John Vo came from outside the industry, but it was in his blood. He was originally in the computer science world, but Vo’s sister had a screen-printing and embroidery business, which she invited him to help out with.
“I’ve been in it ever since,” he said during a recent Convergence Corner podcast episode. “It’s been over two decades and I still love it every day.”
Now with WHOOPLA, Vo still gets to use the skills he developed in the computer science world – like problem-solving and logistics – but with the creative flair that comes with working on branded campaigns.
Vo acknowledged that if you’ve been in promo only, print can seem intimidating. But, he said, it’s really just a matter of taking things one step at a time and perhaps reframing the way you think of “print.”
“For many, many years, I didn’t offer any print at all,” he said. “No business forms, any of that sort of stuff. And about a decade ago, a couple years before COVID hit, we started to integrate print more, and we started very easily. It was just postcards, insert cards, thank-you cards that go along with holiday gifts, things of that sort. And then we started getting into packaging.”
From there, Vo and the team at WHOOPLA became more comfortable with the print side of the business, and were more ready to offer their customers fully branded solutions that ranged from print, packaging and promo. And he has plenty of examples of branded kits that tell a customer’s whole story through creative design and product selection. He even has gone so far as getting items from outside of the traditional wholesale industry to make the kit land exactly how the customer wants. He’s also learned the value of knowing when to place a logo and when to let a product speak for itself, rather than overload the end-user.
“It doesn’t need to be branded because the whole box is branded,” he said. “Because of print, where we can print on the box and print on collateral, we let our clients know that not everything has to be branded. … Why do we have to, when it says right here exactly what it is, and your branding is all over the box and the packaging and the experience itself? People will remember who it came from.”
Podcast Chapters
0:04: Introduction
0:33: John’s background in promo and starting WHOOPLA
1:28: The separation of print and promo for some distributors
2:00: WHOOPLA’s entry to print through packaging
4:32: Learning about print
6:02: Creative solutions and working with vendor partners and customers
7:09: Kitting case studies
12:54: Working with suppliers outside of the industry
15:38: Collaborating with peers
18:20: Advice for distributors
Key Takeaways
• John Vo explains that distributors increasingly realize things like packaging, inserts and even printed substrates all fall under “print,” making print a natural extension of promo offerings.
• WHOOPLA didn’t jump straight into complex print work. They started with simple items like postcards and thank-you cards, then gradually moved into more sophisticated packaging solutions.
• John emphasizes that distributors don’t need to be print experts themselves – they need reliable print/packaging partners who can guide feasibility, materials, structure and production limitations.
• One standout example is a cosmetics kit built around influencer “dares,” where each product had a themed challenge and packaging design that encouraged hands-on engagement.
• Vo’s biggest advice: Don’t pretend you know everything. Ask vendors, peers and partners how to solve problems. He even advocates working with other distributors when needed, because there’s plenty of business to go around.
