Nothing gets the message across like a promotional product. They make the message tangible and real. Marketing leveraging promotional products forges unique connections with audiences, and the best of the best of these campaigns earn PPAI Pyramid Awards. These exemplary marketing campaigns highlight the talent and imagination of our industry in making connections, growing sales and providing inspiration.

For 66 years, the PPAI Pyramid Awards, sponsored by Pacesetter, has been the industry’s most coveted recognition. Here, we recognize this year’s gold and silver award winners in six categories: Branding, Cause Advocacy Marketing, Digital Self Promotion, Self Promotion, Supplier Sales Support Materials and Content Marketing Programs.

Branding

GOLD
Whitestone
Austin, Texas

Whitestone Celebrates 10 Years Anniversary Campaign

Objective: Whitestone describes itself as a company that believes “no two stones are alike.” It sought to exemplify that value via an aesthetically pleasing 10-year anniversary brand campaign.

Strategy & Execution: The campaign’s design work was all done in house by the distributor’s own team of experts. Whitestone’s 10-Year Anniversary pays an ode to the past while shining a light on the company’s future. The story was told through the collaborative efforts of its people, suppliers and clients.

Results: Whitestone came together to write this story and couldn’t be more thrilled about the outcome. The campaign is attributed with creating future opportunities to create products and experiences for its clients and the company.

SILVER
HPG
Braintree, Massachusetts

Rebranding: SugarSpot

Objective: Beginning in 2022, the marketing and design teams behind SugarSpot, the candy brand by HPG under its Batch & Bodega line, set out to introduce the fresh, new brand and its unique offerings to the candy sector of the promotional products industry.

Strategy & Execution: After a pilot launch in Q4 of 2022, SugarSpot underwent a full rebrand and was officially launched at The PPAI Expo 2023 supported by a tower wall display, candy giveaway and branding video. The rebranding was incorporated across all SugarSpot marketing collateral and campaigns, and a mailer campaign targeted at 1,000 of HPG’s top customers was conducted to further increase brand awareness.

Results: As a result of the project, site traffic to the SugarSpot landing page has increased significantly since The PPAI Expo 2023. Email open and click-through rates have also increased, along with overall product sales for the brand.

Cause Advocacy Marketing Programs

GOLD
ePromos
St. Cloud, Minnesota

ePromos Cares Cause Advocacy Program

Objective: ePromos’ giveback efforts comprise three main pillars: the ePromos for Good Program, ePromos Cares and Backpacks for Life. In its ePromos for Good Program, ePromos selects a new nonprofit each month to receive $500 in free promotional items, and winners can use these products to support their charities. Winners are featured in the company’s emails and on its social media sites.

Strategy & Execution: As part of its giveback programs, ePromos partners with Backpacks For Life, whose mission is to aid homeless and at-risk veterans struggling to integrate back into civilian life. The company helped create custom cost-efficient bags with special features for the veterans in need. It also supports BFL via its marketing emails, social media sites, by providing products and by participating in the charity’s events.

Results: The distributor’s advocacy programs allow it to better support its employees, their families and their communities.

SILVER
Hillary’s
Hopkins, Minnesota

Cause Advocacy Marketing & Self Promo

Objectives: One of the company’s standard stakeholder touchpoints each year is a meaningful Thanksgiving card. Coming out of the pandemic in 2022, inflation found one in 12 Minnesotans facing food insecurity. At a time that people give thanks, gather and have a special meal, Hillary’s decided it was a perfect time to provide additional support to one of its longtime – since 2009 – social good partners, Second Harvest Heartland, one of the nation’s largest food banks.

Strategy & Execution: The amount of the donation was connected to how many recipients of the Thanksgiving card engaged with the distributor’s message and reported the number of people who would be at the Thanksgiving table where they would gather. That information was communicated to Hillary’s through a QR code on the card that went to a landing page. The company donated one meal per person.

Results: Hillary’s donated more than 23,000 meals to Second Harvest Heartland. The company followed up with a New Year’s letter wishing its stakeholders well in the New Year and shared the results of its Thanksgiving campaign.

Content Marketing Program

GOLD
Vantage Apparel
Avenel, New Jersey

Behind The Logo


Objective: Behind every local business is a story that can inspire us all. Vantage Apparel’s goal is to share these stories to help branding professionals truly understand and connect with their clients like never before.

