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Salesforce sells weird merch at its conference. And yes, people buy it

At Dreamforce, one of the many Salesforce characters named Codey the Bear welcomes and amuses the attendees in San Francisco on Tuesday. | Source: Justin Katigbak/The Standard

Dreamforce 2023 was filled with some 40,000 people—and a million more acronyms and bits of technobabble that sounded more like a robot-inflected foreign language than anything else.

Take Salesforce co-founder Parker Harris’ opening remarks, for example:

“When that prompt is getting built, and you’ll see some really cool technology of how we dynamically do that, we’ll do the secure data retrieval from the CRM system from the data cloud. We’ll do dynamic grounding, because we want this process to be really relevant at the point that you’re using that LLM.”

Try and fit that on a T-shirt.

“Your head is probably spinning a little bit,” said Patrick Stokes, a Salesforce marketing VP who spoke at the event’s opening address Tuesday. “We have to learn some new terms so we can get some headspace around how this all works.” 

In The Standard’s role as intrepid translators of the hard-to-explain, our reporters tried to make sense of the strangest Dreamforce merch on sale.

Attendees line up to buy Dreamforce merchandise inside the Moscone Center at the “Trading Post” in San Francisco on Tuesday. | Source: Justin Katigbak/The Standard

‘AI is my love language’ T-shirt ($30)

Is your love language giving gifts? We still probably wouldn’t suggest this as an early Christmas present. In any case—as one of our colleagues recently found out—dating an AI boyfriend doesn’t come with any promise that he won’t turn out to be a digital douchebag.

Reporter Kevin Truong holds up Dreamforce merchandise on Tuesday. | Source: Liz Lindqwister/The Standard

Cotopaxi reversible hoodie ($175)

For those not in the know, Cotopaxi is the brand of choice for techies these days—sorry Patagucci. 

This branded hoodie took the cake for the priciest piece of Dreamforce merch. Although the Salesforce logo printed on the arm appears to drive a $25 upcharge from the same hoodie sold directly by the manufacturer. I guess harmonizing your data is priceless

READ MORE: ‘Rampant Theft’ Closes Techie Brand Cotopaxi’s Only San Francisco Store

‘Just add CRM and sugar’ mug ($24)

You want a speckled cream mug for when you’re hiking, but you simply must let everyone know you’re actually a coder, bro. Or, more accurately, an effective user of a low-code sales platform. CRM stands for “customer relationship management,” essentially what Salesforce helps solve with its software. Why it’s necessary to list on a coffee cup is an open question only CRM pros can answer.

Dreamforce attendees sort through mugs for sale at the tech conference on Tuesday. | Source: Liz Lindqwister/The Standard

‘Old MacDonald had a farm, AI-AI-O’ Onesie ($25)

Old MacDonald had a farm, and all the babies on it knew how to code before they could walk. Slip your tot into this onesie and immediately feel the power of generative AI coursing through their veins. Or something. 

A Dreamforce employee sorts through baby onesies at the conference on Tuesday. | Source: Liz Lindqwister/The Standard

‘AI AI Captain’ flat-billed hat ($30)

For the tech-savvy sailors among us, Salesforce produced a navy blue, flat-billed cap, complete with white rope detailing. I guess a lot of Dreamforce folks have boats?

‘Searchable Log of All Conversation & Knowledge’ baseball cap ($25)

I bet you didn’t know that Slack was actually an acronym that stood for this collection of words—neither did I. What’s better than a physical reminder that your work chats are very not private?

Slack merchandise appears at Dreamforce 2023, including this black denim hat. | Source: Liz Lindqwister/The Standard

Dreamforce-branded pickleball set ($48)  

Dreamforce attendees linger near a branded pickleball set on Tuesday. | Source: Liz Lindqwister/The Standard

I mean, c’mon.

Kevin Truong can be reached at kevin@sfstandard.com