June 26, 2023

Robledo, Sharpless Join The MRL Group

The MRL Group (PPAI 359200, D3) welcomes Amy Robledo and Sean Sharpless to its growing team. With their extensive expertise and proven track records in the promotional products industry, Robledo and Sharpless will play integral roles in driving the company's production capabilities, growth and client success.

  • As head of production, Robledo brings experience in procurement from a recent role at RR Donnelley and has worked closely with Fortune 500 CPG clients and retailers, overseeing the development, production and acquirement of both temporary and permanent point-of-sale (POS) solutions and fixture installations.
  • Sharpless assumes the role of director of growth and strategy, drawing on two decades of experience in field sales, sales management and business ownership. His extensive background also includes developing strategic solutions for clients, tailoring services for large corporate accounts, negotiating win-win contracts and identifying new sales channels.

June 23, 2023

Team Retreat Generates New Ideas For commonsku Clients

commonsku (PPAI 552077, A1) recently brought together 50 team members for a two-day retreat in Toronto focused on brainstorming, community-building and collaboration.

  • The retreat included a hackathon, where team members were divided into competing groups with representation from each discipline (marketing, development, sales, etc.). Each group was challenged with solving a unique business problem, which resulted in a high-intensity round of new platform ideas for customers.
  • The event also featured workshops, team-building exercises through indoor and outdoor activities and success reports from senior management, plus a town hall interview with founders, Mark and Catherine Graham.

“We’ve seen so much success building community with our events like skucon and skucamp, especially when we’ve bridged this gap between work and play. We wanted to try an experience that would help our team unlock a new level of even greater commitment to our customers and innovation,” says Mark Graham, president and chief brand officer.