Founded right in the middle of the crisis in 2009, promosistem has established itself as a globally-operating agency with a conceptual full-service approach.
For Iberostar, one of the leading Spanish hotel chains, promosistem designed and developed several products to be sold as merchandising items in the Caribbean Iberostar hotels.
The Spanish agency promosistem has 100 m² of office space on the Pza. Francesc Macià in the heart of the Catalan metropolis Barcelona. The company was founded in the year 2009 by the managing shareholder, Rafael García. Today, the company has twelve employees and, according to company sources, achieves a turnover of around 3.2 mil. Euros. “We saw the foundation of the company in the crisis year 2009 as a big chance,” emphasised Rafael García. “At the time there were around 6,000 distributors in Spain, most of whom worked together with local suppliers, albeit not always in a professional manner. Many of the small distributors didn’t survive the economic and financial crisis, but for us it was the right point in time to establish ourselves. We believed in our competence and our professionality and implemented our know-how and skills to the benefit of our customers.“
This obviously paid off. Today, promosistem may not be one of the biggest distributors in Spain, but they certainly have a well-functioning system and distinguish themselves from their competitors in many ways. “We strive and indeed have to be different to other providers, we have to be able to offer our customers something special, both in terms of the products and services offered. We are well geared up to achieve this,“ explained Rafael García.
Ippag membership
Roger (l) and Rafael García.
“Being the Spanish member of the international distributor alliance Ippag (International Partnership for Premium and Gifts) since 2010 has been a big advantage. We profit from the knowhow of the group, from diverse synergies and of course from the mutual exchange regarding experiences made with suppliers, from the different sources of supply in Asia and Europe and the market developments. The Ippag membership naturally also has an image-enhancing effect too. Because the Ippag members and their suppliers not only stand for a high level of quality and innovation, all of the relevant standards and norms are also complied with, including of course also the social and environmental standards. The Ippag members serve globally-operating companies, such as Siemens, Shell, Lease Plan, GAP and Bayer for instance, which insist on quality, continuity and reliability. Great value is placed on working together with professionals and no risks are taken that could damage one’s own brand. Rafael García knows, what it comes down to – on board since the year 2000, he is an “old hand“ on the promotional products market: When the Spanish distributor ITD was taken over by Mid Ocean Brands (MOB), he was working at MOB as Import Director, where he gained his experience in the international business, before founding his own company. Today, his company is separated up into two divisions – whereby there are of course synergies.
Conceptual work
More than just products: promosistem strives to find unique solutions and holistic concepts.
The one division – promosistem – covers the classic promotional products business including concept development, brainstorming, design and brand profiling using CI-compatible promotional products. The company’s own creative design studio produces drafts that are individually developed to meet the requirements of the customers. Specific solutions are found for the respective task at hand. Of course, this also involves intensive brainstorming with the customers so that their needs are determined as precisely as possible to enable ideal and creative solutions to be developed. The ultimate aim is to serve the respective customer in an individual and original manner. It doesn’t suffice to merely present products. They have to fit into an holistic concept. That is why they are also offered together with packaging solutions. Here, there is a wide variety of creative alternatives made of wood, paper and plastic. In order to draw up professional concepts, it is of course necessary to know the spectrum of promotional products, classics and innovations inside out. That is why Rafael García – incidentally while he worked for MOB he was also President of the Spanish association, FYVAR – visits all of the relevant trade fairs in Asia and Europe, supported among others by his son, Roger García, who is responsible for procurement.
Top customer bonding
The second division, called Promofidelity, specialises is customer bonding and loyalty programmes offering a round-the-clock B2B service worldwide. Rafael García: “We developed a system in 2010, which allows us to offer our customers their own shop on the web with an individual CIcompatible design. We put together a customised eCatalogue for the employees or customers of our clients. Here, they can choose from a wide range of brands and products – for example we work together with Apple and several other international brands – and order them directly from the shop of our customers.“ The order is processed electronically, Promofidelity forwards it on to the respective manufacturer or the self-programmed logistic system that is used for the delivery and further processing through to the invoicing and payment procedure.
“We develop shops for our customers in their design and according to their specifications. This allows their employees or users to place orders in a very simple process – we take care of the whole logistics from the product line-up – of course in close coordination with our customers – to the consumer’s order, through to the delivery and invoicing. At favourable prices for international brand products in the respective shops – a real win/win situation for all people involved,” summed up Rafael García.
A detailed report about the Iberian promotional products market can be found here: Part 1 and Part 2.
