PK Feel Good Gallery

Chef Jessica Gibbons-Rauch, or JGR, firmly believes that our community does amazing things. The Promo family supports one another in unexpected and spectacular and unexpected ways.

In December, her Daisy scout was going to start her first cookie sale. When they looked at the prize list (Can we say extremely motivated by swag) she picked out a stuffed horse prize that she wanted and her troop leader gave us a goal of 160 for each girl. So, we have our incentive and our quota we are ready to sell.

Two things stood in their way. 1. It is a pandemic and everything is shut down. 2. Her parents are a freelancer and a middle school teacher both working remote. They knew that family would contribute but were not confident AT ALL that they would hit the goal.

Their solution was to make some videos and put them on Facebook. Maddy is shy but she had a lot of fun making the videos. The Promo community TURNED OUT. She hit her goal within a week and her customer list is full of amazing people who helped her more than exceed her goal. People that were friends with JGR on facebook who many she has never actually met in person or only at Expo. People who will not make money from their relationship at all. Pure just goodness of their heart (and maybe a taste for thin mints) When she asked for questions on Facebook JGR's promo colleagues sent questions. Instead of 160 boxes, as of March 25 (still a week to go) she is at 804 boxes of cookies. Best of all (per Maddy) All the girls get a matching T-shirt because their average sales earned it.

This is a great reminder that we are not alone. Even if you are a one person shop or a remote sales person or freelancer or whatever. We are a community and we support each other. When the shut down first started, people sent cards for her birthday. When she was learning about Cacti they got pictures and videos about cacti. JGR says she might not have coworkers but she does have colleagues, mentors and friends.

We see the goodness runs in the Peerless families. Dan Edge, National Sales Manager with Peerless Umbrella shared a touching story about this wife. He shares that his wife, Elaine Sarlo Edge has been waking up at all hours of the night to help seniors and other people, in need, secure vaccine appointments. She has gotten up at 4:30am and spent up to 90 minutes making 17 appointments for people she doesn’t even know. He shares that she is a total do-gooder and says he is a very lucky guy to have her in his life and leading by example for their kids.

Sara Webb is the CEO at InTandem Promotions partnered with Georgia ALIVE. Georgia ALIVE is a leadership initiative to focus on protecting Georgians while continuing with economic growth in the State. With super fun creative and local celebrity endorsements such as Kirby Smart, Chase Elliott, and others, the program has continued to grow both socially as well as donations. In joint collaboration, InTandem developed and created the online store with great promo from partners like Gold Bond and their chalkboard mug. Sara said "We have literally laughed until we cried on some of the campaign brainstorming

- Keep your (blank) inside. Working on this initiative has enabled us to focus on the positive of a focused sentiment and a common goal.

Everyone wants to get back to normal as soon as possible and this was an innovative and fun campaign with serious consequences.

Mark Sigel is a supplier and the owner of Sofia's Cookies. He worked with a distributor rep at Axis Promotions on a special project. The sales rep, Marc Davis, wanted to be able to give back to his hospital clients. He worked with Mark to create custom cookie tins and donated these to two different hospitals. The idea was to be able to say thanks and share the love with another colleague in the hospital

At Creative Boulevard, we are very excited and proud to wear our gear. The Creative Crew collection celebrates the big dreams and goals that we work hard for everyday. The brand’s DNA - UNITED IN STYLE, couldn’t be more relevant in times we are working apart. Accepting this new work arrangement as a new norm, our Monday morning meetings give us time to catch up, and motivate each other to be our best selves. With time saved from our work commute, we have been able to focus on e-learning, and to prepare for better times to come.

As for the Creative Crew, it has garnered its own following. We are delighted that supplier partners and customers have taken upon themselves to be a part of the collective. Thanks, Winston Lo!

American Solutions for Business sales associate, Jay Harman, shares his story of friendship and partnership during the COVID pandemic:

After starting in the print industry in 1992, I was introduced by my late father, Jimmy Harman, to vendor, Ward Kraft (WK). WK was one his favorite label manufacturers since they could custom coat their own pattern adhesives. Roger Davis has always been our main contact with Ward Kraft (in the custom label division). Since he was such a hard worker, our partnership and friendship has grown over the many years. During the sometimes-difficult process of custom label development, we drove each other crazy but through great communications, we developed great products, sales and an appreciation for each other’s efforts. In short, WK and Roger are part of my extended family nowadays due to the many decades of working together.

