👋 Happy New Year, & welcome back to This Week in Print-on-Demand.

From overloaded logos to overloaded Reels feeds, the first week of 2026 has us thinking about visibility, recognition, and knowing when to edit.

Let’s dive in.

NEWS & NUGGETS: A DASH OF INDUSTRY INSIGHTS

 🧢 Logo Fail: New Era dropped a bold MLB cap collection last season that… didn’t quite go as planned. The “Overlap” series layered team logos over nicknames for a 3D effect – but on a few designs, the mashup spelled out NSFW words that no ballpark would approve. Fans noticed, social media had a field day, and the caps were quickly pulled from shelves. Moral of the story: always double-check your designs (from all angles) before they hit the stands! Source.

🎪 Promo Pros Converge: The PPAI Expo 2026 is just around the corner in Las Vegas (Jan. 13–15). It’s a four-day extravaganza showcasing tens of thousands of products and over 1,000 exhibitors. It’s basically Coachella for the swag world. If you’re attending the promo industry’s biggest event, let us know so we can connect!

🖥 HR Webinar – Recognition Reloaded: Mark your calendars for Jan 12. SHRM is hosting a free webinar, “Optimize & Scale Recognition with Human Intelligence,” diving into how to supercharge your employee recognition programs (beyond the basic e-cards and kudos). You can register here.

📷 Instagram ATH: Instagram officially topped 3 billion monthly users in November. To put that in perspective, that’s almost 40% of the world checking out Reels, Stories, and posts. The platform is even testing a “Reels-first” home feed in some markets. For marketers and culture builders, it’s a reminder that visual content is king. Source.

🐿 Groundhog Day Fun Fact: Punxsutawney Phil’s accuracy rate is only around 39% over the past century. Source.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!

🎥 Ross's Video of the Week

A behind-the-scenes conversation with GTM guru Jean Grosser (who helped build Stripe’s early sales team and now leads go-to-market at Vercel). Jean reveals why 80% of customers buy to avoid pain or risk rather than chase the next shiny thing, how her team built an AI “sales agent” that does the work of ten people, and why she treats go-to-market like a product. This video is packed with timely tactics to level up your growth strategy.

Highly recommend for all the sales & marketing folks in our community!

WEEKLY POLL + GIVEAWAY

🚨Giveaway Alert

New year, new goals, new bag. This week, we’re giving away three go-to backpacks built for workdays, travel days, and everything in between. Whether you’re commuting, heading to the gym, or packing up for your next big move, these are the kind of bags that actually keep up.

• Several lucky readers will get to choose from the three bags.

• Winner(s) will be announced in next week’s newsletter.

👉 To enter, tell us your New Year’s resolution.

🤝 Meet Ardurra

An ENR Top 500 engineering firm that’s building more than just infrastructure. With offices across the U.S., Ardurra tackles projects from waterworks to transportation, all while cultivating a people-first culture. They’ve been crushing it in the innovation arena too: Fast Company named Ardurra one of 2025’s Best Workplaces for Innovators, thanks to leadership’s vision of bringing diverse voices into engineering. At Ardurra, growth and collaboration go hand in hand – employees are empowered to share ideas, challenge norms, and even have a little fun (engineering Mario Kart tournament, anyone?). It’s a company where strong partnerships and community impact drive everything they do, and where team members genuinely feel they’re shaping the future together.

📣 Our Collaboration

When Ardurra wanted to elevate their swag game, we rolled up our sleeves. Brand Sauce partnered with Ardurra to launch a custom company store that has become a one-stop shop for all their branded merchandise needs. No more bulk inventory or scattered vendors – now Ardurra’s hundreds of employees can hop onto their internal store and order whatever they want, whenever they want, hassle-free. We’ve helped them with everything from handling on-demand business card orders to creating special landing pages for new hires and unique celebrations. (Their summer interns each got a personalized swag page – how cool is that?) Brand Sauce manages the sourcing, storage, and shipping, so Ardurra’s team doesn’t have to worry about a thing. The result: Ardurra can showcase its brand and culture through high-quality merch without lifting a finger, and their people are sporting fresh gear that makes them feel even more connected. It’s a true win-win – or as our Ardurra friends like to say, “game-changing.”

