PromoKitchen Podcast

In this episode, Mark Graham of commonsku is joined by fellow chefs Dale Denham of Geiger and Bill Petrie of PromoCorner. For those of who are tuned into industry social media, you have likely seen your feeds dominated by LEAD, PPAI’s Legislative Education and Action Day. Dale and Bill were among the dedicated group of volunteers that took to Capitol Hill to speak to members of Congress about our...

In today’s podcast we delve into the world of product safety, why it matters and how we can get people to truly care about it. I must admit that when I first spoke to Tim about doing a product safety podcast, I was concerned about it coming across as dry and boring. After all, everyone knows that product safety is important, but many distributors in our industry often think of the landing the busi...

Join PromoKitchen Chefs Mark Graham of commonsku and Charity Gibson of Green Banana Social as they speak with Jake Director, co-founder of Strideline. At the young age of 17, Director and business partner Riley Goodman started Strideline as a way to sell custom socks to fellow lacrosse players and ended up finding huge success in the retail space. Just a few years later they have made a flying lea...

Mark Graham of commonsku and Larry Cohen of Axis Promotions talk with Seth Mattison. Seth is an internationally renowned expert on workforce trends and generational dynamics. As Founder and Chief Movement Officer of FutureSight Labs, Seth advises many of the world’s leading brands and organizations on the key shifts happening around talent management, change and innovation, leadership, and the fut...

Today PromoKitchen Chefs Mark Graham of commonsku and Larry Cohen of Axis Promotions welcome Lou Diamond to the podcast. Lou can be described as a Coach, Consultant, Master Connector, Best-Selling Author, Speaker & Motivator. In these capacities, Lou is the Founder & CEO of Thrive, a leading consulting and coaching company focused on making the most incredible leaders and their companies even more...

Chefs Marshall Atkinson and Mark Graham recently did a megacast with the guys over at 2 Regular Guys. The 2 Regular Guys, Terry Combs and Aaron Montgomery, have a podcast that focuses on the decorating industry. During this podcast they talk about what keeps people up at night in the promotional product industry, and more so the why, how and what of podcasting. What does it do for your business, h...

Welcome to the PromoKitchen Podcast. I am Bill Petrie, founder/CEO of brandivate and PromoKitchen chef. Many in the promotional products industry not only worry about working with the “younger generation,” – also known as Millennials – but have cast a very negative light on the entire group. As readers of my blog likely know, I have been a very strong advocate of Millennials and the overall need t...

Mark Graham and Danny Rosin are here with a brand new PK Podcast for you! Some of you may be familiar with the popular Kickstarter campaign for a cooler known as the “Coolest.” It became the biggest project in Kickstarter history by raising over $13MM. As coolers are a big item in the promotional products industry, a number of us paid close attention to how this product would roll out after its in...

Join Mark Graham and Jason Lucash in a conversation of epic proportions. This podcast features upcoming PPAI Expo Keynote speaker Johnny Earle a.k.a Johnny Cupcakes, maverick t-shirt entrepreneur. He has created a global phenom of his brand and in the next 50 minutes you'll get a taste of what it takes to do this same thing for your own brand. Want to learn how to create a frenzy for your product?...

Hang with Mark Graham, co-founder of commonsku and Danny Rosin, President of Brand Fuel. Today’s guest caught our attention when we came across an Inc Magazine article titled “This $22 Billion Industry Is Dying. Meet the Startup Reviving It.” The article was about a feisty and innovative player called Alyce, an AI powered corporate gifting platform. The article exposed some of the deepest insecuri...

Hello everyone, welcome to the PromoKitchen podcast. We are a community inspired conversation featuring guest suppliers, distributors and service providers discussing insights into the 20 billion dollar promotional products business. Join Mark Graham, co-founder of commonsku as he welcomes to the podcast Rich Patterson, owner of Patterson Brands in beautiful Vancouver, BC. This episode looks at th...

Mark Graham, co-founder of commonsku, joined by blogger, consultant and all around promotional products nice guy, Bill Petrie, President of brandivate. Many people in our industry worry and complain about the younger generation, most commonly known as millennials or Gen Y. Whether their concerns are based on reality or fiction, suffice it to say that much ink has been spilled on why our industry n...

