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Monday
July 20, 2009 ASI Enhances ASI ContentBridge PlatformFiled under: Industry Initiatives, Member Benefits, News About ASI, Using Ad Specialties When someone like Dave Regan, vice president of sales at Counselor Top 40 Distributor The Vernon Company (asi/351700), gives a product a thumbs up, you can bet it’s worth a look. Dave recently told us that ASI’s newly-enhanced ASI ContentBridge platform, which allows distributors to build customized websites and use all of ASI’s product data and education content to stream into their own systems, has helped Vernon boost their online presence and improve operations. Jack Nadel International (asi/279600), also a Top 40 distributor, recommended the service’s versatility. Craig Nadel, president, calls ASI ContentBridge “great for our company.” See their full comments and learn what the buzz is about in the press release – click here. ASI ContentBridge is now more powerful, faster and easier. It makes order management a snap – because ASI does all the hard work using our enhanced data stream – and you can also showcase more products and make changes in near real-time. The service offers the same quality data that powers ESP Online and LogoMall websites and includes information such as pricing, set-up fees, product images and supplier ratings. Also – a real benefit for suppliers – when suppliers update their product and pricing information with ASI, it’s automatically forwarded to distributors with ASI ContentBridge to feed their websites and business systems. In turn, the latest product data reaches distributors and end-buyers faster. The bottom line is that larger distributors using ASI ContentBridge are growing their business and improving their customer service with fewer errors. For more information, visit asicontentbridge.com, or contact Dan O’Halloran, senior vice president of distributor services, at dohalloran@asicentral.com. Tell me how ASI ContentBridge is helping your business and post now, or email me here.
Monday
July 13, 2009 Digitally Speaking, for Sex and the City and Wedding CrashersFiled under: Guest Blog, Using Ad Specialties Marketers across all industries are asking themselves the same question, “How Integrating digital elements into promotions is not an exact science, nor is it a straightforward process, however there is a methodology to deploy the best programs. Each promotional concept, incorporating digital, needs to be approached from a unique angle with consideration of the product, the audience and the end goal. For example, when our team was creating promotions to market the Sex and the City movie, we thought of a partnership with Mercedes. It was the perfect pairing to highlight the upscale feeling of New York City and bringing people into NY Fashion Week.
Similarly, the Budweiser and Wedding Crashers promotional program ‘Trailer Crashers’ was extremely successful because the concept of ‘crashing the trailer’ allowed consumers to participate in the key concept of the lead characters of the film by interacting with the property.
Good luck with your marketing efforts and feel free to post a comment now about your experience with the digital marketing world. – Gordon Gordon Paddison is the founder and principal of Stradella Road, a consultancy providing marketing strategies for brand and entertainment companies, and he is the keynote speaker at this year’s ASI Power Summit. Gordon will share his best practices and industry insights on how to leverage new media for your marketing promotions. He has experience marketing over 200 movie titles, including The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Wedding Crashers and Sex and the City.
Thursday
April 2, 2009 Charitable giving: Dig a little deeperFiled under: Community, Members, Using Ad Specialties No matter what your personal situation, it’s a guarantee somebody out there has it worse, which is why it’s more important than ever to give. Right now, organizations like food banks and homeless centers are in critical need, especially since many of those organizations depend on contributions from foundations that are feeling the pinch. Here at ASI, we have a longstanding tradition of giving – in good times and bad. Last year alone, United Way received about $23,000 from ASI employees, including the company match. ASI is a family-owned company, chaired by Norman Cohn, which also believes strongly in giving back.
Above and below: The Cohn family at this year’s Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation fundraising walk. Left to right: Suzanne Cohn, Norman’s wife; Norman Cohn; Sydney (middle), Matthew’s daughter; Mackenzie (front left), Matthew’s daughter; Lea (front center), Matthew’s wife; and Jennifer Morrison (front right), Lea’s mother. Norman’s son, Matthew, vice chairman, and Matthew’s two young daughters, Mackenzie and Sydney, have spearheaded a drive (www.cohnsisters.com) to help cure diabetes and have raised nearly $300,000 so far this year – and a total of over $700,000 over the last two years. Many industry folks generously supported the team with donations or products that were used during this year’s walk.
Even if you don’t have a dime to spare, there are other ways of giving back. Volunteer time at a community organization, clean out your closet and bring clothes to a homeless shelter or donate blood. Believe me, you’ll feel great.
ASI is recognized as platinum-level sponsor for a total pledge of $120,000 to the Promotional Products Education Foundation. Here I am receiving an award on behalf of contributions made by the Cohn family and ASI, from Wayne Greenberg, left, account manager for Geiger. Our employees feel great all year long by contributing to a wide variety of causes, including the Adopt-a-Family program with our local American Red Cross, which a good majority of our staff participate in each year and have contributed over $11,000 to since 2005. We’re also involved with the Bucks-Montgomery Center for Human Services food drive, MANNA, Boy Scouts food drive, Toys For Tots, A Woman’s Place cell phone drive, and the Ronald McDonald House. The list goes on. I’m not sharing this to toot ASI’s horn, but to remind everyone that we can’t forget others who still need our help, especially in these economic times. Every dollar counts, and every dime matters. As more floods affect our colleagues and friends in North Dakota and other weather-related disasters are becoming a challenge for people in several states around the nation, please consider donating to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund here. Tell me how you or your company contributes. Post a comment now or email me here.
