A brief overview of the case:

The Occasion: An annual celebration recognizing the achievements and progress of the Miroverse team.

The Merchandise: Hoodies and portable chargers.

Purpose of the Merchandise in the Project: To promote unity within the team and provide members with items they can use in their daily lives.

https://miro.com

Miro is a visual workspace for innovation, involving large-scale operations with around 2000 people and numerous engineering teams. Vera Rabkina, ex-product manager for growth at Miro [now growth product manager at Synthesia], explains how to help different teams feel connected and motivated with the aid of merchandise.

In Miro, I work as a product manager for growth, overseeing a platform called Miroverse. My specific team of about 10 members includes cross-functional partners. A distinguishing feature of our team is that we manage a separate platform with its own branding, effectively operating as a satellite product.

This is why we have a soft heart for merchandise: we create this distinct, smaller product and feel a strong connection to it. We are keen to incorporate the brand into different aspects, even to the extent of wearing it. Essentially, we're a committed team responsible for its upkeep.

Miroverse is a large community product used by thousands of creators who not only use Miro's board but also create templates for others. Our objective is to continually develop and improve the platform. However, we often feel like we're a bit behind the scenes.

So, we've established a yearly ritual where we review the platform's growth and achievements. This large celebration event is our gratitude to the team for their hard work and to acknowledge the tremendous growth of Miroverse, which has increased almost tenfold in the last two years. So there's a lot to celebrate and we wanted to commemorate that.

It's also an opportunity to gear up for the next year. As a small team, we take the initiative in organizing these events. We've done this for the past two years, and it's been a great experience.

When creating merchandise for a small group, like our 20-person, we take great care to create unique and useful items. This differs greatly from producing merchandise for large conferences, which might cater to thousands of people.

We were looking for modern, interesting products that we'd want to buy ourselves if they weren't merchandise. We wanted items we'd use, but also something unique. In Miro, our vision on merchandise is strong, and we already have many different kinds of products. We wanted something that stands out.

 What we appreciate about Maramio is the flexibility in terms of our purchasing options, coupled with the quality and variety of the provided brands. We see this as a modern approach to merchandise, extending beyond just t-shirts. That's why we were confident from the beginning that we would find items on the platform that we would like to use. Moreover, you accommodate high-quality, smaller orders.

One of the great aspects was the ease of browsing and filtering the catalogue. Not only were there plenty of options, but the process of placing an order was also simple and transparent, which isn't always the case with every vendor.

Another thing that really stood out was the speed at which my order was processed and delivered. I've worked with multiple vendors before, and usually, it takes two to three times longer for them to process and deliver orders. It was impressive how quickly you managed it, especially considering we were pressed for time and had a strict deadline.

I received the items almost three weeks ahead of schedule, which was amazing and significantly reduced my anxiety about the event. Generally, it was a great experience. I believe the platform is still in its early stages, and I'm confident it will continue to grow and add even more flexibility to the ordering process.