Back late last fall, I made the decision that my lab and hunting partner, Vegas, was nearing retirement at 10 years old, so it was time to start looking for the next addition to our family. After all my research, I chose Double T Kennels out of Kansas as the place to purchase my pup from. I wanted a female Fox Red Lab and they were the best I could find for what I wanted in a lab. I put down a deposit last fall after they told me they would have a litter arriving in February. Then on February 22,2020, Cedar was born. The planning for her arrival has now begun. All serious trainers take their puppy from the litter at 49 days of age, so herein lies the dilemma. A group of my friends and I had planned to drive out and turkey hunt in Kansas this spring until the crisis came along. I was going to plan my trip around picking my puppy up. Then here comes Covid-19 and the 6 days a week, 14+ hours a day watching out for the next change in PPE sales. In short, survival mode. We all know leaving work for a week would not be a good choice.

On the 49th day, I called Cory at Double TT and ask that he pull Cedar from her litter and kennel her separately until I could figure out how to get her. Oh, I failed to mention that they closed all air transportation for pets on the domestic airlines…problem number two. Since WK is based out of Fort Scott, Kansas, I decided to call Roger and ask if he knew of anyone that lived close to Emporia, Kansas that I could hire to drive halfway and meet me North of Nashville last weekend. He quickly replied that he and his wife could do it even though he just relocated to Oklahoma personally. That was not my intention, but he insisted saying all I had to do is try and send some more label business his way. I would have done that anyway, as they deserve it. Then, a day later, Roger calls back and says that the owner of Ward Kraft had a trip to Texas planned for his company plane and that he was going to fly to Emporia pick Cedar up and fly her to LaGrange, GA small airport while on this trip. By the way, Texas and LaGrange, GA are nowhere near each other. I was insisting to Roger that they not do that, but he would not listen to me. He has that kind of problem – haha.

Roger Davis, my friend, a great business partner and just an overall great man personally flew down last Friday and brought me not only my wonderful pup, but also a great reminder. He and Mr. Kraft, along with the whole WK family proved that business partnerships can also make great lasting friendships. I called Roger later that day to thank him again and tell him that was one of the most generous expressions of kindness that I had ever experienced. Nothing like a new puppy to distract from the crisis at hand. Thanks again, to my WK family and to my American family as I wish everyone safe passage through the crisis for you and your loved ones.

Julie Munoz from Chocolate Inn / Taylor & Grant / LANCO explained that they wanted to create a more meaningful way to help distributors and their customers show appreciation to front line healthcare working heroes. "It made perfect sense for us to create a kit filled with food and treats that would not only make these essential healthcare workers smile during their shifts but also provide nutrition when they needed it most."

To date they have drop shipped thousands of the care packages to front line heroes across the country!

“Children are the world's most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.” - John. F. Kennedy

Sean Lee, Regional Sales Manager and 17-year SanMar veteran, has always been a go-giver (as well as a fantastic PromoKitchen supporter) and his family has contributed to countless causes close to their hearts over the years. In 2019, Sean’s teenage daughter Lucy had the opportunity to be a part of a mission trip to Costa Rica through global(x), whose mission is to help individuals combine their faith and their service in efforts to make life better for those in need, across the globe.

After an application process, global(x) pairs you with a team, and part of the mission is inviting others to support you to cover the financial costs of the mission. With a dad who can talk tee shirt fabrics and decorating methods like it’s nobody’s business, it’s no surprise that Lucy had the idea to screen print tee shirts and sell them as a fundraiser to support her cause. Together the two of them came up with a tee shirt design and worked with a local screen printer who printed 60 tees with a one-color front imprint. Lucy then took the lead to execute her fundraising efforts, selling them to friends and family, as well as others in the community. It wasn’t long before she raised well over half of the total cost needed to send her on her way to fulfill her mission of helping those in need in a foreign country.

