Celebrating our winners

The 2024 BPMA Awards put the spotlight on the many great companies and individuals who make our industry what it is

More than 500 people from the UK, Europe and the US promotional merchandise industry packed themselves into the CBS Arena ballroom for the BPMA Awards Gala Dinner on the evening of Day One at Merchandise World.

The awards are the industry’s opportunity to provide a pat on the back for those that are regarded as the best of the best. Voted for by fellow BPMA Members, the prestigious awards recognise both suppliers and distributors in promotional merchandise.

A packed evening saw a drinks reception and a beautiful three course meal, interspersed with the awards which were hosted by BPMA Chairman Haydn Willetts and Vice Chairman Clive Allcott.

The industry was also provided with a reminder of this year’s winners of the BPMA Product Awards, which were celebrated at their own special event at London’s St Pancras Renaissance Hotel in December 2023 (see the January/February edition of Product Media). The winning products were on display throughout the evening, with the Grand Prix award for best product due to be presented on the evening at the CBS Arena.

As well as awards for suppliers and distributors, there were a number of special awards, including for member marketing campaigns and ‘the best of British’ Briman Award judged independently. 

The dinner was followed by a live band as people danced and celebrated into the evening and beyond.

Backing our industry

Like all events, sponsors and supporters are a huge part of the success. The BPMA extends its thanks to the generous category sponsors: Geiger, BIC Graphic, Impression Europe, Preseli, PF Concept, Direct Textiles & Bags, XD Connects, and Briman Group.

The BPMA partnered with WCM&A for the supply of the stunning trophies and event supporters, Laser Crystal provided the Board’s Recognition Award. Victorinox sponsored the winners’ fizz on the night to help winners celebrate in style.

The evening had a particularly delicious note thanks to The Sweet People who supplied the vegan chocolates for the dinner.

The company also picked up the Product Gran Prix for their Treat Box

Suppliers awards

BPMA Chairman Haydn Willetts and Vice Chairman Clive Allcott kicked off the evening with thanks to all attending to get the evening off to a roaring start.

The first category up was Supplier of the Year up to £2m, and the finalists were Logobugs Plus, Desktop Ideas, Just Pads and Bio Laboratories with Desktop Ideas landing the winning vote for this category.

Next up was a new category, Supplier of the Year £2-5m, with a strong line up of finalists: Preseli, WCM&A, Juniper Trading and Keramikos with Preseli scooping this Award.

The next category was Supplier of the Year £5m-£10m category. Finalists in this category were Impression Europe, Listawood, The Bizz Badge Company and Castelli Milano 1938, with The Bizz Badge Company taking the category award.

Supplier of the Year over £10m category was sponsored by Geiger. Finalists included Laltex Group, Midocean, PF Concept and XD Connects with Laltex Group heading to the stage to collect their award. 

 

Distributors awards

The next Awards focused on distributors and this year, further turnover categories were recognised. Distributor of the Year up to £500k, had finalists Promo2u, Ultimate Incentive and Ellenell on the edge of their seats. Ellenell landed this first distributor award.

Distributor of the Year £500k-£1m, sponsored by BIC Graphic saw contenders Manic Merchandise, Hambleside, Get Yourself Noticed and T King Associates as finalists, with Get Yourself Noticed winning this category.

Sponsored by Impression Europe, Distributor of the Year £1-3m finalists were Ross Promotional Products, Big Bear Promo, The Purple Company and Printed4you with Big Bear Promo taking the award home. 

Distributor of the Year £3-5m, sponsored by Preseli, hailed finalists Pellacraft, Pinksheep Marketing, Initial Incentives and TC Branding Group. TC Branding Group jumped on stage to accept their Award for this category.

PF Concept, sponsoring the Distributor of the Year £5-10m category, were on stage as finalists LSi, Firebrand Promotions, Allwag Promotions and Premier Print and Promotions waited to hear who had won. Allwag Promotions landed this category to cheers and applause.

With the final Distributor of the Year Award over £10m, sponsored by DTB, contenders Total Merchandise, Fluid Branding, Brand Addition and 4imprint waited nervously for the gold envelope to reveal Fluid Branding as the winner for a second time in a row.

 

Special awards

Taking a short pause for dinner, the room was buzzing with excitement for the final awards of the evening including the long-awaited Product Awards Grand Prix and BPMA Recognition Award.

The Distributor and Supplier Marketing Campaign of the Year Awards were next. Clive Allcott shared the judge’s feedback and talked of the industry’s love for a great creative idea before naming this year’s winners.

Judged by an independent marketing judging panel, The Distributor of the Year Marketing Campaign finalists were Event Merchandising with its Eurovision entry, Wild Thang for Asahi Super Dry the Official Beer of Rugby World Cup 2023, and Fluid Branding with its Planet Positive entry. Fluid Branding came up trumps for the second time of the evening for its Planet Positive entry. Judges also awarded Event Merchandising’s entry Highly Commended.

The Supplier Marketing Campaign of the Year saw three finalist entries from The Outdoors Company with its Eco Range, First Editions with its Loop Bottle, and Kingly’s ‘Let’s Sparkle and Shine this Christmas’. The winner of this category was The Outdoors Company’s Eco Range. First Edition also received Highly Commended from our judging panel.

The Briman Award was a further opportunity for distributors to show off the best of British. Judged by Briman members looking for distributor members who had promoted British made and finished promotional products. Total Merchandise walked away with this Brit-centric accolade from the Briman group.

The Product Awards Grand Prix was also awarded at the dinner. The Grand Prix was awarded at the final judging panel and selected from all Platinum Product Award winners. The Sweet People’s The Bespoke UK Manufactured Treat Box was voted Grand Prix winner by the panel and a delighted team received the award to a huge round of applause.

Last award of the evening was the BPMA Recognition Award, awarded by the BPMA Board. Now in its second year, this Award recognises outstanding contributors to our industry. The Board selected previous BPMA Chair and President, Graeme Smith for this year’s BPMA Recognition Award, for his tireless work to ensure the reputation and position of the industry was upheld during his time on the Board.

As well as the awards, Haydn Willetts made the announcement that BPMA CEO Carey Trevill would be standing down after four years at the helm of the Association, in order to concentrate on new opportunities.

As the CEO during one of the most turbulent times for the industry, and indeed the country, he invited all of those in the room to extend their thanks to Carey and wished her good luck in her future endeavours. She won’t be lost to the industry as she is continuing with some projects for the BPMA.

The evening concluded with conversation, music, dancing and fun and whilst we are sure there are few sore heads for Day 2 of Merchandise World, this fantastic event marked another exceptional year for promotional merchandise and the sector.

The BPMA would like to thank everyone who attended and supported the event and we look forward to many more fabulous events in the coming year.

Bpma.co.uk/awards #bpmaawards24