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Monday
March 8, 2010 Call for Submissions!Filed under: Editorial Hi Everyone & Happy March! Next week, my editorial colleagues and I will be going through submissions for this year’s ASI Spirit Awards. I’d hate to see you and your spectacular promos left out! If you’re a supplier, have you done a creative, effective self-promotion mailer to distributor clients that shows off-the-charts ROI (see below for some examples of previous winners)? If you’re a distributor, have you done a campaign for a client that wowed them and has measurable results? If so, please e-mail me the details ASAP at mbell@asicentral.com. Good luck and more next week! – M
Tuesday
February 16, 2010 Screwed By Lloyd Dobler…Hi Everyone! I hope you’re all having a cheery and festive February and aren’t buried in the remains of The Blizzard of 2010 like us icicles on the East Coast. Itchy to get out of the house, I met my friend Meg — who, as we met on the first day of first grade, is my oldest friend — for lunch the other day. She brought her 12-year-old daughter and let me tell you: This girly girl was decked out from head to toe in everything Robert Pattinson — the mopey guy from the Twilight movies who looks like he needs a bath and a B-12 shot. She had a T-shirt, a button, a book bag and a hat, all adorned with his pasty face. Why? Valentine’s Day was approaching and she was expressing her adoration of sullen Edward Cullen. Of course, I let loose with a tirade. “Where was all that stuff when we were young?” I asked her mother. Where was the gear logoed with the fine visage of Jake Ryan from Sixteen Candles, and Lloyd Dobler, the weirdo, kickboxing iconoclast from Say Anything, or The Breakfast Club’s resident bad-ass, Bender — the first in a long and sketchy line of bad boys to pique my interest. I felt gypped, and wasn’t shy about ranting.
Meg, always the voice of calm and reason to my torrents of reactionary mouthiness, pointed out that we did, in fact, have tons of logoed items from Duran Duran, The Cure, The Thompson Twins and Bananarama in our youth, but it’s different — the music industry has always been ahead of the curve in promoting its pop stars (think The Beatles). All I’m saying is, movie star groupies and teenyboppers today have it easy: There are vast amounts of imprinted merchandise with which to express their affection for silver-screen boy toys. But for Lloyd Dobler and his ilk back in my heyday, not so much. To paraphrase a line from Say Anything: I gave him my heart, and I didn’t even get a pen. Who was your teen crush? Do tell … Cheers, and more next week! – M
Tuesday
January 19, 2010 PSI’s Dusseldorf Show Gets Its Gold On!Filed under: PSI Shows, Travel Hi Everyone! Just got back from the 48th PSI Show in Dusseldorf, Germany, which was quite the success! The show, the largest ad specialty trade show in the world, attracted 883 exhibitors, nearly 19,000 distributor attendees from all over the world, and took up more than 370,000 square feet of exhibition space. It was a special year for my PSI friends, as the organization is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The show’s exhibitors seemed to give a nod both to PSI’s golden year and the hot commodity that is gold, as that was the predominant color most items were shown in. My favorite new items? A pocket, portable GPS device for those walking around a city, personalized logos to customize bottles of beer and wine with one’s face, a motorized mini-hovercraft toy that can be controlled by your iPhone, BlackBerry, etc., and a watch that doubles as a phone… How cool and secret agent-ish is that? Other news included the announcement of ProPSI — an alliance of Pro Exhibitors & Publishers and PSI, who are joining forces to create a new show that will be held from August 25-27, 2010 in Amsterdam. (Will I be there? That’s a “hell to the yeah!”) For more information go to http://www.pro-8.eu/page/news/155 I took some photos, below, but here are some from PSI’s professional photographer of the 48th PSI Dusseldorf Fair: http://www.psionline.de/bildergalerie_messe_1-946.html The 49th installment of the PSI Dusseldorf Show will be held from January 12-14, 2011. For more information go to www.psionline.de. Cheers, and more from the PPAC Show in Toronto next week! – M
