A tour, an album, an anniversary kit, a festival capsule. We treat it like a release, not a procurement cycle — smart tags in the run, content live before it ships, every item scannable on day one.
Is this you?
The Drop suits a self-contained release with a date on it. If several of these sound like your brief, you are on the right page.
Signals that say Drop
Signals that say Programme instead
What it looks like
No phase gates, no steering committee. Here is the whole thing, week by week, with who does what at each point.
A 30-minute call, not a discovery phase. We confirm the run size, the release window, what the tap should do and which edition — Bridge, Inform or Engage — fits the way you want to work.
Shape the scope, confirm feasibility against your dates, quote it.
Tell us the moment, the volume and the destination.
A one-page scope with a fixed shape, timeline and number.
We coordinate directly with your printer or supplier, or supply tagged blanks ourselves. Each item receives a smart tag and a cryptographic identity minted in the platform, so every garment in the run is individually addressable.
Supply and encode the tags, mint the identities, brief the supplier.
Introduce us to the supplier and confirm the run sheet.
A run where every single unit is uniquely identifiable.
Either the tap hands straight off to your own site or app with the item data attached (Bridge), or we publish a branded fan-facing page for you (Inform or Engage). Content is versioned, so it can change after the drop ships.
Build, brand and host the destination; wire the handoff.
Supply artwork, copy and any links you want behind the tap.
A live destination, tested on real tags before release.
Every garment in the run authenticates and scans from the first one out the door. You watch taps arrive in real time — volume, location, product, hour by hour.
Monitor the launch and stay on hand through the first week.
Release as you normally would. Nothing changes in your sales flow.
Live first-party fan signal from the moment it lands.
The moment does not have to die when the run sells out. Change what sits behind the tap: a thank-you, the next announce, a pre-sale, a resale check, a warranty. The audience you gathered stays yours.
Keep the content layer editable for as long as you want it.
Decide what the tap should say next.
An owned channel into everyone who bought the drop.
What we need from you
Everything else is ours to figure out. If you are missing one of these, say so on the call — it usually changes the shape, not the answer.
In the wild
Real connected releases, not hypotheticals.
A commemorative England Rugby shirt run where every garment carried its own verified identity and a story fans could tap into.
See the case studyTour merchandise connected to the show itself, turning a one-night audience into a contactable, first-party one.
See the case studyNumbered capsules where authentication matters as much as the artwork, and the resale market is part of the story.
Connected merchandiseOne thing we won't do
Call your one-off a pilot.If it's a moment, we ship a moment — finished, not provisional.
Before you ask
Fan Connect runs on the SmartLinks platform — 74 modular apps for digital product identity, GS1 & DPP-ready, trusted for authentication and engagement at enterprise scale.
A date, a run size and what you want the tap to do is enough to start. You'll get a timeline and a number, not a deck.