Spring is in the air – and the promo industry is ready.

Shifts in the top 10 ESP search terms for Q1, as well as the fastest-growing searches for the quarter both showed distributors planning for warmer weather campaigns with products suited for outdoor events.

The top six slots were near unchanged, as “pens” maintained its reign at the top of the search charts for the 17th consecutive quarter, followed by other classic categories like “water bottle,” “tumbler,” “lanyard,” “tote bag” and “mugs.”

But holiday gifting staples like “Yeti” and “blanket” slipped from the top 10 searches following the Q4 rush in favor of sunny stalwarts like “sunglasses” and “koozie” – a brand name for can coolers from Counselor Top 40 supplier Koozie Group (asi/40480) – ahead of the spring season.

In the drinkware category, though, the battle of the water bottle brands continues. Search interest for “Stanley” has been on a decline for the past few quarters as hype around the viral tumbler brand – whose 40-ounce Quencher was ASI Media’s 2023 Product of the Year – has died down. Searches for the brand dropped 62% in Q1 compared to the start of last year.

In contrast, interest in the multicolored pastels of Owala bottles has been on the up-and-up since late 2023. “Owala” was the search term with the most year-over-year growth for the whole of 2024 – more than a 400% increase compared to 2023 – and that continued into Q1 with a 75% spike in searches versus Q1 of 2024. And this quarter marked the first time that Owala ranked above Stanley in searches.

Other noteworthy search spikes included “speaker” (up 26%), “table cloth” (up 33%) and “fidget” (up 37%).

Unlike the fidget spinner craze of 2017, another former ASI Media Product of the Year, the fidget toy trend that’s reemerged since the pandemic has proved to have more lasting endurance, both thanks to the vast variety of fidget products available on the market now and to their association with aiding focus and easing anxieties. It is worth noting that searches for “stress relievers” were down 35% year over year in Q1 – but that could be an indicator that the language around these types of products is steadily shifting over to the “fidget toy” realm.

Another notable trend on the ups? Patches. Searches for the decoration item were up 24% in Q1 – another indicator, perhaps, that the ’90s are back in the apparel market, with heavyweight tees and retro varsity-inspired styles everywhere at recent trade shows.

In addition to “Stanley” and “stress relievers,” searches for “fanny packs” – a bag trend that’s resurged in the past few years thanks to the popularity of the Lululemon Everywhere Belt Bag – are also down on the year, despite the style still selling out in the retail world.

Looking ahead to Q2, ASI Research expects to continue seeing warm weather items like “beach towels,” “sunglasses” and “golf” rise in the search rankings ahead of the summer months. And outside of product-specific searches, increased interest in nonimported products – namely, Made-in-the-USA items – could also continue, thanks to ongoing tariff uncertainties.

“While we expect to see summer-forward items rise in popularity in Q2, I think it will also be interesting to see if location-based product searches increase,” said Nate Kucsma, ASI’s senior executive director of research. “Interest in things like Made in the USA, Made in Europe or made in other countries besides China may be on the rise.”

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