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Wednesday
January 18, 2012 Orlando Knocks It Outta The ParkFiled under: ASI Shows, Members, News About ASI And we’re off! The 2012 show season kicked off in grand style in Orlando this week, posting record-breaking education, attendance and exhibitor levels, contributing to making it the fastest-growing show in the industry. In a standing-room-only keynote, 1,438 industry professionals watched Bill O’Reilly and James Carville face off on the nation’s hottest political and business issues. The event was co-sponsored by Pepco Poms (asi/77280) and Showdown Displays (asi/87188). Education participation set a record, with 2,410 distributors attending classes during ASI Orlando’s Education Conference on Monday, January 16. All sessions were eligible for credits toward BASI (Bachelor of Advertising Specialty Information) and MASI (Master of Advertising Specialty Information) certification. During a reception in their honor, 17 graduates of the ASI Certification Program were recognized in a pinning ceremony. To date, over 15,000 industry professionals have registered for classes necessary to obtain the industry certification. We got tons of great feedback throughout the show. Here’s a sampling: “ASI Orlando has been fantastic,” said Jason Emery of Logomark (asi/67866). “The attendance is phenomenal. We brought seven people to the show and could have used another two. There were times when we couldn’t even get into our own booth. Distributors are having open conversations about their annual strategic plans versus only looking at individual products.” Michael Leigh, of Calibre International (asi/43442), said: “This has just been an amazing show. We’ve spent a lot of time with quality distributors. This is not a ‘scan and go’ crowd. Everyone is interested in finding new products to help them do a great business in 2012.” Our new show VP and GM, Lorenz Hassenstein, got off to a great start. “ASI supplier members are reaping the benefits from this year’s Orlando event, and many already are planning to expand their presence at future 2012 ASI Shows, and certainly Orlando next year,” he said, adding that strong attendance was being viewed by exhibitors as a positive sign for the year. American Solutions for Business (asi/120075), Brown & Bigelow (asi/148500), Geiger (asi/202900) and AIA (asi/109480) were among the Top 40 Distributors that hosted large sales meetings at Orlando. Visit http://www.asicentral.com/ for full coverage of ASI Show Orlando. Upcoming 2012 ASI Shows are Dallas (February 1-3), San Diego (April 2-4), New York (May 8-10) and Chicago (July 17-19). To learn more about exhibiting or sponsorship opportunities for 2012, contact Karen DiTomasso, vice president of sales, at kditomasso@asicentral.com. If you attended the show, please let me know what you thought by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Monday
December 12, 2011 Marching Toward Success with ASIFiled under: Community, Industry Initiatives, Member Benefits, Members, News About ASI ASI’s ongoing commitment to advanced technology is moving two giant steps forward with the launch of two new initiatives: ASI SmartSales for distributors and ASI SalesPro for suppliers. Designed specifically for this industry – in cooperation with tech giant Oracle – ASI SmartSales and ASI SalesPro represent the next generation of sales tools for industry professionals. We spent a year on R&D, and millions of dollars, to ensure our members possess the most technologically advanced sales arsenal available. Now, it’s your time. Using ASI SmartSales, distributors will have a complete contact and lead management system to help them close more business and provide accurate forecasting. Every individual salesperson in an organization will be able to easily send out personalized e-mail campaigns with tracking and analytics. Managers will be able to track the sales pipeline and forecasts. But don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what user Lisa Marks, president of On Your Marks, had to say: “Organizing customer contact information is key to a profitable distributorship. SmartSales is helping me organize my marketing and my time for the first time in many years. The fact that it’s cloud-based means our entire team has access day or night. I’ve looked for a perfect solution to help me manage all our communication for a long time, and this is the best. I’m so grateful to ASI for teaming up with Oracle to provide this very powerful, cost-effective tool.” ASI SalesPro offers suppliers a sophisticated sales tool dedicated to sales management, marketing campaigns and revenue-generating capabilities. With SalesPro, every single salesperson becomes a marketing machine, with the added bonus of superior tracking and analytics. The plug-and-play business platforms integrate Oracle’s cloud-based technologies with the appropriate ASI products to create a unique, highly secure platform consisting of a hybrid implementation of cloud and locally hosted software and databases. Distributors with ESP who are interested in ASI SmartSales should e-mail asismartsales@asicentral.com or click here (Password: Own The Customer). Members who want to sign up for ESP and ASI SmartSales should call their ASI account executive at 800-546-1350. Suppliers interested in subscribing to ASI SalesPro should e-mail salespro@asicentral.com or call 800-546-1226. For a video demo, click here. These new tools are intelligent, powerful, efficient – and easy to use, since we build everything at ASI with one person in mind: you. If you have any questions, please call your sales rep today. And let me know what you think by posting a comment or e-mailing me here.
