Building a brand with a purposeful mission, embracing change to be a better leader, and being authentic and transparent with both clients and employees, were focal points of skucon 2022, held on Tuesday. Hosted annually by commonsku—a Toronto, Ontario, business services provider—and held virtually this year, the event brought together more than 800 promotional products professionals to discuss provocative ideas, trends and challenges in business through a lens of excitement and limitless possibilities.

skucon 2022 featured a curated line up on speakers, who candidly delved into their personal backstories, lessons learned and motivators that shaped their working selves today and fueled campaigns they've created. Opening and closing statements were given by commonsku CEO Catherine Graham and President and Chief Branding Officer Mark Graham, who also presented the four skummunity Awards throughout the day.

The day kicked off with a session led by Bobby Lehew, commonsku’s chief content officer, who took attendees through the heightened popularity of promotional products in recent years across all industries, citing campaigns from fast-food chains, hotels, streaming services, authors and even tech giants like Elon Musk. Lehew encouraged attendees to assess whether their businesses were on the cutting edge of change, by creating a “report card” complete with the following questions:

  • Do your margins reflect today’s merch madness?
  • Are you selling at a price point that creates demand?
  • Is design a priority or an afterthought?
  • Are you creating experiences that no one else can emulate?
  • Are you selling shirts or creating a fan factory?
  • Are you giving the best part of your business away for free?

Other sessions were led by Aaron Draplin, founder and maker with Draplin Design Co.; Ben Adams, co-founder and managing director of Advoc8; Jeremy Picker, CEO and creative director for AMB3R, and Davis Smith, founder and CEO of Cotopaxi.

Draplin talked about the possibilities and power of design, and the importance of always looking for a need to fill for clients, while Adams spoke on using experiential marketing to “meet people where they are,” and using different elements to transform the way end users see and interact with brands. Picker challenged attendees to consider, “How can we not only create strong merchandise lines, but how can we do it quickly? And, how can it resonate to where the client’s customer’s end user’s investment is 10-X?” He also encouraged curiosity, consistency and cautioned heavily against “creating merch lines just to create merch,” and urged distributors to check out shopping malls, make their own mood boards and use other ways to immerse themselves more fully in creating targeted campaigns.

Later in the day, Davis shared about the origins of his clothing brand, Cotopaxi, which emerged as a way to give back to the impoverished in Quito, Ecuador, where Davis was raised. Cotopaxi products are made nearly entirely from recycled scraps, and no two items are alike. The company partners with organizations like the International Rescue Committee, Mercy Corps and Nothing But Nets.

Two panel discussions also took place throughout the day, the first, “How Emotional Intelligence is a New Business Advantage,” between Sarah White, co-founder and chief operating officer of Fairware; Kathy DiFrancesco, vice president of sales for SnugZ USA, and Stephen Musgrave, vice president and general manager of Rightsleeve.

In this talk, participants tackled questions about emotional intelligence, diversity and how to keep an ongoing conversation with staff about their wants and needs. “We compare as a way to understand, which is OK as long as the intent is not ‘can I change something to be more like you?’” White said. “If we want these strong, diverse teams, we have to think differently, but we also have to create environments where different people feel welcome.” The second discussion, “How to Create a Strategy for Epic Growth,” featured Stephanie Leader, CEO of Leaderpromos; Sandy Gonzalez, CEO of MadeToOrder, and Jill Haspert, CEO of Foxtrot Marketing Group, who dove into topics such as the use of CRMs and tracking business, sales and outreach, having a growth mindset strategy and personal development.

Sprinkled throughout the day were moving 10-minute skucon stories, where industry pros shared their personal experiences of hope, resilience and inspiration, which led to them joining the industry or starting their own businesses. Heartfelt tales were shared by Nenette Gray, chief lemonade maker of Lemonade Creative Marketing; Candace Parker, owner of Big Bunny Creative; Jodie Schillinger, CAS, executive vice president of Maple Ridge Farms, and Kirby Hasseman, owner of Hasseman Marketing.

Also peppered throughout the day were the winners of the four skummunity Awards, including: the Supplier Community Champion Award, presented to Chameleon Like, Inc.; the Distributor Community Connector Award, presented to Buzztags; the Supplier Connected Workflow Award, presented Starline USA Inc.; and the Distributor Grit of the Year Award, presented Brand|Pride.