The Promo Pro: Donnell Avila, Sales Manager and COO, PEGG Products (asi/292782), Houston
Client: Allredi, a distributor of surface preparation, safety and environmental control solutions with locations in the U.S. and Canada.
Job: Provide holiday gifts, with the company’s new branding, to a newly formed executive team.
Order Value: $24,000

STEP 1

Impress With Excellence
Going the extra mile can lead to good places.

Through its work with a large nonprofit, PEGG Products connected with an Allredi professional who served on a committee for the Houston-area philanthropic organization. He needed a quick turn on an order of bags with a 120,000-stitch design. PEGG produced the order expertly and in a flash. That impressed the Allredi pro, and when he came to pick up his order, Avila took the opportunity to share a bit about the distributorship’s solution capabilities and provide him with an ASI end-buyer friendly catalog featuring holiday gift ideas.

It was a smart move. When gift ordering season rolled around, the Allredi rep turned to Avila for help. “He plugged us in to a top executive,” Avila says. “Our feet were in the door, and we were ready to take it from there.”

STEP 2

Know the Need and the Budget
Avila wasted no time in ascertaining the client’s needs. She learned that Allredi was the outgrowth of a 2020 merger between two companies. Now, the firm wanted to provide a holiday gift package to its new executive team, which had been selected from leaders of the merged firms. The gifts were to bear the new Allredi branding. “They had a $35 to $40 budget for each gift box, and they wanted to fill them with items that were useful for the home,” says Avila.

STEP 3

Get the Product Mix Right
Those products included a bamboo cutting board, stainless-steel straw/brush set, stainless-steel Tervis tumbler, stainless steel no-touch tool with stylus, shatterproof ornament, journal, metal twist-action pen, bottle opener and info card. “All of the products were branded with the new logo and we did full-color gradient where possible,” Avila says. “Others we engraved or laser-etched for a subtle executive touch.”

The gift boxes featured new branding and included a bamboo cutting board, stainless-steel tumbler, journal and more.

STEP 4

Overcome Inventory & Shipping Issues
Make no mistake, though; sourcing those products – and then getting them to end-users – took considerable legwork. The promo industry experienced inventory depth problems, which is an ongoing concern, during the fourth quarter of 2020. That impacted PEGG’s campaign with Allredi. “A number of first-choice items had inventory issues,” Avila explains. “Fortunately, vendors offered alternatives that were in ample stock and the client was happy with those. But by the time this was ironed out, we were a day or two behind.”

Fortunately, PEGG had started the project well in advance and built in extra time for potential mishaps, so things still appeared to be on track. Then the next round of roadblocks reared.

With record-breaking levels of direct-mail shipping occurring during the COVID-disrupted holiday season, PEGG couldn’t secure enough of the right kind of brandable boxes to ship its assortment of Allredi items. Ultimately, the team went with unbranded boxes from shipping supply provider Uline. “It was a last resort. We didn’t want to ship unbranded boxes, but it was a necessary evil given the extraordinary circumstances,” remarks Avila. “It worked. We stuffed the boxes with brand-compliant lime green stuffing. The color pulled everything in the gift box together.”

But the troubles weren’t done there. The historic levels of packages flying through the mail translated into delivery delays for promo companies throughout the holiday season. PEGG had to deal with them, too. There was a drag on getting one last item in, which held up the kitting. By the time the product came in and the gift packages were fully assembled, the original plan of shipping to Allredi’s corporate headquarters had to be reworked. It was looking like there wouldn’t be enough time for the client to get the boxes and then send them out to its regional offices, where they’d be received by the executives.

The solution? Avila and two members of her PEGG team loaded up the boxes, brought them to nearby FedEx locations, and had everything shipped to the offices. About 75% of the packages arrived on time, with the Canada-bound boxes trailing behind a bit, according to Avila. Still, they were received, and the client was thrilled with the impact. “This was the first hard goods order where a full-color gradient imprint of the new logo was utilized,” Avila shares. “It generated buzz across North America from office to office.”

STEP 5

Build the Relationship
Allredi was so pleased with PEGG’s work that the company has continued to partner with the distributorship. Avila and the team have produced wall calendars and new hire kits, among other solutions, for the client. As of this writing, they were getting ready to launch an Allredi online store. Says Avila: “We continue to collaborate and try to be the best partner we can be.”