The Story of Stein

Gather 'round, children, as we tell you the story of Stein. 

It begins with Julius J. Stein, who emigrated from Germany in the late 1930s. He'd owned and run a cardboard factory back home and wasn't finding work suited to his talents here in Fort Wayne. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to start selling imprinted yardsticks and pencils up and down the street to local businesses, where Stein Advertising (as it was then known) was born.

In 1948 Curt Stein, or as his kids called him, Mr. Stein, was working a sales territory for a national costume jewelry company selling to department stores.  When his father Julius died unexpectedly, Curt thought that taking over his father’s fledgling company might be his only opportunity to work for himself.  His favorite story about how his long hours and hard work paid off was about him sitting in his office on New Year’s Eve in 1948 at almost 5 pm and wondering why he was there instead of heading home when the phone rang. (If memory serves, he always claimed it was 4:51 pm.) He answered the phone and that was his first of many sales to Lincoln National, a relationship that lasted until his death in 1980.

In the 50’s Curt often took his son John to his office on Saturdays to open the mail before heading to the YMCA for swimming & ping pong and then to lunch. What does an 8-year-old do while Dad works? Well, he goes through the boxes of samples filled with pocket knives and pens and pencils, all imprinted with the sample message “your imprint here in 3 lines.”   Of course, that was on the samples, same as at home where the coffee measure and the wall calendar and the scratch pads all said the same thing. When he graduated from college in 1964, he knew that specialty advertising ran through his veins and that he was destined to become part of the Stein Advertising “Your Imprint Here” Dynasty. Years of thinking up many more catchy slogans have come and gone but it’s still hard to beat that classic.

This panel from a Stein Advertising brochure in the late 70s had a spooky amount of foreshadowing. That’s actual 8-year-old Wendy sitting atop John’s rolltop desk. (That is not her actual handwriting, which you know if you’ve ever seen her scrawl!) After odd weekends here and there filing catalogs and samples while growing up and a full summer during college assisting in the office, Wendy did, in fact, start working in the family business in September 1996. 

Part of a lifelong master plan? Not so much. An opportunity to move back to Fort Wayne and be where family is, and find employment without a job interview? That’s our Wendy! 

From day one John made her feel included, asking for opinions on things she didn’t even understand yet, and always correcting people to say that Wendy worked with him, not for him. 

Wendy’s path to joining the business may not have been premeditated, but it has certainly been impactful. Her unique perspective, combined with the guidance and partnership of John, has helped shape who we are today. 

Who are these Kaeser & Blair people?

In 2008, we made a strategic decision to affiliate with Kaeser & Blair, a family business that has served the promotional products industry for more than 125 years. They have the financial strength, buying power, office staff, and customer service required to handle any size order or program with ease. Having Kaeser & Blair take on the administrative end of the business has allowed us more time to do what we love most: working with our clients.