Beacon Promotion, Vice President-General Manager Brett Olsen holds up example of the drink ware products that products that use the company has imprinted.

Ever wondered where logos are imprinted on some items that you might use? Like maybe your favorite Stanley mug that has a logo on it. Or any of the many items that we have that have a company logo. The work could have been done right here in New Ulm.

Beacon Promotions at 2121 South Bridge Street is a promotional product supplier. They put company’s logos and imprints on a variety of products.

Some examples of the promotional products are calendars, planners, table covers for trade shows, name badges, drinkware, bags, housewares, auto accessories, writing instruments, Waterford crystal, Bose headphones, and a variety of plastic products.

Beacon sells through a network of distributors. They do not sell to the general public. An example of a local distributor is Printwear Graphics in New Ulm.

Brett Olsen, Vice President-General Manager, of Beacon Promotions has been with the company since 2003 as one of the original founding partners. He said, “There were eleven founding partners when we started the business, but only two remain at Beacon. All of the others have retired.”

When the business started, they had four production employees and a few people in the office. Now, they employ 120 people with about 2/3 of them being production workers and the other 1/3 work in administration or in sales with their distributors.

Six years ago, Beacon Promotions sold to HPG who is now their parent company located in the Boston, Massachusetts’ metro area. HPG is a privately held company. Besides Beacon, HPG owns eight other companies across North America.

HPG’s newest company that they recently acquired is in Eagan, Minnesota. It is called Mixie. They make things for the health, beauty, and wellness category of promotional products like hand sanitizers, lip moisturizers, and sunscreen. Mixie makes their products and puts the logos on at their

location just like the other companies under HPG including Beacon.

Olsen said, “Our future goals is to continue to grow our business by developing more green sustainable products and to leverage our sister companies within HPG to do the same.”

“Our most valuable asset at Beacon Promotions is our employees. We draw from our local community and also Mankato, Madelia, Fairfax, Sleepy Eye and more. We love the community and the work ethic of the people in this area,” he said.