This podcast. There aren't words. It's the PromoKitchen Podcast Rebel Edition, episode no. 2. Listen in as industry ruckus rousers and misfit box of toys, Jason Lucash of OrigAudio, Kevin Mullaney of Brandito, Mark Graham of commonsku, Roger Wasson of Elite Promotions, and Bill Petrie of Brandivate, talk shop. If Jason's intro doesn't say something about what this 44 minutes will hold, nothing wil...

Several months ago Mark Graham and fellow chef Jason Lucash were talking about a fun theme for an episode or two. The idea was to explore what it means to be a rebel. For anyone who knows Jason Lucash, they won’t be surprised that the idea of rebellion is something that comes pretty naturally. When asked who should be the first guest on this so-called rebel show, he said: “That’s easy: Johanna Got...

Join Mark Graham and Danny Rosin as they speak with a promotional products alumnus and to understand what the world looks like when you move from distributor to end user. Our guest today is no stranger to many listeners: Rebecca Kohlmann. Rebecca got her start in the promotional products industry as the Marketing Manager for 4imprint in 1996. In 2004, she moved over to head up Business Development...

Join Mark Graham and fellow chef Marshall Atkinson as they leap head first into the world of embroidery and digitizing. It’s a fascinating world populated by colorful characters and professionals who make it their duty to create the guts of an embroidery design. For some, digitizing is a mere setup charge that represents a cost to be minimized when building a promotional products campaign. For oth...

Joining us today in the guest chair is Jessica Hiner, VP of Key Accounts at The Magnet Group. Jessica got her start in the industry in 2003 when she worked as an Account Executive at the distributor Promotion Concepts. It was during this time that she had the chance to work with the great Paul Kiewiet, where she learned how to sell promotional products in the most creative and strategic way possib...

We are conducting a grand experiment today. We recently recorded episode 100, and to honor this we wanted to get as many chefs on a podcast as possible. On today’s podcast - PromoKitchen Podcast #102 - we welcome PromoKitchen chefs Charity Gibson, Aubrey Collins, Danny Rosin, Kirby Hasseman, Marshall Atkinson, Robert Fiveash, Larry Cohen, Patrick Black, Tee Hamilton, Bill Petrie, Dale Denham, Jess...

Joining Mark Graham for an interview with David Nicholson, President of Polyconcept North America. PCNA is one of the industry’s largest and most influential suppliers. Under David’s leadership, Polyconcept has grown into a $ ½ billion organization. It’s been a staggering run. On July 18, the industry learned that Polyconcept was acquired by Charlesbank Capital Partners, a private equity firm focu...

PromoKitchen Podcast #100 | Paul Bellantone by PromoKitchen

Long time listeners might recall the last time when Bruce was on the podcast. It was October 2012 and we spoke at length about Bruce’s endless curiosities and passions. I maintain to this day that Bruce is the only person in this industry who gets younger which each year he gets older. Bruce is the owner of Embroidery Unlimited and current member of the PPAI board. He lives in Tempe, Arizona with...

Mark Graham, co-founder of commonsku and fellow chef and rabble rouser Jason Lucash, President of OrigAudio have a special episode lined up for you today as they speak with one of the emerging entrepreneurs in our industry, Adam Walterscheid. Ask Adam how his day is going and the response you get is “It’s great, just another day in t-shirt paradise.” The son of a cotton farmer, Adam learned early...

On today’s show, we welcome Jon Levine, President of the distributor The Image Group based in Holland, Ohio. Jon graduated with a degree in accounting from Arizona State University in 1980 and used this experience to establish his early career in the steel industry. In 1991, he shifted his focus towards the promotional products industry when he started The Image Group. Since the founding of the co...

Mark Graham welcomes Chuck Fandos back to the program. Chuck was first on the podcast in May 2012 so a repeat visit has been long overdue. Chuck is the founder of Gateway CDI, a prominent distributor based in St Louis. He is also the CEO of Facilis, a leading industry software provider and technology enabled buying group. In January 2016, it was announced that UK based distributor Brand Addition h...

Tony Wavering is the founder of bidPress. In 2005, while studying at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Tony started a custom apparel business that sold to many student groups and businesses in Pennsylvania and New York. After graduating from Penn, Tony worked as a management consultant for Deloitte Consulting in New York City for six years, working primarily with global banking and s...