(Editor’s Note: PromoWire by PPAI Media is a running digest of updates from organizations around the promotional products industry. PPAI Media will consider newsworthy entries submitted by any member organization.)

October 18

PPAI Shares Its NetSuite Story At Oracle’s SuiteWorld 2023

This week, PPAI has been at SuiteWorld 2023 in Las Vegas, an event tailored toward increasing user knowledge for Oracle’s NetSuite.

Oracle NetSuite is an Affinity Partner of PPAI and as the Association is in effect a model partner for NetSuite, PPAI President and CEO Dale Denham, MAS+, joined a key panel discussion highlighting its partnership with NetSuite. Other members of the panel included Denise Bailey, business systems consulting practice leader at Elliott Davis; Russel Uyeda, technology operating partner at HGGC and Blake Disiere, associate director of business operations at Vista Equity Partners.

PPAI’s efforts to simplify the on-boarding of NetSuite within the promotional products market are seen by Oracle as exemplary. At The PPAI Expo 2023, the Association debuted its NetSuite user group for PPAI members.

PPAI also hosted a NetSuite User Group session as part of the SuiteWorld.

  • Speakers included Denham; Kate Daniels, director of associations and buying groups at NetSuite; Bryan Bendo, principal sales consultant at Oracle/NetSuite; and Sam Hornstein, president of eXtendTech; among others.
  • Topics include technical tips and tricks, product updates, pain points and solutions, and, from the partner community, an industry overview and Suite apps for promo. The session featured a user-driven Q&A and solicited feedback from the group that PPAI can bring to NetSuite.

New Podcast Helps Listeners Boost Social Media Interaction

Jessica Gibbons-Rauch, PPAI’s new manager of program development, talks with Kirby Hasseman about how to get people to interact on social media in the latest episode of his Delivering Marketing Joy podcast. Episode #465 dropped on Wednesday. See the video here or listen wherever you get podcasts. Search for Delivering Marketing Joy to find the episode.

  • In addition to producing the long-running industry podcast, Hasseman is owner of Hasseman Marketing (PPAI 314957, D5), author of the book, Delivering Marketing Joy and founder of Better Business University.

Proforma’s Energize Summits Foster Innovation And Partnership

Proforma (PPAI 196835, D13) successfully wrapped up its two annual Energize Summits held this year in San Diego, California, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

  • The events provided Proforma distributor owners with opportunities to engage in one-on-one strategic planning sessions and participate in a vibrant exchange of ideas, solutions and opportunities with the organization’s supplier partners.
  • The strategically guided conversations focused on specific clients, projects, prospects and opportunities.

“Our Energize Summits provide a unique collaboration opportunity for our distributor owners and supplier partners,” says Michelle Dalton, Proforma VP of strategic partner development. “The strategic planning sessions have cultivated meaningful partnerships that will undoubtedly lead to remarkable success in the years to come.”

AIA Hosts Empowering National Sales Meeting In Nashville

The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee, was the setting for AIA’s (PPAI 101364 , D12) recent national sales meeting.

  • The annual conference was designed to create authentic connections with a vision to empower and inspire, fostering a sense of unity among AIA’s community of owners, MVP suppliers and AIA staff.
  • Attendees heard from two keynote speakers, participated in AIA-owner-led panels and roundtable discussions, and listened to an industry executive panel featuring Dale Denham, PPAI president and CEO; Tim Andrews ASI president and CEO; Kevin Walsh, president of Showdown Displays; and Eric Stonebarger, president of Hit Promotional Products.
  • The event also served as the backdrop for the AIA Annual Awards ceremony celebrating the impressive accomplishments of many million-dollar plus AIA owners. AIA also bestowed its Lifetime Achievement awards and inducted new members into its Hall of Fame.

October 17

Brooke Lucks To Head Up Creative At Harper + Scott

Harper + Scott (PPAI 626454, D10) has named Brooke Lucks its new chief creative officer. She will oversee all creative development and product innovation for the distributor’s roster of clients including Sephora, L’Oréal, Carnival and Sweetgreen.

  • • Lucks spent eight years as the president and SVP of creative at twelveNYC before starting her own consulting company where she helped tell her clients’ stories through product development. For 15 years prior, she was a fashion editor for top fashion magazines, including a role as accessories director at Cosmopolitan.

“Brooke’s impressive background aligns perfectly with our mission to deliver creative, one-of-a-kind products to our clients,” says Michael Scott Cohen, Harper + Scott CEO and co-founder.

Lucks says, “Harper + Scott is the perfect platform to advance my passion for impactful storytelling and disruptive creative. I’m excited to help shape the creative direction of Harper + Scott while contributing to a culture of innovation that will set a new standard for the industry.”