To kick off the new year and gear up for the 2019 PPAI Expo, Association staff have been on the road in PPAI’s Promomobile over the past week visiting member companies from Texas to California. PPAI Associate Editor Danielle Renda and Marketing Manager Amy Bramhall began the trip last week, visiting members in Dallas and Midland, Texas; Santa Fe, New Mexico and the Phoenix, Arizona, area before handing the Promomobile off to fellow staff members in San Diego over the weekend. Diversity and Learning Engagement Manager Julie Kwan and Graphic Designer Nolan Moran are making several stops throughout California this week before arriving in Las Vegas in time for the Expo’s start next week.

In Texas, Renda and Bramhall visited suppliers Riteline and The Stadium Chair, and while in Santa Fe they met with the husband and wife team behind suppliers Okina Sales and Symphony Handmade Papers. In Arizona, their journey took them to The Proinnovative Line in Phoenix, a supplier that offers a wide range of products in various categories, and The Antigua Group in Peoria, a supplier whose around-the-clock operation supplies sports fans with a range of corporate- and college-branded apparel.

“We learned valuable information about the suppliers’ operations and all the moving parts required for their businesses,” says Renda. “With every member visit that PPAI embarks on, we understand more about our members’ needs and deepen our ever-growing understanding of the promotional products industry.”

On Monday, Kwan and Moran began their California tour with a stop at Goldstar in San Diego, where COO RJ Hagel and General Manager Howard Cubberly gave them a behind-the-scenes look at its new offices and discussed next week’s PPAI Expo. Today, they’re visiting Evans Manufacturing in Garden Grove, California, and hoping to meet area distributors at Paul’s Place in Los Alamitos for lunch. The meal is on PPAI for the first 20 to arrive. Tomorrow, the PPAI Promomobile heads to Los Angeles to connect with Innovation Line and have lunch at Big Dean’s Ocean Front Café in Santa Monica.

Read more about the PPAI Promomobile’s trip in future issues of PPB Newslink and follow its journey on PPAI’s Facebook page for updates from the road.