Group photo with products: The representatives of the Choice subsidiaries presented the highlights of the coming season.
D – The six subsidiaries of the JCK Holding have been operating on the promotional products market under the umbrella brand Choice for several years. The communication of the group also entails a regular exchange with the specialist media, institutionalised by an annual meeting at the beginning of November. As in 2021, the umbrella specialist, Fare, invited representatives of the press to the breakfast at their own premises, inaugurated in 2019. In addition to the hosts, the JCK subsidiaries Daiber, Halfar, Karlowsky, mbw and SND presented several novelties from their product ranges on November 8, explained their corporate strategies and discussed the current market situation. The intensive exchange in a familiar atmosphere enabled an open and inspiring dialogue – a format that is highly estimated by both the Choice members and the media representatives.
Jan Breuer, Managing Director at mbw, presented various approaches of how one can focus more strongly on the customers. The extended services include among others the investment in a new printing machine. With the aid of video material, Markus Freisberg, Key Account and Project Manager at SND, demonstrated how porcelain mugs can be turned into highly individual promotional products by engraving and spraying them. He also brought up a further issue: As a result of reports in the press about the difficulties of glass and porcelain manufacturers due to the energy crisis, a wrong impression has been created that porcelain products are going to become almost unaffordable. This is not the case at all for a customising company like SND, which fires the mugs at much lower temperatures than a manufacturer, especially since a great deal of manual work is involved in the value chain. Freisberg estimated that the possible increases for SND products will be between 5% and 10%, which would correspond to the average price increases for many other product segments on the promotional products market.
Volker Griesel (l) and Günter Schmidt presented novelties from the Fare programme for the coming year.
Armin Halfar, founder and Managing Director of the bag specialists of the same name, once again pointed out the necessity for a greater emphasis to be placed on sustainability. He explained in this connection that for their novelties among other things the company from Bielefeld dispenses with all details that have no additional usage to save materials and resources.
Like Halfar, Fare also places great importance on sustainability, as the Managing Director, Volker Griesel; authorised signatory, Günter Schmidt and Marketing Director, Tobias Müller explained. To this end, both the Ökobrella series and the waterSAVe® series have been expanded. Further design innovations distinguish the product range, including the fully-automatic eBrella that can be charged per USB-C as a highlight in the premium segment.
The workwear specialist Karlowsky was represented by the Junior Manager Niels Karlowsky, who presented new aspects on diverse topics. For example, the gastronomy line has been extended to include manifold accessories, some of which pick up on the present barkeeping trend.
Finally, Jean Rodriguez Schwarz, International Sales Manager at Daiber, presented new releases of the brand James & Nicholson and myrtle Beach, including extremely comfortable polo shirts and very fashionable softshell jackets.
After the presentations, the products were on display at the stands of the Choice subsidiaries.
In the following discussions the general market trends were touched upon again and the participants cast a look ahead to the near future: The general consensus was that 2023 will no doubt be a tough year in the face of the threatening recession and inflation as well as the difficult plannability for all branches of business. Whereby, taking this year’s good sales figures, full warehouses, and improved on-site customising options and the company’s service-oriented alignment into account, all of the Choice members were indeed confident that they will be able to master these challenges well.
// Mischa Delbrouck
www.daiber.de
www.fare.de
www.halfar.com
www.karlowsky.de
www.mbw.sh
www.snd-porzellan.de
Photos: Till Barth, © WA Media
