Custom HBC Corporation

Custom HBC, Waconia, Minn., a leading health and beauty care supplier to the promotional products industry, announced it acquired Custom Chocolate of St. Paul, Minn. The former owners

Custom HBC Corporation, Waconia, Minn., signed the License Agreement with Poppenex International for the exclusive rights to Poppenex’s patented “Logo in Motion” technology

Reproduced, for your reading enjoyment, is a portion of associate editor Michael Cornnell’s travel diary, chronicling his trip to Dallas and back.

Waconia, Minnesota-based Custom HBC Corporation, a health and beauty care supplier to the promotional products industry announced, in coalition with New York-based Buttonwood Technology Group, the launch of a new Web site to better serve Custom HBC Corporation's customers.

In my last post, I mentioned that I was going to write a bit about selling to the hotel industry this week. Larry Wilhelm, president and owner of Custom HBC, gave me a ton of information that I wasn't able to use for my March travel feature, but I thought was interesting and useful and I don't want to let it slip by. What follows is Wilhelm explaining different ways distributors can target the hotel industry with health-care promotions, more or less directly from our interview, edited only for length and clarity.

A lot of times, in my interviews, suppliers recommend “thinking outside the box.” This is good advice, sort of, except that it’s sort of like telling someone to “do a good job.” Obviously, they should do a good job, but really it would be more helpful to tell them how. 

Custom HBC, Waconia, Minn., recently celebrated the 10 million mark in the production of its Pocket Sprayer. According to president, Larry Wilhelm, since the product’s introduction in 2005, the company has expanded the line to include 13 cap/sprayer colors, 28 product fills, three attachments and two sizes, “ensuring there is a Pocket Sprayer suitable for any promotional application,” he said. Wilhelm added, “We continue to be pleased with the acceptance of our Pocket Sprayers by distributors. It has truly become a universal promotional product appropriate for virtually all end-users.” For more information on Custom HBC, visit www.customhbc.com or call (877) 442-9881.

DISTRIBUTORS WOULD DO well to check out the latest health and wellness products. From items comprised of amped-up oxygen to those that undergo rigorous testing to ensure efficacy and even those that help ease neck pain, this year’s health and wellness products have come to the aid of ailing bodies and bottom lines. A REFRESHER COURSE Ballanda Corporation, Santa Fe Springs, Calif., brings something breathtaking to the industry this year—oxygen. The company is the exclusive supplier of O+ (Oxygen Plus), a portable oxygen product that “boosts energy, increases alertness and alleviates the effects of jet lag, altitude and [hangovers],” according to

Custom HBC Corporation of Waconia, Minn. has named Jean Rouda as its multiline representative for Southern California. Custom HBC president Larry Wilhelm, said, “Jean has a wealth of promotional products and health & beauty care selling experience. She has worked on both the distributor side and as a multiline representative and has a good background in health and beauty products”. Founded in 2000 by Larry Wilhelm, former president of Softsoap Enterprises and Minnetonka Brands Inc., Custom HBC Corporation is a developer, manufacturer and supplier of customized health and beauty care products in the promotional industry. Custom HBC Corporation supplies over 1,500 different health

At his Decorah, Iowa appearance, HBC Corporation president Larry Wilhelm spoke on “Opportunities in the Promotional Industry,” offering insight into how entrepreneurship is utilized within the promotional products industry. Attendees learned what works and what doesn’t from strategy to tactical applications, when quickly growing a business. Wilhelm brings more than 30 years of health- and beauty-care experience and leadership to the promotional products industry, managing large-scale projects involving custom formulations and custom imprinting. Richard Leake, professor of economics and management at Luther College said, “The historical approach he used helped students understand the personal and professional experiences that Mr. Wilhelm had prior to starting