PM Podcast

Taek Sung, senior vice president of sales and marketing for iClick, joined the show to talk about PopSockets, content marketing and the unexpected speed bumps that accompany 275 percent year-over-year growth. (Such as: Do you have enough parking spaces? What about bathrooms?) Plus, Sean and Brendan discuss Colorado Timberline's sudden closing due to a ransomware attack...

BrandVia Alliance was a big riser on our 2018 Top 50 Distributors list, jumping eight spots from No. 31 in 2017 to No. 23 this year. Sam Brown and Eric Nelsen joined the podcast to talk about that growth, plus a look at company culture, customer experience and (a recurring theme) getting sh*t done. Plus, Brendan and Sean discuss the fake Warren Buffett Twitter account that captivated the internet...

Before joining Goldstar Pens, Parker Melvin spent his entire promo career on the distributor side of the industry. That makes him uniquely qualified to talk about the state of collaboration and communication between distributors and suppliers—what's working and what needs work. Plus, Sean and Brendan discuss Disney's move to eliminate plastic straws at its theme parks, and analyze the most important and exciting story of the summer: SHARK HEIST 2018!...

Dale Denham's 2018 #Online18, the annual list of the promotional products industry's top social media influencers, launched last week. It's one of our favorite stories of the year, so we invited Dale, who moonlights as Geiger's chief information officer when he's not blogging for Promo Marketing, to give us a behind the scenes look at…

Are promo companies ahead of or behind other sectors in tech adoption? How does the widening tech gap between large and small distributors affect the latter's ability to compete? Is the industry over-relying on tech? In episode 5 of the Promo Marketing Podcast, Chuck Fandos joins the show to chat on those questions and more, with some surprising answers! Plus, we kick off summer blockbuster season with a look at some memorable movie marketing over the years. Do we talk in detail about that awful 1998 Godzilla movie? You know we do!...

On episode 4 of the Promo Marketing Podcast, PPAI's Paul Bellantone joined Sean and Brendan for a wide-ranging discussion on mergers and acquisitions, outside competition, Promotional Products Work! Week, Legislative Education and Action Day, and why it's time for the promo industry to grow up and start respecting itself, dangit! Plus, have you seen those apology commercials from Uber, Facebook and Wells Fargo? Man are they bad!...

In episode 3 of the Promo Marketing Podcast, Dan Jellinek of The Magnet Group gave us the inside scoop on pricing, products, color trends and much more from his trip to the Hong Kong Gifts & Premium Fair. Plus: a shipping change the promo industry should steal from Amazon, the perils of 13-hour flights with no way to charge your electronics, and terrible meeting advice from Elon Musk...

Tariffs, trade wars and other scary-sounding words have been all over the news, but how much will the proposed tariffs actually impact the promotional products industry? In episode 2 of the Promo Marketing Podcast, we try to answer that question as we chat with Caro Krissman, former CEO of Source Abroad, and the gang from INLT, Caro's new customs brokerage firm. Plus, an update on the surprise closing of Nationwide Promotions LLC, and a topic we hold very dear—SPACE HOTEL!

It’s 2023, and it’s time to make employee recognition more fun for everyone. Everyone loves to be celebrated and celebrate with others. It's time to get creative with employee recognition and keep those hardworking people feeling happy, motivated, and ready to crush it at work every day, and Crystal D can help. Here are four great ways to show appreciation with ideas that you can easily sell to your customers...

After watching a few clips of Street League Skateboarding, I noticed how marquee sponsors used their logo as actual skateable objects on the course, rather than just signage. It's a valuable lesson in branding integration and building an experience for the end-user.