News CANADIAN NEWS April 16, 2024
iPROMOTEu Announces DunkFest 2024 Winners
Mickey Mann of Image Packaging had the winning bracket, correctly selecting three of the Final Four teams in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
The results are in from DunkFest 2024, the annual NCAA men’s college basketball tournament challenge overseen by Top 40 distributor iPROMOTEu (asi/232119) for the last 16 years.
Last week, on April 8, the popular basketball tournament officially ended when the University of Connecticut took home the win over Purdue.
This year, 230 participants from across the United States and Canada entered brackets for a chance to win. The top 10 finishers included brackets from seven distributors, one supplier and two iPROMOTEu staff members.
Mickey Mann of Image Packaging, an iPROMOTEu affiliate from Elmira, NY, was the overall winner – correctly selecting three of the Final Four teams and predicting that UConn would face off with Purdue in the championship. His bracket was in the top 99.8 percentile of the record-breaking 22.6 million brackets completed in ESPN’s men’s tournament challenge, according to iPROMOTEu.
The second-place winners – both of whom finished with 99.2 percentile brackets – were Duane Chase of Sir Logo, a longtime affiliate and iPROMOTEu hall of famer; and Lance Stier, managing partner and CEO of Top 40 supplier NC Custom (asi/44900) and a member of Counselor’s Power 50 list of the most influential people in promo.
Other top finishers were Laurie Self of Top 40 distributor IMS (asi/215310); Brett Lewis of Brett Lewis Promotions; Kyle Kalma of Q Group (asi/466571); Jason Adams of CHIPS, Inc.; Richard Spector of Spector Marketing Group (asi/827126); and iPROMOTEu staffers Rachel Silverstein and Carrie Lewis.
Winners will receive commemorative trophies.
“The iPROMOTEu team looks forward to DunkFest every year to connect with our affiliates and peers from across the industry,” said Lori Bauer, CEO. “After 16 years, DunkFest continues to be a celebration of the camaraderie and friendly competitive spirit that make the promotional products industry unlike any other.”
DunkFest launched in 2008 to generate enthusiasm, networking and connection in the industry, and the challenge draws hundreds of participants every March.
Based on 2022 North American promotional product revenue of $209 million, iPROMOTEu ranked 15th on Counselor’s most recent list of the largest distributors in the industry.