Fully Promoted Canada (asi/384000) is in celebration mode.

The Canadian franchisee division of the Top 40 distributor held the Canadian National Conference at its inaugural Fully Promoted Canada Expo in Niagara Falls from May 18 to 20, which brought together 65 distributor franchisees, suppliers and corporate employees.

Expo attendees gather in front of Niagara Falls, with Yousuf Sandeela, CEO of Fully Promoted Canada (center).

Since September 2021, Fully Promoted Canada has welcomed eight more individually owned and operated franchisees, bringing the number to 29.

“It was a great opportunity to cross-pollinate ideas, increase productivity and inspire innovation,” said Yousuf Sandeela, CEO of Fully Promoted Canada. “We’ve had a phenomenal year, and we wanted to honor our franchisees’ achievements.”

Jonathan Strauss, president and CEO of Promotional Products Professionals of Canada (PPPC) was the keynote speaker at the event. “The industry is changing,” he said during his remarks. “Big is getting bigger and small is getting specialized. Fully Promoted is in a great spot given the size of the group and local connectivity.”

Attendees enjoyed meetings with suppliers and Fully Promoted corporate members, networking opportunities, strategic planning sessions and a dinner with wine-tasting. Fully Promoted Canada also distributed top-performing sales awards to individual franchisees, including National Sales Awards to locations in Burlington, ON; La Crete, AB; and Barrie, ON; the National Team Player of the Year Award to Jeff Gross of EmbroidMe of Oakville in Ontario; and Brand Ambassador of the Year Awards to Grant Cox of EmbroidMe of Kelowna in British Columbia, and David Froese of Fully Promoted La Crete (asi/483801) in La Crete, AB. The full list of honorees can be found here.

“Our Canadian colleagues believe strongly in working together so everyone achieves their goals, which is what the franchise model is all about,” said Mike Brugger, president of Fully Promoted, who spoke on the event’s theme of “Expanding Our Horizons.” “We are here to help owners gain momentum where they are doing great and improve upon areas of opportunity. It was exciting to watch them brainstorm ideas for taking their success to even higher levels.”

Fully Promoted Canada plans to make the Expo an annual event.

Fully Promoted has about 270 individually owned and operated locations globally. With estimated 2020 North American promotional products revenue of $115 million, the distributor ranked 20^th on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry. Counselor’s 2022 Top 40 list will be revealed this July.