Creative Concepts, a Canadian promo firm, has affiliated with Top 40 distributor iPROMOTEu (asi/232119), the companies announced Thursday. “We are excited to grow with iPROMOTEu,” said Pete Kmech, who co-owns Creative Concepts along with his sister Monica Forss.

The siblings’ father founded Creative Concepts in 1976. Based in Edmonton, AB, the distributorship employs 16 marketing professionals and staff. In part, the co-owners decided to join iPROMOTEu because they felt the Wayland, MA-based company’s technology offerings would allow their team to focus more on sales and marketing and less on administrative tasks.

“We learned that iPROMOTEu’s investment in technology was second to none,” Kmech said. “Therefore, we felt comfortable moving our large national web-stores onto their sophisticated platform. This integration allows for less duplicated tasks and more time allotted to sales and marketing.” Kmech added that drawing on iPROMOTEu’s buying power and software will help Creative Concepts operate leanly and profitably in a highly competitive market where streamlined operations are essential.

“I am excited to welcome Pete and Monica and their entire team to the iPROMOTEu family,” said Ross Silverstein, president and CEO of iPROMOTEu. “Pete and Monica enjoy widespread praise from the promotional products industry, and I am flattered that such high-caliber professionals have decided to affiliate with iPROMOTEu.”

A service provider to independent distributors, iPROMOTEu’s network consists of more than 1,100 distributors and salespeople throughout the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 1999, iPROMOTEu’s order volume reached $174 million in 2017, the company said. With reported 2016 North American promotional products revenue of $158 million, iPROMOTEu ranked 13th on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry. The new list is scheduled to be released in July.