PPB September 2018

BuyEv, Inc. PPAI 737642 BY FAITH COMMUNITY PRINTING LLC PPAI 736271 Byassee Screen Printing & Embroidery PPAI 283105 C & R Graphics PPAI 384974 C. Dawkins Associates, Inc. PPAI 100355 C. O’Neill Distributors PPAI 730025 Calpen Advertising Products PPAI 567942 CAMELEON DESIGNER, Inc. PPAI 696076 Camsport PPAI 737860 CANAPRINT PPAI 702131 Cap-abilities Embroidery & Silkscreening Ltd. PPAI 278392 Carte Blanche Promotional Products, Inc. PPAI 737798 CCE Promotions Custom Casuals & Embroidery PPAI 737806 Chandler PPAI 698100 Chil Print & Promotions PPAI 645197 CHRIS HANSEN MARKETING PPAI 696389 Christine Mathon Consulting/Kaeser & Blair PPAI 671425 CIPI SPA PPAI 639024 City Print PPAI 738030 Classic Trophy & Gifts PPAI 737862 Clearview Promotions PPAI 737722 Cloe & Cie, Inc. PPAI 717251 Coastal Graphics PPAI 531018 Coho Ltd. PPAI 738032 Colorado Custom Design Works PPAI 439466 Communications Art Solutions, LLC PPAI 737920 Competitive Edge Sportswear PPAI 278844 CopyQuik Printing & Graphics PPAI 411561 Corporate Branders Promotions & Design PPAI 737788 Corporate Connections PPAI 737738 Corporate Gifts, Inc. PPAI 596387 Corporate Impressions PPAI 395434 NEW MEMBER SPOTLIGHT How did your company get its start? We opened for business in May 2000, after a year of active product development. Our president and her husband received a personalized book as a gift for their first son in 1998. While they loved the fact that it was personalized, they thought that the illustrations could have been much better and the story more customized to the child. Thus, I See Me! was born. We have spent the past 18 years primarily focused on our direct to consumer business, but we now see a place for our company in the promotional products industry. What led your company to enter the promotional products market? Through our consumer purchasing data, we recognized businesses coming to I See Me! to purchase personalized books for clients or employees who recently had babies. Women’s clinics and hospitals were also coming to our website directly to purchase books for their patients. We realized our books were a unique way for businesses as well as nonprofit organizations to make a connection to their client base. They would include a dedication that was heartfelt and specifically from the business which created a lasting loyalty between the business and their client. These customers were stumbling across our website because they had likely received a book in the past and thought it was a great idea to pass along to their customer. We had no organized way of actively going after this market. Early this year, we joined PPAI and began working with a manufacturer’s rep to promote our product in the promotional products industry. We are unique in the way that we produce (we can print one book at a time or multiple books) based on the personalization information the client provides, and we do this with no upfront cost. We also can upload the business logo onto the dedication page of the book, while including a personal letter from the business at the close of the book. This creates that lasting impression of the company to not only the parent reading the book to the child each night, but as that child grows, he or she will remember their favorite book and identify it with the company logo that is inside. What’s your favorite thing about being in the promotional products industry? We’ve extended the “believers” in our product beyond the loyal direct-to-consumer model. We work with outstanding salespeople every day who believe in our product, identify opportunities and are happy to speak to their potential clients about the power of this product. We’ve always been a company focused on making children feel special, and our end client is the child. This industry takes us to that same endpoint, but we now get to deliver that emotion through another business. We are helping other companies make children feel special, and that feels really good. Why did you join PPAI? We are seeking ways to connect with more talented salespeople and get the word out about our great product. PPAI is trusted in the industry, and it helps deliver the word about our company and its offerings to the large promotional products industry. Brandon Bertz Vice President, Sales and New Business Development I See Me LLC Eden Prairie, Minnesota PPAI 729617 118 | SEPTEMBER 2018 | CONNECT