To paraphrase Homer Simpson, alcohol wasn’t the cause of Jen Beldam’s problems, but it turned out to be the solution.

While pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce in marketing at the University of Ottawa, the 18-year-old Canadian go-getter worked for a promotional products firm during the summer. A year later, she started Jennifer Lee Promotions, a distributorship based out of her apartment bedroom. Capitalizing on Twitter’s growing popularity, she gained some traction on the incipient social media platform and built up a small clientele.

After graduation, Beldam grew tired of the commoditized nature of the industry, with clients seemingly caring only about the cheapest items that they could put a logo on. Falling out of love with promo, she shut down her sole proprietorship and spent the next several years working for marketing agencies and technology firms.

After getting married, Beldam was trying to figure out the next chapter of her career. Well, making such a monumental decision often requires some liquid courage, and the newlyweds enjoyed visiting local craft breweries, distilleries and cideries.

“I saw brands put so much effort and passion into their product and design, only to print it on the cheapest T-shirt that nobody wants to wear,” Beldam says. “I decided to open another distributorship, but this time focus on the more premium items that are longer lasting.”

Thus, in 2017, Beldam launched Northern Craft Supply Co., which rebranded earlier this year to Northern Branding Studio (PPAI 759362, Standard-Base).

Recipe For Success

The name change symbolizes the evolution of the Picton, Ontario-based company, which has increased revenue by 101% from 2020-2023.


Ironically, Beldam didn’t expect such rapid growth. She envisioned her company as merely a side gig after she and her husband moved to Prince Edward County, a rural area in Ontario, to adopt a slower lifestyle.  

“Honestly, I moved here to become a farmer,” Beldam says, “but word travels fast in a small town.” Within a few months, she picked up lots of local breweries, wineries and distilleries as clients, as well as tech firms across North America.

“In the tech world, we have a relationship that’s almost like a concierge where they want the best stuff and they don’t necessarily know what that is, but they have the money to buy it and they want that ‘wow’ factor,” Beldam says. “There’s still a lot of price pressure, but being more specific in what we want to do and making that clear has been very effective in attracting the right kind of client for us.”

So, what exactly does the five-woman team behind Northern Branding Studio want to do? Leave the world a better place for their children. Being sustainably focused plays an integral role in that mission, which is why the firm partners with Canadian suppliers, organic suppliers, recycled fabric suppliers, you name it.

“Working with Jen and her team at Northern Branding Studio is always a pleasure,” says Kate Westrik, outside sales representative at S&S Canada, a division of S&S Activewear – the No. 5 supplier in the PPAI 100. “A driver of their success is knowing not only what their clients want, but also what is popular and trending in the market. I can’t wait to see how Jen and the team continue to grow.”

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Prioritizing sustainability also ties in with moving away from being commoditized, Beldam says, adding some words of wisdom that have stuck with her: “The most sustainable promo item is one that’s used.”

“If it’s not something that someone’s going to use,” she says, “is it really sustainable?”

On The House

Beldam says it’s been exciting to scale alongside fellow small businesses, such as online estate planning platform Willful, a client of the past four years.

Having a fully virtual team, the Canadian tech firm has relied upon the distributor for onboarding packages full of logoed stickers, T-shirts and coffee mugs. Aligning with large financial institutions, Willful is often asked to either present at conferences or host a booth, which is stocked up with pens, notebooks and other promo products.

Willful CEO Erin Bury, who moved to Prince Edward County in 2021, attributes Northern Branding Studio’s success to being woman-led. “Women tend to be more empathetic leaders who can curate a lot of affinity amongst their team,” Bury says. “Jen has an extremely loyal staff because she runs the company with empathy and kindness, building a great place to work with consistency for clients.”

Bury also credits Northern Branding Studio with being a true partner. The distributor not only employs an in-house graphic designer for clients to collaborate with, but also offers fulfillment services. Plus, the firm has a local showroom so Bury can swing by and physically check out the products.

“That’s just going above and beyond compared to the traditional experience of working with an agency that adds your logo to products,” Bury says.

Last year, Northern Branding Studio’s custom merch collection for Willful’s retreat in Cancun – its first team offsite following the COVID-19 pandemic – was recognized as Best Internal for a Client by the Promotional Product Professionals of Canada (PPPC).

  • As part of a “Camp Willful” theme, the distributor designed an icon pattern to adorn a fully printed insulated cooler backpack, which included an insulated Miir camp mug, a T-shirt in an “ice blue hue” and a vintage feel, pigment-washed crewneck sweater.


“After working in the tech and startup industry for almost 15 years, do you know how many pens, crappy T-shirts and pieces of swag I’ve gotten at conferences that I’ve immediately thrown out? That’s the opposite of what I wanted for Willful,” Bury says.

“I really wanted to work with Jen on maybe more expensive, higher quality items that our team would actually use. That’s not only the feedback I always get, but I actually see our team members use these items.”

It’s Five O’clock Somewhere

Of course, these past few years haven’t been a never-ending happy hour for Beldam.

She hired her first full-time employee in February 2020 – one month before the world came to a standstill.

“I was at this crossroads where I was like does it even make sense to keep going and try to build this thing? We don’t know how long [COVID] will go on,” Beldam says. “We don’t know if we’re all going to die, and this is all for nothing. But I had just made a commitment to this person so that kept me going.”

  • In January 2021, Beldam became a mother for the first time, but couldn’t take maternity leave because she was the only client contact at the time.


And now, there’s the challenge of cash flow – a common refrain among small businesses who earned 2024 PPAI 100 High Marks for Growth. “Growing pains is our largest and most recurring issue,” Beldam says.

“Clients aren’t always the quickest to pay their invoices. There are steps we can take to make it easier, such as enforcing deposits more often. But we just want to focus on getting the project done and done perfectly.”

Despite the hiccups along the way, Beldam still finds time to reflect, garden (on summer Fridays) and enjoy the taste of victory. She also wishes that she had known sooner to not try to be everything to everyone.

“We saw so much more growth when we were more intentional and specific about the kinds of clients that we wanted to work with and the kind of work that we wanted to do,” Beldam says. “It’s really fun getting to work with clients who have a similar mindset and want the same kinds of things that you do. It’s a huge industry with plenty to go around, so carving out your own niche in the market is what’s going to set you apart.”