Tuesday
November 15, 2011 Power on to 2012Filed under: Members, News About ASI, Research We spent three great days in California at the 2011 Power Summit – braving surprisingly chilly weather – debating, networking and strategizing with a diverse assemblage of about 250 industry leaders and aspiring leaders. For photos, videos and news of the Counselor Power 50, click here. During the summit, we heard from experts like John Hamm, an executive coach and author of “Unusually Excellent: The Necessary Nine Skills for the Practice of Great Leadership.” My main takeaway from John was this: Be honest – with your employees and with your customers. The Power Summit is always a whirlwind of ideas, discussions and debates. For me, three main themes emerged from this year’s gathering. The first is focus. Focus on your business and refocus your efforts as we barrel toward the end of 2011 and into 2012. The second theme is technology. Power your business with the latest technology and increase efficiency and your bottom line. The third theme is talent – recruiting it and developing an even deeper bench. And once you’ve built that team, don’t forget to bring them into as many discussions as possible. You’d be amazed at the great ideas that surface from brainstorming sessions. One of the highlights of the summit was the release of ASI’s latest research study, “Defining the Disconnect: An Analysis of Channel Beliefs vs. Customer Needs in the Advertising Specialty Industry.” This is the very first industry study to tell suppliers and distributors straight out if they’re delivering products end-users really want. If you haven’t already, I urge you to read it in its entirety by clicking here. Circulate it to as many industry friends as possible. The next ASI Power Summit will be at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida, November 11-13. It’s never too early to register. For more on the 2011 summit, please check out my Tim’s Take videos by clicking here and here. If you attended, I’d love to know your thoughts. Post a comment or e-mail me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Thursday
November 10, 2011 The Industry RespondsFiled under: Community, Media Coverage, Members, News About ASI I received immediate feedback to my letter to members concerning President Obama’s call for cuts in federal government spending on ad specialties. I appreciate everyone who responded and applaud your passion – no matter where you stand on this particular issue. The executive order titled “Promoting Efficient Spending” was posted Wednesday and made me feel less anxious about its overall impact on our industry. Section 7, Extraneous Promotional Items, reads: “Agencies should limit the purchase of promotional items (e.g., plaques, clothing, and commemorative items), in particular where they are not cost-effective.” Can we live with that? Many of you who wrote think we should, for the overall good of the country. Others think Obama’s stance is anti-business and that his views on economic recovery are misguided. One point I’d like to stress is that ASI is not partisan in any way. As an organization, we advocate on behalf of this industry – and not for or against any particular politician or political party. Below is a sampling of some of your comments – with names removed. They represent what many of you are thinking:
There have also been a number of articles written about this issue, including one that ran on the Politico blog, which quoted me. As it turns out, even Politico was unable to find any agencies that have paperweights, stress balls or coffee mugs. In addition, I also spoke to a Washington Post reporter on the issue and was happy to continue to hammer home the cost-effectiveness of ad specialties – and how using them often actually saves the government money when compared to other forms of advertising. That’s a point all of us should be making – no matter which color state we live in. To read the Washington Post article, click here. Stay tuned for more as this issue continues to develop. And keep writing, by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Tuesday
November 8, 2011 Counselor Names Power 50Filed under: ASI Shows, Community, Industry Initiatives, Members, News About ASI Timidity has no place in business. And if Polyconcept’s recent history has shown us anything, it’s exactly that. When Polyconcept’s Philippe Varnier, Yann Leca and David Nicholson purchased Trimark Sportswear, they changed the game by becoming the first major supplier to sell both hard goods and apparel. This big, bold move also helped propel them from No. 8 to No. 1 on this year’s Counselor Power 50 list. By definition, the business leaders on our annual list set the agenda for the market, provide successful examples for others to follow and, ultimately, dictate how business is done in the ad specialty industry. Last night we honored them for their outstanding business acumen at the fifth annual ASI Power Summit in Dana Point, California. Here’s the top of the 2011 Counselor Power 50 list:
For the complete Counselor Power 50 ranking, click here. For photos of the Power Summit and Monday’s awards ceremony, click here. It’s also worth noting the newcomers who hit the list for the first time, since they’re definitely among the ones to watch. They are:
For more info and details on why these leaders moved up – or down – read the upcoming December issue of Counselor and check it out online at http://www.counselormag.com/. Let me know what you think of this year’s ranking by posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Monday
October 17, 2011 The Gift of EducationFiled under: Members Back in the ’80s, I got tickets to Dr. Ruth’s talk show and had a blast listening to the sex expert once described as “a cross between Henry Kissinger and Minnie Mouse” tackle questions. More than 20 years later, I found myself sharing a table with Dr. Ruth Westheimer at a fundraiser for a NJ-based organization called Answer. The world-renowned psychotherapist was the event’s keynote speaker, and I can assure you Dr. Ruth is still answering important questions with her trademark wit and intelligence. I was delighted not only with the speech, but also with the cool keychain Dr. Ruth handed out, which featured her photo and logo, and with the beautiful gift bag Answer gave everyone in the audience. It was packed with great promotional items like a coffee cup, pen, pad, mints and mouse pad. The ASI distributor who put the gift bags together was Overture Premiums & Promotions (asi/288473), of Vernon Hills, IL, chosen one of Counselor magazine’s “Best Places to Work” in 2011. The occasion was Answer’s 30-year anniversary, dubbed “Keeping It Up: 30 Years of Great Sex (Ed).” And although the folks at Answer clearly have a sense of humor, more importantly, they have a clear and critical mission: to reach nearly 5 million teens and more than 6,000 educators every year. At the breakfast, I learned a lot about what’s working – and what’s not working – in sex ed today. And the fact is there aren’t many places kids can go to get age-appropriate answers to their questions. But they – and their parents – do have Answer, a component of Rutgers University with a National Advisory Board boasting an impressive list of members. The organization offers parents tons of resources, including a list of reviewed and recommended books and websites to help them educate their children about sexual health and growing up. So if you haven’t had “the talk” yet and need some guidance, I urge you to check out Answer’s website. I learned a lot and hopefully you will, too.
Friday
September 16, 2011 Log On, Learn and SellFiled under: ASI Shows, Members, News About ASI Our most recent Virtual Trade Show attracted a whopping 1,759 participants – and a ton of great comments. As always, the show featured multimedia demos, free catalogs and tons of top new suppliers. At this all-day virtual event, we had 27 show booths with sales reps and 40 ASI Education and certification programs. One participant was so impressed with the connections he made that he suggested we host a virtual show every week. Below is a sampling of other comments we received:
At the show, participants chatted with each other, viewed docs, catalogs and Webcasts and competed for $17,000 in prizes – all for free and without spending a dime on travel. The best part is no matter where you are – or how you’re dressed – you can log on and learn, network and sell. And if you missed the virtual event, you can access it on-demand here. We know the all-day, online events are effective because exhibiting suppliers experience an average 24% increase in ESP searches the day after each show. Our next Virtual Trade Show is scheduled for February 15, which seems like a long way off when the leaves are still (mostly) green but it’s just five months away. Yeah, there might be snow outside your door by then but with a virtual event, there’s no need to slosh through anything to participate. And, don’t forget – you can attend classes that are applied to your BASI or MASI certificate right from the virtual show floor. Let me know what you think of virtual events posting a comment or e-mailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube. |
