Chronicle of Cavanaugh’s emergence as a leader in the
promotional products industry: 2010 – And Again…
For the second consecutive year Cavanaugh was named as One of the Top Places to Work
by ASI's Counselor Magazine, ranking in the top 50 companies among 20,000 other
distributors in the industry. The Cavanaugh Marketing Network saw its Crons Brand division
set sales records on the way to becoming the fastest growing new team athletic apparel brand in
the country and receiving national attention from CNBC and The New York Times. Company
President Pat Cavanaugh finished his second year of being a contributing columnist to the
industry’s most widely read monthly publication—Advantages Magazine. Cavanaugh
continued its significant work with large clients in the pharmaceutical, healthcare,
hospitality, energy and financial industries.
2009 – One Great Place to Work!
The highlight of the year is when The Cavanaugh Marketing Network is named by
ASI as one of the Top 50 places to work in the promotional products industry.
The trade group ranks Cavanaugh 34th among 2,500 companies in the industry,
based on anonymous surveys completed by the company's own employees. Cavanaugh was also profiled
by the Pittsburgh Business Times in a story about how well the company established and monitored
its preferred supplier network. Making the firm a great workplace has been one of President Pat
Cavanaugh's major objectives in building the company. The Crons Brand™ grows another 100% and
expands its reach into almost 400 organizations in 25 states. Crons is
nationally recognized by CNBC when one of the basketball teams it
outfits-Robert Morris University-makes the NCAA Basketball Tournament. Crons
also starts to assemble a national team of Crons Head Coaches, independent reps
who sell Crons part-time on their own time. A new Crons product line is also
debuted in December-Game Time-which is pointed towards the football apparel
market. Cavanaugh continues to make inroads into the pharmaceutical market,
despite new regulations that basically outlaw traditional promotional products.
It also lands a couple of high profile Pittsburgh Fortune 500 accounts for its
company store business.
2008 – Lift Off For Crons
Pat Cavanaugh had founded the Crons concept back in 1996. An acronym for Come
Ready Or Never Start, The Crons Brand™ is a motivational brand that uses team
athletic apparel to inspire young athletes to reach their potential. Pat had
put the brand on hold after its founding while he concentrated on building
Cavanaugh Marketing into a powerhouse, Inc. 500 promotional products agency
ranked in the Top 1% of its industry. But with the hiring of a Brand Manager
the previous year, this division of Cavanaugh starts to grow exponentially
with sales that increased 250% from the previous year.
2007 – Practically Perfect
Cavanaugh continues to build its core promotional products business while landing
additional Fortune 500 corporate identity programs. Customer service performance
reaches new levels of excellence as illustrated by the performance of the company’s
Distribution Center which broke a Team record with 582 consecutive perfectly
fulfilled program orders and an order accuracy rate of 99.8%. The company also
successfully implements merchandising programs for regional and national restaurant
chains that prove popular and profitable, thus adding to marketing capabilities of
the firm.
2005-06 – New Opportunities
Cavanaugh focuses on new partnerships to create new business opportunities. A retail
promotion with American Eagle Outfitters, one of the top specialty retailers in the nation,
produces a blockbuster back-to-school promotion. Cavanaugh also forged effective
partnerships with the Ginn Company, the Southeast's largest luxury real estate developer and
Nova Nordisk, one of the top diabetes pharmaceutical companies, on its way to another year
of sales and gross profit records.
2004 – One Decade Down
Cavanaugh finishes its first decade of taking the promotional products industry by storm by
hitting the 8,000% growth mark, while recording double-digit annual growth for the 11th
consecutive year. A European Distribution Center is opened in Germany to expand its global
distribution capabilities. The company also launches its own proprietary brand of gourmet
desserts, snacks and treats called Deservings.
2003 – Look Out Batman!
Expansion, expansion, expansion…. Throughout
2003, Cavanaugh continued its impressive trend of business
expansion with its ninth consecutive year of double-digit
sales growth. The company also set its second consecutive
annual record for gross profit.
