PPB April 2018

Pr omo Cook i e Cu t t e r s Custom cookie cutters are paired with recipes to create memorable gifts for corporate programs. F romMason jars to the Michelin Man, if you can dream it, Rutland, Vermont- based Promo Cookie Cutters can mold it. The supplier’s parent, Ann Clark Cookie Cutters, launched in 1989 and entered the promotional products business with Promo Cookie Cutters (PPAI 179701) in 1991. CEO Ben Clark, Ann Clark’s son, joined the family venture in 1998. The company’s first cutter was a pig designed by the parent company’s namesake, an artist, and was offered alongwithChristmas ornaments, a cutting board and coasters. The ornaments, cutting board and coasters went by the wayside as the cutters received more attention. Cowand sheep shapes soon followed, and today the company offers several hundred unique, seasonal and customshape cutters. “Our business was initially wholesale, but what we soon learned was that we could do custom shapes and combine them with recipe cards,” says Clark. “We are making millions of cookie cutters—we have approximately 2,350 dies and are adding three to four a week.” Popular shapes include the “#1” shape, a mermaid tail, unicorn head, dog bone and shapes for major holidays, weddings and graduations. As the popularity of cutters grew, the company was able to buy out its original supplier and has reportedly grown to become the largest cookie cutter manufacturer in the world. “We recently created 70,000 pieces in a week and a half for one client, and we built a second die for that program to handle the volume,” he says. “Because wemake everything, our ability to respond quickly is there.” Word of mouth brings new and returning business to the promo division, says Clark, and that word often begins with the potential client. “Most of what we sell is the result of an end user seeing our products and asking their distributor [to contact us]. So, we dramatically increased the content we put on our website,” he says. The promotional business is strong—the company runs between 300 and 400 programs a year—but Clark says many distributors struggle to see cookie cutters as an item worth pitching to a client. “But a good promo item is simply something that the recipient will use, and every time you eat a cookie or make a cookie, you remember the company [that gave you the cookie cutter]. We’ve done thousands of custom programs, and the people who have done them and liked them will say so,” he says. “Often, we will have a distributor asking for a specific product, but we always ask them first about the program and the client,” says Clark, explaining that this ensures the right product ends up in the hands of the client and the client’s target audience. Promo Cookie Cutters lends American‑made craftsmanship to artful gifting. by Jen Alexander A Cut Above 82 | APRIL 2018 | CONNECT