Previous Page  33 / 108 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 33 / 108 Next Page
Page Background

JANUARY 2015 •

PPB

• 33

PPAI H

ALL OF

F

AME

|

Giving Back Comes Full Circle

seemed to be ahead of the curve, a real trend-setter, and a

big-idea guy.”

Leaning In

Now fully convinced of the effectiveness of promotional

products as an advertising medium, Kiewiet was elected as a

member of PPAI’s board of directors in 2004 and by 2007 he

was named chair, a volunteer position to which he committed

himself wholeheartedly.

“I gave as much time to being chair-

man and the PPAI business as I could,”

Kiewiet says. “My philosophy was to travel

any time and to any place.”

Former PPAI Board Chair Sherri

Lennarson, MAS, says Kiewiet invested a

tremendous amount of time and energy

in the industry. “He probably logged

more hours than any PPAI board chair in

recent history,” she says. “He worked

tirelessly to teach the benefits of tangible

advertising.”

Perhaps Kiewiet’s greatest legacy to the industry is his pio-

neering work on product safety awareness and advocacy.

Although he initially encountered resistance, his persistence

paved the way for the industry’s compliance with federal safety

regulations.

“When I first brought up the issue of product safety in

2007, it was not a popular subject,” Kiewiet says. “But by the

time my year was over, we had created the first

PPAI Product

Safety Guide

. When I see how far we’ve come today, I feel a

sense of gratification. As an industry, we

have moved the ball so far down the

court and have taken a leadership posi-

tion. That makes me proud.”

As Kiewiet’s chairmanship came to an

end, he decided to start his own consulting

company, BrandKiwi. It was during this time

that Kiewiet was challenged to the very

core by a series of painful life experiences

that literally brought him to his knees.

“I decided that whatever I did from

that moment on, I had to act out of kind-

ness,” he says. “I began to understand

that if it was about money or stuff, I needed to let it go.

Relationships were the things I was not going to let go of.”

A devoted father, Kiewiet remains very close to his two

daughters—Elizabeth, 27, who is a network engineer, and

Stephanie, 25, who is a full-time university student pursuing a

CPA degree. He and his wife, April Chernoby, enjoy adventure

sports and adventure travel, having climbed Mount Ararat in

Turkey and summiting Mount Kilimanjaro this past summer.

Brand Ambassador

During his time as PPAI chairman, Kiewiet worked very hard

to improve the industry’s image, raising awareness about the

unique and valuable effectiveness of promotional products as

an advertising solution.

“We have the only advertising medium that touches all five

senses,” Kiewiet says. “Ours is also the only one that people

will say ‘thank you’ for when they receive it. A promotional

product is the high-touch counterpoint to a high-tech society.”

Many of the words and concepts that Kiewiet introduced

back then have become part of the industry’s lexicon today.

Perhaps this is why he is considered “the marketing and adver-

tising guru of the industry,” according to Lennarson.

ABOVE

Kiewiet and his wife, April Chernoby, during a

visit to Chichen Itza on the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.

LEFT

Kiewiet, pictured at age 4, grew up in Kalamazoo,

Michigan.