Next week, more than 80 PPAI members and staff will arrive in Washington, D.C. to take part in more than 300 meetings with members of Congress and their staffs focusing on the promotional products industry and its effectiveness and strength in the U.S. This is the ninth year for PPAI’s Legislative Education and Action Day (L.E.A.D.), which takes place on May 16-17.

Promotional products are a $23 billion industry that employs nearly half a million Americans. Among the issues being discussed are tax reform and its impact on small business, the role of independent contractors within the promotional products industry, and the effectiveness of promotional products as an advertising and marketing medium. A new issue for PPAI this year is global value chains. L.E.A.D. participants will help legislators understand that even though many of the industry’s products are imported, once these products are brought to the U.S., they are decorated and sold by American workers, and are used to promote American goods and services.

Monday also marks the beginning of Promotional Products Work! Week, an industry-wide event dedicated to celebrating the power of promotional products and the value they create. Industry professionals who are not involved in L.E.A.D. can support the efforts by participating in PPAI’s virtual fly-ins each day next week. Next week, industry members will receive an email from PPAI each day asking them to call or email their members of Congress in support of the same issues L.E.A.D. attendees will address during their face-to-face meetings. Each day’s email will focus on one of the key topics—independent contractors, the global value chain, advertising deductibility and promotional products’ effectiveness. By sending emails and making phone calls, the industry can add its voice to the conversations that L.E.A.D. participants will have in D.C.