Counselor's 2022 Lifetime Achievement Award: Fred Oesen
From building Canada’s nascent promo industry to mentoring countless professionals, Oesen leaves a staggering legacy.
The term “industry famous” was made for Fred Oesen. When you think about someone in the promo marketplace who’s so well-known, so well-respected, so charismatic that the first reaction people have when hearing their name is to break into miles of smile, you know it’s someone special. And so it is with Oesen, a personality so formidable in the Canadian promo industry (and the U.S.’s as well) that everyone who knows him has a “Freddy story.” Forget about Justin Trudeau; in promo, Oesen is the Prime Minister of Canada – albeit one whose party affiliation would be “cocktail.”
A former president of the Promotional Products Professionals of Canada (PPPC), a proud member of its Hall of Fame and a former Vice President of ASI Canada, Oesen spent 42 years in the promo business until he retired in 2017. But that didn’t stop Oesen from doing what he does best – supporting industry friends and mentoring those new to the promo world, giving crucial business advice or often just lending an ear over one of his beloved scotches.
ASI Media's Michele Bell talks with Fred Oesen, the recipient of this year's Counselor Lifetime Achievement Award.
One For The Road
Born in Germany, Oesen emigrated to Manhattan with his family when he was three years old, and then crossed the border into Canada the following year. They moved in Canada often, living in Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver and back again – so much so that Oesen attended 12 different grade schools. When you change your surroundings so frequently at a young age, you sharpen skills to adapt. Those skills would help Oesen later in life: the ability to make people feel at ease, to forge connections, to build loyalty.
But Oesen put down roots when he moved to Toronto in his early 20s, becoming an independent sales agent in the burgeoning Canadian promo market in 1972. He had numerous lines, including Parker Pen – the success of which led the company president to offer him the position of Canadian Manager of the Premium Division. “In 1974, I became manager of Parker Pens promo business in Canada, and automatically became a member of the Ontario Chapter of SAAC (Specialty Advertising Association of Canada) at 26 years of age,” Oesen recalls. “I was the first person in our industry to call on distributors in person in Canada. Previously, personal contact was limited to the annual hotel room shows.”
Elected to the Ontario Chapter of SAAC in 1975, Oesen became president of the Chapter in 1978. “I was elected to the National Board of SAAC but had to resign my position in 1979 when David Campbell and I started Canada’s first National Rep organization: Can-Am Reps. For five consecutive years I drove from Toronto to Vancouver and back calling on distributors.”