Recognizing the value of utilizing diverse suppliers, Cotton Candy has taken the lead by establishing a program of its own. Step One is educating the organization.
By Anna Gonsalves
Anyone who has been involved with the Canadian promotional product industry over the past two and a half decades will recognize the name Cotton Candy as a leading provider of corporate branded merchandise. The company has worked in every category of business and has branded just about every kind of product, from eco-friendly paper bags to brand name apparel to specialized awards and recognition items. Since 1992 the company with a memorable name has been providing its ‘tangible marketing solutions’ and, today, has operations in six Canadian locations and one in Chicago, Illinois in the United States. In 2014, the company hired Jen McAvoy to be the organization’s Director of Client Engagement. In her three years on the job she has also emerged as its catalyst for introducing diversity into the company’s supplier base. Her experiences in establishing a formal Supplier Diversity Program at the company give others an excellent opportunity to understand the early challenges that must be overcome.
Becoming a Supplier Diversity Champion
When McAvoy joined Cotton Candy, the company’s involvement in supplier diversity was in its infancy. As awareness grew in the larger business community, her company looked to her to ‘champion’ the cause. So enthusiastically did she embrace this task that she now sits on the Women Business Enterprises (WBE) Canada Board of Directors. She is also a member of the WBE certification committee, giving her firsthand knowledge of the complexity of getting certified as a diverse owned business. Before joining Cotton Candy, McAvoy knew first hand the challenges of running a company as a partner in a business for 15 years.
The name ‘Cotton Candy’ comes from its early incarnation as a t-shirt company. Founder and President, John Houlding, is a two-time Olympian who competed for Canada in rowing at the 1984 and 1988 games. Were it not for an unfortunate injury suffered in the lead up to it, he would have added the 1992 to that list as well. Instead, he started the business that would eventually grow to become one of 2016’s Distributors of the Year. Back in 1992, the first products the company sold were t-shirts (the ‘cotton’) with original rowing designs on the front (the ‘candy’). T-shirts for corporations were an easy leap and from there it was a natural evolution into promotional products.
Today the company works with many Fortune 500 companies and thousands of small-to-medium sized companies. McAvoy explains, "The concept of supplier diversity was first introduced to us about six years ago when we were encouraged by one of our clients to join CAMSC. Beyond the inner circle of the group that handled that particular account, however, there was limited understanding of its true value." In the three years since she joined the company, there has been considerable improvement in setting and meeting targets, and in company-wide awareness. Today, the company tracks ‘spend’ on a quarterly basis and generates regular reporting for a growing list of clients for whom supplier diversity is corporate policy.
Connecting the Disconnect
To address the lack of awareness and understanding among Cotton Candy's management and sales force, Jen McAvoy took the initiative to organize a Supplier Diversity Education day to demystify the movement’s principles and to correct any misconceptions. She brought in speakers from advocacy organizations WBE and CAMSC, industry diverse supplier Redwood Classics, and even a client-side procurement director from BMO. Each took turns speaking on the certification process, the benefits of being certified, supplier diversity programs in action, and the value of supplier diversity to companies.
"There is often a disconnect between corporate procurement and their buyers," says McAvoy. "When the people doing the buying do not understand or appreciate supplier diversity, internal education is critical. Spend targets have little meaning if there is no understanding of the value of supplier diversity, and not much effort will be put into attracting diverse suppliers.” Cotton Candy has begun writing procurement contracts that include supplier diversity language to indicate how much spend the company is to meet. Cotton Candy has actively sought out and encouraged new, eligible suppliers to certify which can only increase the opportunity to succeed. Since Jennifer began actively developing supplier diversity at Cotton Candy, spend has increased by significant margin. "We still have a long way to go on this journey," she says, "but that is exactly what it is – a journey."
Top Down Support Rather than Procurement Pushing Up
Word tends to spread when one Cotton Candy account rep introduces a diverse supplier who goes on to deliver excellent products and services. Others will use that supplier in turn, often for larger companies. Says McAvoy, "Informing people of these successes is key to increasing supplier diversity spend. Education and reporting are our two basic tools right now. As a company we have explored a number of concepts for quarterly sales contests to reward organizational members who use a diverse supplier. Rewards for identifying and encouraging enrolment of new diverse suppliers as well as generating competitive quotes that include diverse suppliers are great ways to reinforce the desired behaviour." McAvoy also points out a realization that so many supplier diversity professionals experience; there must be top down support rather than procurement pushing it up. She has found that people tend to think diverse suppliers are more expensive, or that there is a reluctance to engage because the supplier is new and outside the traditional ‘tried and trusted’ supplier network. Through education these unfounded biases can be eliminated.
Cotton Candy’s future goals include increasing supplier diversity by tenfold within five to seven years and adding at least 50 new suppliers. It’s McAvoy’s challenge to continue developing new strategies for Cotton Candy and for the promotional product industry in general. She connects diverse suppliers so they build capacity, even if they are suppliers outside her company’s scope of operation. "I want Cotton Candy to be known as a leading contributor to supplier diversity", says McAvoy. In large part to her ongoing efforts, it’s a reputation that’s truly taking shape.