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Tuesday
February 5, 2008 The China SyndromeFiled under: Asia Welcome to February! Did you see the news last week? In China, hundreds of thousands of people were stranded at the Guangzhou train station on the way to visit their families for Chinese New Year due to a snow storm. Now, I’ve been to the Guangzhou train station quite a few times and I can tell you that under the best conditions, it’s no day at the beach. Having seen the footage of throngs of Chinese citizens stuck there for days without ample food and water, it just about redefines what hell must be. Thankfully, the trains have resumed service and the Chinese people are slowly getting where they need to be for their holiday celebration. (The Guangzhou train station, incidentally, looks like Dresden after the bombings in the wake of all those people crammed in there for days…) The sad part is that Chinese factory workers save their money to visit family during Chinese New Year. It is the high point of their year, and for people who make on average less than $200 per month, it was just soul-crushing to watch them wait helplessly while the Chinese government, clearly not used to this kind of weather-related catastrophe, grappled with how to alleviate the bottleneck of rail travel.
Tuesday
January 29, 2008 Northern ExposureFiled under: Travel Hi again from the PPACanada Show in Toronto! The second day of Canada’s largest trade show kept its steady pace, much to the delight of exhibitors, all of whom had just one complaint — they didn’t bring enough catalogs. (Listen to my pod cast with Leslie Oesen, vice president of ASI Canada and expert on the Canadian ad specialties industry, who sat down with me yesterday to discuss trends and changes in the marketplace.)
Monday
January 28, 2008 Baby, It’s Cold Outside… But Hot at the PPACanada Show!Filed under: Travel Hi from Toronto, where — despite the fact that it’s a mind-numbing 10 degrees — everyone is in great spirits here at the PPACanada Show. Even after two major North American Shows this month — ASI Orlando and PPAI Vegas — it’s great to see how psyched everyone is to be at another show and ready to do business. The show opened yesterday and was packed! The show’s organziers anticipated 3,000 distributors but after talking to many exhibitors — all of whom were already out of catalogs and samples — the consensus is that the show exceeded those numbers.
Monday
January 28, 2008 Interview with Leslie OesenFiled under: Interviews Leslie Oesen, who has been a prominent member of the Canadian ad specialty indusry for the last 24 years with her husband, Fred, sat down with me during the second day of the PPACanada Show to discuss trends and changes in the marketplace. Leslie and Fred owned Task Force Marketing, a well-known and respected company in the Canadian industry and are now vice presidents of ASI Canada.
Sunday
January 27, 2008 Interview with Joe HafnerFiled under: Interviews Joe Hafner, a pioneer in the Canadian ad specialties market for more than two decades and the owner of the supplier Redi-Medic, sat down with me to discuss trends in the Canadian ad specialty market, the vibrancy of the industry in Canada and his perspective on the shows so far this year, as he exhibited at ASI Orlando, PSI Dusseldorf, PPAI Las Vegas and now PPACanada.
Saturday
January 26, 2008 Interview with Craig MorantzFiled under: Interviews Craig Morantz, vice president of Polyconcept North America and the person at the helm of Leed’s Canada, with the six Image awards the company collected last night from PPACanada, including “Supplier of the Year” which the company has won for the last three years. Never at a loss for words or one to shy away from the limelight, Craig hosted a Polyconcept party last night and worked the room like Hugh Hefner at the Playboy mansion.
Saturday
January 26, 2008 Interview with Mark BrukFiled under: Interviews Mark Bruk, vice president of business development for CFS Promotions For Now, and I chatted at the ASI Canada reception last night regarding his take on the first day of the PPACanada Show. Mark convinced me that I should join him and the other suppliers for a week on the Advantages traveling road show and blog from each different city. He assures me that the stories would be priceless.
Friday
January 18, 2008 I Love the Vegas Nightlife (Kind of…)Filed under: Travel The industry parties, which seemed to dissipate for a while a few years ago, are back and better than ever. My colleague Christian Brandt, referred to often here at ASI as my “handler” (those of you who know me can empathize with that particular level of Dante’s hell…), were on the circuit, with Christian keeping us on schedule like the maniacal drill sergeant from Full Metal Jacket. |
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