PPB October 2020

The Inspiration Behind BIC’s NewName Melissa Ralston’s latest endeavors as CMO of BIC Graphic NA involve helping the company navigate its official rebranding as Koozie Group by January 2021. By Danielle Renda T o describe the advertising industry as “dynamic” is akin to saying that sunflowers are yellow. The industry has been and always will be a field that’s ever-changing, evolving and expanding, and because of this it attracts many visionaries like Melissa Ralston, who feel right at home and thrive in a fast-moving and hyper- creative environment. For Ralston, chief marketing officer of Tampa, Florida, supplier BIC Graphic North America—which will officially rebrand as Koozie Group on January 1, 2021—her roots in the advertising industry date back three generations. “My grandfather owned an advertising agency, where my father also worked, and later sold his shop to a big firm. So, I think it’s always been in my blood, but I’m really drawn to it as it melds together a lot of the fields I’ve always been interested in—writing, law, finance, psychology.” Ralston worked in public relations, communications and sales while attending the University of Florida, where she earned a bachelor’s in international advertising and a master’s in international business. But years before working in the industry, Ralston’s earliest brush with promotional products was with t-shirts she’d collect every year from an annual Thanksgiving run in which her family participated together. This experience would come full-circle early on in her 20-year career when she was the marketing communications manager with Chris-Craft Corporation, a Sarasota, Florida-based powerboat manufacturer. There she was responsible for working with a promotional products distributor to purchase branded products for Chris-Craft boat- owners and fans to buy on the company website. Ralston has been with BIC Graphic NA for more than 10 years, starting in product management and working her way up to vice president of marketing and her current position as CMO—and it’s one that’s been wrought with navigating change brought on by the recent pandemic and the company’s earlier decision to rebrand. Changing the name to Koozie Group is a move that, Ralston says, has been on the company’s radar since 2017, when BIC Consumer sold BIC Graphic NA to H.I.G. Capital. “More than just part of that sales agreement, it was clear we’ve evolved as a company, BIC Gr aph i c ' s Me l i ssa Ra l s t on 72 | OCTOBER 2020 | THINK