Consolidated Marketing Services (CMS), Somerville, Mass., announced the acquisition of award-winning promotional merchandise agency Progressive Promotions. Progressive, which was founded in 1987 and had its strongest year ever in 2020, will retain its Englewood, N.J., office, personnel and contact information, and will henceforth be known as Progressive Promotions, powered by Consolidated Marketing Services.
The merger creates one of the largest certified women-owned promotional merchandise agencies in the U.S., and a powerhouse international provider of custom and e-commerce promotional programs that help companies, governments and institutions build brands, grow sales and profits, engage employees and achieve their cost savings and ROI goals.
The combination of CMS, an industry leader in in-house developed e-commerce programs enhanced by kitting and fulfillment via a network of company-owned warehouses, and Progressive Promotions, whose creative custom programs serve a wide variety of blue-chip clients, makes CMS/Progressive one of the most formidable agencies in the space. Clients both existing and new will benefit from expanded capacity and a wide variety of new products and services that each bring to the other organization.
“Combining services and sharing our breadth of expertise with another like-minded, industry-leading, woman-owned business only solidifies our position as the go-to for marketing and promotional products for enterprise-level clients,” said Charleen Smotrycz, president of CMS. “This acquisition will further allow us to attract additional blue-chip clients and large, complex projects on a national and global scale.”
“In today’s constantly-evolving digital world, reliable and consistent technology is crucial to the overall success of a company, and CMS’ technology team proves that,” said Julie Levi, CEO and founder of Progressive Promotions. “We were attracted to CMS for their best-in-class, enterprise-grade, e-commerce services offerings, which is a perfect complement to the innovative products and services we currently offer.
“In CMS we saw many synergies between our two companies,” Levi continued. “Culturally, we knew they would value our employees and help take them to the next level professionally. Globally, we knew they would enhance our presence and enable seamless expansion to many countries. Additionally, their in-house design, data analytics, and sophisticated print management teams will help create a one-stop shop for our clients’ marketing execution needs.”
Progressive Promotions and Consolidated Marketing Services’ combined client roster includes American Express, ADP, AvisBudget Group, Baxter, KraftHeinz, John Hancock, Levi’s, MetLife, MassMutual, PGA, PNC Bank, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Tommy Hilfiger/Calvin Klein, and dozens more.
For more information on CMS, visit www.cmsassociates.com. For more information on Progressive Promotions, visit www.progressivepromotions.com.
