#1 Kevin Lyons-Tarr & Suzanne Worwood

4imprint (asi/197045)

2022 Rank: #11

Kevin Lyons-Tarr – CEO

Industry Experience: 32 Years

Previous Appearances on Power 50: 17

Suzanne Worwood – SVP of Merchandising & Supply Chain

Industry Experience: 28 years

Previous Appearances on Power 50: 4

4imprint (asi/197045) is back on top, and so too are Kevin Lyons-Tarr and Suzanne Worwood. The U.K.-headquartered publicly traded firm ranked first in the Counselor Top 40 rankings that were released earlier this summer – a comeback three years in the making after the distributor’s sales dropped precipitously when COVID-19 hit.

The arc mirrors Lyons-Tarr’s and Worwood’s residence on the Counselor Power 50 list. The duo finished number one in 2019, but fell outside the Top 10 two of the following three years. This year, they’re back on top of the Power 50, thanks to 4imprint’s record-breaking revenue and exceptionally strong influence scores from the Power 50 survey. Even beyond that, the pair’s standing is reflected in a widely-held belief: that 4imprint is promo’s single most influential company – and Lyons-Tarr and Worwood are the executive engines driving that power.

Billion-Dollar Volume & Influence To Match

4imprint, which has its main operations and sales market in the U.S, made history by generating $1.1 billion in revenue in 2022 – one of two distributor firms to break the mark on Counselor’s Top 40 distributor list. It got there by staying the course on a longer-term plan during the tough years of COVID, even as the company contended with short-lived sales retreats.

“The 2022 results were directly attributable to the team’s effort to execute our strategic plan through the pandemic,” says Lyons-Tarr. “At the outset, we knew that if we took care of our people, kept the team together, kept marketing and worked creatively with our supplier partners, that we would emerge in a strong position.”

With 10-figure sales volume comes clout, particularly with suppliers. “4imprint has become among the largest, if not the largest, customer at many promotional suppliers,” says an executive at a Top 40 supplier firm who wishes to remain anonymous. “The amount of business they do can’t be ignored, and they’re clearly taking share in a consolidating end market.”

^$1.120 Billion
4imprint’s 2022 North American promotional product revenue.

Led by Lyons-Tarr and Worwood, 4imprint has used that influence to help propel evolutions in how suppliers – and thus promo – do business. “4imprint is motivating suppliers to step their game up in terms of product innovation, safety, compliance and corporate social responsibility,” the supplier executive says. “Simultaneously, they’re driving efficiency with their ability to seamlessly integrate their systems with their suppliers.”

Lyons-Tarr and Worwood say 4imprint’s aim is to form genuine partnerships with suppliers and identify opportunities for mutual growth and success. “This may be related to expansion within a product category, corporate social responsibility projects, packaging developments or marketing opportunities,” Lyons-Tarr states. “It’s pretty simple, but it takes commitment and a significant investment of time and energy for both parties to make it all happen – but when it clicks, the results can be really exciting.”

‘The Industry Is Moving To Catch Up’

It’s not, of course, just suppliers that 4imprint is impacting. No other distributorship’s name is more widely uttered by other distributors than that of 4imprint. Pop on an industry social media forum, for instance, and you’ll see comments from distributors regarding how a customer asked them to match 4imprint’s low pricing and speedy delivery times.

In fact, some distributors confess they even occasionally source products from 4imprint for clients because the pricing and delivery times are better than what they were offered by a supplier.

45%
Rate of 4imprint’s year-over-year sales increase in North America.

The success of 4imprint’s e-commerce approach and supporting systems – always being honed and improved under Lyons-Tarr and Worwood – has also amplified the company’s sway in the industry.

It’s been one factor (though far from the only one) prompting competitors to build their technology stacks to become more efficient in their operations and to offer more web-based solutions, which can range from online company stores to end-buyer-focused e-commerce sites. In this, 4imprint is playing a dynamic role in spurring the tech-fueled advancement of the industry.

“Online-only sellers of promo products are growing fast, particularly those with great service and merchandise assortment,” says another Top 40 supplier executive, who also asked to remain anonymous. “The industry is noticing and moving to catch up as they are particularly good at both reducing the sales cycle and turning customers into long-term buyers with very good online product selection, ordering, decoration instructions and drop-ship fulfillment.”

“Efficiency starts with a deep desire to provide our customers with the best possible service experience that delivers on what they tell us is important to them.” Suzanne Worwood, 4imprint

All that doesn’t happen by chance at 4imprint. Lyons-Tarr, Worwood, other leaders and employees work hard to deliver.

“Efficiency starts with a deep desire to provide our customers with the best possible service experience that delivers on what they tell us is important to them,” says Worwood. “Then, it’s continuous development, incremental improvement and working with our suppliers to find ways to make it all happen. Some projects might be as simple as making adjustments to the information we send or how we communicate, while others might involve more significant changes to how our systems work.”

‘They Help the Industry Get Noticed’

4imprint is also the industry leader when it comes to marketing and advertising promo products. For instance, put “promotional products” in the Google or YouTube search bar and 4imprint is often the first result.

Also, 4imprint is strategically aggressive with more traditional advertising mediums. It’s well-produced commercials touting the positive impacts of promo products run in national television spots, helping to raise the industry’s collective profile.

4imprint’s commercials, which run on national television, help raise the profile of the promotional products industry.

“They help the industry get noticed,” says one of the supplier executives. The savvy use of data informs 4imprint’s marketing efforts, helping ensure they have maximum impact. More broadly, 4imprint is among the promo firms most adeptly using data to grow business.

“Our business is inherently data-driven, so the list of ways we use it is extensive,” says Lyons-Tarr. “Data helps drive our marketing, supports our customer experience in a variety of ways, drives better decision-making throughout the business, and holds us to account in that it measures our performance against our objectives.”

What’s Next?

Worwood and Lyons-Tarr have been in promo for decades. Both have earned ample success.

The work of Worwood, the sourcing and merchandise ace, and the teams she leads permeate 4imprint, helping to give it the spending power and influence it has throughout the market. Lyons-Tarr, who joined the company in 1991 and held a variety of roles, ncluding president, before becoming CEO in 2015, combines the analytical mind of an in-the-weeds technology developer and astute data analyst with the highest level of entrepreneurial acumen and empathetic leadership. He’s the general leading 4imprint from the front.

“We haven’t yet put forward our next big goal at this point, but we’re big believers in doing so. We’re just waiting to get to a spot where everything has finally fully normalized after the effects of the pandemic. It won’t be too much longer.” Kevin Lyons-Tarr, 4imprint

In their roles, Lyons-Tarr and Worwood have spearheaded 4imprint to placing first on Counselor’s Top 40 list multiple times. Beyond being on the Power 50, there have been other awards too: Lyons-Tarr was Counselor’s 2012 Person of the Year; Worwood, originally from the United Kingdom, was Counselor’s 2014 International Person of the Year.

The pair have also now steered 4imprint to achieving its years-long goal of generating at least $1 billion in revenue in a single calendar year. Still, they’re not done yet. Most immediately, they plan to keep their noses to the grind, working every day to refine and evolve 4imprint so that the firm stays at the head of the promo pack. In fact, half-year sales for 2023 are up 23%, the company reported in late summer.

But is there a next major bull’s eye they have their arrows aimed upon? Mum’s the word so far – but that could soon change, the executives say. “We haven’t yet put forward our next big goal at this point, but we’re big believers in doing so,” shares Lyons-Tarr. “We’re just waiting to get to a spot where everything has finally fully normalized after the effects of the pandemic. It won’t be too much longer.”