How to Balance Several High-Profile Components for a Successful Promo

Port & Company - 5.4 oz. 100% Cotton T-shirt by Bel Promo

Promotional products distributors are used to multitasking, and not just in their daily job roles. Even on an individual promotional campaign level, there’s a lot to consider and plan for. And some campaigns are more labor-intensive than others. Molly Ginish Nazzarro, president of Imagery Impressions, Scottsdale, Ariz., remembers one such job, which involved a whole lot of T-shirts and coordination with a department store, a famous magazine, a major automotive brand and more. To say it was a lot would be an understatement.

Promo Marketing: Could you tell us about a promotion you thought was your best?
Molly Ginish Nazzarro: My “best ever” promotion has also been my largest to date. The promotion was five-faceted in so many ways—a launch (Chrysler’s PT Cruiser), a good cause, promoting two new designers to the cosmetic industry, promoting Macys, a giveaway. [The promotion was] 52,000 T-shirts [that said] “Cruise With A Cause” for Vanity Fair Publications and Chrysler for the PT Cruiser launch. Macy’s sold the tees with in-store promotions all over the country. The larger stores had displayed the PT Cruiser in store, but all stores had a drawing for a PT Cruiser for anyone who purchased a tee. Both designers were asked to do a design promoting their logo/cosmetic brand, and the design was featured on the tees.

PM: What did you like about this promotion in particular?
MGN: I liked the challenge. It was a tight deadline, along with a couple hiccups thrown in. And the final result. I loved working with the designers, accompanying representatives from Vanity Fair to a few of the promotional locations, and of course, most of all, the cause.

PM: Did you run into any roadblocks during this promotion? If so, how did you overcome them?
MGN: Halfway through the printing of the tees, the client decided they wanted a custom label, along with a custom hang tag. Another challenge was getting 52,000 tees from one source. [They] all needed to be the same brand.

PM: Do you have any advice for distributors looking to do something similar?
MGN: I think orders such as this are about being in the right place at the right time. I worked with my client for many years, as she worked for the different publications within Conde Naste. It was a six-month planning period prior to the order being granted to Imagery. As long as I have been in the biz, the same still holds true—build that relationship with your client. Really build it, get to know them—what makes them tick, how they think, what they expect. As you continue to work with them, their personal life, family, etc. then comes into play. It’s important to touch on that aspect of their lives also.