Justin Washburn, owner of Full Throttle Marketing Powered by Proforma (asi/491857), says that the print and promotional products industries can feel fragmented.

“Typically, print’s handled by one vendor, promo by another, apparel by someone else,” he said. “And this leads to a lot of inconsistencies with branding, a lot of wasted time, a lot of confusion.”

To counter that, Washburn has made it his mission to create a company that blends print and promo under one strategy.

“We really don’t view print and promotional products as separate categories,” he said. “We see them as a complementary touchpoint to each other within a broader brand experience. It doesn’t matter if it’s direct mail paired with the promotional products or onboarding kits, or event materials or internal branding programs. We try to plan everything together.”

Washburn, like many distributors who use print and promo together, has seen success in the healthcare customer verticals. One case study that’s stuck with him was from a new employee onboarding program across multiple different locations.

“They came to us with some serious challenges with ensuring that their brand was consistent, as they had just gone through a rebrand,” he said. “While still making the rollout feel personal and engaging with each of the individual team members, we developed an annual campaign that included branded print collateral and internal signage. There was kitting involved and curated promotional kits that reinforced the hospital’s message.”

Washburn stressed the importance of being a partner, not just a vendor. Mistakes happen, he said, like shipping containers flooding with water at the port. That won’t ruin a relationship. What would ruin the relationship, he said, is not being honest and accountable.

Podcast Chapters

0:30: Justin’s background in the industry
2:00: Designing a one-stop shop business
3:15: Healthcare case study
6:30: Prevalence of kitting in the industry
8:15: Navigating challenges like lost materials
11:00: Justin’s advice for distributors
14:15: Investing in new programs and capabilities
16:50: Being a “pain-reliever” for your clients

Key Takeaways

• Justin Washburn emphasizes that print and promo function as complementary touchpoints within a unified brand experience that drives stronger consistency and ROI.

• Fragmented vendor relationships create inefficiencies and brand inconsistency. Full Throttle’s role is to simplify this by acting as a strategic consultant and central solution provider.

• Onboarding kits and curated programs, accelerated by COVID, are now a permanent and valuable strategy for engaging employees and reinforcing brand culture.

• Supply chain disruptions and errors happen, but strong communication, ownership and solution-focused responses preserve client trust and long-term relationships.

• Washburn stresses investing in education, technology (especially AI and CRM), partnerships and community involvement to become a trusted necessity — not just another vendor.

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