Aisling Graham - Brandit: 6 Ways That Successful Marketers Use Merchandise to Build Profile and Profits in the It Sector

Acknowledgements

I just wanted to thank a small group of people who made this dream possible.

Firstly, Sonja Walker without you by my side I would have never started this book! I will be forever grateful for your hours of support you gave me, and our little team of James, Zara and Taylor thank you all so much for your support and guidance.

To David Nick and Paul from Abundance Global, you believe in me when I dont, your support is truly amazing and the gentle reminders of why I do what I do.

I am lucky enough to have the most amazing support group of ladies who have cheered me along with this book, so to you Jane, Di, Nadine, Fab, Lisa and Sabrina you make this industry so much more fun to be a part of!

And lastly to Jason and Zahra and Cormac who allowed me the time to run away and write this thank you xxx

First published in 2020 by Aisling Graham

Aisling Graham 2020
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Disclaimer: The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

Contents

Preface

I will start by giving a bit of background to explain how I ended up in the promotional industry. My dad owned and ran a promotional company, and in the eighties it had become one of the largest promotional companies in Australia. The factory was in Alexandria, Sydney, an area that had a lot of fashion outlets in the eighties and nineties. My school holidays were always spent in the factory packing pens, and eventually I graduated to pad printing as a teenager and even did screenprinting on bottles. I always spent the money I earned at the factory outlets on payday.

Child labour was something my parents were perfectly okay with. If it meant school holidays were covered, that was an additional bonus for them, and I dont ever remember being given the option of deciding whether I wanted to work or not. But I never disliked it. To this day, I still remember the smell of plastic bottles being moulded. When I walk into some factories today I find the smell hasnt changed.

I still know people in the industry from my early days. I have known my pad printer and the factory I now use for plastic bottles since I was sixteen years old. Both companies worked for my dad, so I never even considered an alternative. I can say Ive known this industry all my life. That includes the good, the bad and the ugly. I know whats possible, and I know what happens when it all goes wrong. I have seen people start up, and then exit the industry after being burned, but as a child I would never in a million years have imagined that I would end up here.

After I left school I studied hospitality at the Intercontinental Hotel, and then went on to work at the Park Hyatt. I stayed in hospitality for a number of years before heading to London in my twenties to be part of that citys amazing nightlife. I was offered a job at the Hyatt in Chelsea, where a number of friends were working, but the pay didnt allow me to have the social life I wanted so I decided to throw myself into the corporate world. With a few little white lies along the way, I ended up on the trading floor at UBS.

After a few years I moved into information technology at ING Bank, where I helped to manage an installation team of engineers. I fell in love with IT, to the extent that I soon began building PCs myself during the weekends. I loved what could be done with software. It was 1999, and females were extremely rare in the IT industry.

Also during the weekends, I was paid double time to help a team move PCs around and set up for new start-ups. This was on top of my salary, which was already very good. The extra money helped with my travel fund nicely.

When I returned to Sydney three years later, I worked in sales support and marketing for one of HPs largest resellers in Sydney. I returned to university, where I reconnected with a great friend, Mel Brock, which made it so much more fun.

While still studying, I worked at my dads wholesale company when he asked me to help him after he had recently fired staff members. I found myself in the world of promotional products, running the production on the wholesale side of the business. It was a very different world to what I had been used to. I gave myself a six-month contract because I wasnt sure if this was something I wanted to do long term.

At university I was working with marketing students, who asked me about buying promotional products. After asking my dad for a pay rise and being turned down, I decided the only way I could get more money was to open my own promotional-products company. So after watching an episode of Kath and Kim , Over the Top Promotions was born. I was still working for my dad, and I only used my business on the side, with friends, to get a bit of extra cash.

Four years later, my father sold his business and I was about to give birth to my daughter. It was now or never to go out on my own with Over the Top Promotions. It was a world I had always known, but I still had never expected it to be where I would find myself at this stage of my life.

After my years of working in IT, and then IT marketing, I moved over to the promotional-products side. I believe that you attract what you know, and IT is something I am very familiar with. Although I deal with other corporate businesses, in my heart IT remains the area I feel the most affinity with, and I know I could easily have ended up with a career in that sector. I love what technology can do, what it is capable of, and I love that Im watching it all unfold, right now. I cant wait for the day that I can put AR onto promotional products, and have fun with both the promotional products and technology combined.

Introduction

Death by stubby cooler

Before I go any further, I need to address the elephant in the room. Almost every single day I hear people say that promotional products are last-minute things that dont hold much value, that they will only consider them at the end of the budget, and then only if theres anything left in the kitty. Apparently that is the time to think about promotional products. Or so Im told.

Im used to this reaction, but what it means for me is that Im restricted to offering products that are quick to obtain rather than selecting items that are the most suitable representations of a particular business, and what will help convey the company message.