skucast

Today, we’re resharing our conversation with journalist Adam Bluestein because his topic is probably one of the most influential articles ever written about branded merch by an outsider: “How Supreme-Style Merch Drops Took Over Corporate America” published in Marker.

We’re proud to have put out over 150 pieces of content this year, including blog posts, videos, podcasts, lookbooks, and eBooks. We’re taking a look back at our readers’ favorite posts, and highlighting them as we head into the new year!

If 2020 was the year of fear, 2021 was the year of turbulence. Despite end-user skittishness, frozen budgets, continued lockdowns, supply chain problems, inflation, and “the great resignation”, many of you thrived. This industry’s ability to overcome any challenge is astounding and your optimism knows no bounds.

Jeremy and Jonathan both lead organizations, that despite the challenges of this year, have achieved record growth and more importantly they both lead our industry in social responsibility and sustainability efforts.

Bill Petrie is the founder and managing partner at brandivate. Bill created brandivate to help ignite and accelerate the growth of their clients through market innovation. With over 22 years working in executive leadership positions in the promotional products industry, Bill works with both suppliers and distributors who are seeking to grow.

During the past year, there’s been a huge shift in the sales world with marketing playing a key role. Marketers are now the new Sales Makers. For a long time, the marketing profession was like the stepchild in the sales household in our industry. But now, marketing is the compass, how customers find you; marketing is the fuel for sales growth with existing clients, and marketing is how you differe...

I can’t tell you how many frustrated salespeople I’ve sat across from, people who are doing all the right things but are not yet breaking through and are about to give up, when suddenly one final tactic opens the door, gets the prospect’s attention.

Given the state of the global supply chain and the impact it has had on everyone in our industry, as you can imagine this was a very tense and lean-forward conversation felt by everyone in the room.

Our guest today is Ellen Tucker, Director of Business Development and Expositions with PPAI (The Promotional Products Association International). Ellen joins us for a brief chat to talk about what to expect from Expo this year, we discuss the health and safety protocols, what PPAI is doing to ensure a safe show, and we talk about the most important part: how you can make the most out of Expo.

In this sales planning series, we’re going to unpack how to create a solid sales plan as you head into 2022, but before we do, there are a few key trends you should be aware of that will greatly impact your planning, your budget, and your mission for growth.

Davis Smith is the Founder and CEO of Cotapaxi. Cotapaxi is on track to becoming one of the biggest outdoor brands in the world challenging brands like Patagonia and North Face but there are more differences in Cotapaxi than similarities plus, Davis prefers the idea of collaboration over competition.

We’re learning lessons from the world of fundraising and we have three guests on the skucast from two different organizations. One organization is PromoKitchen and the other, Promocares. Each organization recently worked on separate fundraising initiatives. Today, we interview some of the participants involved, as a way to help bring awareness to their work but also, to explore their experiences a...

Today, we talk with Aaron Draplin about his love for branded merch. Aaron sells a ridiculous amount of cool merch at draplin.com and is a huge fan of our industry and what we do. In fact. I’d go so far as saying he is one of us but just …. a bit more extreme.

Your entrenched habits are a 1-ton boulder. Despite summoning the fiercest will, you can’t budge that boulder an inch. We struggle with habits because habits are behavioral patterns so deeply engrained, that self-will (alone) won’t loosen their grip. But you possess leverage that might surprise you.

Today we talk with Brian Duran, VP of Sales & Marketing for MediaTree Rewards. A leader in digital promotions, he has been with the company for a decade and has proven to be a problem solver when it comes to logistical challenges.

Catherine Graham, commonsku’s CEO, and Mark Graham, commonsku’s president and chief brand officer, join me to talk about their entrepreneurial journey, the struggles, the low moments, how the industry has changed, what they’ve learned about building a team, how leaders evolve and adapt, and, we explore what it takes to build a bold, future-forward business.

Of the social media platforms, Linkedin -not facebook, not Twitter, not Instagram, not Tik Tok- is the most effective. Among the B2B marketers who use paid social media, LinkedIn is the platform used most often. They also say it is the organic platform that generated the best overall content marketing results for their organization in the last 12 months.

One danger in running a business post-pandemic --alongside massive supply chain issues-- is that we’re overwhelmed handling critical HR challenges (such as hybrid workplaces and new virus variants) while swatting away supply chain problems project-by-project.

Anita Emoff is the Chairman and Owner of Boost Engagement, and author of the new book, 7 Deadly Myths That Will Destroy Your Company Culture, Workforce Engagement, & Sales Growth.

Promo Marketing and their parent company NAPCO Media are at an interesting cross-section of makers, manufacturers, distributors (and more), involving all types of media. Moreover, they, like us, keep an eye on trends happening in the industry, plus, they have a keen eye for consumer trends as well.

Today, we’re joined by Michele Bell and Nate Kucsma from ASI. The SOI is a report produced annually by ASI, it was released this week and it’s an incredibly comprehensive report which includes rankings of the top 40 suppliers and distributors and also a wide variety of topics: which categories sold more, verticals, issues facing the industry, more.

Anne Stone is the director of advocacy, member engagement, and education for PPAI, Promotional Product Association International. She guides PPAI’s legislative and government relations efforts, oversees the product responsibility programs, and the Product Responsibility Summit, which we discuss in this episode.

In April, we interviewed Bryan Papé, CEO and founder of MiiR, through a partnership with our friends at Gemline, and we had record attendance at that event but sometimes these conversations are so rich but they disappear into the ether before we have a chance to process what we’ve learned into action so, we’re bringing that chat back to you today!

Today, we’re joined by Nesha Logan. Nesha is the founder of The Village Print Studio, a boutique brand merchandising and creative studio located in South Chicago helping businesses build community through beautiful, branded merchandise.

Jesse Genet is cofounder of Lumi, a Los Angeles company that creates custom packaging for some of the most notable brands in the world, like Parachute, Tuft & Needle. Lumi makes tools that simplify the complex workflows, data, and language of packaging so that brands and manufacturers can work better together.