Get your gear, get your cold weather campaign gear!

If you were following the Boston mayoral election at all, you may remember a piece by Thomas Grillo in the Boston Herald over the summer about campaign apparel.  Mayoral challengers Sam Yoon and Michael Flaherty were both selling shirts, stickers, etc., and Yoon was getting fantastically creative and having some fun with his t-shirt designs.

Obviously this is not a groundbreaking trend (Obama merchandise was everywhere in 2008), but it's still an effective way to put a campaign brand on the streets.  I had several friends ask me early in this campaign what I knew/thought about Alan Khazei, simply because they had been given free t-shirts with his name on them.

An interesting wrinkle for this campaign, however, is that both the primary and general election will take place in two of the coldest months of the year (theoretically at least).  So t-shirts will only get you so much brand recognition outside, and won't provide volunteers with much protection.

Having worked on special election campaigns before that required knocking on doors and holding signs in December and January, I appreciate that at least two of the campaigns are offering cold weather campaign gear.

In a push for last minute donations prior to last Wednesday's reporting deadline, the Capuano campaign was offering limited edition "Mike Capuano for Senate" scarves to anyone who contributed at least $50.

I'm not sure where one would wear such an item outside of the campaign, but they could certainly help keep volunteers warm as they stand on street corners during visibilities or walk their neighborhood for Caps over the next 16 or so days.

The best piece of cold weather gear I've seen so far though (in any campaign) comes courtesy of the Brown Brigade.

In an email last week, Scott Brown's team announced the opening of a campaign store that offers the typical stickers, pins, mugs, etc.  It also sells a Scott Brown jacket for $39.99 (note, I'm not sure if the campaign gets any of that money, I know Yoon didn't get anything from selling his t-shirts, and both "stores" were run through Cafe Press).

The all season jacket is emblazoned with the slogan "Freezin for a Reason," which I love for some reason, and has a slick look to it.  Now, as my wife would happily point out, I have probably the worst fashion sense in the world, but if I were a Brown supporter I would be rocking this thing throughout the campaign.

(Note: I'm pretty sure the FTC requires that I disclose that I have not received a free jacket, scarf, or payment from the Brown or Capuano campaigns for this fashion review. Why can't the FTC just let me be?)

If any of the other campaigns have designed cold weather gear (or any other cool merchandise) please let me know.