What We Have Been Up To in 2021

As many, we were very unsure of what this year would bring. 2020 was a big lesson that we truly have no control of how the year will pan out. We went into 2021 a little nervous and took a note from a Disney movie (Frozen 2): “Controlling what we can when things feel out of control”. 

While this year was unpredictable we redirected that nervous energy of “what’s going to happen” into a rebrand. When we started the company in 2014, we hit the ground running with putting up a site and didn’t have much time to work on our brand. Over the last couple of years we really started doing some soul searching trying to figure out our “why” and our mission. We were introduced to an amazing agency, Mothershed Design Co (in case you need some great people to help with your rebrand) and it was like therapy. We walked into our first meeting with them sort of “lost” and in the end came out new and improved. We launched the new and improved site and brand in May and couldn’t be happier!

We have experienced some major growth this year and we’ve added a few new faces to the Hello Promo team. Our team of 3 has grown to 5 and we are still growing! In addition to our growing team we are adding on and investing in our services! In June we brought in embroidery in-house for our company store programs and we started offering warehousing and fulfillment services.

While it’s been exciting there have been many challenges as a direct effect of closures during the pandemic. No industry has been unaffected by the pandemic…We are experiencing severe inventory shortages and long lead times. The factories we use to produce our products are short staffed and it’s taking 10-25 days to produce an order that would have only taken 3-5 days pre-pandemic.

Looking ahead this is going to continue well into 2022. Our suppliers are saying it should start to get better in Q3 but the one thing the pandemic taught us is nothing is guaranteed, there are so many variables affecting the supply chain and logistics. One of the big things we’ve seen is the level of transparency our suppliers are showing us. If you work with us we hope you have noticed this from us, too. We have always just taken care of things in the past and while we still are doing that we’ve had to be more transparent with our clients. Deep inventory and 24 hour rush production are harder to come by; products are stuck at ports on ships – it’s the era of pivoting.

Thank you to all of our clients for your continued partnership, letting us be a part of your team, and for helping us grow. 2021 has been challenging but incredible and we are looking forward to what 2022 has to bring.

At Hello Promo we offer more than just merchandise. We are problem solvers, project managers, turn-around-time magicians, product creators and shoulders to lean on when you need help. We partner with you to provide tangible extensions of your brand. We are here to offer recommendations, ideas and creative solutions inspired by YOU. Contact us today at info@hello-promo.com or by calling (866) 864-2602. 


Sam Sonnenberg

Organization Ninja