skucast

Today’s conversation is with Aly Brunton, commonsku’s Marketing and Event Coordinator, you’ve met Aly if you’ve attended our events or interacted with us on social, she’s an incredibly articulate (if not reluctant) voice for Gen Z, the generation that by 2020 is expected to account for about 40% of all consumers.

After spending 10 years as touring musicians, Lucas Guariglia and Joe Zangrilli started Rowboat Creative in a basement in Chicago, that basement would eventually grow to over 60,000 square feet of some incredibly creative and progressive work.

Kathleen Quinn Votaw is the Founder and CEO of TalenTrust, which is revolutionizing how companies find, keep, and grow great people. On today's #skucast she reveals crucial knowledge and tips surrounding hiring and recruiting, what top-talent candidates are looking for in a business and employer, and much more!

Lisa Smith started her career in the business as a temp, at that time she was recently divorced and as a single mom, learned the ins-and-outs of this business box by box, and order by order. Six years ago, she struck out on her own along with business partners Amber and Dee Dee, and built Republic Promos, one of Austin’s most vibrant promotional products companies.

In over 108 episodes, we have rarely -almost never- talked about new features that we develop, preferring instead, to put our guests and our friends first. We hope you can indulge us this one time as we introduce an exciting development we are proud to announce: shops! In this episode, Mark Graham, commonsku’s Chief Platform Officer, and Bobby Lehew, commonsku’s Chief Content Officer, introduce sh...

Jay Acunzo is the author of the book Break the Wheel, which helps people make better decisions, faster, when they’re surrounded by too much information. Jay is our keynote speaker at skucamp September the 22nd through the 25th.

Ray DelMuro, founder of Refresh Glass, is on a mission to rescue 10 million bottles. Recently featured in Forbes magazine, his glasses have been purchased by Francis Ford Coppola, Wolfgang Puck, Ritz Carlton, and have even been featured on Anthony Bourdain’s show. Today Ray talks about why promotional products feel like home to him, how the industry can position more purpose-driven sustainable pro...

Today's #skucast features Ruth Verver and Beth Walker, Co-Founders and Partners of Paperclip Promotions, a distributor based in Austin, TX. In today's episode they discuss the critical missing piece in their values (missing on purpose!), an order for their biggest client that went south, and much more!

Marine Layer, a retail phenomenon founded in 2009 and known for their absurdly soft shirts, now has a custom projects division led by Andrew Graham, Director of Custom Projects. Today, Andrew discusses the story behind Marine Layer and the creation of a unique fabric blend, marketing strategies they use, and much more!

In today's episode of #skucast, we're joined by futurist and Trend Editor, Vicki Ostrom from SanMar, a specialist in identifying societal trends and translating them into profitable products. With 20 years in the fashion industry, she has designed for companies such as Eddie Bauer, Tommy Bahama and JCPenney. Today she discusses the differences between macro-trends and micro-trends, how to capitali...

Trevor Sarver is the founder and CEO of 85 Supply, a raw, fiercely original, and high-energy distributor based out of Nashville, TN. Today, Trevor discusses his quick shift from selling band merch to other markets, his advice for new entrepreneurs in the promotional products industry, and much more!

Nate Robson is the Director of Promotional Sales at Raining Rose, a supplier of fine organic lip balms and body care products in the promotional products space. Nate share his views on brand positioning and developing a brand personality. He reveals how Raining Rose leverages its quirky brand personality and image to grow sales and much more!

Big order fails. Brilliant client saves. Narrow margin orders that went south. Product disasters. Embarrassing client moments. And big, unexpected wins. We've all had them. skucon stories are stories told from the trenches by some of the most experienced pros in the business. Our stories today are told by Gillian Hammond with Brandfuel, Kevin Mullaney with Brandito, Steve Rone with Snugz USA.

Join Bobby Lehew, Mark Graham, commonsku's chief platform officer, and Catherine Graham, commonsku's CEO, as we celebrate the 100th episode of the skucast in classic commonsku style: by looking forward. Buckle up and straight ahead skummunity, it's front-windshield-view-only and we're not slowing down!

In this episode from our supplier CMO series, Saadia Bryant, Digital Marketing Director at Gemline, sits down to discuss a variety of topics that help make Gemline and their marketing efforts unique, including how the direct to consumer experience affects her decision making at Gemline, the channel that gets the most attention for a supplier, and much more!

Jay Busselle is the marketing director for Equipment Zone and many of you may know Jay as the lovable and hilarious host of #promochat on Twitter, where weekly industry thinkers gather together to shape trends, explore new ideas, and discuss current issues. Today Jay discusses how to build a brand manifesto, the difference between tone and voice, and much more!

In this episode, Mark Graham (commonsku's co-founder and chief platform officer) and Bobby Lehew (commonsku's chief content officer) share why a good economy can blind us to bigger opportunities, why sales-focused training needs to shift and why it is imperative, and much more!

In today's episode of #skucast, we sit down with Flywheel's millennial leaders Bart Simpson, Vice President of Client Development, and Matthew Nutt, Client Development Executive, to discuss how they're nearly doubling the size of their company for 2019, how they've found success with podcasting, and much more!

Molly Dietz, Marketing Manager of the Promotional Division of Strideline Socks, joins us to discuss her role and to share how the company’s retail and promotional divisions seamlessly intersect and reinforce each other, how being hyper-focused often creates the best marketing opportunities, and their plans for incorporating traditional marketing and trade shows into their marketing strategy.

We invited Elizabeth Segran, staff writer for Fast Company and whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, Salon and more, to chat about her recent article on conference swag. Mark Graham and Bobby Lehew chat with Elizabeth about what motivated her to write the article, the impact of fast fashion on sustainability and its counterpart in promotional products, the need for transparenc...

In this episode, Jason Lucash, CEO, CMO, and Co-founder of Origaudio, discusses the marketing decisions that have led to Origaudio becoming one of the most original brands in the promotional products industry.

In this episode, we explore what this new era of collaboration looks like with Adam Walterscheid, CEO of T Tycoon and YourCo, and Ben Taylor the Chief Marketing Officer at BamBams. Adam and Ben share the story of a complex project that would become CoLab, a service designed for distributors to build a completely custom product collection that transcends traditional supply lines while sharing creat...

In this episode, Bobby Lehew sits down with Mark Graham, commonsku's co-founder and chief platform officer, as we chat with Memo Kahan about the highs and lows of his business journey and his thoughts on how the recession refined and focused their value proposition, what it takes to succeed in sales and the advice Memo would give to his past self or young entrepreneurs.

In today's episode, Bobby Lehew, the chief content officer at commonsku, Mark Graham, commonsku’s co-founder and chief platform officer, and Winston Lo, president of Creative Boulevard, explore this article and the potential ramifications but moreover, the opportunity this moment presents for many in the business.

With 10 million in sales, 22 employees, and 17 years in the business, the brother and sister team of Daniel Gardner and Carolina Junghans lead Nashville based distributorship Blink Marketing and for the last several years have experienced tremendous growth.