American Solutions for Business (ASB, asi/120075), a Top 40 distributor, has been re-awarded a three-year group purchasing agreement with Premier, Inc., one of the largest healthcare purchasing alliances in the United States. The agreement names ASB as a contracted supplier of promotional products, service awards, employee recruiting and retention programs, tradeshow booths, and other items related to marketing and human resources. Effective Sept 1, 2022, the new agreement allows Premier members, at their discretion, to take advantage of special pricing and terms pre-negotiated by Premier and ASB for service awards and merch.

PromoPulse, a sales and marketing platform for the promotional products industry, has been accepted into TinySeed, a remote accelerator program designed specifically for B2B software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies. PromoPulse will be joining a cohort of 12 other SaaS companies in a year-long program that provides mentorship, community and funding. TinySeed matches each company’s needs with the appropriate resources from its network.

Team IP (asi/184814) was recently featured on Worldwide Business with Kathy Ireland, a show on the Fox Business Network. Show producers approached Team IP with the idea of highlighting the rebound of souvenir merchandising in the championship sports industry. The resulting feature focused on Team IP’s success over the last two years after the pandemic shut business down for months, forcing owner Randy Sparks and his leadership team to reimagine how they go to market. The turnaround began mid-year 2021 when Team IP signed its four largest clients, creating what the company described as historic revenue growth month over month, culminating in a 53% overall increase as of January of 2022. See the feature here.

Team Phun (asi/342550) has promoted Jordan De Marzo to brand operations manager and Christina Schweighardt to digital marketing director. De Marzo will lead the distributor’s warehouse and production teams. Schweighardt’s focus will be on building a cohesive brand strategy for Team Phun. “Team Phun is thrilled to have Jordan and Christina on board, as it continues to promote its first group of managers,” the company said in a statement.

Showdown Displays (asi/87188) in Brooklyn Center, MN, has promoted Chad Rizzo to strategic account manager. Rizzo joined Showdown five years ago as a Texas-based territory sales manager and since then has built strong client relationships throughout the Southwest region. “Chad has been a key part of our success, and we were excited to promote him to this position,” said Pete Langdon, vice president of sales – national accounts.

Top 40 distributor iPROMOTEu (asi/232119) in Wayland, MA, has announced the winners of its annual DunkFest contest. Charles Leshan of Bore Tide One Source, an iPROMOTEu affiliate in Anchorage, AK, correctly predicted that the Kansas Jayhawks would win the NCAA men’s college basketball championship. In addition, his bracket was in the top 99.4 percentile of the over 17 million brackets completed on ESPN’s Tournament Challenge. Scott Ebbeling, an office administrator at iPROMOTEu, came in second, and Chris Dowling of Wicked Promotions (asi/466686), an iPROMOTEu affiliate in Selbyville, DE, finished in third. Rich Corvalan of Phoenix-based Zing Manufacturing (asi/99025) submitted the top bracket among suppliers. “This year’s tournament was a lot of fun and generated spirited conversation and competition among more than 170 industry participants,” said Ross Silverstein, President & CEO of iPROMOTEu, and the organizer of DunkFest.

Proforma (asi/300094), a Top 40 distributor, announced that Founder Greg Muzzillo recently spoke at the NextGen Speaker Series in Naples, FL, and donated his $5,000 speaker honorarium to Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida. The NextGen Speaker Series is a gathering of America’s most distinguished business leaders. Keynote speakers include world-renowned entrepreneurs and CEOs. Junior Achievement of Southwest Florida is a volunteer-based organization that offers K-12^th-grade programs that foster work-readiness, entrepreneurship, financial literacy skills – and that inspire students to dream big and reach their full potential. 

Raining Rose (asi/80489) in Cedar Rapids, IA, has hired Kym Frese as an account executive for the Central region of the U.S. She will be responsible for inside sales for the territory, and will work closely with Midwest Sales Executive Jon Hicks and Multiline Rep Ben Norris in Texas and surrounding states.

