PPAI

PPAI has been selected from a field of 6,000 entries, as the winner of two 2012 Communicator Awards of Distinction for its work on the PPAI New Professional Development Certification Program integrated marketing campaign and PPAI New Industry Certification Program video.

PROMOTIONS EAST 2012, running June 3-6 in Atlantic City, begins in just four days and will feature industry-leading education, the biggest giveaway to date and networking events to engage attendees and exhibitors.

Recently a good friend gifted me with a rare historical find. Going through his late grandfather's "stuff" he came across a solicitation from The Oakland Advertising Company located in Akron, Ohio, mailed December 3, 1912.

PPAI announced that renowned product safety authority Dr. Carol Pollack-Nelson will be a featured speaker at its second annual Product Safety Summit (PSS) in New Orleans, August 14-15, 2012, at the Omni Royal Orleans Hotel.

PPAI has released the results of its annual sales volume study. The report revealed that distributor sales of promotional products in the U.S. climbed 7.02 percent in 2011 to $17,721,945,690, according to PPAI's annual estimate of promotional products sales.

PPAI, the not-for-profit association for more than 10,500 member companies of the $16.5 billion promotional products industry, has announced the first five Master Advertising Specialist Plus (MAS+) designees.

Silipint Inc., located in Bend, Ore., announced that Crown Products, Mobile, Ala., has been chosen to exclusively represent the new items Silipint and Silishot to the promotional products market. Silipint Inc. and Crown Products will officially launch the new items at the ASI New York show on May 9 and 10.

This week saw lots of news that matters to the industry: Gildan announced it will acquire Anvil, HALO was sold, Bernstein moved to CEO of Polyconcept, and I took a trip to Florida. That last part is the most important. Trust me.

Inspiration for this piece came from a recent journey that made me realize I needed to stop and salute our Industry's Heroes—those road warriors that spend time away from home to help us.

Just 31 days left until the show doors open on June 3 for PROMOTIONS EAST. This year's show will have more than 50 hours of education, 500-plus exhibitors and the chance to head home in a new set of wheels.