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CASE STUDY

How Wayground turned a rebrand into 1 million impressions with community swag ​​

The challenge

Your company is thinking about rebranding. It can be a risky move, especially when you already have an engaged community and loyal brand fans.
When Quizizz decided to become Wayground, the marketing team didn't want a simple announcement and hope people paid attention. They wanted their community to be the champions of the new chapter.
Wayground Rebrand
The goal: turn the rebrand into something their loyal base of teachers, educators and advocates could celebrate, to share and make their own.
That's where Kotis came to help.

The idea

Instead of treating the rebrand like a standard name change, Wayground built the launch around celebration.
They recruited around 500 community members and shared a video explaining the new name before the public launch. A day or so later, those supporters received Wayground shirts and were asked to post a photo or video showing their excitement.
Parallel to this, Wayground ran an influencer campaign with top voices in the education space. They sent bright pink piñatas filled with swag, with the Wayground shirt as the star.
The prompt was simple. Show your excitement. Be creative, personal, and real. No scripts from the marketing team.

How Kotis helped

Wayground needed 550+ branded shirts produced quickly, shipped across the U.S., and delivered in time for the launch.
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Kotis helped manage the project from production through fulfillment, including:

Sourcing and screenprinting 550+ shirts ​

Shirt design and brand color matching

Rush production support

Individual shipments across the U.S. through Kotis warehouse

Proprietary rate shopping software, keeping shipping costs low

Keeping new brand name under wraps until shirts were delivered

Wayground sent over a spreadsheet of addresses. Kotis handled the rest.
That let their team stay focused on the campaign, the community, and the launch story instead of chasing production timelines, shipping details, or fulfillment issues.

The results

The campaign gave Wayground’s community a physical way to take part in the rebrand, and they showed up.
Wayground.SocialMediaPost
According to Wayground, the campaign generated:
400+
community
participants
1,000+
posts across
platforms
1 million+
estimated
impressions
98%
positive
sentiment
Focusing on celebration and community-led voices, Wayground made their rebrand an enthusiastic shouting-from-the-rooftop moment for what’s to come.

What Wayground said

“[Kotis was] extremely supportive, quick to respond, and flexible with our timeline. The product quality was excellent and everything was delivered smoothly. You made it very easy. We just uploaded a spreadsheet of addresses and you took care of the rest.”

Why it worked

Swag was treated as part of the experience. It wasn’t an afterthought.
Shirts gave the community something to touch and hold. The rebrand was real, something they could wear like a badge of honor. Piñatas made the influencer campaign quirky and fun.
For brands planning a rebrand, launch, or community campaign, the lesson is simple:
If you already have an engaged audience, swag can help activate it.
Not by sending random merch. By giving people something meaningful to share at the right moment.

Takeaways for your next community swag campaign

Start with the moment

The best swag supports a real launch, milestone, or reason to engage.

Make people feel included

Wayground gave its community a role in the announcement, not just a shirt.

Keep the prompt simple​

A broad ask like “show your excitement” leaves room for better, more authentic content, versus feeling like a scripted list of talking points.

Plan logistics early

Production, addresses, shipping costs, fulfillment, and timing can make or break the campaign.

Use swag to build shared ownership

When people feel part of the story, they are more likely to post, wear, keep, and talk about the brand.

Need help with a rebrand, launch, or community swag campaign?