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PPB Newslink February 7
February 7, 2017
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Top Stories
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alphabroder Pledges $120,000 To PPEF Tomorrow Fund
Industry supplier alphabroder (PPAI 156993) has stepped up to affirm its commitment to the professional development and success of the promotional products industry through higher education with a Platinum-Level pledge of $120,000 to the Promotional Products Education Foundation (PPEF) Tomorrow Fund. The news was first announced in a Breaking News alert on Monday.
Read more PPEF
Industry News
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A Brand Company Announces Executive Chairman’s Departure
A Brand Company, Inc. (PPAI 188929) announced Monday that Executive Chairman Marc Roy is no longer with the Charlotte, North Carolina, distributor and that he intends to pursue other professional and personal interests. The move was effective January 30. An immediate replacement for Roy has not been named, though the company plans to internally support the role in the interim.
Read more A Brand Company
Delta Apparel Releases Fiscal 2017 First Quarter Results
Delta Apparel, Inc. (PPAI 188431) released its fiscal 2017 first quarter results on Monday, reporting net sales of $85.3 million for the quarter ending December 31, 2016, down $4.8 million, or 5.4 percent, from $90.2 million for the 2016 first quarter. The Greenville, South Carolina-based supplier reports that Art Gun and e-commerce showed strong revenue growth but overall sales for the quarter were hindered by the impact of Hurricane Matthew, the closure of a large sports retailer, lower sales in Junkfood’s specialty channel due to the difficult retail environment, and inventory destocking at major retail licensing accounts in the Delta catalog business.
Read more Delta Apparel
UK’s PPExpo Draws Strong Crowds, Introduces New Format For 2018
On January 25-26, the Promotional Products Expo, formerly the Trade Only National Show, welcomed more than 2,000 distributors to the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, UK. Now in its 11th year, the expo’s trade-show floor featured 200-plus exhibitors.
Read more PPExpo
Grossman Marketing Group Acquires Premier Marketing Group
Grossman Marketing Group has acquired Manchester, Maine, distributor Premier Marketing Group (PPAI 109511). The acquisition comes just three years after Grossman Marketing Group, headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, acquired ASAP, a Norwalk, Connecticut, distributor, and one year after it acquired Fleet Business Products of East Hartford, Connecticut. Grossman now has major operations in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and Washington, D.C.
Read more Grossman
Imagine Promotional Group Establishes East Coast Office
Distributor Imagine Promotional Group (PPAI 241348), headquartered in Petaluma, California, has opened a new office in Durham, North Carolina.
“Durham seemed like a natural fit,” says Anna-Claire Decker, Imagine Promotional Group principal. “Not only is the area rich in opportunity in bio-science, health care and technology, it offers a unique mix of history and diverse culture. It has also allowed Account Manager Sherry Jones, originally from North Carolina, an opportunity to get back to her Southern roots.”
Jones, who will head up the East Coast office, adds, “I’m thrilled to be back on the East Coast, particularly in North Carolina where I lived for many years. I look forward to sharing the unique capabilities of IPG with local companies while reacquainting myself with the Raleigh-Durham area.”
Beaver Falls High School Creates Scholarship In Memory Of Stan Breckenridge, MAS
Senior basketball players at Beaver Falls High School (BFHS), in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, are now eligible to receive the Stan Breckenridge Memorial Basketball Scholarship, a new fund that honors the late Stan Breckinridge, MAS, a 1967 BFHS graduate and a dedicated fan of the team. Breckenridge, past chair of the PPAI Board of Directors and senior vice president of sales for Fairport, New York-based supplier Mastercraft Decorators/The Guildlines, passed away in 2015.
Each year, the fund will provide a monetary scholarship to one senior boy or girl BFHS basketball player to help pay for the recipient’s college tuition. The BFHS guidance department and varsity coaches will review submitted applications to choose a recipient. The scholarship is funded by donations from individuals and businesses in the Beaver Falls area, past BFHS graduates, and friends and family of Stan Breckenridge.
PPAI News
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Mary Jo Tomasini, MAS, Takes Gavel As PPAI Chair
At The PPAI Expo 2017, Mary Jo Tomasini, MAS, took up the gavel as chair of the PPAI Board of Directors for 2017-2018. Tomasini is CEO of distributor CE Competitive Edge, LLC (PPAI 103776) in Stevensville, Michigan, and a 30-plus-year veteran of the promotional products industry.
Read more Tomasini
Six Industry Professionals Earn MAS, CAS Certifications At The PPAI Expo
At The PPAI Expo 2017, six industry professionals earned their Master Advertising Professional (MAS) or Certified Advertising Professional (CAS) industry certifications, joining an elite group of individuals who have demonstrated their commitment to the promotional products industry and to continuing their education.
Read more Certification
Expo East Returns In June With Two Days Of Exhibits And New Ideas
Expo East, the largest promotional products trade show in the Northeast, is back at the Atlantic City Convention Center in its new timing in June. Running June 12-14, the show has also returned to a traditional two-exhibit-day format, with an education day on June 12. On June 13-14, explore the latest products, ideas and printing techniques at more than 350 booths. Go to ppai.org/expoeast-signup to sign up to be notified when registration and housing are open.