Friday
January 8, 2010 Hot Times in Chilly Orlando…Filed under: ASI Shows, Editorial, Fun Happy 2010, Everyone! I’m just back from the ASI Orlando Show, where — despite record cold temps (in the ’30s!), the show was a huge success. From Education Day, to General Colin Powell’s keynote address, to the sizzling fashion show and rollicking amusement park gala, the show was a fantastic way to kick off a new year and decade. There were tons of creative, wow-worthy new products introduced by our industry’s ingenious suppliers and everyone’s mood was positive, upbeat and optimistic. Here are some quick photos from the trip, and more next week when I’m in Dusseldorf, Germany for the PSI Show — the world’s largest ad specialty event. Cheers! – M
Wednesday
December 23, 2009 See You in Orlando!Filed under: ASI Shows, Editorial Hi Everyone! I hope you’re enjoying this fabulous holiday season and are getting ready for a new year and decade so awesome that it’ll erase all the angst, stress and hardships of the last one. Are you going to be in Orlando for the ASI Show from January 3-5? I am! If you’re there, please join me on Education Day (Sunday, 1/3) for two panel discussions I’ll be moderating. If you’re an exhibitor, take a break from setting up your booth on Sunday for a free luncheon panel just for suppliers featuring four top distributor salespeople: Dan Jellinek from Touchstone Marketing — one of Counselor magazine’s Fastest Growing Distributors; Mercy Crespo from Counselor Top 40 distributor HALO/Lee Wayne; Burke Buchanan from Counselor Top 40 distributor Vernon; and Joe George from Counselor Top 40 distributor American Solutions for Business. They’ll share with you what it takes to win and keep their business, and their stance on topics like who’s responsible for product safety, what makes a great supplier and what they’d like to see from trade show exhibitors. This exhibitors-only luncheon discussion, “What Distributors Want From You,” will be held from 12:00-1:30 p.m. in room 202AB of the Orlando Convention Center. If you’re a distributor, join me for a panel discussion on a topic near and dear to my heart: “The Fine Art of Creative Self-Promotion.” To be held on Sunday, 1/3, from 2:45-3:45 p.m. in room 104 of the Orlando Convention Center, this panel will feature: Power 50 member Greg Muzzillo, co-CEO of Counselor Top 40 distributor Proforma — a company that’s won numerous awards for its phenomenal self-promo campaigns; Leo Eisner, a 50-year industry veteran and top sales rep with CounselorTop 40 distributor HALO/Lee Wayne who’s generated a majority of his business over the years through self-promo initiatives; and Jake Krolick, ASI’s new media marketing guru, who’s an expert at using tools like video, Facebook and Twitter to boost sales and business. I look forward to seeing you all at the first national ad specialty trade show of the year, and hope you can make it to one of my panel discussions. Have a very Merry Christmas and a spectacular 2010! Cheers, M
Wednesday
December 9, 2009 Be a Giver!Hi Everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and embracing the spirit of the holiday season. I love this time of year for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is that festive benders are sanctioned as “yuletide cheer.” ; ) Another reason I love the holidays is that everyone seems so much more giving and altruistic. Not so altruistically, I ramp up my charitable efforts in December because I know that as the year comes to a close I’ll be needing a Silkwood shower-style karmic cleansing and will have to do lots of good deeds to neutralize 12 months of toxic, self-indulgent antics. Let’s just say that I’m a charter member of Santa’s “bad” list. (Yet another example why I prefer the Easter Bunny… He’s not so big into the pesky judgements.) Here’s a cool way you can share the holiday spirit: As one of the hosts of ASI Radio (www.asicentral.com/radio), I — along with Melinda Ligos, Joe Haley, Kathy Huston and Andy Cohen — will be doing a radiothon on ASI Radio this Tuesday (12/15) at 10:30 a.m. to raise money for members of the military transitioning back to life in the U.S. after their service overseas. See below for more details and to find out about some of the cool items we’ll be auctioning off from my beloved BFFs at Gemline, IMC, Leed’s, Logomark and Sweda, among others. Big kudos to those companies for being so gracious and generous. So, if you can donate an item, please do; if you can pledge money, that’d be super too. ‘Tis the season to be ginchy, not Grinchy! ; ) Cheers! – M PS: Here, for you viewing pleasure, one of my favorites of the Christmas season: The “Mr. Heatmiser” song from The Year Without a Santa, as sung by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMjAf8Nwohs ASIRadiothon: Help ASI Raise Money For The G.I. Go Fund