🤝 Connect With Ardurra

Shoot me a note at [email protected] to get connected with the team.

WEEKEND UPDATE

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

Happy New Year

I hope the start of your year brought you rest, connection, or at least some meaningful time with the people you love. Ours was loud, messy, emotional, and incredibly special.

Madison and I took all four of our kids to Florida to spend a week with my family. Even though we were surrounded by parents, cousins, aunts, and uncles, what stood out most was the time the six of us spent together, every hour of every day, for an entire week.

If you’re part of a blended family, you know how rare that kind of time is. Life is usually busy, divided, and moving fast. This week slowed everything down and gave us the space to simply be a family.

There were moments of laughter and joy, moments of exhaustion and tears, quiet naps and late-night conversations. But the moment that will stay with me forever was hearing Madison tell my kids, “I love you,” and hearing them say it back without hesitation.

When you get divorced, there’s always a quiet fear you carry as a parent. You wonder how your kids will open their hearts to someone new. You wonder if they’ll feel loyal to one parent at the expense of another relationship. Watching a stepmom patiently build trust, love, and safety with children who already love their mom deeply is no small thing; it’s something that has to be earned every single day.

One of my biggest goals for 2026 is to keep bringing our family closer together. We’re slowly building something real as a family of six. The kids are growing into true siblings, and Madison is becoming someone they trust, rely on, and feel safe with. That kind of bond isn’t rushed; it’s built moment by moment.

I hope this past week brought you closer to the people who matter most in your life. I was raised with the belief that it’s family over everything, and this week reminded me why that will always be true.

I am wishing you and your family a happy and healthy 2026!

👥 Connect on Social Media

Not following Ross & Brand Sauce on social media yet? Let’s change that. Click the links below to stay connected for fresh ideas, behind-the-scenes content, and exclusive updates 👇

• Ross’s LinkedIn

• BrandSauce LinkedIn

• BrandSauce YouTube Channel

• In Print-on-Demand | EP#61, we zoomed in on the power of on-demand swag, smarter gifting, and why letting people choose beats sending another “box of stuff” every time. From behind-the-scenes moments at Printing United to real-world stories of company stores done right, this episode explored how technology is reshaping employee experience and brand moments. Add in fresh industry insights, a community-powered giveaway, and a few crowd-favorite picks, and you’ve got an edition that’s equal parts practical, people-first, and scroll-worthy.

• In Print on Demand | EP#60, we leaned into year-end energy with secret swag moves, resilience-fueled storytelling, and a giveaway built for both slow sippers and tech tinkerers. We spotlighted bold updates from the promo world, stirred in a little AI merch envy, and wrapped it all with insights to keep your culture sharp. It’s an episode that blends grit, gifting, and just enough weird to make your scroll worthwhile.

• In Print on Demand | EP#59, we glided into December with fresh takeaways from our latest webinar, new swag stories shaping the industry, and a winter-ready giveaway that made bundling up look good. We dug into why appreciation is becoming the new retention strategy, spotlighted trends from Boston to Pantone, and served up a few fun moments along the way. It’s an episode that warms your brain and your inbox. Consider it your weekly nudge to slow down, get cozy, and swag smarter.

• In Print on Demand | EP#58, we charged into December with a mix of promo wins, HR truth bombs, and a retail season that crossed the trillion-dollar mark. We unpacked burnout trends, highlighted smart swag plays, and kept things festive with a holiday fun fact or two. It’s an episode that’ll spark ideas, lift moods, and maybe convince you to finally embrace that cozy office blanket.

THAT’S A WRAP

Appreciate you making it to the bottom of the inbox. Not everyone does. Got feedback, wild swag ideas, or a favorite coffee order? We’re all ears — hit reply and drop us a line.

Until next time, stay saucy!

👋 – Ross & the Brand Sauce Team.

© 2025 On Demand Global, LLC, DBA Brand Sauce