A distributor outside Boston has taken a big step in diversifying its offerings.

BOOST Promotions (asi/142942) now has a sister company: Impulsar Creative, an agency just launched on Dec. 1. While BOOST focuses on branded merchandise, Impulsar serves clients with all other aspects of their branding, from developing logos to establishing brand guidelines to building websites.

Chris Faris, Impulsar Creative and BOOST Promotions (asi/142942)

The name comes from the Spanish verb meaning “to boost” – a nod to Founder and CEO Chris Faris’ love for the country of Costa Rica. “We wanted to assist our clients with their design, creative and branding, in addition to merchandise,” he says. “We’re well positioned to add a new perspective since we specialize in merch and print, and we truly understand how design translates into all aspects of clients’ businesses.”

Here, Faris shares the story of how Impulsar Creative came to be, and why it could be a growing opportunity within the promo industry.

Q: What types of services does Impulsar offer?

A: We’re a creative design and branding agency that’s a separate entity from BOOST. We offer traditional design and logo development, and brand guidelines – including their complete brand identity package and colorways. We can also help with a rebrand in the areas of marketing/sales collateral and web design, as well as product imagery for signage, email blasts, business cards, brochures and merch.

Q: When did you decide to launch Impulsar?

A: We would find that clients with separate design teams would come to us with an art package and the imagery wouldn’t convert well to merch or signage. It wasn’t vector, for example, or wouldn’t translate well into embroidery. So, we’d have to dumb it down. I hired a design person, and then I started putting together a small team. And then two months ago, I thought, “Let’s spin this off.” That initial design person is now the creative director who oversees daily projects.

We come with a different perspective. We’re looking to help existing clients with work other than designing merch. For example, at BOOST we were discussing promo with a small liquor company that’s expanding, and they had been outsourcing their branding and marketing. I told them, “We have Impulsar, and we understand your brand.” It’s an easy segway.

Q: How do you market the two?

A: We have a hybrid go-to-market strategy. Impulsar and BOOST are separate companies, but we market them together. There’s no competition between them – they’re value-adds. We actually have 5” x 7” postcards with BOOST on one side and Impulsar on the other.

Q: Is this a growing trend in the promo industry? What’s the first step to launching this type of entity?

Our core business is promo, so we don’t want to offer something that doesn’t match our primary offering. And Impulsar is unique – it’s not for everyone. It’s not an easy transition from just promo products. You have to build the infrastructure, and you have to have the staffing. You have to invest in the human capital to do it correctly.

What we’re finding is that younger decision-makers don’t want to work with multiple companies – they’ll pay more to work with one place and be more efficient. There can be lots of back-and-forth when there are multiple agencies working on their branding, like when we get art that won’t work for promo. There are disconnects in the chain. With Impulsar, there aren’t any kinks. All assets are cohesive, and no one is “going rogue” with the brand and going against guidelines, because we have access to all the keys. We have the package of assets throughout, and that saves time. Our primary focus is the client: How can we make the client experience the best it can be?