Fully Promoted Joins Brand Media Coalition; Guy Achtzehn of MSG Named Outreach Director

Fully Promoted, the world’s leading promotional marketing franchise organization, has joined the Brand Media Coalition to help its distributors profit from the power of brands in business, event, and promotional gifting. Guy Achtzehn, President of the Marketing and Sales Group, an incentive representative with over 30 years of industry experience, has been named Director of Outreach to help distributors, master fulfillment companies, and merchandise, gift card and travel brands profit from the corporate market.
 

Tom Kronberger, Director of Vendor Relations, has announced that Fully Promoted has joined the Brand Media Coalition to bring the power of brands for business, event, and promotional gifting to its promotional marketing franchises and their customers throughout the US. Fully Promoted currently has 180 locations in the United States and over 300 globally.

 

Kronberger will work with the Brand Media Coalition’s Director of Outreach, Guy Achtzehn to implement an ongoing education and marketing program for Fully Promoted’s distributors and to Fully Promoted’s owners and to develop an efficient ordering platform for each location that also ensures proper use of brands for business, event, promotional gifting and amenities.

 

Achtzehn is President of Marketing Sales Group, a 30-year-old incentive representative firm, representing such brands as Bulova, Coleman, and others. In his capacity as Brand Media Coalition Outreach Director, Achtzehn’s firm will serve as the master sales representative for the Brand Media Coalition with brands, master fulfillment companies, distributors, incentive, and recognition companies seeking to bring the power of brand media to their clients for both gifting and rewards.

 

Explains Tom Kronberger, “Our goal at Fully Promoted is to help our franchisees bring the latest and best solutions to their clients. There is no question that brands have high perceived value and tell a story in business, event, and promotional gifting, because we are already selling brand names in apparel and other categories. It is time to focus more of our attention on educating distributors on the power of brand names, and we see the benefit of working with other industry leaders to educate distributors on how they and their clients can profit from merchandise, gift card, and travel brand experiences.” 

 

As part of its participation, Fully Promoted will take advantage of marketing and education material created by the Brand Media Coalition to train its distributors on how to use the BrandMediaCoalition.com to help clients select the right brands and where to source brands from authorized wholesalers. 

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Explains Achtzehn, “As much of 90% of business, event, and promotional gifting is probably purchased at retail because the corporate buyer doesn’t know any better. For years, the promotional products industry has talked about selling brands as part of incentive, rewards, and recognition programs; yet industry research indicates that less than 10% of distributors sell these types of programs,” explains Achtzehn. “While that number will surely increase as more distributors diversify their services, and we will be referring those distributors to our partners in the incentive, recognition, and loyalty business, the biggest untapped opportunity for rapid growth is in the use of brands for business, event, and promotional gifting and corporate amenities. The corporate business is a natural extension of every distributor’s current expertise.” 

 

He continues, “Brands offer a unique opportunity for all distributors seeking to enhance the value they provide to their customers seeking gifts and rewards for business, event, and promotional gifting and the corporate amenities market, yet only a relatively few sell brands today for gifts. The exhibit halls of the major industry shows are largely dominated by non-brand name products, and the major trade associations do not even ask in their surveys the percentage of brands versus non-brand name products sold in business, event, promotional gifting and corporate amenities programs.” 

 

Achtzehn believes that, contrary to a common view in the industry, brands are not just for incentives and recognition but for the same business, event, and promotional gifting, amenity and charity programs most distributors already support. “The entry of Nike, Patagonia, The Northface, Tile, and more into the market have proven that organizations will pay more to include brand names in their gifting programs.”

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Why? “People prefer brands: give them a choice between a brand name product and a no-name product and people will almost always select the brand, which helps explains the rapid growth of brands in the distributor marketplace. When organizations choose to sponsor an event; select a prize for a sweepstakes or contest, or reward a long-time dedicated customer or employee, they go through considerable lengths to make sure the other brands involved or the ones they select as prizes resonate with their target audience and their own brand. That same approach can significantly enhance a business, event, and promotional gifting program. The more the distributor can learn about the story of their customers and of brands active in the gift market, the more he or she can help customers find the right brand for their program. Companies don’t have time to research hundreds of brands. It’s our job to match brands with the right customers and make sure that distributors and their clients obey all brand guidelines related to their use in business.”

