The day before The PPAI Expo Conference, commonsku (PPAI 552077) held skucon 2025 at the Keep Memory Alive Event Center in Las Vegas.

  • commonsku is a cloud-based CRM, order management and social collaboration platform tailored to the promotional products industry.
  • The event included panels and sessions hosted by industry leaders discussing a range of trends and issues affecting the industry currently.


“The commonsku community and speakers together hit a whole new level at skucon this year,” says Mark Graham, president and chief brand officer at commonsku. “They challenged us all to dig deeper, to be more generous and to make trust and creativity the focus of our growth together. We couldn’t be prouder of how this event continues to both challenge and inspire some of the brightest and boldest leaders in the business. We’re honored to play a part in kick-starting 2025.”

We couldn’t be prouder of how this event continues to both challenge and inspire some of the brightest and boldest leaders in the business.”

Mark Graham

President & Chief Brand Officer, commonsku

For the first time in the history of the Toronto-based company, more than 1 million projects were created with commonsku in 2024.

“That’s a testament to all of the opportunities you’ve taken to build businesses and sales, ultimately driving this industry forward,” said commonsku CEO Catherine Graham. “You’ve set a new bar.”

‘Back To The Basics’

Much like The PPAI Expo Conference, skucon is designed to encompass issues affecting the industry as a whole rather than sticking exclusively to problems that its host company is designed to solve. It has also become one of the industry’s most popular networking opportunities.

“I get so much out of this event every year through inspiration and connectivity within the industry,” says Corine Banks, chief experience officer at Chicago-based distributor eLead Promo. “I really use this to invigorate myself yearly to almost go back to the basics and think about product and service and how my team can improve.”

Marcas Heitkamp, director of inside sales at Visions – PPAI 100’s No. 62 supplier – was one of many skucon first timers.

“I came for the experience and to be able to learn and grow,” Heitkamp says. “It hasn’t disappointed. It’s been very informative, teaching me about more than just commonsku as a product.”  

commonsku also announced that skucamp 2025 – its three-day business boot camp – will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona in September. You can pre-register here.

A Precursor To The PPAI Expo 2024

With so much of the promotional products community converging on Las Vegas for The PPAI Expo 2025, commonsku utilizes the opportunity to hold its own all-day event.

skucon 2025 even featured an exclusive chat with PPAI’s new president and CEO, Drew Holmgreen, who officially began his new role on Friday and will be in attendance at The PPAI Expo 2025 to meet members.

“My goal is to elevate the presence of this industry within the general marketing ecosystem,” Holmgreen said. “Promo doesn’t get the credit it deserves. It’s not a starting point for brand strategies when marketers are creating. I want us to elevate and push forward the promo industry, making sure it’s seen as a critical component of every brand strategy.”

Drew Holmgreen, PPAI’s new president and CEO, chatting with Catherine Graham, CEO of commonsku.


While fielding questions from attendees, Holmgreen suggested that PPAI may expand its event portfolio, even raising the notion of collaborations with commonsku and other organizations.

“There are opportunities for us to improve the experiences we provide to our community,” Holmgreen said. “There may be more opportunities for us to engage in person like this.”  

Successful M&A Strategies

Another highlight of the event was a panel discussion on mergers and acquisitions hosted by Bobby Lehew, chief content officer at commonsku. The panelists included MadeToOrder CEO Sandy Gonzales, RED Promotions CEO Shelley Stewart and ScreenBroidery CEO Tom Rector.

Just last week, ScreenBroidery – PPAI 100’s No. 81 distributor – announced the acquisition of Orlando-based firm Thumbprint (PPAI 282589), which specializes in print automations, fulfillment and branded apparel.


“We’ve been preparing to scale since 2019, but you need a clear vision, clean processes and buttoned-up processes and operations,” Rector said. “It doesn’t do much good to get a big book of business if you can’t retain your customers. Our decision based on what does the future look like, and how can we leverage the technology and people for tomorrow?”

Rector said that he examines the financial statements of companies he’s interested in acquiring, specifically, looking at their profit margin, operating expenses and employee-per-revenue ratio.  

From left to right: ScreenBroidery CEO Tom Rector, RED Promotions CEO Shelley Stewart, MadeToOrder CEO Sandy Gonzales and Bobby Lehew, chief content officer at commonsku.


“We also look at how our people will work together,” Rector says. “We have 32 people joining us for The PPAI Expo 2025, and half haven’t met each other yet. It’s worth the expense so we can start to break the ice. We need to do as many things as we can to get them some face-to-face time.”

In June, MadeToOrder – the No. 56 distributor in the PPAI 100 – joined forces with RED Promotions in June, when the latter became known as “RED Promotions, A MadeToOrder Company.”

  • The combined company is one of the largest woman-owned and employee-owned distributors in the promotional products market.


Gonzales credited Catherine Graham with introducing her to Stewart, who was seeking more information on ESOPs. “After we spoke, I told her I feel like we need to have a different conversation, like about joining forces,” Gonzales said. “After all, I needed to set MadeToOrder up for the future. Being a larger company meant we could get a bigger seat at the table.”

Stewart revealed that other firms had approached her in the past with acquisition queries.

“Seeing all the M&A in our industry, it’s obvious that’s where things are going,” she said. “We’re competing with distributors much larger than us. We’ve even had clients say they’re not sure if a company our size could handle their business. They hadn’t experienced any issues – it’s just the perception. So, the acquisition gives us scalability.”