1 Account, Many Brands
CASE STUDY
From packing parties to a future-proof shop: How Kentro scaled swag with Stadium
With 8x employee growth, Kentro required a scalable swag solution. By creating an on-demand swag shop, Felicia reduced gift setup time by 67% while ensuring a seamless, flexible gifting experience.
“On-demand is the best feature. It doesn’t lock us into inventory we don’t need or can’t use. It gives people the freedom to pick what they want and how they want it.”
Felicia Weigel
Background
Felicia Weigel oversees the internal communications team and customer service experience at Kentro. Formerly IT Concepts, Kentro experienced rapid growth in just five years, with the number of employees increasing from 100 to 800. With that growth came a realization that IT Concepts had outgrown its identity. “People understand that this wasn’t just a company name change. Our culture, our values, and everything have evolved.”
As the company evolved, so did its needs, and Kentro needed a swag vendor that could scale accordingly. While handling swag for a group of 100 employees was effective at the time, it became increasingly complex as the company grew. Since swag was purchased in bulk, gathering sizes and color preferences for over 500 employees became time-consuming and difficult. Packing parties became the only way to ship swag at scale, with employees stuffing envelopes and packing boxes.
To improve this process, Felicia decided to seek a more scalable swag solution that could accommodate the company’s growth and rebranding efforts. “We needed our swag vendor to be as flexible and able to grow as we were.”
After the idea of a company shop was suggested internally through Annual Pitch Day, Felicia went through months of thorough research and spreadsheets. During her research, she discovered Stadium’s on-demand swag capabilities, and she quickly recommended the platform to her leadership team.
Pain Points
67%
Faster Setup170+
Recipients Gifted4
Shops Created
Our Solution
The vision for a company shop finally came true after she found Stadium. Kentro launched its on-demand shop called The Core Store, aligning with its rebrand and becoming the go-to shop for all gifting initiatives. To kick things off, Kentro gifted 250+ employees with a $50 budget.
With a company shop, Felicia no longer needed to purchase swag in bulk, gather sizes, or manage inventory. Before Stadium, swag distribution meant hours of manual work. On one occasion, gathering sizes for an order of 35 golf shirts still took a week to complete. With Stadium, that became a thing of the past. Additionally, Stadium’s Peace of Mind Protection gave her reassurance by allowing her to easily swap sizes, which had always been a limitation with bulk swag.
On-demand also offered greater flexibility, as it allowed employees to “redeem on their own time,” making it convenient for Kentro’s distributed workforce.
Beyond swag, Stadium has simplified recognition by automating gifting for employee milestones. Felicia set up three automations for 1-, 3-, and 5-year anniversaries, ensuring employee milestones are always celebrated. By integrating with her HRIS, gifting truly runs on autopilot, as employee information is automatically pulled. “It’s been super seamless and hands-off. All I have to do is go in and create a new automation. I don’t have to ask for a distribution list or ask for sizes.” Felicia appreciates that Stadium’s reminder emails to gift recipients eliminate the need for manual follow-ups, saving even more time.
Results
Felicia appreciates how the entire journey has been extremely high-touch for Kentro. “Throughout the onboarding process, we met once a week and sometimes more. We always received quick responses with emails, and Stadium was always receptive to feedback.” This instilled deep trust moving forward, as Felicia notes, “I know I have a trusted partner with Stadium, and I know they’re going to work with me to meet all my needs.”
Kentro employees have also been enjoying Stadium! “Out of 800 employees, I’ve only got positive praise.”
Consolidating swag under Stadium has also been an incredible time saver. Before Stadium, designing swag and getting samples used to take roughly 40-50 hours every quarter. Today, it takes around 10-20 hours, which is a 67% reduction.
Beyond the numbers, having swag that showcases the Kentro brand and sparks conversation is priceless. “It’s not just a name change. Our culture and everything else have evolved. As we grow, we want to ensure that people represent our brand in the right way. I’ve been on calls where people have asked about my hoodies, and it just sparks a conversation.” One employee even noted, “It’s not swag. It’s a uniform.” That simple remark says it all–swag sparks pride, strengthens culture, and powerfully promotes your brand.
Marketing Tip
“The more you tell Stadium, the more context you give them, the easier it makes the whole process.”
Stadium Tip
On-demand swag is a highly flexible option for teams of all sizes. Whether your team is rapidly growing or you’re a small startup, being able to order swag without minimums eliminates the need to collect sizes, addresses, and store swag. It’s also an option that’s kinder to the Earth!
Onwards & Upwards
There’s always a need for swag, and Felicia is looking to set up conference kits for events. In the past, event swag was managed on an ad hoc basis. Now, Felicia is shifting to a more proactive approach by having swag well in advance. She plans to purchase more than 20,000 notebooks, pens, and other supplies, demonstrating Kentro’s ability to now scale swag effortlessly with Stadium.
To promote employee development, she’s looking to reward employees with points for completing specific courses.
As the year comes to a close and the holiday season approaches, she is planning to gift points to different teams as part of Kentro’s end-of-year morale gifting.
Company Overview
Company Name:
Kentro
Sender Name:
Felicia Weigel
Job Title:
Communications Manager
Features Used
- Stadium Shops
- Integrations (UKG)
- On-Demand Swag
- Swag Kits
- Swag Locker
- Automated Gifting
- Reminder Emails
- Peace of Mind Protection
- Catalog
