For the second year in a row, a sneak peek at the unveiling of PPAI 100 has been one of the perks of attending PPAI’s North American Leadership Conference. The 2024 rankings were revealed in a series of installments through NALC's Sunday opening reception and Monday's full day of education programming, with the final 30 announced Monday evening during a PPAI 100 celebration. The crowd of promo leaders in Salt Lake City were eager to find out if and where their companies were slated among the coveted top spots.

The dinner, which celebrated all industry leaders, was just one aspect of NALC, which successfully kicked off this week and continues through today.

PPAI 100

As the industry’s premier company ranking evolves in its second year, its size has doubled, now including 100 distributors and 100 suppliers.

  • Another key change is the inclusion of international firms in eligibility.
  • Earning a place on the annual PPAI 100 is the highest recognition PPAI bestows on its exemplary member companies.
  • The full PPAI 100 rankings are slated to be released to the industry later in May via PPAI Media and reported in the June issue of PPAI Magazine. The top 100 suppliers will be unveiled on May 14 and the top 100 distributors on May 21.
  • Benchmarking data on the leading companies will follow, with companies of all sizes able to learn from the business, technology and corporate social responsibility practices of the industry’s best.

Promo Leaders React

After a day of education and networking, the PPAI 100 Celebration gave the NALC attendees plenty to talk about. Naturally competitive and largely curious to see who would rank where, the room buzzed with conversation on the state of the industry and how individual companies fit into it.

A few attendees have shared their feedback on the announcement with PPAI Media.

"It was an awesome evening and one of the best-planned events I’ve ever attended in the promotional products industry," says Zack Ottenstein, president of The Image Group and member of the PPAI Board of Directors. "I heard from a number of members how excited they were to see the expanded list and recognition of more suppliers and distributors across our industry."

"I just think it’s the fairest way to do this without being sales driven," says Susan Lewandowski, managing director of BEL Promo. "I like the categories that are being looked at. It makes a company look a little further into what they can be doing. I loved the reveal. It’s a little bit of a buzz."