NEW MEMBER Spotlight Jeffrey Bauer Sales Manager & Co-Founder Branded Pickleball LLC PPAI 907906 brandedpickleball.com How did your company get its start? Branded Pickleball started when my co-founder and I saw how fast pickleball was growing and noticed nobody was making it easy for companies to put their brand on a quality paddle. We set up a printing operation in St. Petersburg, Florida, and built the whole thing around fast, U.S.-based custom printing rather than the slow, overseas blank-and-decorate model most people were stuck with. What led your company to enter the branded merch market? The branded merch channel was the natural fit. Distributors and corporate buyers were already looking for fresh, experiential giveaways that people actually keep and use, and a custom paddle checks every box. We built specifically for that channel from day one with a 10-paddle minimum, three- to five-day domestic turnaround and a product line covering paddles, padel rackets, bags and accessories. What’s your favorite thing about being in the branded merch industry? Seeing a brand show up on something people genuinely enjoy using. A pickleball paddle isn’t a pen that ends up in a drawer. It gets pulled out on weekends, at company events, at client outings, and it keeps the brand in front of people in a setting they actually like. The industry is also full of creative, relationship-driven people, which makes it a fun space to work in. Why did you join PPAI? PPAI is the backbone of this industry. Joining gives brandedpickleball.com a direct line to the distributors and suppliers we work with every day, keeps us current on best practices and signals to our partners that we take this business seriously. The education and networking side was a big draw, too. Untamed Creative Agency LLC PPAI 908278 Y Design Co. PPAI 895930 Suppliers AdGiftix PPAI 908226 Any Promo Plus PPAI 908123 BCSI Printforce PPAI 691442 BrandBuzz Promo PPAI 908256 Created Co. PPAI 659471 Geoto Packaging Inc. PPAI 908054 GGT Promos Inc. PPAI 908076 Lucky Mark Gift PPAI 908404 Luxes Promo Inc. PPAI 908168 Nightcap PPAI 908119 Smart Move Promotion PPAI 908235 SteadyFlow Swag PPAI 907955 TopBag Promotions Inc. PPAI 908170 VVVGift PPAI 907633 • SEPTEMBER 2026 • 105 New Members | Community
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