KIRBY AND AMY HASSEMAN

Growing up in Coshocton, Ohio, a rural town with a population of around twelve thousand, Kirby Hasseman—on a full tennis scholarship—left for Michigan and entered his freshman year of college at the University of Detroit. 

However, he didn’t completely abandon his roots. Any time an opportunity presented, he would return home to visit. While back in Coshocton attending a college party at a friend’s house, Kirby was taken aback when, out-of-the-blue, a woman snuck up from behind and planted a kiss on him. 

With a grin as wide as the Union of Waters—where the Tuscarawas and Walhonding Rivers meet to form the Muskingum River in Coshocton—Amy explains her behavior. “He was certainly handsome, and I had heard a lot of nice things about him, so I just seized the moment.” Of course, she credits a couple of beers for that boost of confidence that helped embolden her action.

As odd as it is for a shy person to relate to Amy’s awesome courage, it is just as odd that Kirby and Amy had both grown up in the small town of Coshocton, but having attended different high schools, didn’t know each other. 

With an upcoming birthday—and Amy’s having just passed—Kirby viewed Amy’s kiss as an unexpected gift, yet no relationship developed. With Amy pursuing a business degree from Kent State and Kirby at the University of Detroit, the several hours distance kept them apart. 

Change did come, though. After having one too many guns pulled on him in Detroit, Kirby left the Motor City and transferred to West Liberty State College. The full tennis scholarship he’d won wasn’t worth his life or the risk of suffering a gunshot wound, but at least he was getting half his tuition paid at West Liberty State. “It was a blessing,” Kirby says.

Besides, for him, it was all about the sport anyway. A quick-witted Kirby likes to tease, “I went to college to play tennis. I also got an education, but that was by accident.” 

Yet it wasn’t by accident, but by desire, that the next summer while on college break, Amy and Kirby had their first date. 

Great things come in small packages. 

Six months later, Amy was opening a box. Inside the larger box was a smaller box. And inside the smaller box was an even smaller box. And on it goes. Before she could finish opening all of the boxes, Kirby—who had become nerves on steroids watching—asked, “So will you?”

That kiss Amy surprised Kirby with the night they first met had come back to her in the form of an engagement ring on Christmas Eve. Kirby will smile when he tells you, “Amy mistakenly said ‘yes.’”

Finally, having been in a long-distance relationship for three years, Amy and Kirby Hasseman exchanged vows at Grace United Methodist Church in their hometown of Coshocton, Ohio, on July 27th, 1996. It was all Amy could do to fight back tears when—during the middle of the wedding—Kirby sang George Strait’s hit song I Cross My Heart to her!

Twenty-five years later, Kirby volunteered to say, “I would marry Amy all over again.” 

When asked if she would marry Kirby all over again, Amy answered, “I would. I wouldn’t let anyone else.”

And that was just the beginning. Kirby’s parents had worked for JII, a one hundred-year-old promotional products company located in Coshocton. Between her junior and senior years of college, Amy needed an internship so she started from scratch going out and cold-calling on companies, which helped get her feet wet. 

Eventually, Kirby’s parents left JII and moved south. When that happened, Amy inherited the territory Kirby’s mom had been selling, so she had a little package to step into.

At the time, Kirby was employed with the Longaberger Company doing video, entertainment and marketing. “Essentially, I did corporate communications at Longaberger. As a funny little thing, I did a live television show to all eight thousand employees five days a week called The Longaberger Today Show. My background was in video. But when I left there, I was doing the promotional side where I was selling pens and calendars.”

With a creative talent begging to give the promotional world a try, Kirby took a big leap of faith, left his salaried job, and jumped into straight commission with the Vernon Company. Nine months later, he joined Amy at JII and the two started selling as a team. “Also, another very good decision,” Kirby credits himself for making. 

Not only was he gifted at selling promotional products, Kirby says, “My clients kept asking, ‘Hey! Can you do videos for us?’ And so after I said no six times, on the seventh time I said, ‘I can do the video but you have to pay me in advance.’ And I used the money to buy the camera and the editing system, and away we went.”

One big step can lead to a giant leap. In the year 2008—and with much experience and client loyalty—Hasseman Marketing was birthed in Coshocton, Ohio. 

Starting as a home-based business almost fourteen years ago, Hasseman Marketing eventually outgrew their space and moved into an office building before having to move into another office building large enough to house their printing capabilities, video room for shoots, conference room, offices for several other employees and added space for salespeople.

How did they make it work so well and grow so large? Kirby explains. “I think with many couples, you have an idea person and a logistics person. The challenge I think sometimes is I’m constantly coming up with ideas and many of them are terrible, but I need to bounce that off of Amy because she can help me think things through, both good and bad. And I think sometimes that’s a challenge for me to shut that off.”

Amy nods and says, “Yeah. We’ve had to develop rules. Like I’m not allowed to completely bash an idea for twenty-four hours because sometimes he just needs to think it through, and he has to come to the realization that it was stupid.”

“Yeah, often,” Kirby laughs and agrees. 

Amy continues, “But then sometimes if I’m like, ‘Whew! That’s a good one,’ then he gets really excited and we take it further because I immediately go to ‘why would this not work and what issues would we have to deal with?’ and that kind of stuff. Mine is the logistical thinking.”

Kirby shares, “The rule is pretty simple. I say, ‘This is just an idea. I’m not going to mortgage the house.’ So it kind of puts me in my place and that’s worked well for us.” 

And to wrap this beautiful story up as wonderfully as it came packaged, who knew Coshocton is the birthplace of promotional products?

Kirby recalls that Jasper Meek was the publisher of the newspaper Coshocton Age. Legend has it that in the 1800’s, Meeks was looking out the window of his printing office when he saw a school girl drop her books. Bothered by the image, he worked to find a way to distribute burlap bags for carrying books and charged to print names on them. Cantwell Shoes, a local business, distributed the bags to families who purchased shoes for their kids. 

And just like that, the first promotional products business was born and ballooned right in Coshocton, Ohio. 

It seems Hasseman Marketing has followed in their footsteps. Something good must be in the water there—the Union of Waters—where great ideas are developed and products are built in the smallest of places.

You can catch Kirby every Wednesday on his show Delivering Marketing Joy where he interviews different speakers, authors, and marketers from all over the world. He has the Monday Minute, which he says, “I do coincidentally on Monday” should anyone be wondering. And he does Promo UpFront with Bill Petrie.

So tune in if you can!