News, Nuggets, and What’s Worth Knowing

🧂 A Dash of Industry Insights

🌱 Sustainability Isn’t Optional Anymore: At the first-ever Sustainable Merch Summit, industry leaders made it clear that eco-conscious practices are more essential than ever. Read more here.

🏦 M&A Outlook 2025: From tariff shocks to talent grabs, dealmakers are navigating a volatile landscape from private equity to IPOs. Read more from PWC midyear outlook here.

🚗 The $25K Car Is Disappearing: Affordable cars are vanishing fast, with under-$25K models now making up less than 5% of new sales, down from 23% in 2019. As automakers chase higher margins and buyers crave more features, the entry-level vehicle is becoming an endangered species. Read more here.

🎯 Brand Impact Insight: Studies show that 86% of employees proudly wear branded swag outside of work, highlighting the importance of high-quality company merchandise.

The HR Corner

📚 The Employee Retention Bible is Here

Our friend Matt Rieck just released his new book, The Employee Retention Bible: Creating a Company Where Your Employees Are Just As Loyal As Your Customers. It’s a step-by-step guide for fixing the costly problem of employee turnover by putting appreciation and recognition systems in place, and actually following through on them.

Matt also dives deep into how leaders can use free social media tools to champion their team and strengthen company branding in the process. Whether you lead a team of 20 or 2,000, this book is packed with practical strategies and comes with free templates to help you put it all into action.

You can purchase the book here and follow Matt here.

Behind the Scenes of Brand Sauce

🎥 New HR Playbook Video Dropping Soon!

Many of you have already launched your birthday program (🎉 legends), but we’ve got something new coming your way: the New Hire Onboarding Playbook. This next video in our series is built for companies who want to turn day one into a culture-defining moment.

Our new playbook shows you how to turn onboarding into an unforgettable first impression that sets your team (and your culture) apart.

Let’s be real: companies spend thousands on hiring, recruiter fees, and training. Why not make the first day count too? We’ve got you covered.

👉 Want early access? Just reply with “Onboarding” and we’ll send you a sneak preview.

P.S. Haven’t seen the Birthday Playbook yet? Scroll down to watch it now, we promise it’s worth the confetti.

Lights, Camera, Action

🎥 Ross's Video of the Week

At the 2025 Abundance Summit, Peter Diamandis sits down with Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber and CloudKitchens, to unpack what it really takes to disrupt an industry. From launching Uber to reimagining food delivery, this episode is full of bold insights on timing, resilience, and building for the future of work.

👉 Watch the full video here.

Weekly Client Spotlight

⭐️ Client Spotlight: T Minus Studios

🚀 Meet T Minus Studios

T Minus Studios is a full-stack growth marketing firm that partners with SMBs, startups, and corporations ready to accelerate their growth. Based in Pittsburgh with a global client base, they specialize in building done-for-you growth marketing systems. Since 2014, they’ve been helping bold founders turn unpredictability into momentum with clarity, speed, and strategic firepower.

Our Collaboration

We teamed up with T Minus to launch a fully branded pop-up shop that reflects their sleek, no-fluff approach to growth. From premium gear to meaningful gifting moments, their store gives team members and clients a tangible way to rep the mission.

🤝 Partner with T Minus Studios

If you’re looking for marketing support Justin and his team are fantastic. Feel free to email us at [email protected] for an intro!

Weekly Giveaway

🎁 Stanley/Stella Make a Set Giveaway is Back!

One of our most popular giveaways ever is back, Make a Set! Pick your favorite matching top and bottom from the Stanley/Stella collection, and we’ll brand it with your logo.

If you haven’t felt this fabric yet, get ready: Stanley/Stella is a premium, European-made brand known for its buttery-soft feel, standout quality, and sustainable craftsmanship. This is gear your team will actually want to wear.

MSRP: $200+

👉 Want in? Reply “SS” and you’re in the draw.

Weekend Update

Around the Water Cooler With Ross AKA The P.O.D. Guy

Water Cooler: A Legacy of Love

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you know the Water Cooler is where we often talk about family, the heart of everything we do.

Last weekend, our home was filled with something truly special: five generations of Madison’s family, all gathered under one roof. We hosted a reunion for her side of the family, and it felt like something sacred. Madison’s grandmother, our beloved GiGi, is 88 years old. She was married at just 16, raised four children, and now, she’s the center of a family that’s grown across states and decades. GiGi has 10 grandkids, 23 great-grandkids, and 1 great-great-grandchild. 

Family members flew in from Tennessee, Arkansas, and beyond. It may have been the last time GiGi will see all of her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren together. Watching her look out across that backyard, seeing her life’s legacy unfold in front of her, it was impossible not to feel the weight of it all. A quiet kind of magic. A once-in-a-lifetime moment.

As we were setting up for the party, I explained to Bo and Max who was coming. I told them they had cousins arriving, cousins their age, cousins they’d never met. They were so excited. At the end of the night, Maxie looked up and asked, “When can we go to Arkansas to visit JoJo?” That simple question melted me.

These moments matter. They plant seeds. They help our kids understand that family isn’t just people you see at holidays, family is a foundation. It’s a net that catches you, a thread that weaves through the years, no matter the distance, no matter the drama. My hope is that Bo, Max, Ryleigh, Kinsley, and their generation of cousins grow up knowing what a gift it is to belong to something so deeply rooted.

So here’s to GiGi, our Grandma up the Hill, who, at 88, continues to show us what it means to build a life full of love. Because of her, there’s a family that stretches across the country… and still finds its way back to each other.

© 2025 On Demand Global, LLC, DBA Brand Sauce