Ever-expanding, Cavanaugh opened new offices in Boston and
Toledo, while heightening its presence in the New York metropolitan
market by increasing its NY sales force.
Besides continued success in its core promotional products
industry, Cavanaugh scored impressive sales gains in two of
its newer areas of concentration - business consulting (b-to-b
marketing and sales force incentives) and its C.R.O.N.S.
sportswear division.
President Pat Cavanaugh gained national business exposure
for the company being featured in Potentials Magazine,
a leading trade publications in the Incentive Industry.
2002 – Can’t Stop Us Now
Cavanaugh wins consecutive honors….
Cavanaugh earns the ASI Spirit Award for being one of the
Top 10 fastest growing agencies in the country; while Pat
Cavanaugh is again named the top company principal in the
industry. With such success, district offices are opened in
Cleveland and the New York/New Jersey area.
2001 – Breaking Out
Inc. 500...again! President Pat Cavanaugh
is named the top company principal in the industry and the
company earns Inc. 500 honors for the third consecutive year.
As a leader in the industry, growth equals expansion and accomplishment.
In continuing to Set A New Standard, Cavanaugh sets a seventh
consecutive sales record, is named a Spirit Award Winner by
the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) for being one of
the Top 10 fastest growing agencies in the country and client
base spirals to 48 states and 71 countries.
2000 - A New Era
“The Nonstop CEO Salesman….”
As a new millennium dawns, Cavanaugh Promotions becomes simply
Cavanaugh, adopting the tag line Setting A New Standard. Cavanaugh
is again named to the Inc. 500 list; named as Entrepreneur
of the Year by Ernst & Young and inducted into the Entrepreneur
of the Year Hall of Fame; named “One of the Top 10 Distributors
to Watch in the Next Decade” by Counselor Magazine;
Profiled in an eight page story in Inc. Magazine titled “The
Non-Stop CEO Salesman,” highlighting the company’s
rapid growth in six short years. Cavanaugh moves to the current
corporate headquarters, opens an office in Buffalo, NY and
leases a 35,000 sq. foot warehouse to house company store
programs and fulfillment projects. Cavanaugh becomes the largest
privately held promotional products company in Pennsylvania.
1999 – All Grown Up
Named to the Inc. 500 List…. Cavanaugh
Promotions lands on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing
private companies in America (for the first time…),
attaining the lofty goal Pat Cavanaugh set when founding the
company only five years previously. Cavanaugh becomes the
largest promotional products company in Pittsburgh, PA and
ascends to the top one percent of firms in the entire industry.
Sales hike to $6.2 million.
1998 - Still Growing, Growing, Growing….
$4.6 million in sales…. While burgeoning
in the promotional products industry, Cavanaugh Promotions
expands to 16 employees. With each employee’s dedication
to the company, sales soar to $4.6 million by the end of 1998,
paving the way for the next years success.
1997 - Growing, Growing, Growing….
First Fortune 1000 account…. With rising
sales and rapid client growth, Cavanaugh moves to a new, larger
office and opens an official warehouse. Additional sales support
personnel are hired, the company organizes into separate business
units, and the first Fortune 1000 account is landed.
1996 - A Year of Firsts
First million, first office, first incentive program.…
Cavanaugh Promotions moves into its first office,
the first sales support rep is hired and Pat creates the first
incentive program – ORK. A character based mealtime
incentive program marketed to school food service directors
to promote the purchase of school meals, ORK won both the
Department of Agriculture and School of Business Awards. ORK’s
invention allowed Cavanaugh to exceed $1 million in sales
that year!
1995 - The Creation
First employee and salesperson…. Pat
Cavanaugh founds Cavanaugh Promotions, the beginning of Cavanaugh
today. Using his cramped college apartment as his office and
‘warehouse,’ he hires his first employee and salesperson.
1994 - The Inspiration
While on a basketball scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh,
Pat Cavanaugh sets out to earn extra money as an independent
promotional product account rep. Continuing his educational
and athletic journey, he earns his MBA while playing professional
basketball and working full-time – not an easy task.
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