PPAI

U.S. promotional products sales volume surpassed $20 billion last year, Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) revealed in its latest study.

In its sixth year, Legislative Education and Action Day (L.E.A.D.), led by Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), has brought promotional product professionals together to speak with legislators about issues important to the industry.

Essent, a technology solutions provider based in Eston, Pa., has been named one of the 2015 Promotional Products Business Magazine's Greatest Companies to Work For.

It's actually no "secret" that a successful business is driven by knowledge. Knowledge is power in an increasingly more challenging business environment. My PPAI award-winning FreePromoTips.com industry resource program has been offering relevant business-building information and industry commentary for years.

Our evolving industry business model continues to be a hot topic. Recently I started wondering how an online purchasing mentality, I’ll call the Amazon click-to-buy world, affects our industry. It begs the question, are we (aka distributors) really needed? It’s getting easier and easier for end-users to buy online or direct from suppliers.

As I write this, it is Saturday at 6 a.m. Normally, I would be getting ready for an enjoyable morning run with my friends. Not today. This morning, I’m lying down with a bag of frozen peas on my knee. As much as I wanted to get out, the wise move was to take this Saturday morning off and let my painful and bruised knee heal.

Pittsburgh-based Pro Towels won two awards at the Promotional Product Association International (PPAI) Expo in Las Vegas.

I am hardly an expert in the area of social media. In my personal online life, I will post pictures of my cute, but very weird dogs and family outings. I’ll occasionally “check in” at restaurants, since it’s important for my “friends” to know I’m eating well and hanging with the right people that I “tag."

Having just returned from some early-season trade shows, I am in awe of the commitment my industry colleagues have to help us build our business. I wrote about this some time ago in a commentary entitled, “A Salute to Our Industry Heroes.”

You don’t realize the impact of some things until you have a few days to reflect on what happened. I’ve been to many PPAI Expo weeks, but this one was like no other. In this commentary, I share a few of my video reports that offer some insight on what went on in Vegas.