Strategy & Execution: Overall, “Behind the Logo” is a resource that incorporates a mix of storytelling, behind-the-scenes access, branding focus, diversity, community impact and insightful takeaways.

Results: The ever-growing program offers a fresh perspective on business branding while engaging and inspiring viewers through its creative execution.

SILVER
ePromos
St. Cloud, Minnesota

ePromos Apparel Content Cluster Program

Objective: Content clusters are part of the ePromos SEO strategy. The company created a campaign around its apparel cluster and developed email and social tactics to share it with new and returning ePromos customers.

Strategy & Execution: The campaign sought to educate buyers of all current/new imprint methods, as well as apparel trends within the industry. This was a full-company, 100-plus hour cross collaboration with marketing driving the strategic content and dissemination, merchandising selecting and sourcing products, and other teams providing support in creating a high-quality user experience.

Results: Through the content produced, ePromos positioned itself as a thought leader and cutting-edge provider of industry products and capabilities and drove traffic and sales to its site, specifically the apparel categories.

Digital Self-Promotion Campaigns

GOLD
Spector & Co.
Montreal, Quebec

Super Nintendo World

Objective: Through its creative concepts and a campaign like Super Nintendo World, Spector & Co. sought to position itself in the promotional products industry as a creative leader and forward-thinking marketer of epic merch.

Strategy & Execution: The company leveraged its creativity and innovation to engineer goods that showcased its out-of-the-box ideas while simultaneously helping people connect emotionally and engage with the brand.

Results: The campaign demonstrated that promotional products can be much more than just a means of advertising, and Spector & Co. demonstrated its creative capabilities in the promotional products market.

SILVER
HALO
Sterling, Illinois

HALO Custom Kitting Sales Tools


Objective: The HALO Custom Kitting Sales Tools program was aimed at equipping account executives with the necessary resources to effectively promote HALO’s kitting products and services, ultimately leading to increased sales and revenue.

Strategy & Execution: The program simplifies clients’ kitting projects and provides an exceptional experience for them, enabling account executives to engage clients with relevant messaging about HALO’s kitting capabilities.

Results: The program resulted in a 13% average increase in kitting projects from June 2022 to March 2023, more than 600 downloads of its kitting resources and over 27,000 webpage visits.

Self Promotion Campaigns

GOLD
commonsku
Toronto, Ontario

Backpack Giveaway

Objective: Industry service provider commonsku created a backpack giveaway campaign to grow the audience for its bimonthly The Backpack newsletter. The company wanted to incentivize subscriptions to The Backpack by selecting 50 giveaway entrants to win an Oakley backpack from S&S Activewear.

Strategy & Execution: The commonsku team created a social and email strategy, selected a backpack, designed the backpack decoration in house, collaborated with S&S, took product shots, created content and communicated with those who entered its giveaway. The main focus of this campaign was to encourage retention and stickiness with current customers and drive interest from prospects.

Results: The campaign reached 225 submissions, exceeding commonsku’s goal by more than 10%.

GOLD
Sonic Promos
Gaithersburg, Maryland

Sonic Promos ‘I Love the ’90s’ 25-Year Anniversary Campaign


Objective: Themed self-promotional mailings are a core part of Sonic Promos’ marketing strategy, as creative, on-trend pieces open conversations with clients. To celebrate its 25th year, Sonic Promos threw it back to the ’90s with three themed self-promo mailers sent over the course of the year. The goal was to increase brand awareness and sales with current clients.

Strategy & Execution: The first mailer was a Bluetooth speaker designed to look like a mixtape, with a music magazine-themed insert card that included a link to the company’s “Totally ’90s” playlist. The second mailer was a plush Dolly the Sheep clone with a membership card to the Sonic Promos Client Club that came in a ’90s Beanie Baby-inspired box. The third mailer was inspired by ’90s fashion, and clients were prompted to choose a fanny pack or bucket hat through a redemption portal.

Results: Sonic Promos reported a 10.7% increase in sales to clients who received the mailers, and two clients have since adapted these mailings for their own campaigns.

GOLD
HPG
Braintree, Massachusetts

Hub Infinity Imprint Launch

Objective: HPG’s Hub Infinity launch campaign aimed to generate awareness and interest in its new 360-degree direct imprint method on the barrels of plastic and metal pens. The supplier’s primary objective was to achieve total sales of $15,000 within five months.

