Close Up: Phil Martin of Warwick Publishing


How often do you multi-task?
All the time, it's the only way I get things done. Sometimes, I try not to but sometimes I can't help it. Never, I just can't do more than one thing at a time.

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Close Up: Phil Martin of Warwick Publishing
By: Staff
Issue: 2009sep

When Phil Martin finds something he likes, he sticks with it and gives it all he’s got. And after 24 years with Warwick Publishing, the national sales manager continues to enjoy his role serving distributor clients with a caring attitude and his unique sense of humor.

A true ad man, he learned the essence of what works in advertising back in the ’80s while employed on the newspaper publishing side of the fourth generation family-owned company. Once Martin made the jump to the promotional products side of the business, he was hooked for good.

A ready volunteer, he’s also been on the board of Promotional Professionals Association of Chicago and chaired the regional association’s end-user show. Through the years Martin has also taken an active role as president of Young Executives of Specialty Advertising Association (YESAA), a former PPAI organization; president of the Jaycees; and has presented industry workshops for his regional association as well as PPAI.
How do you like to spend your leisure time?
I like to spend my leisure time either golfing or riding my motorcycle with my fiancée, Beth, sitting right behind me.

What’s a little-known fact about you?
I have been a paid-on-call lieutenant with the St. Charles (Illinois) Fire Department for the last 30 years. Firefighting was going to be my career until I landed in the promotional products business.

What person, living or dead, would you most like to meet and why?
That’s an easy one—Jimmy Buffett! I have been following Jimmy’s career since 1978. I have seen him in concert at least once a year since then and sometimes as many as three times a year. I think he is the ultimate marketer and promoter. Think of what he has done in the area of promotion and marketing since he started in the mid-seventies. Not bad for a one-hit wonder that was rarely, if ever, played on the radio.

When did you know you wanted to work in this industry?
Like many others, I somewhat fell into it by sheer luck. I was working for a newspaper owned by Chronicle Publishing Company (now Warwick Publishing Company), which also owned the Warwick line of desk calendars. I was transferred from the newspaper division to the calendar division, went to my first PPAI Dallas Show in 1985, got hooked up with YESAA and the rest is history—I was home!

What promotional product do you wish you had invented and why? Now that is a tough one. I should say the calendar because it has weathered the test of time and it is Warwick’s main product line, but then again the coffee mug pops into my mind, but then again, think about the pen … I could go on and on. I guess the common theme in all of these items is that they are all items that are wanted, needed and will never go out of style.

If you had a motto, what would it be?
I honestly do not have a motto, but I do like the wisdom of Larry the Cable Guy— Git-R-Done! There is one motto I do believe in and that is “Don’t burn any bridges.”

What’s your dream vacation destination and have you been there?
My dream vacation would be spending a month traveling the South Pacific or possibly spending a month in Italy. No, I have not been to either—that’s why it’s a dream. And as long as I was dreaming, I thought I would dream big by spending a month there.

Where do you get creative inspiration?
At some watering hole sipping cocktails with Rob and Jim Paschal (owners of Warwick) usually sparks some creative juices.

If you had to choose a different career, what would it be?
Comedian

How do you relieve stress?
Go home and crack open a beer.

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