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Monday
January 31, 2011 ASI Orlando: Here Comes the Sun…Filed under: ASI Shows, Editorial, Fun, Travel Hi Everyone! Despite the sketchy weather on the East Coast, I’m back from the ASI Orlando Show, where multiple records (number of distributor attendees, exhibitors, education day participants, etc.) were shattered. This proves to me that the sense of resurgence and recovery I felt at the PSI Dusseldorf Show two weeks ago wasn’t a fluke: The industry’s bad days have passed, and, as they say in NoLa, laissez les bons temps rouler! Trust me — the good times in Orlando were plentiful and memorable. A special shout-out to my supplier panelists who shared their secrets for success (and mistakes they’ve made along the way) with their supplier peers at a free luncheon on set-up day: World Wide’s Kim Newell; Counselor Top 40 supplier Hit Promotional Products’ C.J. Schmidt (huge congrats to Hit, this year’s ASI Supplier of the Year!); MediaTree’s Rob Watson; and Shepenco’s Dan Townes — all of whom were simply spectacular! Were you in Orlando? Post a comment below sharing your favorite moment(s)! (You’ll see some of mine in the photos below…). Couldn’t make it to the show? Meet us in two weeks for the ASI Dallas Show, where we’ll keep the good times and optimism for the industry’s success in 2011 rolling! Cheers, and more next week! — M PS: If you will be at the ASI Dallas Show, check out my Education Day session on how to create effective, measurable self-promotion campaigns (Wednesday, 2/16, from 9:45-10:45 a.m.), with my superstar panelists Brad White, vice president of sales for Counselor Top 40 distributor Boundless Network, and Billy Booe, sales & self-promo guru at Bluegrass Promotions, one of Counselor‘s fastest-growing distributor companies.
Thursday
January 20, 2011 PSI Dusseldorf: Back & Better Than Ever!Filed under: Editorial, PSI Shows, Travel Hi Everyone! I’ve just returned from Europe, where I attended my favorite show of the year, PSI Dusseldorf. It is a HUGE event in the European ad specialty marketplace, where you’ll see trends that will have an impact on the North American industry in the coming year. Trust me: No one does packaging, fashion and design better than the Euros. Optimism permeated the show floor, with business, sales and moods rebounding after two years of doom and gloom. The German Association of Promotional Products, for example, announced that sales of ad specialties in that country reached 3.43 billion euro ($4.61 billion US) in 2010, up from 2.97 billion euro ($3.99 billion US) in 2009. Another sign of good things to come? The European arm of Polyconcept, the world’s largest ad specialty supplier — PF Concept — once again held its grand party, which had been on hiatus for the past few years. Billed as “Imagine: The Party of the Century,” the fetewas back and better than ever, courtesy of Cees Martens, the Netherlands-based CEO of PF Concept International, with help from the supremely organized and capable Annette de la Rie, the Goddess of PF Concept. (See more on the party with tons of photos, below).
The PSI Show itself, the 49th annual event, is Europe’s largest ad specialty trade show. Held from 1/12-1/14, it showcased 849 exhibitors from 30 nations, covered 35,000 square meters of floor space in five halls, and drew 17,122 attendees, up from 16,464 last year. Michael Freter, PSI’s managing director, noted that while this year’s show numbers “are by no means record-breaking,” they do allow for “careful optimism.” “PSI is a barometer of public opinion … and reflects the performance of the manufacturers and distributors of promotional products,” Freter said. “The signs are positive that this year’s PSI Show will be carried by the current economic upswing.”
That sense of optimism for increased industry sales carried through to the show floor, with distributors and the heads of Europe’s largest suppliers, such as Polyconcept’s Chairman Philippe Varnier and Senator’s CEO Michael Nick, indicating increased sales in the second half of 2010 and high indicators for a successful 2011.
Product trends from the show floor include an emphasis on creative eco-friendly packaging, such as sports drinks in toothpaste-shaped tubes constructed of recycled material and vegan bags constructed from vegetables. Earth-based, rustic colors such as bark brown, pine green and leaf orange were the hues shown most prominently. Additionally, QR (Quick Response) codes are ubiquitous on the show floor, on suppliers’ booths, on attendee badges and exhibitor catalogs. Intermed Asia Ltd. attracted crowds to its booth with a video demonstration of a new application that allows logos to act like QR codes; by merely scanning a company’s logo on a bag or mug, for example, a client can launch additional promotional messages.
