News

Daren Hines has been named president of Overland Park, Kansas-based distributor Staples Promotional Products (PPAI 108945, D15), a subsidiary of office retail company Staples, Inc. Hines is an executive with more than 20 years of experience with numerous well-known brands, including General Mills, the J.M. Smucker Company and most recently, Morton Salt.

In a statement announcing his appointment, Hines said, “I couldn’t be more excited to join Staples Promotional Products (SPP). SPP is an industry leader with an incredibly innovative team and an unparalleled global supplier network. I look forward to working alongside the team to build upon SPP’s successful track record of creating meaningful brand experiences for employees, consumers and stakeholders.”

At Staples, Hines is a member of Staples’ executive leadership team, reporting directly to its CEO. With a focus on the general management and profit-and-loss responsibilities of the promotional products business, he will work with customers and suppliers to develop brand experiences for employees, consumers and stakeholders.

American Solutions for Business pledged $8,315 during their annual United Way scavenger hunt. Held during the second week of November, 39 American Solutions for Business employee pledges help achieve the massive goal.

With virtual events held November 8^th-12^th, The United Way of Pope and Douglas Counties used their annual campaign to support their local community and spread the important work that their organization does.

“The annual campaign is a way for our company to support our community and spread the word about the important work that is done by the United Way of Pope and Douglas Counties,” explained Web Application Support Specialist, Michelle Pfeiffer. “Employees that participated in the events were eligible to win prizes. We had 39 employees this year who pledged a total of $8,315.”

The industry's most popular mobile app has been upgraded to the newest version, SAGE Mobile 11. The app now features compatibility with Apple and Android watches for SAGE Chat™ and several other exciting features.

SAGE, the leading provider of information, marketing, and business management solutions to the promotional products industry, announces the release of SAGE Mobile 11. The app, available for iOS and Android devices, allows industry distributors easy access to all their critical research and business management operations while on the go and is the official trade show planner for the industry’s largest show, The PPAI Expo in January 2022.

This update introduces several exciting new features, including a refresh to the product and supplier search areas. SAGE Mobile 11 users will see more fields to align with the recently updated capabilities of SAGE Online™ and SAGE Web™, enabling Total Access customers to manage their business across platforms from anywhere effortlessly.

“We know our industry is always on the go. Because of that, we are committed to providing our customers a seamless experience whether they are using SAGE Online, SAGE Web, or SAGE Mobile to give them the flexibility they need,” said SAGE President David Natinsky, MAS.

Some of the new features in the SAGE Mobile 11 updates include:

"What's New" pop-up detailing added features after future updates SAGE Mobile 11 is available now. Current SAGE Total Access subscribers can download SAGE Mobile for free from the Apple App Store, Google Play, or the Amazon App Store. The update will download automatically for users who have the app updates turned on. 

American Solutions for Business raised $3,000 during the annual Triple Crown online raffle. American donated the proceeds to the Radiothon to End Child Abuse, Someplace Safe, and Pope County Families in Need, donating $1,000 to each.

Triple Crown organizations are non-profit organizations in Pope County that help families recover from abuse and get back on their feet when they face a financial hardship. Someplace Safe offers services for abuse victims by helping them find safe housing and safe meeting place for parent visits and/or pickups. Radiothon to End Child Abuse is a fundraiser that is aired on the local radio station and all proceeds go to our local Human Services Department. Pope County Families in Need is organized by a local couple who supplies clothes, blankets, beds, gift certificates for gas or food, for families facing financial hardships.

“Being community orientated, ASB employees are always ready and eager to help where help is needed,” expressed SOS Specialist, Stephanie Hall. “We hold many fundraisers throughout the year and all money raised stays local. The Triple Crown recipients are three organizations that thrive on donations and when they succeed, our community succeeds.”

ASB has been donating to the three organizations for over 10 years. It started out with Penny Wars and Change for Change competitions between different departments within ASB. Four years ago, American decided to go a different direction and asked that the different departments within ASB, create some type of basket to raffle off. Even with the uncertainty of the new endeavor, 20 baskets were raffled the first year. The first two were in person where people could see the baskets and place their bets. Because of COVID, ASB decided to utilize their proprietary eCommerce platform, ACES, to hold the raffle online.

American Solutions for Business raised $12,000 for families in the Pope County area—where the Glenwood, Minnesota, distributor is headquartered—through its annual Adopt-A-Family fundraiser. The reoccurring program is put on by ASB sales associates and home office employees as a gift to founder Larry Zavadil and his wife Diane, that started 20 years ago. This year’s gift surpassed the 2019 donations by $5,000, setting a new record.

