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I see guys around here that we poached from a big aerospace place all wearing their logo and images...kinda want to see our logo instead.
Thoughts?
Thanks again
Note: I'm answering this from an outside perspective.
If you already see them in swag from past employers, then you know which items they are likely to wear. The items you don't see? Those are the items they don't wear/use.
When I worked at a place that required polo shirts they were nice. Now that I work at a t-shirt sort of place t-shirts are nice. You can guess which sort I tend to wear outside of work (hint, I don't lounge around the house or work on my car in a polo shirt).
Jackets and water bottles/mugs are nice only if they serve a purpose.
The first coffee mug/bottle is nice as I can use it at work. My last employer gave us all coffee mugs every year. Those who wore out/broke last year's mug as well as the new employees all enjoyed it. Those of us who just kept it at our desk had 4 or 5 company mugs on our desk after a few years. We aren't going to use more than one at once, and I don't need more of those at home (moral of the story, you can't please everyone, but this might be a better every 2-3 year item). I did get a Yeti branded one which I use quite a bit simply because it keeps things hot/cold a lot better than anything I already have, but note, only one. It's not wearing out and I don't want another (I would if my wife took it all the time, but she has her own preferred mug).
As above, spend the couple extra $ to make it a nice t-shirt/whatever. The biggest argument for "Don't do it!" is when it's something that costs you money and effort, but they don't want. HR at a previous employer wanted to "have something for everyone since people want different things". The result was a large bag of really cheap stuff nobody wanted each year. A T-shirt too thin to wear more than once, a custom roll up picnic blanket (nobody does picnics in Texas in the summer, the velcro gets in the way of actual blanket use, plus it was see-through thin). We all felt guilty throwing the stuff out, and the local Salvation Army doesn't want 300 cheap company branded key rings and refrigerator magnets. Eventually they went to just one item, but a bit nicer. Saved them money and then the items actually got used.
On a similar theme, but not accomplishing your stated goals, gift cards for carry-out at a local restaurant might be welcome. I know my spouse is getting pretty tired of cooking all the time since we haven't gone out since March and the local restaurants could use the help. Obviously this may go from nice to problematic if it's a place that's dine-in only/a movie theater, etc.