PPB September 2021

Ge r r y Ba r ke r by Danielle Renda Gerry Barker (far right) discusses different notebook options with Art Carbone, Barker Specialty’s director of manufacturing; Amy Serrano, CAS, director of marketing; and Kim Chandler, receptionist. Paving The Way for NFTs, Promo and Art W hen non-fungible tokens (NFTs) began attracting national attention, Gerry Barker was already knee-deep in minting (creating) one for his distributorship, Barker Specialty Company. Having realized early on the benefits these one-of-a- kind digital assets can offer to both the promotional products industry and the art collectors’ market—for the family-owned business, one has never existed without the other—Barker, president and CEO, and his team, which includes his son, Account Executive Max Barker, began leading the movement in NFT innovation for their clients in both industries. “I recognized the fact that we’re dealing with tangible products in the promo space, yet at the same time we understand how important digital and technology are to our world. There’s been a real effort made to create tangible products that have application to the digital world or provide support for many of these digital products,” says Barker, noting examples such as web cam covers and smartphone attachments, like PopSockets®. However, researching NFTs led him to ponder, “If the world became almost exclusively digital, what would happen in the promotional products space with a total reliance on tangible products?” He says, “I wasn’t sure NFTs would fit this bill, but I believed it was a step in the right direction.” With eyes focused steadily on the future, Gerry Barker, president and CEO of Cheshire, Connecticut, distributor Barker Specialty Company—which celebrates 70 years in business this year—is harnessing the power of NFTs to grow the business. 68 | SEPTEMBER 2021 | THINK