Ever caught a “lucky” break in your professional career? Often, people will refer to something good happening as “being in the right place, at the right time,” or “just caught a lucky break.” But if you ask Rick Roddis, business unit president at Taylor Promotional Products, those that work hard and implement the right attitude are the ones that get the most opportunities.

The March 2025 episode of Branding Together is all about how we as print and promotional industry professionals can take advantage of any opportunity that comes our way. Co-hosts Cassie Green, PRINTING United Alliance, and Theresa Hegel, ASI, agree with Roddis that if you keep your connections open, put in the time and effort, and line up actionable goals, the “lucky” break will happen to you more often.

Branding Together Episode Three Show Notes

Top printing industry headlines: Live events have made a massive comeback post-COVID, redefining networking and education in the industry:

• Hunkeler Innovationdays centered around the theme “Connect,” spotlighting how new technology and education brings people together
• Upcoming Apparel Decoration Summit will explore high-level business topics such as OSHA compliance, automating workflow production, and more

Top promo industry headlines: The impacts of the current economy are forcing distributors to explore other areas of business:

• Hiring slowdowns in industries like finance and tech have impacted how companies spend their marketing dollars — and where the power lies in the job market, including in promo
• E-commerce branded merch stores have taken off for distributors, but there are a few considerations to be aware of in this arena

BONUS segment: Hegel and Green (with the help of ChatGPT) put together some print and promo March Madness brackets. Find out who the winners and losers are by sticking around to the end of the episode.