Monday
November 30, 2009 Break Out the Crystal Ball!Filed under: Editorial Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving and didn’t pass out in a tryptophan-induced coma face down in a Jell-O mold. ; ) As we enter the last month of 2009, it’s a natural time to look ahead and try to prepare for what 2010 has in store for us. In that vein, I’ll be moderating a Webinar this Thursday, 12/3, from 2 p.m.-3 p.m. (ET) called, “Get Ready for 2010: Top Sales and Market Trends.” My whip-smart panelists are three of my favorite people in the industry, all of whom are at the helm of distinguished supplier companies and each of whom is on this year’s Counselor Power 50 list. My pal Bonni Shevin-Sandy is the executive vice president of Counselor Top 40 supplier Dard and this year’s Counselor International Person of the Year. My girl knows her stuff, and is so savvy when it comes to finding new markets into which to sell that the international and custom division of Dard, of which Bonni is president, was up double-digits in 2009. Bill Korowitz, president of Counselor Top 40 supplier The Magnet Group, is a new friend of mine. He’s very much the renaissance man — a trained economist as well as a guitar aficionado (he’s been known to stay up til 2 a.m. jamming, with his amp cranked “to 11″). Bill has one of the driest, most sardonic wits I’ve come across in some time and is equally astute at reading sales and marketing indicators both for our industry and the U.S. economy. And last but not least, we have Ira Neaman, owner of Counselor Top 40 supplier Vantage. Ira is one of my oldest friends in the industry, and the person who — when I was new to the ad specialty business nearly 13 years ago and knew nothing about imprinted apparel — was patient enough to give me many in-depth tutorials. Still, to this day, when I have an apparel-related question and need someone to explain the intricacies to me, Ira — who was one of the youngest people ever to graduate from Harvard Business School — is first on my list. For that reason, I have always called him my wearables “Yoda.” As apparel constitutes the largest category of product sales in our industry, Ira the Yoda is an expert on the latest trends and applications. Learn from him, you will. If you’d like to listen in to the Webinar this Thursday to hear Bonni, Bill and Ira discuss such topics as keeping your company competitive in a down economy, where industry sales will be in 2010, new growth markets for ad specialties and the smartest thing companies can do in the upcoming year to be successful, click on the link below to register. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/174512624 Cheers, and more next week! – M
Tuesday
November 3, 2009 Photos From This Year’s ASI Power Summit!Filed under: Travel ASI’s third annual Power Summit is in full swing at La Costa Resort & Spa in sunny Carlsbad, CA. Two hundred of the industry’s most prominent professionals are here, taking part in panel discussions on topics like safety and legislation issues, new media for marketing and challenges for the industry for 2010 and enjoying many great networking events. I’m moderating a panel at 8:30 am, Cali time, on the topic of keeping employees motivated in a down economy with Lon McGowan, owner of iClick, my pal Eric Johnson (aka, “E”), executive vice president of Halls & Co., Tina Montgomery, president/CEO of L.W. Barrett Co. Inc., Fred Albrecht, founder and co-owner of Proforma Albrecht Co. and Mark Ziskind, COO of Counselor Top 40 distributor Caliendo-Savio Enterprises (CSE) — all of whom have been on Counselor’s “Best Places to Work” list for the past two years. With this fabulous panelists, it should be awesome More later and enjoy the photos!
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