 

That said, “Brands will never replace non-brands in the promotional products market, but there are numerous reasons driving the growth.”

 

The Brand Media Coalition educates the marketplace about the power of brands through the first-ever “brand bible” at BrandMediaCoalition.com, that tells the stories of dozens of brands and counting. 

 

In his role as Outreach Director for the Brand Media Coalition, Achtzehn will oversee the recruitment of brands, distributors, master fulfillment companies, and incentive reps into the program, as well as contribute to the Brand Media Coalition’s mission to promote:

 

1. An understanding of the power of brands. The basic research on how brands tell a story and can be used as a media for companies to enhance their own brands.

2.  An understanding of the client’s brand story and needs—the program, audience, objectives, etc.

3. Knowledge about each individual brand active in the corporate market and the best place to access it for the client in terms of price, customization and personalization, and delivery requirements and costs.

4. A serious respect for the rules of most brands that forbid resale except for approved company stores, loyalty programs, or charities, as well as for the specific rules of some individual brands related to which types of organizations they will allow to imprint their products.

5. Education on how to access brands from authorized and trusted sources with the best appropriate services and pricing. 

6. Effective platforms to maximize the customer experience and efficiency. 

 

For More Information

Bruce Bolger

Bolger@TheEEA.org

914-591-7600, ext. 230

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Resources: The Brand Media Coalition, the only guide to the story-telling power of brands and where to source them for business, event, promotional gifting, and rewards and recognition. 2019 Enterprise Engagement Solution Provider Directory. The only directory of engagement solution providers covering all types of agencies and tactics as well as insights on how to select them.

 

Communities: The  Enterprise Engagement Alliance and Advocate and the  Brand Media Coalition free resource centers offering access to the latest research, news, and case studies; discounts, promotions, referrals, and commissions, when appropriate to third-party solution providers from participating coalition solution provider members.

 

In Print: 

Enterprise Engagement for CEOs:The Little Blue Book for People-Centric Capitalists
This is the definitive implementation guide to Stakeholder Capitalism, written specifically to provide CEOs and their leadership teams a concise overview of the framework, economics, and implementation process of a CEO-led strategic and systematic approach to achieving success through people.  (123 pages, $15.99)

Enterprise Engagement: The Roadmap 5th Edition
The first and most comprehensive book on Enterprise Engagement and the new ISO 9001 and ISO 10018 quality people management standards. Includes 36 chapters detailing how to better integrate and align engagement efforts across the enterprise. (312 pages, $36.) 

Online:  
10-minute short course: click here for a 10-minute introduction to Enterprise Engagement and ISO standards from the Coggno.com learning platform.

Services: 
•  The International Center for Enterprise Engagement at TheICEE.org, offering: ISO 10018 certification for employers, solution providers, and Enterprise Engagement technology platforms; Human Resources and Human Capital audits for organizations seeking to benchmark their practices and related Advisory services for the hospitality field.
•  The Engagement Agency at EngagementAgency.net, offering: complete support services for employers, solution providers, and technology firms seeking to profit from formal engagement practices for themselves or their clients, including Brand and Capability audits for solution providers to make sure their products and services are up to date.
•  C-Suite Advisory Service—Education of boards, investors, and C-suite executives on the economics, framework, and implementation processes of Enterprise Engagement. 
•  Speakers Bureau—Select the right speaker on any aspect of engagement for your next event.
•  Mergers and Acquisitions. The Engagement Agency’s Mergers and Acquisition group is aware of multiple companies seeking to purchase firms in the engagement field. Contact Michael Mazer in confidence if your company is potentially for sale at 303-320-3777.

Enterprise Engagement Benchmark Tools: The Enterprise Engagement Alliance offers three tools to help organizations profit from Engagement. Click here to access the tools.
•  ROI of Engagement Calculator. Use this tool to determine the potential return-on-investment of an engagement strategy. 
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For more information, contact Bruce Bolger at Bolger@TheEEA.org, 914-591-7600, ext. 230.

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