godin-book-signing

SAAGNY's Alan Baker joins Godin during a book signing event after his session.

PPAI’s Get In Touch! industry branding initiative kicked off today at Advertising Week in New York City at a seminar featuring author, blogger and master marketer Seth Godin. Godin was introduced by PPAI President and CEO Paul Bellantone, CAE, for “Getting In Touch With The Work That Matters,” a keynote exploring business, management, marketing, storytelling, changing everything and doing the work that matters. Bellantone also joined Godin onstage for a Q&A session with the audience.

During his 50-minute live-streamed address at the B.B. King Blues Club & Grill, Godin used real-life examples, humorous slides and his personal stories to drive home his message that the ad industry is in a revolution, and what worked in the 1950s of simply pushing an ad message out again and again until people bought is now outdated. “People have been branded to death,” he told his audience. “No one cares about ads; they care about remarkable experiences. We are living in an economy based on choice—unlimited choice.” He urged listeners to deliver personalized messages to become the choice customers would miss if it were gone.

The session was an opportunity to create a memorable experience for the room full of marketers as well as to expose them to the power of promotional products through PPAI’s new branding campaign. Originally introduced at The PPAI Expo 2016 as the Industry Branding Initiative (IBI), the Get In Touch! campaign targets advertising buyers with a five-year, multi-million-dollar branding initiative designed to increase awareness and improve the overall perception of the promotional products industry while communicating the importance of the promotional consultant, resulting in a larger share of advertising dollars for the promotional products industry.

Bellatone and Godin speak with Adobe's Think Tank during Advertising Week.

Bellatone and Godin speak with a representative of Adobe's Think Tank during Advertising Week.

Alongside its message about the power of promotional products and the importance of the promotional consultant, the Get In Touch! campaign highlights unique aspects of promotional products as an advertising medium: they are advertising that live on; they are tangible representations of a brand; they create excitement, surprise and delight; they impact buying decisions and have staying power; they become part of everyday life; and promotional products are the only advertising medium for which the customer says thank you.

Complementing the launch of the initiative, PPAI is introducing the newly redesigned PromotionalProductsWork.org, a website targeted at advertising buyers that tells a two-part story about the power of promotional products and the importance of using a promotional consultant.

Industry members can get involved in the Get In Touch! campaign by providing case studies, a key component of the initiative. For more information or to provide a case study, contact PPAI Public Relations Manager Kim Todora at kimt@ppai.org.