Penn Emblem Company (asi/77120) has entered into a new partnership with grit & flow, a diversity and inclusion consultancy in Laguna Hills, CA, that offers training and resources for DEI-focused corporations. So far, grit & flow has helped to onboard 42 new employees with diverse backgrounds at Penn Emblem’s Mira Loma, CA, office. “It’s not enough for us to simply say that we’re open to hiring people with disabilities,” says Randi Blumenthal, president of Penn Emblem. “We must walk the walk too. Individuals with disabilities are experienced and eager to do a good job, just like anybody else.” The company has plans to offer grit & flow consulting at both its Mira Loma and Trevose, PA offices. Penn Emblem also received the 2021 TRSA Diversity Recognition Award for its DEI efforts.

Cooley Group (asi/168125) has been named one of the Best Companies to Work for in New York by the New York State Society for Human Resource Management. Headquartered in Pittsford, NY, with offices throughout the state, Cooley Group is an all employee-owned company that has a long history of hiring locally and maintaining a culture of continuous learning, teamwork, integrity and service, executives said. “It’s a very high honor to be one of only 75 companies in all of New York state to be recognized in this way,” said Cooley Group President Phil Yawman. “Every day I am very grateful for our colleagues at Cooley Group — for how they support our clients and, just as importantly, each other.”

GBS Corp. has rebranded its former Document Management business division to GBS BrandConnect. The division of the North Canton, OH-based company offers creative design, marketing, printing, branded merchandise, warehousing and fulfillment solutions.

Northeast Promotions & Apparel has partnered with Top 40 supplier Charles River Apparel (asi/44620) to supply the Massachusetts Senior Olympic team with custom warmups to wear at the upcoming National Senior Games in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

Crystal D (asi/47759) announces that account manager Mike Pooler has been recognized as an Upper Midwest Association of Promotional Professionals (UMAPP) Super Star for going “above and beyond” in his role. He was nominated by Hillary Feder of Hillary’s LLC in Hopkins, MN. “Mike truly cares about his customers on a personal and professional level,” said Stephanie Maday, vice president of sales at Crystal D. “He understands and provides the high level of service they need in order to wow their customers.”

NUMO (asi/74710) has partnered with craft coffee drinkware brand Created Co. to offer the promo industry four different stainless-steel products: the 12-oz. Camp Mug, 12-oz. Everyday Tumbler, 16-oz. Everyday Tumbler and 16-oz. Cold Cup. The collection can be found here.

Top 40 supplier The Magnet Group (asi/68507) has promoted Imelda Alvarez to the position of director of logistics. She joined the company 10 years ago. “In the challenging supply chain world, to be able to add to and strengthen the team as well as promoting from within is exciting for the company,” says Curtis Grotting, VP of logistics for The Magnet Group.

Orbus Exhibit & Display Group (asi/75209) has introduced its digital 2022 editions of The Exhibitors’ Handbook and Promo Handbook display product catalogs. The Exhibitors’ Handbook is a non-branded, 100% neutral product catalog, designed for Orbus dealers in the sign, graphics, and exhibit industries. The Promo Handbook catalog is designed for promotional products distributors. Both The Exhibitors’ Handbook and Promo Handbook are downloadable from their respective websites.

The Dream Junction (asi/35238), a contract direct-to-garment company and division of Marco Fine Arts, has named Jeff Thompson as head of business development. Thompson has more than 20 years of experience in the promo industry, with stints as vice president of sales for both Victorinox Swiss Army (asi/93755) and Sourcery. Most recently, he was the director of promotional merchandise for distributor Kaulig Media (asi/239356). “We’re excited to bring our state-of-the-art DTG technology and decades of digital print expertise to the industry,” Thompson said. Marco Fine Arts is a global leader in digital art production and is the flagship of the Casa Marco group based in Austin. Thompson is based out of Ohio, with customer support teams in Texas and California.

Stran & Company (asi/337725), a Top 40 distributor, has received the Distributor of the Year award from the New England Promotional Products Association (NEPPA). The award presentations took place at the Beacon Awards ceremony on April 4, 2022, the evening before the NEPPA Spring Expo - Client Show at Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA. The Beacon Awards, which are voted on by the membership, recognize the outstanding achievements of NEPPA members throughout the year.