Thank you so much to Sean for letting us share Lucy’s story, and a huge kudos to this kid of promo for using one of the most recognizable promotional products to create change for the better good!

We’ve been hearing a lot of great stories about people in our industry doing great things for others in their communities, but this Promo Feels story is all about the incredible, selfless act of one industry veteran’s daughter, Jade Hasseman.

Kirby Hasseman, owner of Hasseman Marketing in Coshocton, Ohio, is no stranger to doing good things in his local community. He and his wife Amy are involved with various local clubs and causes in Coshocton County, so it wasn’t a surprise when their youngest daughter, Jade Hasseman, came to them three years ago to host a clothing drive. Jade, a (then) student and volunteer at Coshocton High School, simply saw her peers coming to school in the winter without jackets. She rounded up a few friends who all agreed they had more than they needed, and could easily scour their closets to donate items to those who had less. With a simple Facebook post asking for donations from those who were able, another industry vet reached out to Jade directly (much to Jade’s surprise, having never spoken to or met this do-gooder), asking where she could ship donations.. A week later, an entire pallet of blank clothing arrived at Hasseman Marketing. The drive was set up by the school busses, so kids could grab what they needed right before heading home, and the rest is history.

The following year, Jade saw more involvement from the community as a whole, after seeing the impact the drive had made the previous year. The same industry vet upped her game and sent not one, but two pallets of clothing to donate, and other suppliers across the country also jumped in. The third clothing drive recently took place during Jade’s senior year of high school, on June 27th (where facemasks were required and social distancing was highly encouraged). Renting a space at the Coshocton County Fairgrounds, this year’s drive brought toiletries and much more than just clothing, as the community (and even more of our awesome industry suppliers and friends) seemingly started to really see what these kids needed. Four pallets of clothing were donated by the same original do-gooder, and out of the 120 boxes of clothing and other necessities brought in by trucks, they filled only 20 with remaining items at the end of the day.

Kirby credits 100% of the success of these clothing drives to his daughter, since every single thing from ideation to execution was “all Jade,” Kirby said. He also said this year was “so cool” because it truly was a family affair. Kirby and his wife Amy offered their efforts in helping along the way and the day of, and their oldest daughter Skylar was also there to support Jade and help in any way she could.

Kudos to Jade Hasseman, an extended member of our promo fam, for making a huge difference in your community!

Soul & Swag, Inc., a distributor in Omaha, Nebraska, was established June 12, 2017, by the mother and daughter duo, Cola & Angie Svec. In their words, “after starting Soul & Swag, not only did we want to be different with our approach and processes, but we wanted to find a way to make a difference in our community.” From there, Cola and Angie started a monthly “Soul Purpose” event, where they have the opportunity to donate their time, energy, and even promotional products and branded apparel to a local non-profit, charity or organization.

How does it work? Each month a member of the Soul & Swag team selects the cause. They choose the day and time, and the rest of the team makes time for it by building it into their calendars “to assure we can put a little awesomeness and inspiration into our amazing community.” On top of the monthly Soul Purpose event, this women-owned small business is also on TAGG (Together A Greater Good). TAGG is a free app that can be downloaded on your phone, and you can "tagg" your purchase(s) with them. Soul & Swag will give back 5% up to $25 on every purchase order to a local charity of their customer’s choice.

Some of Cola and Angie’s Soul Purpose Projects have included: Making dinner for a Chariots 4 Hope family at one of their weekly meetings, donating blood, donating time to work and organize a fundraiser at Habitat Restore, helping with fundraising efforts for Sammy’s Superheroes (a childhood cancer non-profit), filling food boxes with the West O Chamber during the holidays, flood cleanup for a local client, organizing the clothing boutique at the new WCA location, and many others!

“We believe that purpose is the bedrock of all connections. We rise by lifting others, so while we help clients build brand love, we help build strength in our community by giving back.” To learn more about the TAGG app and how you can support your local favorite causes, check out www.togetheragreatergood.com. To learn more about what these awesome promo peeps are doing in their community, and for inspiration on what you can do in your own community, visit https://www.soulxswag.com/ourstory.