Next year’s PSI Dusseldorf Show — which, for the first time in years, won’t overlap with any U.S. show — will be held from January 11-13. I’ll be there, and would be happy to be your guide to the show and all the fun events, including an international reception to be hosted by ASI in the VIP Lounge of the convention center at the close of the first show day! From there, we’ll all go to PSI’s PHENOMENAL party at one of the best nightclubs in Dusseldorf. Trust me, it is quite the time. ; For more information about next year’s PSI Show, go to www.psi-network.de.
Cheers, and more next week from ASI’s Orlando Show! — M If you’re a supplier who’s attending ASI’s Orlando Show, please join me for a free luncheon panel discussion on Sunday, 1/23, on the show floor from noon til 1:30 p.m. Take a break from setting up your booth to hear my panel of esteemed suppliers who’ve experienced growth in their businesses and are ready to share how they’ve done it: C.J. Schmidt, vice president of sales for Counselor Top 40 supplier Hit Promotional Products; Kim Newell, president of World Wide Lines Inc.; Rob Watson, president of MediaTree; and Dan Townes, owner of Shepenco.
Wednesday
September 1, 2010 Football, Vampires & Excessive Eating: Hello, September!Hello there. I’m Jess, and I work in the Production Department at ASI, located in beautiful, downtown Trevose, PA. My job is to coordinate ASI magazines and catalogs. I basically annoy all the other departments into submission so the publications go out on time and in one piece – I’m a professional pest, if you will. I do have a claim to ASI fame, however: I once escorted a certain lovable exclamation point named “Promo” around the trade show floor at ASI New York. So I’m a pretty big deal. And, did I mention that Michele Bell is my mentor? Actually, more like my hero. So why am I writing this blog post? Because Michele said so. And, since you’re reading her blog, I’m sure you know what that means: What Michele wants, Michele gets! While I’m sure this post will not hold a candle to what goes on in Michele’s twisted mind on a regular basis, why not cross another one off the good ol’ bucket list?! So here I will pay homage to September … “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” – the Staples back-to-school commercials say it all. And, while it’s referring to the time of the year when parents and school children flock to office-supply shops and buy up all the loose-leaf paper, I think it really rings true on a deeper level: September is perfection. For starters, you have the beginning of regular-season NFL football (Fly Eagles Fly…), which is the greatest professional sport known to man. At the same time you’re gearing up for the only segment of the never-ending Major League Baseball season worth following. Fall premieres of everyone’s favorite TV shows reel in the testosterone levels between games. I’m especially pumped for the Vampire Diaries premiere on September 9. The weather is becoming borderline acceptable, and aside from a few last-minute beach trips, the pressure to have the perfect beach bod has faded. Come to think of it, you’re the furthest away from needing to worry about being in beach shape. You scoop up another serving of pasta, you add another layer of clothing. September is forgiving like that. On a selfish note, my birthday is in September (shout out to my fellow Virgos). I’m super-excited for the birthday celebration (I will be making my first trip to Chicago –fingers crossed for Oprah tickets) and the attention I’ll receive (I suffer from middle-child, Jan Brady syndrome to the max). Not so excited for the another-year-older part, though … Last but certainly not least, September delivers a batch of particularly scintillating ASI magazines, and I’m in the position of power to have access to them all before they hit the streets. Because I love and must plug the magazines, here are some insider highlights from me to you:
So live it up while it lasts. We have 30 days of bliss until October comes around. And as we all know, October is just creepy and cold. Until next time, peace, love and magazines … –JF
Thursday
June 24, 2010 Six Reasons Why I Love the Industry (& Three Reasons I Don’t)Filed under: ASI Shows, Asia, Editorial, Fun, Personal, PSI Shows Hi Everyone! Hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the summer so far! I’ve been reading about how McDonald’s yanked the Shrek glasses (thanks to the sharp, stinging crack of the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s whip) because of the minute amounts of cadmium, and found myself getting increasingly aggravated and ranty (never a good combination). Granted, I’ve always had what can be charitably described as “authority issues,” but doesn’t the CPSC have anything better to do with its time than bring the hammer of the Gods down on McDonald’s? The amount of cadmium in the glasses was negligible — certainly less than in the glasses we all drank from as children. How, for the love of God, did we all survive (she asks sarcastically)? Really, have the CPSC, FDA, etc. ever taken a good, hard look at Circus Peanuts and maraschino cherries? Forget about cadmium: If anything’s going to be the demise of our species, I turn a suspicious, gimlet eye in their direction. No faux food like Circus Peanuts — with the consistency of a Serta memory foam mattress — or maraschino cherries, steeped in jars of radioactive-red sticky goo, can be good for you.
