Can a Tote Bag Really 3x Brand Visibility? Here’s the Story Behind Our Most Unexpected Win
This story was during my time responsible for QuantumByte as Marketing Lead
When we decided to join Tech in Asia Conference 2025 as one of their sponsors, I already knew one thing: every brand comes prepared with their best merchandise.
The tech giants (Google, Grab, Postman and others) must bring out the premium stuffm the kind of swag people proudly carry around.
As a new brand in the scene, we were excited, motivated, and admittedly a little nervous. Not because we couldn’t compete, but because we knew we needed to be intentional about how we showed up.
I remember sitting with the team and asking a single question that changed everything:
“How do we make people notice us when everyone else is playing the same game?”
Of course, we brought the standard merch items too like notebooks, stickers, tote bags.
But we wanted something different, something that could do more than just lie on a table waiting to be picked up.
And that’s when the idea came.
It started almost as a joke:
What if we made our tote bag twice the size of everyone else’s?
At first, we laughed.
Then we paused.
Then we realized…
Wait, this might actually work
The Thought Process Behind a Big (Literally) Idea
Visibility wasn’t our only goal.
We didn’t just want people to take our merch, we wanted them to use it.
One thing we knew about events like these:
People quickly run out of space to carry things.
Small tote bags overflow, backpacks fill up, hands get full.
So we thought:
What if our bag became the solution?
What if our bag became the one bag attendees used to carry everyone else’s merchandise?
That would mean wherever the crowd walked,
whatever they picked up, our brand would be the one they showcased.
Simple.
Smart.
And honestly… kind of funny.
So we did it.
We literally doubled the size of our tote bag.
Watching the Strategy Come to Life
On the first day of Tech in Asia, I remember watching the crowd enter.
Everyone headed to the merch tables, picking up stickers here, notebooks there, and — eventually — reaching ours.
And then the magic happened.
People started placing every other piece of swag inside our tote bag.
Not only did it fit everything comfortably,
it became the most practical bag on the floor.
Within a few hour, I saw our tote bags everywhere,
across the venue, on shoulders, in the photo booths, even carried by people who never visited our booth.
What This Taught Me About Marketing
This experience taught me something I’ll never forget:
Sometimes the smartest marketing strategy isn’t about going louder or spending more —
it’s about understanding human behavior and meeting a simple need.
People didn’t need a tote bag.
They needed a bigger tote bag that could cover all the things they brought.
And by giving them exactly what they needed — even before they knew it —
we earned visibility far beyond what we had planned.
By the end of the event:
- Our tote bag was one of the most visible items on the floor
- Attendees were genuinely excited about it
- People kept asking where to get one
- And our booth became a repeat destination because people “wanted another one for a friend”
One funny story of this, I met someone on the other event that we’ve been network through this event, this guy is the Product Manager from Doku, and he was like “Oh you’re from QuantumByte, the one withe the large totebag is it?” 🤣
A small, funny idea turned into one of our best-performing branding moves.
So, can a tote bag actually 3x brand visibility?
Ours did. And it reminded me why creative thinking, even the silly kind is one of the most powerful tools in branding.
Sometimes, the difference between blending in and standing out…
is just a tote bag that’s twice the size.