ASB reached out to county administrators at the beginning of November for information regarding families in need this year. The county then collected information that kept the families anonymous but outlined the family structures and needs. The sizes and Christmas lists of the families were then collected and shared with ASB.

“It was a huge undertaking for us this year, receiving information for eight families, including 21 kids. We were able to get everything on their Christmas lists, plus a few extras,” says Jamie Lanoue, talent acquisition specialist for ASB. “We had a lot of hands helping to make the process possible this year, and we are grateful.”

With the $12,000, ASB was able to buy toys, household items, hygiene products and clothing for each family member, while including a Visa gift card for other miscellaneous items.

Jonathan Isaacson, chair and CEO of supplier Gemline (PPAI 113948 S11), was vague in describing the amount of charitable giving that the Lawrence, Massachusetts, supplier donated to the local community and beyond over the past year. But the truth, Isaacson told PPB Newslink, is that he can’t yet put a number on the true amount of the supplier’s philanthropic involvement; an effort the company is fully dedicated to.

Partly he was exercising discretion, but on the other hand, with more than two weeks left in the year, he couldn’t put an exact number on it. Gemline’s charitable gifting program has quietly been a centerpiece value at the hardgoods supplier for a very long time. The efforts to identify and support worthy organizations run year-round, and some of the gift allocations Gemline has already made this year will continue into early 2022. Isaacson did announce that the company in 2020 made more than $500,000 in donations, mostly in and around its headquarters community of Lawrence, Massachusetts.

Many local organizations benefitted from Gemline’s community support this year, Isaacson says, with causes such as the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence receiving contributions ranging into the six figures.

“The only reason to write about these gifts is if somebody else [in the promotional products industry] follows us,” Isaacson says. The give-back program falls under Gemline’s efforts to be an industry leader in corporate social responsibility (CSR), complemented by its work toward diversity, equity and inclusion, environmental sustainability and more. “This is core to our culture in terms of who we are and what we do.”

Although some large donations—such as the gift Isaacson notified the local Boys & Girls Club of last week—happen near the end of the year, Gemline is constantly doing due diligence on local programs to ensure that it can make the greatest impact in the community with what it gives back. Isaacson sits on a number of boards and is actively involved in researching the effectiveness of the organizations and programs Gemline may support.

Isaacson describes the Boys & Girls Club of Lawrence as “a safe haven during the COVID storm,” a place where children have been supported and tutored throughout the pandemic. Other major beneficiaries of the gifting program in 2021 included the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center, a public health center that is a critical medical resource in the area, in addition to programs that provide mentoring and mental health support in local schools.

Virtually all of the needs that Gemline’s latest gifts are aimed at addressing have been exacerbated by the health and economic challenges of the pandemic, which have tended to have greater detrimental effects on underserved communities.

Lawrence is a gateway community, Isaacson says, a poor area with a large population of new immigrants. As far back as the 1800s it and nearby Lowell, Massachusetts, were known for their textile mills, staffed largely by new arrivals from Europe. Puerto Ricans and Dominicans led population growth in the latter decades of the 1900s.

“We have been quite fortunate as an organization,” Isaacson says of Gemline. “Last year and this year, financially, were really good years. And so our feeling is that we can give back not only to our team members internally, but we can give back to the community where our team members live and where we’re a part of the fabric of the community.”

Because of their means and organizational nature, businesses often have greater skills, resources and opportunities to support philanthropy than individuals. For years, Isaacson says, he didn’t discuss the charitable gifts he made through Gemline among employees.

“I don’t really care if anybody buys from us because we give back in the community; we give back in the community because it’s the right thing to do, with no expectations,” he says. “If other suppliers or distributors want to copy what we do, great, all the better. That would be the best return on this, for other people to engage with their community, wherever their community is. There is an inexhaustible need right now.”

Proforma (PPAI 196835, D13) lent its support to local nonprofits this holiday season. The distributor and its employees partnered with Joshua House and Providence House to provide gifts to children in need using Amazon wish lists curated by the nonprofits.

Joshua House is a safe haven for abused, abandoned and neglected children. It offers a residential group care program for children ages six to 17 in Tampa Bay. Similarly, Providence House is a crisis nursery serving children and newborns at risk of abuse and neglect across the U.S. and Canada.

“We have really enjoyed working directly with Proforma during the holidays,” says Joshua House Resource Manager Nanci March. “Proforma and their employees have been very generous in contributing toward and purchasing requested items for foster and at-risk children in the Tampa Bay area.”