So, I’d like to give a shout-out to the industry and show it some love, as I’m tired of it getting bitch-slapped by the CPSC, the FDA, PhRMA and all the other alphabet bullies. Forthwith, the top six things I love about this industry. 1. Suppliers. I’m probably a little biased because I’m the editor of ASI’s magazine, Supplier Global Resource (www.supplierglobalresource.com), which is just for them. But knowing as many suppliers as I do, I’m acutely aware of the burdens and responsibilities that rest on their shoulders. From having to be safety experts, marketing geniuses, DaVinci-esque product inventors and financial lenders to their clients, the success of this industry — in my opinion — begins with suppliers. If I could get them all together in one room and buy them drinks, I’d happily do it. In lieu of that, I’m inviting them to a free luncheon and panel discussion I’m moderating at the ASI Chicago Show on Tuesday, 7/13 (set-up day), from noon-1:30 p.m. On my panel will be four suppliers — MediaTree’s Rob Watson, iClick’s Niko Pamboukas, Custom HBC’s Larry Wilhelm and Build NY Inc.’s David Frank — all of whom had at least double-digit growth in the past two years. Suppliers, come join us, take a break from setting up and listen to your colleagues share their secrets for success. Additionally, there’s a complimentary happy hour just for suppliers at the ASI Chicago Show on Wednesday, July 14, from 5 p.m.-6 p.m. after the show closes in the Exhibitors’ Lounge. I’ll be there, so come have a cocktail with me! ; ) 2. Distributors. Much as the suppliers are my beloved ones, many of my closest friends in the industry are distributors, and I stand in awe of their jaw-dropping creativity. Want to know the way to this girl’s heart? Send me a sample of a well-done, clever, funny, effective self-promo piece and I’m in. For those of you who may be attending ASI’s Chicago Show, I’m moderating a panel discussion on Tuesday, 7/13, from 4 p.m.-5 p.m. on the most effective ways to do self-promotion campaigns. And while the sum total of what I don’t know could stop a herd of buffalo in its tracks, what I do know is that people who do self-promotion campaigns make more sales. Period. 3. Trade shows. Yes, yes — I know the sheer number of them are the bane of some people’s existence. However — even after 13 years in the industry — I still get excited exiting the plane at certain show destinations and giggly with anticipation over seeing all my industry BFFs and meeting new ones. There are many shows I love (and one I don’t… see below), but if you’ve ever been to the SAAC Show in Long Beach and engaged in “Pool Day” (set-up day) at the Hyatt with Awesome Havier the Waiter serving Greyhounds (Grey Goose and grapefruit juice) to the industry’s best characters, social butterflies, rock stars and raconteurs, you know what it is to love being with your peeps at a show.
4. The products. Oh, let me count the times I’ve been WOWED by a product so clever/creative/funny, it slays me. If you love Sexy water, pens that smell like cupcakes (thanks Harris & Karen at All in One!), light-up bunny ears and leopard-print slankets, this is the industry for you. Joe Haley, star of ASI’s The Joe Show, and I still love discovering the next Coolest Product Ever. Admittedly, we’re dorks, but we get why this industry’s product offerings rock. 5. The PSI Show. What? You’ve never been? Please come with me the next time I attend and you will see the genesis of genius design — where trends are exfoliated by other markets, booths that will leave you slack-jawed and exhibitor hospitality that will explain why attendees show up as soon as the event opens each day and stay until the very last second it closes. Offering snacks, beverages (both alcoholic and the other, less fun kind) and comfy seating, each booth is like a mini bistro. No wonder attendees often stay with an exhibitor for upwards of 45 minutes and place orders on the spot. The PSI Dusseldorf Show, held each January (next year’s show is from January 12-14), is the largest ad specialty show in the world and definitely worth a visit. In addition, this year, PSI is partnering for the first time with a competitor show organization, Pro8, to form the Pro10 Show, which will be held in Amsterdam from August 25-27. Yeah. Amsterdam. I’m assuming I don’t need to tell you that I’ll be there. (For more information on the PSI Shows, go to www.psionline.de).
