The Promo Playbook by Cubic Promote

Inside the Promo World What We Love, What We Remember, and the Clients Who Make It Easy

• charles-au

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Ever wondered what it actually takes to turn a scrappy merch idea into something people love to wear, keep, and show off? We open the studio doors and walk through the messy, creative, deeply satisfying process behind memorable promotional products and uniforms—complete with tight deadlines, picky color matches, and the joy of getting it right.

We start with the spark: unexpected product requests that keep our creative muscles fresh. From a large international order of custom wombat plush where ear color mattered as much as delivery timing, to a complex conference collection for the housing sector in Canberra with strict specs and zero room for error, the team explains how ideas meet feasibility. You’ll hear how clear briefs, vector artwork, and early approvals protect quality, and why organized clients help us trade guesswork for speed. Then we shift to activations and premium keepsakes—Netflix-branded pieces that ride pop culture waves, and Luna Park’s Squid Game tokens designed to feel worth winning. Each example shows how storytelling, materials, and finishing choices turn branded items into lasting mementos.

Behind the scenes, operations turns ambition into repeatable success. We dig into apparel print methods like screen printing and sublimation, how fabric choice affects color and durability, and the small checks—stitch density, legible micro text, pantone alignment—that prevent big headaches later. When timelines compress, we prefer tight option sets over sprawling catalogs, so we can hit budgets and ship dates without sacrificing brand impact. The throughline is simple: clear goals, honest communication, and a willingness to decide. That’s how great merch lands on time and gets used again and again.

If you’re planning your next kit, activation, or uniform rollout, this one’s for you. 

Follow our host:

Charles Liu: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-liu-042b9124/

Connect with our guests:

  • Katherine Durham: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherine-durham-772876193/
  • Mark Tyssen: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-tyssen-b141aa257/
  • Swami Rossat: https://www.linkedin.com/in/swami-rossat/
  • Anil Gupta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anilgupta72/
  • Wendy Li: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendy-li-424821161/

Follow Cubic Promote:
🔗 LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/company/cubic-promote
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cubicpromote/
👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CubicPromote
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cubic_promote
📌 Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/cubicpromote/
⭐ Google Business: https://share.google/hskqvOCdVzgckNmYJ
✖️ X: https://x.com/cubicpromote

#CubicPromote #CustomMerchandise #PromotionalItems #Australia #B2B #Podcast #promoplaybookau 

Follow Cubic Promote:
🌐 Website: https://www.cubicpromote.com.au
🔗 LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/company/cubic-promote
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cubicpromote/
👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CubicPromote
🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@cubic_promote
📌 Pinterest: https://au.pinterest.com/cubicpromote/
⭐ Google Business: https://share.google/hskqvOCdVzgckNmYJ
✖️ X: https://x.com/cubicpromote

SPEAKER_02:

Welcome to today's episode of the Promo Playbook by Cubic Promote. I'm your host, Charles. Today I'm going to take you behind the scenes of our business. We're going to talk about the things that go on behind the scenes, how we talk to customers, the best aspects about our role, and a bit a bit of other few bits and bobs here and there. Hello, Catherine. How are you doing today? Good, how are you? Fantastic. Very good. A couple of questions. So, Catherine, what do you enjoy most about working in the promo promotional products industry?

SPEAKER_01:

I think the creativity side, not knowing what product a client is going to ask for, because it's always something new, it's always out of left field. So that's what I think I like most.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, me too. Can you share the most memorable project that you've ever worked on?

SPEAKER_01:

I think it was making sure that these little wombats over here were to perfection, especially the ear color that was really important to get right. And there it was a very large quantity international order. So that was that was fun, exciting, um, and creative.

SPEAKER_02:

Those wombats are so very, very cute. Um, last question. Yes. What kind of customer makes your job smoother, more enjoyable?

SPEAKER_01:

An organized customer, somebody who has deadlines, delivery addresses, artwork in a vector format. It's tick, tick, tick.

SPEAKER_02:

Well answered. Brilliant. Thank you so much. Mark, how are you today, sir? Under pressure. Under pressure. Oh, try not to be relaxed, be yourself.

SPEAKER_03:

No, that's okay. Just trying to get all the orders out before Christmas and uh absolutely keep our customers happy.

SPEAKER_02:

Oh. That's what we do. Uh what's the most enjoyable thing about working in the promotional products and in your case, a specialist uniform industry?

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, so I've been in the industry for quite a while. So things that uh I really enjoy is obviously the people that we work with, and obviously our staff, our suppliers, and all our great customers. Yes. People make a big difference. Pleasurable.

SPEAKER_02:

For sure. What's the most memorable project you've ever worked on?