Nominate Your Company In PPB’s Greatest Companies Search
The structure has changed for one of PPB’s most popular and coveted editorial programs recognizing the industry’s Greatest Companies To Work For. Among the changes is that full-time employees working for the nominated companies will need to complete a short survey.
From those survey responses, scores will be tabulated and the 2017 Greatest Companies To Work For will be revealed in PPB’s June issue. All PPAI member companies who meet the requirements may be nominated, even those that have been honored with this recognition in the past. All nominated companies must be current members of PPAI with at least five employees to enter. Find the nomination form, details and requirements here. The deadline for nominations is February 17.
PPAI Law
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PPAI Joins Opposition To Proposed Border Adjustment Tax
The U.S. House Republican tax reform proposal includes a recommendation to adopt a Border Adjustment Tax (BAT), which poses a discriminatory tax on all imported products—including promotional products—and is anticipated to hurt American consumers and the nation’s largest employers by increasing the cost of everyday products. The BAT, which would function as a national sales tax, could drive the unemployment rate back to 2010 highs in the aftermath of the financial crisis.
Read more Border Adjustment Tax
People News
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The Promotional Products Association of Wisconsin (PPAW) has brought Elizabeth Boothby on as the regional association’s new executive director. Boothby comes to PPAW after six years at Integrated Merchandising Systems, an organization that specializes in branded merchandise, print, fulfillment and warehousing for Fortune 500 companies. Her background includes account management, sales, marketing, merchandising, procurement, operations and finance.
Regional News
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PPAI’s Bellantone, Stone Join Strong GAPPP Expo
The Georgia Association of Promotional Products Professionals (GAPPP) welcomed more than 300 distributors and twice that many end buyers to its GAPPP Expo and University in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 30-31. The event featured a bustling trade-show floor, networking opportunities and a full day of education, including sessions presented by PPAI President and CEO Paul Bellantone, CAE, and Public Affairs Director Anne Stone.
Read more GAPPP
CPPA’s Peake Awards Celebrate Industry Accomplishments
The Chesapeake Promotional Products Association (CPPA) honored regional performers at the association’s annual Peake Awards Ceremony, sponsored by J Charles Crystalworks, at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore on January 31.
Read more CPPA
SAGE Fact Of The Week
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Time-Saving New Feature for Your Clients in SAGE PromoSearch
SAGE Websites now include some time-saving features for your website visitors. SAGE PromoSearch, a website addition offering visitors the ability to search the entire SAGE product database, now features product option drop-downs, such as size and color, listed on the product page for clients to quickly select exactly what they want and add it to their cart. See the new PromoSearch in action.
PPAI distributor members can join SAGE at no additional cost through the Power of Two relationship. Contact SAGE today at 800-925-7243 or visit www.sageworld.com to get started.
This Month’s PPB
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Service Before Product: A New Approach
Have you ever wondered where marketing came from, or where it’s going? To understand something we must always understand first where it came from. Then we might have a better chance at predicting where it is going.
Read more Service
Print Ad Design Advice From The Pros
A Distributor Asks: I have been faced with the same problem over and over for the past 10 years: How do you design the perfect “professional” ad for print media? I think we all do a great job at interactive and social media, but it is very difficult to come up with a truly classy magazine ad or flyer. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Read more Print Ads
New Game Plan
Joe Loch is the kind of man who doesn’t back down from a challenge—even when that challenge involves coaching a girls’ lacrosse team, a group no one in his Ohio town knew how to coach, including Loch.
Read more Loch
Contribute To PPAI Publications
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Posh Pastimes
In April’s PPB Eye On Apparel will showcase country club sports—think tennis, golf and swim attire. Suppliers, please submit high-resolution product images and product descriptions. Distributors, please send marketing case studies for some recent successful promotions. Submissions are due by February 10.
Nature Knowledge
PPB’s April Editor’s Picks wants the dirt on promotional products are useful in the great outdoors. Suppliers, please submit high-resolution product images and product descriptions. Distributors, please send marketing case studies for some recent successful promotions. Submissions are due by February 10.
Professional Aspirations
April PPB’s Market to Market focuses on how professional organizations and associations use promotional products. Distributors, please send case studies of how clients in this market have used promotional marketing for member recruitment and retention, thank-you gifts and leave-behinds, and recognition programs. Suppliers, please submit product images and descriptions that work well for professional organizations and associations. Please send submissions by February 10.
A Distributor Asks: I’m thinking about adding a college intern this summer but I’m unsure of how to structure the set up. For those distributors who have had interns, do you pay your interns or do you work with their school to provide credit? Do you have them sign a confidentiality agreement and/or non-compete agreement? What types of tasks do you have them do? Is there anything else I should consider to make sure it’s a successful experience for both parties?
Email your answer along with your name, title and company name to Question@ppai.org by March 1 for possible inclusion in an upcoming issue of
PPB
magazine.
Need peer advice? Send your question to Question@ppai.org.
Read the answers to each month’s question here.
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