6. Michael Bernstein. His family started Leed’s, and for a while, he ran Counselor Top 40 supplier Polyconcept North America. And though he’s not in the industry on the level he once was (much of his time is devoted to a new business venture in the music industry — his first love), he remains on the board of Polyconcept as its vice chairman. I once flew across four states just to have pizza with him at a delightful dive in Pittsburgh called Mineo’s. To bask in his wit, wisdom and misanthropic snark (or have him talk me off the ledge), I’d fly a lot farther. And now, three things I could do without: 1. The cart draggers. Truly, I get why some people need carts — it can be exhausting hauling catalogs and samples around a trade show, especially if you have an injury or ailment. However, when scores of people show up (I’m looking at you, guy with the Dumbledore beard in Dallas last year dragging a wheeled trash can full of supplier offerings…) pulling various luggage contraptions in the aisles and suddenly stop, it can make one (read: Me) nearly pop a cranial vein. Mark my words: I am going to fall over one of those things sometime soon, and it will not be graceful (or quiet). 2. The bitching. Hands up: Who thinks that if people spent as much time selling, creating and marketing as they do bitching, gossiping and lamenting about inane industry nonsense that we’d be well on our way to making up the sales ground lost last year? Just sayin’… 3. The Canton Fair. Distributors have probably never experienced this massive (120,000+ attendees; 10,000 exhibitors), unorganized, sweltering sourcing show, located in beautiful downtown Guangzhou (insert eye roll here) China, but I’m willing to bet many suppliers have. Let me just say this: For those of you who don’t believe in the existence of Hell, I challenge you to walk that show and then come talk to me. Whew! I feel better now, and I hope you do too. Please remember, regardless of what the alphabet bullies would have you think: None of you are poisoning kids, sabotaging a doctor’s ability to offer patient care or single-handedly trashing the planet, so don’t let anyone make you feel like you are. Unless you manufacture maraschino cherries or Circus Peanuts — then you’re on your own. ; ) Cheers to all of you, and hope to see you at the ASI Chicago Show from July 13-15! More soon, M
Wednesday
May 12, 2010 Taking a Bite From the Big Apple!Filed under: ASI Shows, Editorial, Fun, Travel Hi Everyone! We’re just back from the super-successful ASI NY Show and it was a blast! So many special moments (many of which are captured in the photos below), but one of my favorites had to be ASI’s first-ever Women’s Summit. Barbara Corcoran, real estate mogul, author of the book, If You Don’t Have Big Breasts Put Ribbons on Your Pigtails… & Other Lessons I Learned From My Mom and star of ABC’s Shark Tank, was the keynote speaker and was just a pistol! She talked about how she parlayed a $1,000 loan from a “former lover” into a billion-dollar business. She was salty, irreverent, whip-smart and very savvy. She also, at one point, flipped off my boss — ASI’s senior vice president and publisher, Rich Fairfield — not once but twice, claiming that he looked like the infamous money-loaning (and cheating) scoundrel of a former lover. “He looks just like him,” she shrieked, as she flipped Rich off again, much to his delighted amusement. (After I picked up my jaw, I nearly swallowed my own tongue after watching the whole interaction go down…) Sponsored by J. Charles Crystalworks Inc. (thanks to Fran “The Man” Ford!) and Fields Manufacturing, the event was fantastic, and started with a cocktail reception at noon (gotta love sanctioned midday drinking!) and included an awesome luncheon, plus a dessert keynote from industry speaker Rosalie Marcus. I sat next to LeAnn Rankin, vice president of national accounts for Senator’s promotional group, someone I’d heard great things about but had never met. I’m here to tell ya that she exceeded the hype and was just delightful… LOVE her! Two things of note: 1) The lanyards from Fields Mfg. that were given out to hold the badges of the women in attendance were tres cool — more like a jeweled, beaded necklace than a regular cotton lanyard. Go to www.fieldsmfg.com to check out their swanky and unusual offerings; 2) The fine folks at J. Charles Crystalworks had a gift for each woman in attendance: A crystal keepsake box, etched with the event’s logo, that — according to industry celeb and J. Charles vice president Fran Ford — was used by former presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton as their inaugural gifts, as well as Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush, who used them as place settings. I’m holding mine right now and it is stunning and impressive! E-mail Fran at fran@jcharles.com if you’d like more info on the gift boxes. Then, there was another first for ASI… We held a breakfast at the W Hotel for members of the business press in NYC, which was a huge success. Print and TV outlets joined Tim Andrews, ASI’s president/CEO, Rich Fairfield, Melinda Ligos, ASI’s senior vice president/editor-in-chief, and members of the editorial staff, who