Proforma and its employees identify organizations to partner with each year during the holiday season. Prior partnerships involved the Buster Brown Foundation, the Angel’s Place Foundation and the Christ Child House, along with local shelters for battered women and children.

“The holidays are a time for reflection and gratitude,” says Kathy Mayo, Proforma human resources director. “Proforma is committed to giving back to the communities and making a positive difference whenever possible. Joshua House and Providence House protect our cities’ most vulnerable citizens, its children, and we are proud to be a part of that.”

Mark Gammon, CAS, currently president and chief operating officer of Cap America (PPAI 111597, S10), has been appointed CEO of the Fredericktown, Missouri, supplier. He will assume the new role on January 1, 2022, the start of the company’s new fiscal year.

Gammon succeeds founder and current CEO Phil Page, who will transition to chairman of the board for the company. Cap America board members include Phil Page, Mary Page, Mark Gammon, Jon Page, Cory Cissell, Curt Carr and Wes Royer.

Along with the growth and success of Houston, Texas, supplier Hirsch Gift in its 22 years of operation, President Peter Hirsch, MAS, has made it a priority to turn his company’s triumphs into opportunities to enrich the lives of others, particularly in times of great need.

Since emigrating to the United States from South Africa in 1997 with his wife of 44 years, Elaine, and founding his company, a supplier of hardgoods promotional products two years later, Hirsch has remained an active participant in his community and industry. While building up his company from a single office manager and a few production workers to what is now a $24 million-dollar business, Hirsch has also been a dedicated supporter of the Promotional Products Education Foundation (PPEF) and held positions on various boards and committees—both with PPAI and his regional association, Houston Promotional Products Association (HPPA)—in addition to having orchestrated efforts to support the country’s veteran population and victims of natural disasters.

In January at The PPAI Expo, Hirsch will be recognized with PPAI’s 2022 H. Ted. Olson Humanitarian Award for his willingness to showcase true leadership as a team player and by making his achievements into collective wins for all. The highly esteemed recognition is presented annually to members who have shown long-standing empathy, devotion and commitment to improving quality of life and bringing about change for the betterment of a community.

“Peter Hirsch is the picture of service,” says Leslie Roark, CAS, CPIM, president and owner of Spring, Texas, distributor PromoPros/IncentPros, and one of Hirsch’s nominators. “Every time there is a crisis in our community or industry, he is the first to organize something to help. He uses his facilities and his resources to tackle the crisis.”

Citing the transformative nature of modern times and more anticipated transition ahead, color matching and design authority Pantone has named its Color of the Year for 2022: PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri, an “inquisitive and intriguing” mix of blue and red hues.

The particular shade of purple is a new creation by Pantone, marking the first time a new color has been named Color of the Year.

The New Jersey-based company, whose proprietary color palette is widely viewed as the standard in design across a vast array of industries—including the printing and manufacturing germane to the promotional products marketplace—has named colors informed by the times each year since 2000. The decision comes through trend analysis of multiple genres, including entertainment, fashion, art, lifestyle, technology and more.

“As we move into a world of unprecedented change, the selection of PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri brings a novel perspective and vision of the trusted and beloved blue color family,” says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of Pantone Color Institute. “Encompassing the qualities of the blues, yet at the same time possessing a violet-red undertone, PANTONE 17-3938 Very Peri displays a spritely, joyous attitude and dynamic presence that encourages courageous creativity and imaginative expression.”

Pantone Color Institute is the business unit within Pantone that highlights the top seasonal runway colors, selects the Pantone Color of the Year, forecasts global color trends and advises companies on color for product and brand visual identity. Through seasonal trend forecasts, color psychology, and color consulting, Pantone Color Institute partners with global brands to effectively leverage the power, psychology, and emotion of color in their design strategy.

“The Pantone Color of the Year reflects what is taking place in our global culture, expressing what people are looking for that color can hope to answer,” says Laurie Pressman, vice president of the Pantone Color Institute. “Creating a new color for the first time in the history of our Pantone Color of the Year educational color program reflects the global innovation and transformation taking place. As society continues to recognize color as a critical form of communication, and a way to express and affect ideas and emotions and engage and connect, the complexity of this new red violet infused blue hue highlights the expansive possibilities that lay before us.”

The company previously named two colors of the year for 2021, PANTONE 17-5104 Ultimate Gray and PANTONE 13-0647 Illuminating.