Friday
March 27, 2009 Counselor Wins Third Neal Award, Stitches NominatedFiled under: Industry Initiatives, News About ASI, Using Ad Specialties
The Neal Awards are considered to be the Pulitzer Prize of the business press and Counselor was selected as a winner for “best news coverage.” The winning series of news articles was written by editor Andy Cohen, an eight-time Neal Award-winner, whose guidance helped Counselor take home its first Neal in 2007. For the press release, click here. I believe this recognition reflects our strong commitment to independence, objectivity and overall excellence that readers rely on each month to help them grow their business and make smarter, better decisions. Also, Stitches magazine from ASI, serving embroiderers and equipment manufacturers, was a finalist for its first Neal Award. Nicole Rollender is the magazine’s editor, and the nomination was for an ongoing feature series called “Business Spotlight: The Next Level.” While it didn’t win, it competed with well-known national publishers, including Hearst, publisher of O, The Oprah Magazine. All told, ASI’s magazines have won nine nationally-recognized writing, reporting and design awards, including its three Jesse H. Neal Awards. I couldn’t be more proud of our entire editorial staff and many of our 26,000 members, who contribute and help make Counselor and all of our publications some of the best in North America. For more about the Neal Awards, click here. Also, a reminder that American Business Media, host of the Neal Awards, has extended its deadline for the upcoming “sales promotion awards” to March 30 and is looking for more entries to round out the competition. The awards honor promotional and collateral materials and more information is here. Tell me about your latest accomplishment. Post a comment now or email me by clicking here.
Monday
March 23, 2009 Now’s Your Time to Advertise and Get the Word outFiled under: Industry Initiatives, Member Benefits, News About ASI, Using Ad Specialties
In fact, Counselor was ranked No. 1 in ad pages for 2008 among all business-to-business magazines, which just goes to prove what I’ve been saying all along – suppliers know that advertising works and now’s the time to ramp it up and reach the right qualified distributors. Read the press release here. A recent article in min’s b2b, a publication that tracks the magazine industry, also noted that Advantages magazine ranked No. 3. Together with Counselor, the two books accounted for 15% of all ad pages among the top 25 business-to-business publications in the nation. The article also ranked magazines in the advertising/marketing/sales management category for North America, where Advantages, Counselor and Successful Promotions comprised 29% of all ad pages and Successful Promotions posted the highest percentage increase versus the prior year. Competing industry publications accounted for only 18% of ad pages. I believe the rankings help get the word out that the advertising specialty industry is important and vibrant. What are you doing to get the word out about your business right now? Post a comment now or email me at tim.andrews@asicentral.com.
Wednesday
March 18, 2009 Promo Products to Keep us Focused – VideoFiled under: ASI Shows, Education, Members, Using Ad Specialties
The beauty of our industry is that promoting your business during downturns is cost-effective with promotional products, and now is the time to educate your clients about the high ROI advertising specialties provide. I mentioned earlier that my friends and I decided to take a break one weekend from the doom and gloom of the recession coverage in the media and I hosted a “Recession Calls it Quits” gathering. We traded ideas and looked at our glasses as half-full. For attendees I ordered – what else? – promotional products, and I wanted to share them with you so you could see what several industry suppliers created to help make the event memorable:
And during our recent ASI Show in New York, I found a clever bumper sticker saying “I Refuse to Participate in a Recession,” from Gill Studios (asi/56950). Click here to watch the video with the sticker now. I’ve had numerous conversations with people about what they’re doing to build their business. Tell me your ideas – post a comment now or email me. Also, visit YouTube to watch my video of hot products from New York and share it with your clients.
Tuesday
March 10, 2009 Hot Products Video and Strong New York AttendanceFiled under: ASI Shows, Education, Using Ad Specialties New York is a great show town in every sense of the word and preliminary attendance is nearly 2,800 distributors from 1,338 firm firms – up more than 7% from 1,247 firms last year. Education Day attracted nearly 450 distributors and is up 8% from year ago. Read the press release here. Add New York’s numbers to the attendance at ASI Orlando in January and a record-setter in Dallas and we’ve delivered the industry’s most successful first-quarter shows. And the products I saw at the ASI Show this week were the top of the heap (as the song goes). Watch my products video from the ASI booth featuring unique items like:
Also, I visited Otto Cap International (asi/75350) and discovered innovative cotton caps that have UV protection. Caps are among the most popular advertising specialties and click here to watch the video right from the booth. And, at ReturnMoi (asi/82261), I found proactive security ID labels that help you find things you lose, even pets. Click here to watch the video. In other show news, this morning, the Oprah of Madison Avenue – Mary Lou Quinlan – rocked the crowd with some awesome insight every businessman on the planet will certainly attest to: understanding female consumers provide the key to unlocking what works in providing customer service excellence. In addition to networking and education, last night attendees also enjoyed very special evening at the top of Rockefeller Center. No matter how many times I see the NYC skyline, it never fails to thrill me – especially from the 64th floor. Tell me your New York stories. Post a comment on the blog now or email me at tim.andrews@asicentral.com. |
can I capitalize on social media and actually integrate it into my marketing so it works?”