shared scintillating facts and stats about the industry and the 10 Most Innovative Products we’ve seen as of late. Also addressing the members of the press were Jason Robbins, president of ePromos, Anthony Corsano, president/CEO of Anvil, and Sarah Caplan, the 27-year-old entrepreneur who, with her sister, founded the company Footzyrolls — cool roll-up slipper-shoes women can don when their feet start throbbing from their strappy stilettos! (So snazzy are these items, they’ve been selected for the Sex and the City 2 gift bags!) Kudos to my colleague Dawn Shurmaitis for rising to the occasion and being the event planner extraordinaire! ; ) Last, but not least, there was the jaw-droppingly stunning Counselor Awards banquet at the Plaza. The decor, the food, the presentation — everything was top-notch, and I’ve never had so many people tell me how impressed they were with an event, and how much fun they had. The person who does these events for ASI doesn’t like to be named in print, but to him I give a HUGE shout-out for outdoing himself yet again: You are the best, Sat Mamuels. ; ) My only regret? When the Counselor banquet is held in July at the ASI Chicago Show, I at least have some semblance of a tan. At this event, I looked like one of those pale, pitiful, sun-deprived children from Flowers in the Attic. Cheers, and enjoy the photos! — M PS: Big thanks to Proforma’s Greg Muzzillo — this year’s Counselor Person of the Year with his wife and co-CEO, Vera — and ASI’s Don Mennig, executive director of marketing, both of whom were on the “Secrets of Wildly Successful Self-Promotion Campaigns” education panel that I moderated. Their professionalism, preparedness, vast knowledge and humor made it a winner. If you missed it, I’ll be moderating it again on Education Day at the ASI Chicago Show on July 13!
Tuesday
March 30, 2010 Unleash Your Guerrilla Marketer!Hi, Everyone! So can I take a few minutes to wax poetic about how much I love Google? It’s true, I’ve long been carrying a torch for the company founded by Sergey Brin and Larry Page, the two techno-nerds from Stanford, for a myriad of reasons, starting with but not limited to: * Their delightfully idealistic, if slightly naive, mantra: “Don’t be evil” * The fact that they’re such foodies they have free gourmet meals served up daily to employees at the famed Googleplex (Disneyland for Dorks) and that their first chef used to cook for the Grateful Dead * Because the company is routinely at the top of Fortune‘s “Best Places to Work” list and was recently named as one of the world’s most ethical companies * Their recent bitch-slapping of censorship in China (that’ll be an issue…) * Because even when they were business neophytes, they had a preternatural sense of how to gonzo market. What do I mean by that? Way back when, in 1998, geeky Sergey and hippie Larry decided to make a pilgrimage to the Burning Man Festival. If you’ve never heard of it, it is a long weekend — the High Holy Days (heavy emphasis on “high”) — of counterculture kooks, wacky college students, gypsy women and men in their 40s with deep-seeded Peter Pan complexes, who all frolic in the desert. (If you want to read more about Burning Man in all its weirdo glory, click here: http://www.burningman.com/) To commemorate Sergey & Larry’s Excellent Adventure, they asked Dennis Hwang, who was an intern with Google at the time known to doodle in meetings, to create a Googlefied Burning Man logo for the occasion.
Cut to today, where — according to reports in Business Week and The New York Times — the Google Doodles generate millions of hits to the search engine and have reached cult-like status. It’s an intriguing concept, I think: The Google Guys looked around at their employees, found one (who would later go on to be Google’s Webmaster) and tapped into his talent. By utilizing Dennis’s doodles (which only took up, they say, about 15% of his overall time), the company generated massive PR and buzz on the cheap. Google’s ingenuity also reminds me of the story I love about Estee Lauder, the cosmetics queen who created the “gift with purchase” concept: When she launched her famed “Youth Dew” perfume in 1953, stores were reluctant to carry it. What did Lauder, ever the enterprising make-up maven, do? She went to various establishments with a bottle of Youth Dew tucked in her purse and strategically “spilled” it throughout the stores, knowing that when women inhaled the scent, they’d be captivated. My point is, getting buzz for your company doesn’t have to cost a fortune — a little mavericky marketing can go a long way. Speaking of which, if you’re going to be at the ASI New York or Chicago shows, join me on Education Day (May 4th in New York; July 13th in Chicago) — I’ll be moderating a panel discussion on the “Secrets of Wildly Successful Self-Promotions.” Hope to see you there! Click here to view an archive of the Google Doodles (http://www.google.com/logos/) and see below for some of my faves:
Send me your favorite guerrilla marketing stories! Cheers, — M
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
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
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