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Thursday
August 4, 2011 Company Picnics Are Back, BabyFiled under: Media Coverage, News About ASI, Research, Using Ad Specialties Remember the company picnic? Maybe you attended one thrown by your dad’s company and marveled at seeing him tie-less, downing a beer with seldom-seen work buddies and playing baseball with the boss. We wondered about the current state of a time-honored summer tradition, so we conducted a survey to find out. Larry Basinait, our executive director of research services, polled 400 companies and discovered 41% of respondents planned to throw a company picnic sometime this summer. And 8% said they’re hosting a picnic for the first time or the first time in recent years. For many, it’s a reward to employees for all their hard work during recent tough times. Since no employee gathering would be complete without giveaways, we also learned 41% of respondents always give away ad specialties to attendees, and 28% sometimes do. Of those who give out items, 51% give away T-shirts; 44% give away recreational items like frisbees, games and toys; and 32% give away caps and headgear. All told, companies responding to the survey spend an average of $4,116 on their company picnic. That’s a lot of hot dogs and inflatable slides. We issued a press release on our results, which you can read here, and more than 150 outlets picked it up, including United Press International and a Wall Street Journal radio report broadcast on Pittsburgh’s KQV-AM, which you can listen to here. One amusing side note from the survey concerns activities respondents said their company planned, which included everything from dunk tanks and egg races to drinking games, jousting and even medical testing. Whatever it takes to motivate employees! Let me know if you attended or hosted a company picnic this year by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Wednesday
August 3, 2011 The Gift Book Worth GivingFiled under: News About ASI, Using Ad Specialties When you have a most discriminating client (you know who they are!) there’s no better catalog to show them than The Gift Book. But don’t wait too long to order yours – we’ve already sold over 50,000 copies. Distributors ordering The Gift Book will receive a free personalized digital version and free color imprinting if they order by August 31. The catalog comes with a guaranteed circulation of 75,000. It’s sophisticated, yet designed for easy browsing, by product type, price and line, allowing clients to choose from more than 400 products from 60-plus suppliers for any occasion. Not only that, it’s a real beauty – and distributors can choose between two cover options: standard and a stylish deluxe blue version. As always, the front cover of each Gift Book can be imprinted in full color with the distributor’s logo and contact information, helping to drive immediate leads and sales. For more information about The Gift Book, contact Dan Brown, executive director of distributor services, at dbrown@asicentral.com. To order The Gift Book online, click here. Need more proof? How’s this: According to Counselor magazine, more industry sales occur in the fourth quarter than any other period during the year; much of it is due to end-buyers in need of quality items for incentives and corporate gift-giving programs. In fact, according to a recent ASI study of end-buyers, 91% of recipients take action as a result of something they noticed in a paper catalog, with nearly half (49%) purchasing a product. Flip through and let me know what you think of The Gift Book by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. |
