820 corporate Christmas gifts for Social Discovery Group

820 corporate Christmas gifts, 350 children’s gifts, and delivery across 65 countries. For Social Discovery Group, Swag42 combined employee gift selection, custom merchandise, and coordinated international delivery.

Context

How do you choose holiday gifts for a global team with different interests, clothing preferences, and collections of company merchandise?

Social Discovery Group (SDG), a software development company, wanted to give employees a choice of useful, distinctive corporate merchandise. The challenge covered both the gifts themselves and delivery to a geographically distributed team.

This case covers a holiday project from Swag42’s third consecutive year of collaboration with SDG. Feedback from earlier projects helped shape the collection and delivery plan.

Every year, our team’s requests and expectations grow. We have a large staff with diverse interests and varying years of service, so it’s crucial for us that every employee is happy with their gift. We want to avoid anyone receiving ‘just another hoodie’ if they already have one, or other similar merch.

At the same time, quality items and a creative, outside-the-box approach to gift ideas are really important to us.

Anna Steblyanskaya

Lead Internal Communications, Events, Corporate Culture and HR Brand at SDG Group

Solution

Swag42 designed, produced, and delivered 820 corporate holiday gifts and 350 children’s gifts. The project covered 65 countries, with shipments to offices and individual addresses.

Employee choice informed by 900 survey responses

SDG surveyed its team about their merchandise preferences and received 900 responses.

Swag42 used that feedback to develop gift options for different preferences, including employees who had already received merchandise in previous years.

Employees could choose their main gift from the following options:

• Three hoodie styles, with six designs in total
• A branded denim shirt
• Crocs with custom charms
• A custom backpack

Each employee gift also included a custom notebook, a card, and coordinated packaging.

The collection offered a mix of understated and more expressive designs, alongside practical options for daily use.

The custom gift collection

Custom hoodies

The hoodie collection combined custom prints and SDG logo labels, with oversized, slim, and regular fit options.

Branded denim shirt

The cappuccino-coloured denim shirt featured a small SDG logo on the front and character artwork on the back. The designs used screen printing and drew on SDG’s original brand characters.

Crocs with custom charms

Custom charms featured the SDG logo and characters from the company’s brand guidelines. Employees could mix and match them on their Crocs.

Custom backpack

Swag42 produced a custom backpack from Oxford fabric, designed for carrying work equipment and everyday essentials.

We have a very large catalog of backpacks, including models from premium brands. However, the main advantage of the ones we produce ourselves is the wide range of customization options, allowing your backpack to become truly unique.

Julia Zabrodskaya

Customer Success Team Lead at Swag42

The design included a foldable top, double handles, adjustable straps, embroidered SDG logos, and a custom silicone zipper pull.

A related backpack project for Wargaming used sublimation printing to achieve a different visual effect.

Sampling and fit photography

Swag42 made samples so SDG could review the fit, finish, and branding before production.

We highly recommend doing samples. This helps ensure the final product meets your expectations 100%.

Julia Zabrodskaya

Customer Success Team Lead at Swag42

Project manager Victoria Khalapuk organised a photoshoot showing the merchandise on men and women in different sizes. The photographs helped employees compare hoodie fits and choose their size.

Production and international delivery

Delivery planning covered shipments to offices and individual addresses, with different documentation and customs requirements across destinations.

The project followed five stages:

• August: design approval and sample creation
• September: final sample approval
• October: employee survey and project launch
• November: production
• December: delivery

Swag42 coordinated packaging, shipping documents, shipment tracking, and customs clearance where required, including deliveries to Georgia.

We’ve been working with SDG for 3 years now. During this time, I’ve learned that the key to successful projects is starting preparations early and conducting retrospectives. A thorough approach and open communication make all the difference. We learn from past experiences – what worked and what didn’t. This helps us keep our clients happy.

Julia Zabrodskaya

Customer Success Team Lead at Swag42

SDG’s feedback highlighted both service quality and improvements to delivery compared with the previous project.

I believe half of a project’s success is production, and the other half is delivery. With employees in 62 locations, Swag42 handled all deliveries with a solution-first approach. Last year, customs delayed deliveries to Georgia. This year, Swag42 fixed this issue and delivered on time to 120 employees in Georgia – a big win!

Anna Steblyanskaya

Lead Internal Communications, Events, Corporate Culture and HR Brand at SDG Group

Additional merchandise delivered during Swag42’s partnership with SDG, shown alongside the holiday collection.

Results

The project delivered 820 corporate holiday gifts and 350 children’s gifts across 65 countries. Employee choice was informed by 900 survey responses, with samples and fit photography supporting the selection process.

SDG reported improvements in gift selection and delivery, and employees shared positive feedback on the merchandise and packaging.

We don’t just repeat projects—we refine them. We hit almost all our goals. Starting early gave us time to refine samples and tweak designs. We also addressed survey feedback, offering employees a wider selection of merch and adding practical items they wanted.

Anna Steblyanskaya

Lead Internal Communications, Events, Corporate Culture and HR Brand at SDG Group

Plan corporate Christmas gifts for your team

Need a choice of custom gifts and delivery to a distributed team? Contact Swag42 to discuss your gift collection, quantities, and delivery destinations.