Strategy & Execution: The company implemented email marketing and social media efforts that produced impressive results, with high open rates and engagement levels.

Results: The campaign successfully generated awareness and interest in the new product, resulting in significant sales growth and positive brand engagement. The campaign exceeded its goal by 205.61%, achieving total sales of $30,841 and selling out two pens within three months of launch.

SILVER
Thumbprint
Apopka, Florida

What’s Your Vibe?

Objective: Thumbprint created an entire line of “stealable merch” that supported important causes, demonstrated the power of a multi-dimensional activation and wrapped it all together through relatable messaging.

Strategy & Execution: The distributor’s campaign featured four unique “Vibes,” four color themes, four charities, four blogs, 25 products and one Vibe store that drove incredible awareness and effect for Thumbprint. Not only did the campaign make an impression on prospects, clients and peers, but these people also shared the message with others.

Results: Thumbprint’s “What’s Your Vibe?” campaign was its most impactful to date, providing significant ROI, opening many doors and inspiring a number of similar campaigns. The company is proud of the campaign’s performance and even more proud that the campaign helped people recognize each other for the important work they do. As a bonus, the company was able to donate several thousand dollars to charity.

SILVER
Spector & Co.
Montreal, Quebec

Here To Stay

Objective: Spector & Co.’s Las Vegas branding campaign has been essential in promoting the company’s growth and expansion into the United States to all its current clients, as well as prospective customers.

Strategy & Execution: The campaign involved the conceptualization and creation of a unique graphic identity that communicates “Vegas, baby!” while maintaining the essence of Spector & Co. The new Las Vegas look is recognizable and relatable. The company created a media plan that involved both online and offline touchpoints, such as its email list, social media content strategy, website content and paid advertising at The PPAI Expo 2023 and other events.

Results: The campaign’s message was spread far and wide, covered by the press in and out of the industry, and generated significant organic chatter and impressions on social media, hitting almost 10,000 on the distributor’s own “We’re Open” post – 10 times its usual reach.

SILVER
Fullarton Group & HPG Brands
London, Ontario, and Braintree, Massachusetts

Debco Division Self Promotion Treasure Hunt Campaign

Objective: This self-promotion campaign was created to be a unique and fun program to engage Fullarton distributor members and an exciting way to provide information, product awareness and training on HPG products.

Strategy & Execution: The promotion engaged Fullarton distributor members to watch seven 60-second videos to learn about Debco’s top-selling items. It helped drive sales and increased relationships with distributor clients by providing free spec and product samples for each distributor to use in showrooms or show to customers.

Results: Product samples sell, and HPG provided the avenue for Fullarton to do just that. The promotion tied together several media, including an introduction email, a PDF flyer, a direct mailer of product samples and QR codes linked to YouTube videos created specifically for Fullarton distributor members.

Supplier Sales Support Materials

GOLD
Koozie Group
Tampa, Florida

Materials Matter Writing Instruments Mailer

Objective: Distributors and their customers still have a lot of questions about the benefits of eco-friendly writing instruments, so Koozie Group developed a selling tool that contained both samples and an educational element.

Strategy & Execution: Koozie Group’s kit showcased five pens made with recycled materials and included a card that defined types of recycled materials, as well as provided tips for creating promotions with an ecological bent. Because materials matter, the supplier put the pens and card inside a pouch made with rPET, and the entire mailing was sent in a compostable padded envelope with an eco-friendly label.

Results: The campaign generated an estimated 16,267 impressions with a relatively low cost per item of $0.86. Koozie Group logged several sales opportunities with a total value of over $30,000, and sales volume on the five featured writing instruments increased by 11% from the previous year. The sales team also reported a lot of positive feedback on the mailing, and one distributor even replicated it with their own customers.

SILVER
Showdown Displays
Brooklyn Center, Minnesota

2023 Showdown Displays Tradeshow Lookbook


Objective: Showdown Displays’ 2023 Tradeshow Lookbook showcases products in a variety of curated collections.

Strategy & Execution: The main focus of the lookbook was to provide inspiration and guidance on how Showdown Displays’ products can be used to elevate a brand.

Results: By offering this collateral, Showdown equipped clients to make their make their next tradeshow display easy.