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Expanding Options for Promotional Products
December 31, 2008
By Alex Palmer
The definition of "promotional products" is expanding, at least if the Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) has anything to say about it. This year's PPAI Expo, taking place at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, Las Vegas, Jan. 12–16, will feature "brand."— a showcase of incentive, rather than traditional, promotional products.
The "brand." gallery will include many incentive-level brands including Sony, Bose, Tumi, Dooney & Bourke and Waterford. There will be at least 16 brands showing under their own representatives this year that were sold only through manufacturers' reps or not at all in years past. Also breaking from the past, this stable of brands will constitute a "show within a show," distinct from the rest of the Expo instead of intermingled with the many other promotional products booths.
"Basically what you might have seen at The Motivation Show we'll have at the "brand."[gallery]," says Darel Cook, PPAI's director of expositions. Since many of those at the Expo are more oriented to the promotional products market, he expects that the pavilion will "help educate the promotional consultants and distributors at the show about what brands can offer and what incentives can offer as a business to help you grow as a business."
Both the Incentive Marketing Association and the Incentive Manufacturers and Representatives Alliance will have representatives in the pavilion, offering information and answering questions for distributors who walk through. Cook says many clients are reaching out to their promotional consultants, specifically in areas like safety programs and corporate gifting, for merchandise with higher price points.
"It's not just the ten- or fifteen-dollar gift items anymore; it's the $1,000 TVs, the high-end Dooney & Bourke bags that [consultants] are able to go in and make very good programs with," says Cook. "They're saying, 'I not only can do the marketing for you, but I can do the incentive plan as well. I can do the safety plan for you as well.'"
He sees the "brand." initiative as a way to add another tool to the belts of promotional consultants as they reach out to potential clients or expand their offerings with existing ones. While promotional consultants have incorporated incentive merchandise into programs previously, Cook says "it has been in indirect ways in the past, and we're trying to make it more direct this year."
The struggling economy is on the minds of promotional planners, and PPAI is approaching those concerns head-on, even adding the slogan "Now, More Than Ever" to the event. Acknowledging that sales will be challenging in this environment, Cook emphasizes that the industry is resilient and has weathered tough situations before. He says preregistrations for the Expo are at the same levels they were last year, and points to the dip the industry saw following 9/11. While growth was not as strong during that period, the promotional products industry returned to double-digit growth soon after.
"This industry does well at 'hunkering down,' so to speak, and investing in their products and people when a crisis comes about," says Cook.
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