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Last year, industry pundits gave their peers some sobering advice. They believed failure to embrace change would lead to lost opportunities and, eventually, closed doors. Many distributorships scrambled to reevaluate their current infrastructure and tweak plans accordingly for 2012. And just like that, January turned into November. The wheel of business didn't fall apart; nor did it get reinvented 1,000 times over. The months in between consisted of a little of this … a little of that. It was business as usual.

The new year illustrated the common highs and lows companies face. Old threats backed down and showed signs of improvement (the recession), while others continued to signal danger for the reluctant. Cross-media campaigns saw a surge in popularity and those who got it right generated additional revenue. Technology was typically disruptive for companies still abiding by the old school of thought. For instance, social networking moved from a nice perk to a major competitive edge for marketers who understood the idea of social selling. Businesses folded, got purchased and merged in ways that would affect the flow of the print and promotional products industries for years to come.

Despite some struggles, these respective industries showed heart. Certain distributors were more successful than others at keeping their footing and bracing to fight imposing threats. They innovated, thrived and expanded. The following piece focuses on some of the top-earning distributors. Read on to see how they survived and flourished in 2012.

INNERWORKINGS INC.
Chicago
www.inwk.com
Principal: Eric D. Belcher, CEO

Print+Promo (P+P): What was your company's greatest success over the last year?
Eric Belcher (EB): Global corporations will be increasingly looking to one provider to support all of their branded marketing and packaging materials across every major market they operate in. Over the past year, we finalized the development of a global platform to provide our services in all corners of the globe.