Kaminsky says he was exhibiting in ISS Long Beach a couple of years ago when someone representing the movie industry approached his booth and asked him if he could produce six mugs with the logo of "Stark Enterprises" on them for a major motion picture. If you know Kaminsky, he seldom has a problem producing products at the show, so he was more than happy to comply.

"I'm kind of used to that," he says. "I get a lot of requests at shows and at home. It's kind of like I am a magnet for this. When friends and associates need personalization, they ask me.

"Anyway, I figured this is probably just someone asking me to make mugs to earn brownie points from their boss, but you never know whose hands these products go into, which is why I suggest always putting labels and stickers on the products that end finishers present their clients."

Fast forward to opening night of Iron Man. Kaminsky, a self-proclaimed Marvel comics fan, is sitting in the movies and whispering to his wife, Martha, "That mug looks familiar."

Then, as Kaminsky recalls, it happened. "Iron man picked up the mug for a drink and there it was — RPL Sublimation on the big screen. I screamed, 'That's My Mug!' and nearly fell out of the chair with excitement as the crowd turned and looked at me."

The moral of the story, says Kaminsky, is that samples are good for business. "I'm looking forward to the sequel," he says. — R.L.