You don’t need to Google many of Merch.com’s customers. Actually, come to think of it, Google is one of their customers.

The full-service distributorship – which includes branded packaging and print products alongside promotional products and apparel, along with a full suite of services like warehousing and fulfillment – has plenty of big-name clients. But if you ask CEO Ikey Bensimhon, working with these household names isn’t much different than working with customers of any size.

Bensimhon’s journey to print and promo started while he was working on Wall Street, when he saw the prospect of selling reusable bags as cities like New York started phasing out single-use bags. After starting his distributorship, Sacatelle (asi/342761), the company pivoted toward PPE during the pandemic and later grew into even more product categories before he and his partners acquired Merch.com.

Now with a host of products across the print and promotional products spectrum, Merch.com does projects like influencer boxes and online merchandise shops with products like stickers, tech products, drinkware and more. And with these big-name clients, Bensimhon tells Convergence Corner Hosts Brendan Menapace and Christopher Ruvo in this podcast, that creativity is paramount to standing out from the competition, but you need to do more than just have fun ideas.

“Creativity really brings the client in the door,” he says. “But then execution will make them continue to stay with the company as a client.”