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Canadian News March 17, 2020

Canadian Promo Firms Prepare for Virus Shutdowns

Companies have instituted work-from-home policies and are preparing for a worsening situation.

By  Sara Lavenduski

As the coronavirus gradually spreads into Canada, Canadian promo firms anticipate large-scale shutdowns and significant business impact.

Canada mask

Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a news conference outside his home, announcing that Parliament may be temporarily recalled to pass the legislation required for financial support for Canadians. These measures include funds for businesses to keep employees on payrolls, access to credit, mortgage payment aid and enhanced benefits for children.

"These sorts of things are all on the table in terms of tools we're looking at to help Canadians as quickly as possible get through these times," Trudeau said.

He also expressed his support for Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who declared a province-wide state of emergency this morning, ordering that restaurants and bars close except for takeout service and prohibiting gatherings of 50 or more people.

“We’re facing an unprecedented time in our history,” Ford said at a news conference at Queen’s Park in downtown Toronto. “This is a decision that was not made lightly. … COVID-19 constitutes a danger of major proportions. We must act decisively, we must not delay.” Ontario currently has 177 confirmed cases of coronavirus within its borders.

Trudeau announced yesterday that Canada’s borders are now closed to all noncitizens and nonpermanent residents, with the exception of air crews, diplomats, immediate family members of citizens and, for now, Americans. Additionally, only airports in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Calgary will accept international flights; Trudeau urged all Canadians traveling abroad to return immediately.

Though he’s showing no symptoms, Trudeau is in self-isolation as a precaution after his wife, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, tested positive for the virus last week. As of March 17, there were 424 confirmed cases across Canada and five deaths, according to Health Canada and the Ministry of Health.

Industry events in Canada are also being called off; the Promotional Product Professionals of Canada (PPPC) postponed a supplier panel and Q&A event for members scheduled for April 21 in Dartmouth, NS, while Groupe Multi-Sources and Groupe Expo 10+ canceled the tabletop show scheduled for today in Laval, QC; PICS SHOWS in Kingston and Ottawa are likely postponed; and Promotional Products Showcase (PPS) Shows in Burlington, Kitchener and London are pushed off until the fall, as are PME Shows. All Chapter events have been postponed and the annual Women's Empowerment Event (WEE) is canceled this year.

Promo firms in Canada brace for further impact as companies institute work-from-home policies where at all possible. “Fortunately for us, the vast majority of our sales team is already home-based and accustomed to interacting with our office and their clients through our cloud-based services,” Danny Braunstein, the Winnipeg-based vice president of sales and business development for Talbot Promo (asi/341500) in London, ON, told ASI Canada. “The health and safety of our dedicated employees and sales partners and their families are the top priority.” He added that impending school closures will also affect workers’ productivity.

Brand Blvd (asi/145124) in St. Catharines, ON, has sent home all employees with the ability to work from there, including all sales reps, customer service reps and designers. Only workers in reception and shipping and receiving are physically in the office; that may change if the situation worsens, said marketing manager Angela Jamieson. Brand Blvd also isn’t receiving visitors to its offices and has canceled all in-person meetings which must now be done virtually. These steps have eased most of the “general social nervousness” that employees were feeling over the past few weeks.

But Jamieson said they’re already feeling the sales pinch; they’ve currently lost more than $50,000 in orders for events that have been canceled.

“We’re encouraging sales reps to think outside the box when it comes to handling these conversations,” Jamieson said. “They can ask if it’s budgeted money that still needs to be spent, or suggest that they put together ‘Sorry we didn’t get to see you’ gifts for attendees. Employee morale swag boxes for those at home is another idea.”

In a company-wide update, HPG – which owns Debco (asi/48885) and BCG (asi/37693) in Canada – announced that a work-from-home policy is now in place “for all practicable positions.” For those not able to work from home, stringent measures have been put in place to protect employees, including zero tolerance for illness, frequent sanitizing of work stations and common areas, and daily supervisor health checks to monitor any chance of contamination. All on-site meetings and nonessential travel have also been put on hold.

“Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, HPG increased its North American inventory levels,” the company said in a statement. “And although the impacts of the virus were felt in Asia months ago, this preemptive action has meant no disruption to HPG stock availability. The positive recent news that our Asian factories are returning to full operation makes it likely that our current high fill rates will continue to be the norm.”

For smaller suppliers, employees will stay put until the government orders them home. Josee Boivin is president of ISM Line (asi/62902) in Blainville, QC; she’s currently in Florida with plans to return home on Saturday, knowing that she’ll be obligated to self-isolate for at least two weeks upon her return. “It’s very worrisome for the company,” she said. “We’ve received order cancellations because of canceled events. I’ve already secured six months’ worth of imports from China, and I’m safe on that side, but it’s of no use without orders. It’s going to hit our industry very hard.”

So far, the only employees working outside the office are Boivin and the company’s accountant; production employees must be on site. “If they’re ordered to stay home, we’ll be forced to close,” said Boivin.

Amanda Dudek is the owner and sole proprietor of A Dudek Promotions (asi/101207) in Maple, ON, an immediate suburb of Toronto; she’s been taking the necessary precautions to keep herself and her family healthy and said the vibe in the city has changed significantly since last Thursday. She stocked up on necessities in case her family couldn’t leave the house for a few weeks. Her school-age children are home for the next three weeks.

“Some are taking this situation very seriously, others aren’t,” she said. “Each day we receive more directives from the provincial and federal governments. I haven’t had any customer-facing contact since Thursday morning, and even then we didn’t shake hands and stayed separated by a table. My clients have all been very understanding of the situation that we’re all faced with.”

Dudek plans to take advantage of slower days by making website and social media improvements and trying to plan out the rest of the year. “I’m mapping it out in terms of making up the revenues that might be lost over the coming months due to canceled events and fewer marketing dollars,” she said. “I’m not the only one in this position and the best thing we can all do is support one another and do our part in social distancing so we can get back to business.”

Canada is certainly going to feel ripple effects of the spreading virus, but also from the original outbreak in China and the rail blockades in February, said Braunstein. Fortunately, Canadians are geographically spread out so they’re more familiar than Americans and Europeans with doing business at a distance, he added.

“These are challenging times, and we’re in uncharted waters,” he said. “But the Canadian industry is very close-knit, and we’re all working hard together to stabilize and better utilize technology to maintain some normalcy in our everyday business.”