SPEAKER_03:

Oh, look, there's been quite a few over the years, but probably the most recent one is we did some conference merch for Australian community housing down in Canberra. I remember that. There was quite a few um items in the collection and dealing with Mandy down there. It's obviously a very large event for the housing industry and a government sort of uh sector. So yeah, that was quite um challenging. A lot of um specific products that we had to meet, um, some pretty uh high detail specs, but we came through and yeah, end of the day, customer got all their goods on time and was very happy. So that was great, it was a great outcome.

SPEAKER_02:

Clearly, Mandy left a great impression, which goes on to my next question. What kind of customer makes things easy for you? Makes it makes it a happy day at the end of the day.

SPEAKER_03:

To be honest, I think all the customers that we deal with, um yeah, we treat them you know how we like to be treated and um with respect. And yeah, end of the day, the customers are obviously looking for something, whether it's uniforms and merchandise, so we'll just provide the best service, obviously the best products that we can um you know come up with that uh work within their budgets. So yeah, end of the day it's just working with great people and great products and getting some great outcomes.

SPEAKER_02:

Love the response. Thank you so much, Mark. Swami, over to you. What do you enjoy most about working in a promotional products company or industry? I think the client and just do a relationship, like just yeah, exchange. Communication, like Mark. Can you share the most memorable project you've ever worked on? Uh the most memorable one. Like I've just done a campaign for Netflix and screen of glasses and stuff like that. Yeah, Stranger Things is being released yesterday. I shall be watching it later this evening. What kind of customer makes your job smoother and more enjoyable? Like just organized and like, you know. Flash like Catherine. Yeah. An organized customer is a good customer. Yeah, easy to deal with. Love it. Anil, sir, can I grab a moment of your time? Certainly. Certainly, Charles. Anything for you? Brilliant. Uh, what do you enjoy most about working in a promotional products and uniform company?

SPEAKER_04:

I like actually meeting customers and um developing relationships with uh different personnel from different companies and learning about uh their business.

SPEAKER_02:

Can you share the most memorable project you've ever worked on?

SPEAKER_04:

Well, to be quite honest, probably um the Lunar Park Squid Game Tokens.

SPEAKER_02:

I missed out on that one. Yes, I tried my very best.

SPEAKER_04:

Yes. Um the Lunar Park Squid Game Tokens, it was just very unique, they're beautiful tokens, and um I like Squid Games.

SPEAKER_02:

Me too. For those who don't know, the Lunar Park, they had a Squid Game Activation where the winner of the competition, you'll be competing against 12 other people, gets to win a token. And we supplied the token. Uh final question, Anil. What kind of customer makes your job smoother, makes your day happier?

SPEAKER_04:

Typically, one who knows what they want. Um, sometimes it's difficult if a customer doesn't know what they want and they can't communicate um what they want. It's we can go um trying all sorts of different things, but if a customer knows what they want, it does make our job uh easier.

SPEAKER_02:

It certainly does. Thank you so much. Thank you, Wendy. Hello. What do you enjoy most about working in the promotional products and uniform industry?

SPEAKER_00:

Um the new things I get to explore. So because I I work in the operation side, so I get to explore all sorts of areas in the business. So, say marketing. Um, but for the industry, it's actually the apparel, new things, new technology about printing. I get excited and also it comes become my habit now. Whenever I go to check out fashion things, I'll look at the fabric and go, oh, that's a screen printing. That's uh that's a sublimation. It just comes as my nature now.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely. Uh part part of the job nowadays, yeah. The most memorable project.

SPEAKER_00:

The most memorable project. It's actually, I think over 10 years ago, I did uh a million magnifying sheet for AEC, the Australian Electoral Camp Commission campaign. So that back then there's a federal election, and I do all this magnifying shit to enable people with uh eye side problem to see the voting, the voting sheet and clearly select what they want. So I found it, and these are short notice to produce them. So I'm able to deliver them, produce them on time, and enable someone that with side issues to vote. I found it uh it's a very proud project for me.

SPEAKER_02:

And the kind of customer that makes your day.

SPEAKER_00:

The client that knows what they want and doesn't, and then for short turnaround of time, doesn't need a lot of options. So I just stick with one product, one option, delivered on time, and that's the ideal customer for me.

SPEAKER_02:

Brilliant. Thank you so much, Wendy.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you so much for looking at and listening to the latest episode of the promo playbook. So that's a brief behind the scenes of our team members and the type of projects, projects that we work on. If you have any feedback, we'd love to hear from you. Please use the social media of your choice, and we'd love to correspond and speak with you.

Head Shot

Charles Liu

Host