PPB August 2020

Getting Moore It’s a family affair at distributor Moore & Moore Merch, which is run by three cousins who share a passion for promo and applying what they’ve learned to better run their business. by Kristina Valdez T he women behind Cleveland, Ohio-based distributor Moore &Moore Merch knew one day they’d become entrepreneurs. “I am an entrepreneur at heart, so I always just knew,” says Sonjia Smith. “I didn’t know in what capacity, but I did know I wanted to do something with family, particularly these two young ladies—my first cousins.” Smith, together with Quianne Perrin Savoy and Shandrea Patton, opened their family- run distributor inMay 2017, combining curatedmarketing ideas with freshmerchandise. All three women have backgrounds inmarketing and graphic design, and whenever they’d gather for the holidays, the conversation would eventually turn toward their clients’ needs and what they were going to do next. “It morphed into something that we knewwe could provide for our clients that they weren’t getting anywhere else,” says Savoy. Today, Moore &Moore Merch, the name paying homage to their great-grandmother RubyMaeMoore, is amarketing boutique that helps clients find useful and tangible products to help tell the story of their brand. “For the longest [time] we’ve all had these creative ideas that we’ve wanted to put into play,” says Patton. “Some things we would try and some things we didn’t, but it was always something that was there that we would talk about. We wanted to pursue something on our own and even just to do something for our family, having something to [inspire] the younger generations and a place where our kids can one day come in behind us to take the reins. It took a little bit of time to figure out what our business was going to be and how tomesh it all together, which is howMoore &Moore was started.” Armed with a full client database, Moore & Moore began creating merchandise for events, from women’s conferences to music festivals. But being new to the industry came with its obstacles. “The biggest challenge was a lot of not knowing and trying to figure things out,” says Smith. Moo r e & Moo r e Me r ch Quianne Perrin Savoy (left) and Sonjia Smith attended The 2020 PPAI Expo. 84 | AUGUST 2020 | CONNECT