A Brief Concise History of Bright Sparks

 Bright Sparks (1995) Limited specialises in the sale of promotional merchandise to the corporate market. They help companies market and promote themselves through the sourcing and branding of product.  

The first Bright Spark ignited back in April 1995 in Southwark St., Christchurch. This combustive moment was fired up by Grant Furlonger and Derek Manning, who had previous experience in promotional marketing and associated industries.

We keep abreast of the latest trends through affiliations with those in the know around the world. These relationships mean we can source more exclusive offers and also help us to find items for our clients quickly and cost effectively.

WAGE - World Advertising Gift Exchange
Bright Sparks is the sole New Zealand member of the WAGE group. This is a great way to communicate with some of the major promotional companies in the world. At the AGM and product meeting held in Hong Kong each year, all the members present their best promotional ideas and products, as well as introducing new suppliers to the group that meet our clients ever-increasing demands in terms of environmentally safe and ethical manufacturing.

APPA - Australasian Promotional Products Association
This is the association representing the industry in New Zealand and Australia and the major, respected suppliers and distributors in our industry all belong.  Would you use a builder that wasn’t a registered master builder?

PPAI - Promotional Products Association International
As a member of APPA we became affiliate member of PPAI, a large USA organisation that has trade shows annually throughout the year. We have attended the largest of these in Las Vegas and it is excellent for marketing and product ideas.

VISCONNECT – A POWERFUL TOOL EXCLUSIVE TO BRIGHT SPARKS Bright Sparks recently introduced a powerful operating system called Viisconnect, to dramatically improve our ability to service clients needs. As one of New Zealands leading promotional companies, Bright Sparks undertook a major review of our business processes and made the critical decision to centralise our stock records, CRM and quotation/ordering system. Viisibility developed a customised ViisConnect solution based on Bright Sparks' existing CRM system, with added functionality that ensured the system aligned with the company's existing business processes.

Now, when a new product line is introduced, the information can be uploaded to Viisconnect and viewed by all staff across the company. Additionally, with the click of a button, this new information can be automatically uploaded to the website directly from vissconnect. Paper use at Bright Sparks has decreased to the extent, that old filing systems have been done away with. PROBLEM – staff operating independently, with limited collaboration and information sharing. SOLUTION – Viisconnect increase transparency of operations and make business easier for everyone. RESULTS – enhanced sales process, huge reduction in paper usage, significantly reduced operating costs, better visibility of all business transactions and improved company IP.