They just might look a little different than they used to.
