Custom Ink launch new campaign from Mekanism
Custom Ink launches its first major brand refresh in 15 years, shifting beyond a custom t-shirt provider to a comprehensive team success engine.
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Custom Ink launches its first major brand refresh in 15 years, shifting beyond a custom t-shirt provider to a comprehensive team success engine.
Created in partnership with Mekanism and titled Ink Is More Than You Think, the campaign taps into The Office-style humor, introducing a new brand character, Janine, who makes the inherently complex swag process look simple by treating Custom Ink as her cheat code for solving organizational challenges with absurd confidence.
The hero film introduces us to a corporate team as their boss breaks the news that investors have pulled their funding. One employee says that she just bought a jet ski, while another states she will start a cash burn analysis in reaction. Meanwhile, Janine decides it’s the perfect moment to order Stanley tumblers for the team. She makes the point that the more water they have, the more productive the team will be, which will ultimately solve the funding problem. The film closes with the team cheering, holding their matching water bottles with custom t-shirts that say “Let’s Funding Go!” as a voiceover delivers the tagline: "With over 10,000 swag options... Ink is More Than You Think."
Credits
View on- Agency Mekanism/San Francisco
- Chief Creative Officer Tommy Means
Explore full credits, grab hi-res stills and more on shots Vault
Credits
powered by- Agency Mekanism/San Francisco
- Chief Creative Officer Tommy Means
The work marks the first brand campaign from Mekanism since Custom Ink named the agency its agency of record in 2025. As the beginning of a new creative chapter for the brand, Ink Is More Than You Think establishes Mekanism’s role in leading Custom Ink’s strategic and creative evolution as it redefines what swag can do for teams of all sizes.
"The pandemic didn't just disrupt our business, it revealed who our customer had already become," said David Doctorow, CEO of Custom Ink. "Almost overnight, we went from primarily serving small groups to serving businesses and organizations. Fortune 500 companies and household brands have been using us for years. We just hadn't fully embraced what that meant, until now."
"Janine represents everybody who feels responsible for driving successful outcomes for their organization," said Phil Auerbach, CMO of Custom Ink. "She's the HR coordinator, the team captain, the office manager, the PTA president, anyone who knows that the right gear at the right moment can transform how teams feel and perform. Through humour and heart, we're showing that Custom Ink understands organisers and has their back."
"We didn't just cast Janine for a spot; we architected her to be a repeatable character,” said Tommy Means, Chief Creative Officer of Mekanism. “The goal was to give the brand a recognisable pulse, something that fits the Mekanism DNA of building work that actually sticks and has the legs to keep running.”