Outdoor Cap (asi/75420) has promoted Jenny Straub to the position of director of strategic partnerships. Previously, she spent more than two years as director of promotional sales for the headwear company in Bentonville, AR. “Jenny has been in the promotional products industry for over 20 years,” says Jamie Jeter, senior director of sales and licensing. “She is well known, amazing at creating relationships and connections, and has a passion to grow the headwear business.”

The Book Company (asi/41010) in Delray Beach, FL, now offers Crumpled City Maps from Florence, Italy-based design firm Palomar. The maps are durable, soft and waterproof, and can be crushed into a ball and unfolded in a matter of seconds. “These extraordinary ultra-light maps are unique, fun and functional,” says Roni Wright, vice president of The Book Company. “The award-winning Crumpled City Maps have also received international recognition from the design sector, so [they] make a statement too.” Clients can choose from more than 25 cities, including Athens, Barcelona, Hong Kong, London, Munich, Paris, Rome, Vancouver and Venice.

American Solutions for Business (asi/120075), a Top 40 distributor, announced that it has been awarded a three-year contract with a prominent outdoor retailer. ASB’s Joey Blakley and Fant Smith led the securing of the contract, which will have the distributor servicing 2,000 store locations across the United States. The contract allows for ASB to provide point-of-purchase, print and promotional products, and kitting and fulfillment.

BamBams (asi/38228), a Manassas, VA-based supplier, recently hired Maria Zezzo as marketing manager. Zezzo graduated in 2020 from Kent State University with a bachelor of business administration in managerial marketing. Dan Taylor, CEO of BamBams, said he “is looking forward to working with Maria and is confident in the tools she brings with her to expand BamBams’ marketing reach.”

Gemline (asi/56070), a Top 40 supplier, has expanded its strategic partnership with Newell Brands, adding Parker and Waterman pens to its portfolio of premium retail brand partners. The new writing instruments will be added to Gemline’s product line as part of its 2022 summer collection, available April 5. “The addition of these premium fine writing brands will significantly expand Gemline’s presence and market share in the very sizable writing instrument product category, while also bolstering our gift portfolio,” said Frank Carpenito, president of Gemline.

PromoPlacement, a promo industry recruiting firm, has added Erika Ruehlman as vice president of talent and strategy. Ruehlman started her promo career filing catalogs at a family-owned distributorship. She went on to work for staffing and recruiting firms before undertaking key talent acquisition positions with Top 40 distributors. “Erika’s unique background in both the promo and staffing industries gives her great insight into our clients’ needs,” said Kevin McHargue, CEO.

DTG Connection, LLC has launched the Model X, a new DTG printer built on a Ricoh engine. It features an auto-height adjusted print table, intuitive user interface, reformulated ink for easy maintenance and cleanup, and new proprietary TurboRIP software. “We couldn’t be more excited to introduce the Model X,” says Karl Tipre, founder of DTG Connection. “We worked closely with our manufacturer to develop a DTG machine built on proven technology with added features we know our customers need … This new printer paired with our new ink formula and TurboRIP software is a winning combination.”

Facilisgroup, a leading software-as-a-service company and partnering community within promo, has released Commercio, an online store solution platform for its distributor partners. With Commercio, Facilisgroup partners can create a company store for their clients ongoing e-commerce needs. For temporary storefronts, surrounding events, fundraisers, redemption sites and more, distributors can make a pop-up shop to capture time-sensitive moments. “Our partners were looking for an easy and efficient solution to provide their clients with temporary or long-term company stores,” said Facilisgroup President Ashley McCune. “We wanted to deliver a solution that does that and so much more, and we feel we’ve done just that with Commercio.”

Koozie Group (asi/40480), a Top 40 supplier, recently announced diversity and inclusion highlights from 2021 that were part of its new corporate social responsibility initiative, Keep it. Give it. Highlights include the company’s first-ever speaker series with Neema Bahrami, a Pulse nightclub shooting survivor and LGBTQ inspirational speaker. Additionally, Koozie Group noted that employees work under a Code of Conduct guided by the Fair Trade Association that fosters diversity and inclusion. Furthermore, the supplier completed its first diversity and inclusion employee engagement survey.