As Absolute Promotions celebrates 30 years in business, founder Charles Clixby has reflected on three decades working with the agricultural sector – an industry he said he was fortunate to “fall into”, and one that has shaped both his business and some of his most valued relationships.
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Mr Clixby said he had no grand plan to specialise in agriculture when he started the business in 1996.
“In many ways, I simply fell into the industry – and looking back 30 years later, I feel incredibly fortunate that I did,” he said.
“Agriculture has introduced me to some of the most amazing people I have met in business. Over the years, many have become much more than clients. They are people I have learned from, looked up to and developed enormous respect for, and some of those relationships and friendships have lasted for decades.”
He said agriculture’s relationship-driven nature had always suited the way he liked to do business.
“You get to know the people behind the companies and brands, and if you do a good job and look after them, those relationships can continue through different roles, different companies and many years.”
An industry that never stands still
Both agriculture and the promotional products industry looked very different when Absolute Promotions began. Over three decades, the business has worked through acquisitions, mergers and rebrands, with names such as Dow, Ciba, Hoechst and Wesfarmers once a familiar part of the agricultural landscape.
“For those who were around the industry at the time, who could forget the famous Wesfarmers trade show held in the underground car park of Perth’s Observation City Hotel?” Mr Clixby said.
“Companies and brands have come and gone, but memories like that remain, while technology has transformed both farming and the way businesses communicate with their customers. We’ve had to move with those changes too.”
One of his favourite memories from the early days showed how far the industry had come.
“I can remember physically sticking six gold dollar coins onto presentation plaques for CRT’s ‘Million Dollar Club’,” he said. “It was simple, but it was memorable and completely relevant to their event.”
Today, the business sources highly customised merchandise, premium apparel and products from suppliers around Australia and the world, using decoration techniques and technology that would have been almost unimaginable in 1996.
But Mr Clixby said the basic philosophy had not changed: understand the customer and find a product that is relevant to them.
Agriculture isn’t a generic market
He said that was particularly important in agriculture.
“We’ve learned that you can’t simply take a generic promotional product, put a logo on it and assume it will work,” he said. “The audience, location, campaign and intended use all matter.”
Some of the company’s most memorable agricultural promotions have included boxer shorts carrying the campaign line “Stronger for Longer”, branded bar fridges and bread makers, as well as premium outdoor apparel, fishing gear, barbecues, coolers and products designed for people who spend much of their working lives outdoors.
“On paper, some might sound like unusual promotional products. For the particular campaign and audience, they made perfect sense,” Mr Clixby said.
“After 30 years, I don’t believe our job is simply to put a client’s logo onto something. It’s to understand who is receiving it, where they live and work, and what they will genuinely value.
“A grower incentive can be very different from a dealer promotion, staff uniform program or high-value customer gift. Even geography can change the answer.”
He said the team often came back to one simple question: “Would I actually want this product if somebody gave it to me?”
Quality, relevance and longevity
Mr Clixby said one of the biggest changes he had seen was a move away from merchandise being regarded simply as a giveaway, with clients increasingly preferring to give away fewer, better products – particularly in agriculture, where practical and durable products tended to resonate.
He was reminded of this when he caught up with one of his original customers, now retired, who still uses a Leatherman tool Absolute Promotions supplied for a campaign in 1997.
“Nearly 30 years later, he’s still using it – and he still remembers where it came from,” Mr Clixby said. “For me, it’s difficult to think of a better example of promotional merchandise doing its job.
“It also says something about sustainability. Sustainability isn’t only about recycled materials. Longevity matters. A quality product that is valued and used for decades has a very different impact from something inexpensive that is quickly discarded.”
The same thinking applies to branded apparel, with clients increasingly wanting quality garments their teams want to wear.
“If somebody voluntarily reaches for your branded jacket or cap on the weekend, you’ve probably got the merchandise right,” he said.
Thirty years on
Mr Clixby said he was proud the business had moved with the changes in agriculture without losing the values on which it was built – but what he was most proud of came back to the people.
“I feel enormously fortunate to have fallen into agriculture all those years ago,” he said. “It has given me long-term customers, friendships and relationships with people I genuinely admire and respect. For me, that’s a much more meaningful measure of 30 years in business than simply how many products we’ve sold.”
Today, clients often come to Absolute Promotions before they know what the product should be.
“They know their audience and what they want to achieve; our job is to find something that works,” he said. “Sometimes that’s a cap. Sometimes it’s a pair of boxer shorts, a bread maker or a branded bar fridge. And once upon a time, it was six gold dollar coins stuck onto a plaque.
“Thirty years later, the products have changed enormously. The principle hasn’t: understand the people you’re talking to and give them something relevant that they will genuinely value.”
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Caption: Charles Clixby has been working with the agricultural sector for the past three decades. Pic: Supplied