Frank Carpenito was a five-year board member on Gemline’s board of directors, and he loved the company so much that he wanted to help lead it; in 2019, he became President and recently was promoted to CEO and is now responsible for the day-to-day running of the business at Gemline.

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.

At commonsku, one of our core values is keeping “ten steps ahead” by innovating through big ideas, smart risks, and bold action. In that spirit, in December, the commonsku team gathered for an end-of-year celebration and our fast-forward planning retreat in Toronto.

If your team is using our Stripe integration, you can provide your clients with the option to pay by ACH on their commonsku invoices.

When we began our podcast adventure over 300 episodes ago, we had no idea the number of incredible people we’d meet along the way and the impact they would make on us and the commonsku community. 

In September (2022), only 2% of all PCNA purchase orders were sent in by ePO. By December of that year, 50% of all purchase orders were sent straight from a distributor’s hands into commonsku and directly into PCNA’s ERP.

David Priemer has had 20 years leading top-performing sales teams, including his tenure with Salesforce, where he was not only the Vice President of Commercial Sales, he was the creator of the Sales Leadership Academy program, and he’s often referred to as “the sales professor.”

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.

In our industry, too, distributors and suppliers have two distinct types of growth, and both types of growth are a requisite for future-proofing a thriving business. Since our last article talked about type 1 growth, today, we’ll talk about type 2 growth, the growth that means the real difference between winning and losing: building a richer environment.

Today, we’re talking mergers. KG Specialties is a Portland-based distributor who, this year, merged with Premier Press. Premier employs over 200 people, and they handle a wide variety of print, fulfillment, and logistics management for clients. Our guests are Kyle Gibson, the owner of KG Specialties and now Director of Promotional Merchandise at Premier, and Premier’s Vice President, Manuel Saez.

In our industry, distributors, and suppliers also have two distinct types of growth, and both are a requisite for future-proofing a thriving business. And since Q4 is well underway, many of us are beginning to think about 2025 business planning and benchmarking, we wanted to share a few ideas from our numerous interviews with leaders on how to create benchmarks for both type 1 and type 2 growth.

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.

As our company has grown and evolved, so too has our brand, adapting to better represent our mission, values, and the dynamic industry we serve. Today, we're excited to unveil our latest chapter, the commonsku Brand Refresh, which encapsulates our dedication to staying at the forefront of innovation and technology.

Track your supplier spending, and make better decisions for your business, with commonsku’s Supplier Spend Report

Today, we are talking with Neil about two fundamental priorities for Polyconcept: sustainability and how deeply sustainability permeates all of their decisions at PCNA, and technology through the lens of making distributors’ lives easier.

Streamline your client communications, and your team’s processes with commonsku’s new Client Shipping Notifications.

These five distributors elevated their creative approaches using commonsku Shops, enabling them to stand out in a highly competitive market.

Stephen Musgrave is the Executive Vice President at Genumark, the largest Canadian-owned distributor and one of the largest in North America. Genumark has been recognized as one of Canada’s Best Managed Companies, is a 13-time Prix Image Award recipient, and was honored as one of Counselor Magazine’s Best Places to Work. With its 42,000-square-foot sales and distribution facility and over 100 full-time employees, Genumark serves over 2500 active accounts. 

You can now create mock-ups inside the commonsku platform with our brand new in-app image editor!

Liz got her start as the production manager at RightSleeve, then became the director of supply chain for Rightsleeve and eventually, the VP of Supply Chain and sustainability for Genumark, one of the largest distributors in North America and managing a team of 16 people focused on optimizing supply chain diversification and sustainability to drive growth .