The 2024 skummunity Award Winners

The skummunity awards were created to honor the explorers, rule-breakers, dreamers, and innovators in the branded merchandise industry. At the live skucon virtual event on January 14th, five recipients were recognized for their radical leadership and generosity:

Distributor Community Champion:
Russell Bird | Promo Addict

The Distributor Community Champion Award recognizes a distributor who gives selflessly, shares their ideas freely, offers a creative idea, a lending hand, always ready with a smile and a solution. They exemplify standards of the modern entrepreneur: Be human, help others, and believe in the power of giving.

One nominee wrote this about Russell: “Russ is a tireless advocate for giving back to the distributor community. He's been in the promo industry for over 10 years, and has spent much of that time as a mentor to other fledgling entrepreneurs … Speaking personally, Russ helped my business partner and I make strategic decisions and re-align our direction after we purchased a dying business. His patience, guidance, and generosity with his time made him stand out from the crowd.”

Supplier Community Champion:
Jordan Ettien Pop! Promos

Always On. There when you need them. Ready with a fast, creative idea. A helpful tip. With mad problem-solving skills, the Supplier Community Champion makes all distributors look like winners in the commonsku community.

One nominee wrote this about Jordan: “Jordan is kind, enthusiastic, thorough, fast, and extremely knowledgeable. I wish ALL of our suppliers had a Jordan on their team. We always look forward to ordering from Pop! Promos because it gives us the opportunity to work with and learn from Jordan, specifically. Jordan deserves this more than anybody else in the industry. :)”

Shops Innovation Leader:
Joanna Kummer / Boxed Sourcing

This distributor is leading the pack when it comes to driving sales growth through the creative uses of ecommerce shops for their end clients. They excel at brilliant shop creation, stellar marketing and leveraging shops for accelerated sales growth!

One nominee wrote this about Joanna: “Joanna has spearheaded the online shops at our company resulting in a (1) extreme sales boost (2) ease of repeat orders for our clients (3) a solution for clients who want to sell branded merchandise, but they can't afford to buy the products prior to getting presales. Joanna took the online shop business from marginal sales to over $100,000 [at the time of this submission] in 2023.”

Supplier Connected Workflow:
The Gemline Team

A modern mover and shaker, this supplier is at the cutting edge of business process, understanding that to connect the entire workflow - from ideation to final electronic PO to inventory and ship notifications - means a seamless experience, faster and more accurate orders, and a simpler life for their customers.

The Gemline team embraced EPOs and fast-tracked an initiative as a part of their overall customer experience, making it one of the fastest integrations yet. To hear more about the EPO integration with Gemline, listen to our interview with Gemline CEO, Frank Carpenito, “Crafting an Exceptional Customer Experience.”

Distributor Entrepreneur of the Year:
Zac Fowler / INM Marketing

Grit. Hustle. Perseverance. Resilience. Creativity. From adversity to breakthrough, this distributor embodies today’s modern, entrepreneurial spirit and whose growth journey inspires us all to reach deep and go big.

One nominee wrote this about Zac: “In 5-6 years, Zac has turned the company into a thriving, growing, award-winning distributor… Zac humbly leads this company with a fierce integrity, unending patience and true empathy for not only employees but customers. He's taken on a "Total Experience" project, which is a year-long project to identify our deficiencies and successes from a client and employee perspective, and come up with a plan to tackle it. It's been enlightening, but it's REALLY hard, gritty work. He's taken it by the horns and not backed down, despite hearing some really honest feedback. This year has thrown some fires at him and he's handled it with such grace. In times of intense stress, he's able to come up with a clear plan which involves giving each employee wanted ownership in solving the problem. He is one of the only people I know that can turn fear into drive.”