The Promo Pro: Nicholas Mirabile, vice president of merchandise and licensing, Stran Promotional Solutions (asi/337725)
Client: A Washington, D.C.-based advertising and marketing company leading a nationwide awareness-generating initiative for the 2020 U.S. Census.
Job: Deliver 16 million products printed with various logos in 15 different languages, all aimed at increasing public participation in the Census.
Order Value: Eight figures

STEP 1

Go Big
Nicholas Mirabile went for it.

He didn’t inherit the client. He didn’t have a track record with the firm. He didn’t have an inside connection.

But what he did have was an excellent strategic action plan and a boatload of moxie, all of which paid off with an eight-figure, epic blockbuster of a promo campaign.

It began back in August 2018 with Mirabile investigating big events and national campaigns to target. He identified the 2020 U.S. Census as a golden opportunity. He spent weeks doing preliminary research, eventually discovering some key contacts on LinkedIn. He put together a list of potential decision-makers, made cold calls, sent emails and hustled his way into the right referrals. The gumshoeing put him in position to talk to important players at the Washington, D.C-based marketing/advertising agency.

“I asked the right questions. I learned about the campaign and the timeline, the success factors and the fears,” Mirabile shares. “I developed a success strategy based on that information.”

When the agency issued a request for proposal, Mirabile was lightyears ahead of the competition. “I knew the client’s goals, objectives, brand, vocabulary and marketing initiatives,” Mirabile explains. “And, after 12 months of research, planning and legwork, we won the business.”

STEP 2

Know Your Role
Winning a massive job is one thing; delivering on it is quite another. Mirabile and his team at Stran were determined to succeed for their client.

It started by knowing their role. Stran was to deliver promotional products for the client’s approximately year-long experiential marketing campaign for the U.S. Census Bureau. The campaign was part of a broader consumer activation program that included all types of media, from print and outdoor advertising, to radio, television, digital/social media, and in-person consumer engagement at festivals, music venues, sporting events and tens of thousands of community outreach initiatives.

“Nick represents the unlimited opportunity that exists for the thousands of sales reps in our industry – not just a select few.” Andy Shape, Stran Promotional Solutions

“The promotional products were used for various purposes, the main objective being to create awareness, inspire and motivate individuals to participate in the 2020 Census,” says Mirabile, noting the Census’ mission is to count everyone in the country and know where they live.

With such a sprawling campaign, there was a wide variety of intended end-users, from Census Bureau regional staff, door-to-door counters and count committees, to sponsors and the millions of people throughout all 50 states and the U.S.’s five territories that federal authorities intended to encourage to take the Census. “There was an array of initiatives, each with a specialized audience,” Mirabile says.

STEP 3

Provide a Gamut of Products
With so many campaigns within the broader campaign, Mirabile had to deliver a dizzying selection of products. You name it, Stran provided it: Pens, pencils, water bottles, mugs, tote bags, drawstring bags, keychains, phone holders, bibs, baby cups, T-shirts, polo shirts and baseball caps were all among the logoed collateral. “We did various logos in 15 different languages, which made reviewing proofs unique and quite challenging,” Mirabile says.

Sport bottles advertising the Census in Spanish.

Language wasn’t the only issue to overcome. There was also the matter of ensuring all products were made in the USA – a must since the end-client was a federal agency.

“Sourcing such an enormous number of U.S.-made products in a small period of time was a definite challenge,” Mirabile admits, adding that there were other hurdles, too: “Value-engineering products to meet budget demands, while coordinating with our suppliers so they could obtain the large quantities of materials they needed in order to produce the products consistently, month after month, was certainly a logistical challenge as well.”

STEP 4

Collaborate
Still, working in close partnership with some 30 ASI-registered vendors, Mirabile and his Stran colleagues executed the incredible undertaking with aplomb. The promo items they delivered were an integral component of the broader Census awareness-raising blitz, which broke records for participation, despite challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, Mirabile says.

“The census recorded a 99.98% response rate from addresses across the country,” Mirabile says. “The self-response rate was at an all-time high of 67%, highlighting the success of our awareness campaign.”

A team member from the client that orchestrated the overall Census awareness effort had ample praise for Mirabile and Stran. “We couldn’t have done this without them,” the client team member says. “They made us feel at ease with their expertise and gracious handling of challenges.”

A flying disc includes the URL for Census information.

STEP 5

Keep Business Flowing
Indeed, so satisfied was Mirabile’s client that the company continues to partner with him for additional orders. Stran, for instance, produced employee spiritwear apparel for the firm. The 2020 Census has concluded, but Mirabile has continued to build out new promo-fueled endeavors tied to it for the client.

“We partnered with the client to develop, host and manage a Census 2020 online store so their partners – sponsors, committees, enumerators, community organizers, etc. – had access to logoed merchandise using their own budgets,” he says. “We’re also discussing a new order for partner thank-you gifts, which will be given to supporters, count committees and sponsors.”

Mirabile’s incredible performance on the Census order helped him earn the mantle of 2020 Distributor Salesperson of the Year from Advantages magazine. Especially rewarding, Mirabile garnered high praise from colleagues that he respects.

“Nick worked tirelessly to quickly identify large opportunities that he thought he could maximize, qualified them properly, built upon his professional network and delivered to the needs based on what he was able to learn from those specific buyers that he targeted,” says Stran President Andy Shape. “Nick represents the unlimited opportunity that exists for the thousands of sales reps in our industry – not just a select few.”

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