PPB Newslink 2.14.12

February 14, 2012 PPAI Staff PPB NewslinkLeave a Reply

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PPAI’s brand. Showcase Returns To The 2012 SAAC Show
PPAI and the Specialty Advertising Association of California (SAAC) have come to terms on an agreement to produce PPAI’s brand. at The 2012 SAAC Show, August 8-9, 2012, at the Long Beach Convention Center in Long Beach, California. Read more brand.

Indoff Reports Successful 2011, Growing Its Sales And Sales Force
Looking back at 2011, St. Louis, Missouri-based distributor Indoff (UPIC: Indoff) found that the year’s successes point toward a promising 2012. Read more Indoff

Spirit Industries Works To Protect Its Copyright
Spirit Industries (UPIC: SPIRIT) has made an impression on sports fans with its #1 Fan foam hands. Since 2009, the company has aggressively pursued violations of its copyright. Read more Spirit

Bullet Line Implements Enterprise Resource Planning System
Bullet Line (UPIC: BULLET), a Miami, Florida-based subsidiary of Polyconcept North America, has rolled out a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Read more Bullet

In Memoriam: Jeffrey Zaslow
On February 10, Jeffrey Zaslow, Wall Street Journal columnist and co-author of Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope,was killed in an automobile accident in northern Michigan. Zaslow,along with Mark Kelly, NASA astronaut and husband of CongresswomanGabrielle Giffords, presented the keynote presentation focused on theirbook at The PPAI Expo 2012’s general session last month in Las Vegas.Read more Zaslow

Share Your Knowledge And Experience; Deliver A Presentation At A PPAI Event
Experienced industry professionals have an opportunity to support their peers and colleagues in the promotional products field by presenting at a PPAI event or webinar. Read more Presentations

Upcoming PPAI Webinars
PPAI offers a wide range of online training and professional development opportunities over the next two weeks. Read more Webinars

45 Industry Professionals Earn PPAI’s TAS Certificate Designation
PPAI is pleased to announce that 45 professionals have achieved the Trained Advertising Specialist (TAS) certificate designation. Read more TAS

PPAI Expo Exhibitors Give With Heart
Sixty-four exhibitors at last month’s PPAI Expo heeded the call from The Kids In Need Foundation by donating products of all kinds to the charity after the show. The retail value of the donated products was $48,826, a 20-percent increase over last year’s show donations. Read more KINF

Join The Growing Number Of Industry Companies That Have Signed The PPAI Code Of Conduct
The PPAI Code of Product Responsibility Conduct gives industry professionals a tangible presentation that can show clients what they are doing to meet end buyers’ expectations for product safety and social and environmental assurances. The Code is a statement of principles that a supplier can hand to a distributor and a distributor can hand to an end buyer when an end buyer expresses those expectations. Read more Code of Conduct

Participate In The Virtual Fly-In During PPAI’s L.E.A.D. 2012
On March 7-8, 2012, industry professionals and PPAI staff will meet with senators, congressional representatives and their legislative staffs in Washington, D.C., as part of PPAI’s L.E.A.D. (Legislative Education and Action Day). During their time on Capitol Hill, they will discuss pending legislation and issues relevant to the promotional products industry. Make your voice heard and bolster their efforts, contact your member of Congress during L.E.A.D. in support of the industry and follow their successes through Twitter at #PPAILEAD. Mark your calendar and keep an eye on the PPAI Law webpage for more information.

The PPAI Product Safety Summit Explores Compliance Issues Facing The Industry
Register today for the PPAI Product Safety Summit. The day-and-a-half product safety education event will be held on August 14-15 in New Orleans, Louisiana, in conjunction with the PPAI North American Leadership Conference. Explore the product-safety issues currently impacting the promotional products industry, as well as business implications and challenges associated with compliance. Click here for more information.

Pedigree (UPIC: Pedigree), a supplier headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, and a division of Midway Industries, Ltd., has promoted Sofia Ali to division manager. Ali joined Pedigree three years earlier as customer service manager. In her new role, Ali will oversee all aspects of sales, customer service and product development for the company. Also at Pedigree, Jason Usheroff has joined the company as customer service team leader.

Peter Zeiger, MAS,has been promoted within Geiger (UPIC: geiger), becoming the Lewiston,Maine-based distributor’s director of recruitment and sales partnerdevelopment. Zeiger has been with the company for 10 years, mostrecently as regional manager for the Northeast and Central divisions.

Norwood & BIC Graphic (UPIC: BIC) has promoted Jill Stirnkorb from director of inside sales to the Clearwater, Florida-headquartered supplier’s vice president of inside sales.

Robin Finkhas been promoted from sales manager to sales director at Las Vegas,Nevada-based supplier Visstun and DIGISPEC (UPIC: VISSTUN). In her newrole, Fink, who joined the company in May 2009, will supervise salesmanagers from all brands, develop training programs and conduct coachingand counseling sessions.

Indianapolis, Indiana-based supplier EMT (UPIC: EMTEASY) has hired Novella Charonon as an account manager at the company. Charon will serve distributorpartners in the eastern region, from Maine to Kentucky, as well asAlabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Talbot Marketing (UPIC: TALB0001) has appointed Gina LeTourneau-Atwell, CAS,to the position of vice president of sales and business development forthe Greater Toronto area. Previously, Letourneau-Atwell had served asvice president of sales and marketing at Add Impact, Inc. (UPIC:ADD10351).

