Shelley Stewart is the CEO, the Creative Experience Officer, at Red Promotions based out of Seattle WA. As a women-owned, led, and fully operated team, they have become a powerhouse for their clients and have worked hard to build an incredible culture and a fiscally vibrant business.

Danny’s talk walked us through the sometimes rocky and now incredible journey the branded merch industry has been through, from an advertising add-along to today’s intimate merch experience that is embraced by brands and adorned by fans.

There’s nothing like a little Texas road trip to remind you just how big Texas is: from Dallas to Austin to McAllen, across the border to Reynosa, Mexico, and back to Ft. Worth. In all, we traveled just over 1,000 miles on a road trip to hang with friends and rediscover the heartbeat of what makes this incredible industry hum.

Our guest today is Ben Higgins, best known from season 20 of ABC’s hit series, “The Bachelor.” Ben stays connected with his loyal Bachelor following with his iHeartMedia podcast, “Almost Famous,” which he co-hosts with his friend and former Bachelor contestant, Ashley laconetti, which has over 150 million downloads.

Denise is the CEO and co-founder of one of the industry’s most respected brands, Fairware. Prior to starting Fairware, Denise spent seven years as the Director of Sustainability and Community for Mountain Equipment Co-op, Canada’s largest outdoor retailer.

Today, we’re sharing an episode that we recorded live from skucon where Jeremy and Jonathan answer questions from Catherine Graham, commonsku’s CEO, on a broad range of topics including: US/China relations and its impact on the supply chain, deglobalization efforts, the impact of international trade, the labor market, and a financial outlook for 2024.

Logomark’s story is one of innovation, not just in product but in production, masters at obsessing over speed and accuracy, we begin our chat today with Clive by talking about his entry into the industry, what the pandemic taught him and the team, and how it impacts their work today.

PromoCares is an all-volunteer-driven organization; their mission is to inspire, educate, and provide actionable strategies to encourage social and environmental responsibility in the promotional products industry and the industry's communities. Each year, the board at PromoCares picks a new initiative called their “4 good events” to rally the industry around a cause and use the collective energy of suppliers, distributors and service providers to make an impact on the world.

Sam Brown is one of the very few marketing strategists whose expertise is solely in the promotional products business. Sam has been the chief marketing strategist at some of the most notable brands in the industry including Summit Group and Brandvia.

The CEO Summit included a full day of topic-by-topic, peer-led conversations and two community dinners as well. Prior to our gathering, we surveyed attendees to ask about the most pressing challenges they face today.

Today we talk with Steve about sales leadership, technology, and SanMar’s recognition by the Wall Street Journal as one of 2022’s best-managed companies alongside companies like Apple and Microsoft!

Brett Boake, whom many of you know, is the General Manager at Score Promotions, a team of over 50 dedicated promo professionals in the US and Canada. Brett is one of the industry’s most inspirational sales leaders, which is why it’s no surprise that this year Brett and the leadership team at Score Promotions, hired an in-house Performance Coach & Therapist, Yonah Budd.

Today, Kirby and Bill join us on our show and next week Mark Graham and I will be joining Bill and Kirby on their show in a fun little crossover project, but for this episode, we wanted to get inside the head of these two leading industry thinkers to talk about the most innovative trends they are changing this industry for the better.

“Making business a force for good,” that’s the purpose behind B Corp. And when our good friends Danny Rosin and Robert Fiveash, through their company Brand Fuel became B Corp certified, it’s as if they opened a door for our industry in a way that wasn’t quite possible.

Over 20 top executives from some of the largest distributorships in the industry, gathered to connect and share best practices on topics ranging from AI to sales incentives and compensation, team structure, HR and culture, and more.

More and more distributors are faced with the challenge of serving International clients, sometimes it’s just one project, a client that requires merchandise drop-shipped anywhere in the world. At other times, it’s an RFP opportunity that requires international expertise. 

Ethan Dowie is the customer-obsessed CEO of Indigo Promotions, a top branded merchandise distributorship located in New York. Ethan’s 25 years old, with a passion for building businesses, his goal is to create the most innovative and successful distributorship in the world, one that puts the needs of its clients first.

Tom’s an ultra runner, someone who runs 50, 100 mile races for the challenge of it. Tom is the founder and CEO of 1-800-TSHIRTS and Envision Custom Screen Printing and Embroidery, an Inc. 5000 company. Tom is also the co-founder of Dimensional Brewing Company, a micro-brewery in Dubuque, Iowa, and he has served on many notable boards and non-profits including a foundation Tom and his wife Amanda started, the Rauen Family Foundation, with a mission to giving back to the community.

In January, we traveled to Las Vegas to host skucon and early the next morning, Rob Spector, President of Spector and Co, treated us to a tour of the new facility. But this episode isn’t just about a factory tour. Part of our team: Mark Graham and Dave Shultz and I, joined Rob and his VP of Manufacturing, Juan Martinez to view the progress and also, understand how a Montreal-based company considered many different avenues for growth.

The skummunity awards were created to honor the explorers, rule-breakers, dreamers, and innovators in the branded merchandise industry. At the live skucon virtual event on January 18th, five recipients were recognized for their radical leadership and generosity: