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Strategy October 30, 2018

Scotland Yard To Launch New Branded Merch Line

London’s famous police force wants to use the swag to generate revenue to help pay for new officers.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Old Bill’s getting is’self some new merch.

For those unacquainted with Cockney slang, let us translate: London’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), known better by its famous metonym of Scotland Yard, wants to start selling new branded merchandise that includes apparel, hats, mugs and more. To date, MPS’s merch marketing has been limited to selling branded cufflinks, a model forensics kit, and toys that include Obi, a police dog injured in the London riots, and a teddy bear called Bobby bear.

The Evening Standard tells us that Scotland Yard is looking to sell the promotional products to bring in extra revenue to fund new officers and to pay for training. The force also hopes the swag will help inspire younger generations to become bobbies. The popularity of New York Police Department merchandise, which is worn by people throughout the world, is said to have been a motivator behind Scotland Yard’s push into promotional products. “It could be worth millions,” Mark Borkowski, a PR expert, said to the Evening Standard about the value of the merch line. He felt the swag would sell especially well overseas. “I think it has more of a hope to succeed as a foreign export.”

Scotland Yard is reportedly licensing elements that include the MPS logo, the New Scotland Yard sign, the MPS font and color palette, and imagery of officers on patrol. No products will resemble uniform-issue items worn by Met police officers. Agency Point.1888 is on the contract, which was tendered by Transport for London (TfL).

While the cop merch campaign is happening across the pond, it’s a great reminder that similar initiatives can potentially work in the USofA, too. Yankee promo distributors should speak with police and fire departments about how the outfits can leverage their brand into merch that helps generate much-needed revenue that could help fund operations. 

We thought the model forensic kit was cool, too.

Scotland Yard Forensic Kit. Image from here.