Chris Dollar Marketing Group LLC(UPIC: BillN363) has been appointed by Provo, Utah’s Natural Trends(UPIC: NTRENDS) to represent the supplier in Arkansas, Colorado,Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.

Jane Perron has joined the sales team of Vancouver, British Columbia-based distributor The Image Group (UPIC: IMAG0001).

Double Take Promotional Products (UPIC: dbletake) has relocated. The distributor can now be reached at 826 Providence Drive, PO Box 236, Shakopee, Minnesota 55379. Phone and fax numbers remain the same.

CAPPA Members Vote To Dissolve The Regional Association
Matt Gledhill, president of the Corridor Area Promotional Products Association (CAPPA), and the association’s board, announced on February 9 that the association will close its doors. The decision was made at a special member meeting where, after discussing the challenges and economic conditions the organization faced, members voted to dissolve CAPPA. Read more CAPPA

Nominations Now Open For RAC Volunteer Of The Year
ThePPAI RAC Volunteer of the Year Award is presented to regionalassociation members who have demonstrated an outstanding level ofvolunteer leadership and made other significant and measurablecontributions to a Regional Association. Nominations are open fromFebruary 13 through March 30, 2012. To nominate one of your peers, click RAC.

PAPPA Announces Fall End User Expo Date And Location
The Philadelphia Area Promotional Products Association (PAPPA) has announced the date and location of its 2012 Fall End User Promotions Expo. The event will be held on September 12 at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Read more PAPPA

Ed Murawski Recognized As The 2011 Inductee Into R.S. Owens’ President’s Club
R.S. Owens & Co., Inc. (UPIC: RSOWENS) has inducted Ed Murawski, maintenance manager and 28-year veteran with the company, into the R.S. Owens’ President’s Club. The recognition included an all-expense-paid trip for two to the Academy Awards. Read more R.S. Owens

The Image Group Increases Charitable Contributions In 2011
The Image Group (UPIC: IMAGEGRP), a distributor headquartered in Toledo, Ohio, has released a report detailing its annual support of charitable organizations in 2011. The company provided $23,000 in charitable donations in 2011, almost double its 2010 donations, as well as in-kind support. Read more Image Group

Boundless Network Competes In The First Austin Startup Olympics
Industry distributor Boundless Network joined seven other Austin, Texas, startup companies in the first Austin Startup Olympics. Read more Boundless Network

How To: Do A Search By Imprint Size
SAGE Online offers more than 60 different search fields, including search by imprint size. The search by imprint size field allows users to narrow down the 850,000 promotional products in the database to show just the ones with the desired imprint size. They are able to search width, height, length, diameter and more. Users can also search by approximate size and the system will return items that are within 10 percent of the dimensions entered. To learn more about the SAGE benefits available through your PPAI membership, click here.

On The Receiving End Of Great Service
Bob Black explains how Stouffer’s creamed chipped beef on toast reinforces the importance of saying thank you. Read more Service

Five Minutes With Ken Kravitz
Ken Kravitz, CAS, president and CEO at distributor Commotion Promotions, Ltd., talks about targeting the solar energy market. Read more Kravitz

Good Government
Programs abound in the government sector. Secure a piece of the business by fine-tuning your pitch. Read more Government

We’ve Got Spirit!
There’s no better way for sports fans to promote their favorite teams than through wearables. And PPB’s May issue will feature spirit wear for sports fanatics. Send high-res images and product descriptions of your jerseys, sweatshirts, jackets, caps, shorts and other items good for representing the home team to Tama Underwood by February 23 for a chance to be featured..

Green Scene
The May issue of PPB is going green. We’re scouting out those eco-friendly, organic or recyclable products that leave small footprints but yield big results. Send product descriptions, case studies and high-resolution images of your green gear to Audrey Sellers by February 24 for consideration.

High Or Low: Take Your Pick
Promotions can rock no matter the cost of the products used. Did you create a stellar campaign using a big-ticket item (think $50 or more)? Or, has a low-end product (think $5 or less) been the key to a super-creative promotion? We want to hear your success stories using high-end or low-end products. Please e-mail Audrey Sellers by February 24 for a shot at being featured in an upcoming article.

Targeting The College Crowd
PPB is looking for distributors who work with colleges and universities. Have you created promotions to boost enrollment or draw attendance to athletic events? Do you work with fraternities, sororities or other campus organizations? Please contact Audrey Sellers by February 24.

Seeking Cause Marketing Experts And Examples
Do you work with clients to employ cause-related marketing campaigns or techniques to raise funds, create public awareness and generate media attention for a nonprofit organization? If so, PPB would like to talk with you for an upcoming feature story. Contact Tina Berres Filipski by March 2.

What Would You Do?
A much larger competitor contacted our list of sales reps to recruit them to sell for their distributorship. We currently list our reps on our website and assume this is where they found our reps’ information. We, of course, removed that list. I would like to know your thoughts on this practice. Are there any standards for ethical recruiting in our industry? How, as a distributorship, should we respond?

What’s Your Answer? E-mail answers along with your name, title and company name to Question@ppai.org by March 9 for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue of PPB magazine.