How do you turn an unexpected viral moment into must-have merchandise? Just ask Bravado’s senior director of brand management, Rachel Zucco. In her role at Universal Music Group’s merch and brand management division (where she “started at the bottom” nine years ago), Zucco is, as she puts it, “the glue” that connects artists, their management and Bravado’s own internal teams to handle all aspects and stages of merch development.

“The coolest part is, nothing is cookie-cutter here,” the 33-year-old says. “From tour to e-comm to retail to licensing, we touch it all and we connect it all.” Here’s how she’s done that for a variety of stars.

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Post Malone

Zucco collaborates directly with Post’s co-­manager Bobby Greenleaf and creative director Grant Kratzer to dream up big partnerships (exclusive merch items with the Dallas Cowboys, first sold at a pop-up at a Dallas Raising Cane’s that Post owns: “Post is a die-hard [Cowboys] fan, so it just makes sense”), limited-edition commemorative drops (a Reebok hoodie for the 10th anniversary of breakout hit “White Iverson” — which Allen Iverson later wore onstage at a Post show) and Post-specific one-offs (like Big Ass Ciggy — an $80 four-foot-tall cigarette body pillow: “They wanted to do something funny, it hit, and it’s doing really well”).

Courtesy of Bravado

Morgan Wallen

In March 2025, Wallen quickly left the Saturday Night Live stage after appearing as the show’s musical guest, and what happened next nearly broke the internet: He posted a photo of his private jet on a runway with the caption “Get me to God’s country.” “The only way to react to a cultural moment like that is to get really scrappy,” Zucco says. Within 48 hours of the post, she was able to get a T-shirt with the phrase made — with the blessing of Wallen and his brand manager, Tyler Davis. (Wallen’s prior Bravado projects had included a collaboration between the Tennessee native and his beloved University of Tennessee Volunteers.) “They liked the idea, they thought it was funny,” she says. “You definitely have to be careful with those moments, but [Morgan’s] team understood the humor in it.”

Courtesy of Bravado

Blink-182

“When you’re working with artists that some people consider heritage and they want to be considered contemporary, [it’s about] trying to flip that in the customer and fan’s mind without losing everything that [the artist] stands for,” Zucco says. For the band’s 2024 One More Time tour, she and the Bravado team aimed for a happy medium: “We took a lot of [products] that they really liked and always used in the past and we let them have those, and then slowly introduced more elevated items, collectible pieces that they’ve never done before” — ranging from city-specific posters and T-shirts to sticker packs and trading cards.

Camila Cabello

Cabello’s 2024 album, C,XOXO, was “a big rebrand moment for her,” Zucco says. Zucco’s merch approach for it “went really elevated,” matching the album’s neon Miami aesthetic with “cool accessories” like a rhinestone-studded flask and a translucent tote, plus apparel with spray-painted designs. “They’re cool things that get the fans excited, and [Camila] was really excited about them,” she says. “She leaned in a lot; she was always wearing the merch and promoting it.”

Gigi Perez

Working with a developing artist presents an opportunity to “help elevate a brand from the start — whereas all these other artists, they are who they are already.” Perez favors minimalist, black-and-white designs incorporating her own doodles — “that’s her thing, and fans really resonate with it,” Zucco says. But for Perez’s current merch, sold as she opens for Noah Kahan’s stadium tour, Zucco has helped her slowly “branch out a little bit and do more colorful [pieces] outside of the standard apparel that she was used to before.”

This story appears in the Aug. 1, 2026, issue of Billboard.