PPB February 2019

and Learning Engagement Manager Julie Kwan and Graphic Designer Nolan Moran in San Diego. The PPAI Promomobile’s two-week trip was an opportunity to connect with industry members, learn more about them and share the power of promotional products. The PPAI Promomobile’s road to the Expo began with a stop at RiteLine in Dallas. The supplier’s staff gave Bramhall and Renda a tour of their facility and a look at their preparations for the big show in Las Vegas. Their second stop in Texas was farther west, in Midland, where The Stadium Chair Co., LLC welcomed the PPAI Promomobile’s crew with a comfortable seat and insights into their company on what proved to be a cold and icy day. Leaving Texas, the drive took them to Santa Fe, New Mexico, where they met with the husband and wife team behind suppliers Okina Sales and Symphony Handmade Papers, and onwards to Arizona. There, they visited The Proinnovative Line in Phoenix, a supplier that offers a wide range of products in various categories, and The Antigua Group in Peoria, a supplier whose around-the-clock operation supplies sports fans with a range of corporate- and college-branded apparel. “We learned valuable information about the suppliers’ operations and all the moving parts required for their businesses,” says Renda. “With every member visit that PPAI embarks on, we understand more about our members’ needs and deepen our ever- growing understanding of the promotional products industry.” Bramhall and Renda’s week on the road came to an end when they pulled into San Diego and handed the keys to the PPAI Promomobile to Kwan and Moran. They began their California tour with a stop at Goldstar in San Diego, where COO RJ Hagel and General Manager Howard Cubberly gave them a behind-the-scenes look at its new offices and discussed their plans for the upcoming Expo. Their journey then took them to Evans Manufacturing in Garden Grove, where they met with Marketing Manager David Goldfarb, Data Entry and Art Manager Tiffani Burlingame and Assistant Production Manager Sheana Hirsch, for a tour of the facility. The next day, Chris Hodge, senior vice president of sales at Culver City-based Innovation Line, showed them around the supplier’s production facility and office spaces and gave them an up-close look at how it produces acrylics, luggage tags, nail files and other products. The PPAI Promomobile closed out its California tour with visits to Picnic Time Family of Brands in Moorpark and Simba in Oxnard, before hitting the road for Las Vegas. Before pulling into the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, site of the PPAI Expo, Kwan and Moran stopped in at The Premium Line, where Ron Worth, president of the Las Vegas-based supplier, gave them a tour of the company and its operations. At the end of its journey, the PPAI Promomobile spent the Expo stationed outside the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, welcoming attendees as they parked their cars or stepped off the shuttle bus to enter the promotional products industry’s largest and longest-running trade show. Left: Zubi Olin (center right), owner of Simi Valley distributor Central Coast Promotions, and Briana Gutter (center left), account manager at Oxnard supplier Simba, joined Kwan and Moran for one of the pop-up lunches PPAI hosted on the road. Below: Tiffani Burlingame (center right), Dave Goldfarb and Sheana Hirsch (left) of Evans Manufacturing gave the PPAI Promomobile crew a tour of their Garden Grove facility and warehouse. Having put more than 2,000 miles under its wheels and connected with scores of industry companies and professionals, the PPAI Promomobile arrived at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. 76 | FEBRUARY 2019 | CONNECT