39. David Klatt & Melissa Ralston

Koozie Group (asi/40480)

David

2020 Rank: 33

Title: CEO

Industry Experience: 4 years

Melissa

2020 Rank: N/A

Title: Chief Revenue Officer

Industry Experience: 15 years

With a promotion to chief revenue officer in 2021, Melissa Ralston makes the Counselor Power 50 for the first time, joining CEO David Klatt, who garners a place on the list for the third consecutive year.

The duo lead the way at Koozie Group, promo’s seventh largest supplier and a long-standing major player in the industry (formerly known as BIC Graphic North America). Despite that legacy, Koozie Group has taken its lumps of late. Prior to a modest annual sales bump in 2018, the company experienced three straight years of revenue declines. Sales dropped in 2019 and in pandemic-altered 2020, too. Lower influence scores also contributed to Klatt sliding six spots on the Power 50 list.

Nonetheless, Klatt, Ralston and the people they lead are teaming up to reverse the trend – and maybe in dramatic fashion, with a sales surge reported to be underway in 2021. “We’re seeing huge growth this year versus 2020, and the growth trend looks to be accelerating,” says Klatt. “As one example, sales from new products are up 38% in 2021 versus sales from new products in 2020.”

Ralston, who’s responsible now for sales, marketing and communications as CRO, has been essential to the success, the CEO shares. “All the credit goes to Melissa as she took over sales,” Klatt asserts.

Klatt also credits Ralston with spearheading the company’s rebrand from BIC Graphic to Koozie Group, a change that took effect in 2021 and that entails initiatives to improve everything from service and product to sustainability. She also led the successful onboarding of acquired companies Hotline Products and former Top 40 supplier IMAGEN Brands (asi/93990).

Last year, David Klatt and Melissa Ralston discussed the renaming of BIC Graphic to Koozie Group in this podcast.

Furthermore, Ralston was instrumental in the roll out of Koozie Group’s “Keep It. Give It.” – a social impact and sustainability initiative that’s included everything from donating 100,000 school supplies to children in need to validating about 40% of Koozie products with the KG factor, which measures sustainability through product longevity.

Aiming to drive more improvements, Klatt and Ralston have Koozie keying in on becoming a better partner. “We’ve been focused on expanding our distributor tools, including website enhancements, as well as creating marketing content that distributors can use as their own,” Ralston shares. “In addition to machine upgrades to our facilities, we’ve also invested in upgrading our CRM system and processes, which has helped us find new areas of opportunity on how we can work together to create a more seamless process on the front end.”

More upgrades aimed at improving customer experience are also on tap. Should Koozie Group pull off those and other planned enhancements with aplomb, the supplier will be back on the rise – as might Ralston and Klatt with the Power 50 rankings. “There’s a lot more,” says Ralston, “that we have in store.”