River's End Acquires PremiumWear Brands
Top 40 supplier River's End Trading Company (asi/82588) has finalized a deal to purchase several brands provided to the industry by fellow Top 40 supplier PremiumWear (asi/72725), marking a complicated joining of the Minnesota-based businesses. It's expected that PremiumWear will become a division of River's End, providing the Page & Tuttle, Munsingwear and Jockey labels to the ad specialty market. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. "I think this is a wonderful opportunity for our company going forward," said Jayme Weber, president of PremiumWear, in an interview yesterday with Counselor. "We had been owned by Forsyth but they just didn't have the financial wherewithal to continue in the market in this kind of economy. River's End is two miles down the road from us and it's very strong financially."

Within the new structure, Weber will assume the title of vice president of sales, while managing the Page & Tuttle division. Selected PremiumWear employees will stay on with River's End, as the companies will have separate sales teams, catalogs and customer service departments. "We're committed to serving our customers the way we always have," said Weber. "All the contact information will stay the same. We'll continue to ship and embroider through our facility in Clarksville, TN."

Per the deal, River's End has also acquired the licensing rights to exclusively offer the Forsyth brand in the golf and ad specialty industries in the U.S. River's End is also negotiating to acquire the future licensing rights to the Munsingwear and Jockey brands, which Forsyth holds through 2010. Anticipating the deal with PremiumWear to generate significant revenue, executives call the agreement part of a "totally new business model" employed by River's End. "You can't do business as usual anymore," said Tim Klouda, River's End president of promotional products, in a recent interview with Counselor. "We're sort of a hybrid in that we're a wholesale distributor, a vendor and we offer decoration as well. Our industry is shrinking. As a vendor, you have to either take market share away from competitors or complete acquisitions."

In its last reporting to Counselor, River's End announced it generated 2008 sales of $85 million, while PremiumWear generated 2008 revenues of $48 million. Along with its private label, River's End also offers brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Lacoste, IZOD and Jerzees.

Supreme Court Removes Campaign Finance Limits
In a sweeping 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has eliminated a well-established ban on political spending by corporations and unions, nullifying a series of campaign finance laws and overturning decades of legal precedent. The ruling, analysts say, could dramatically increase the amount of special-interest advertising, providing marketers almost limitless selling opportunities during political campaigns. "I think that the ruling has the potential to greatly expand the use of both traditional media and guerilla marketing for campaigns," says Larry Cohen, president of Top 40 distributor Axis Promotions (asi/128263). "Every group will not be able to afford traditional media like TV and radio, so T-shirts, signs and buttons [will be] a very cost-effective way to get their message out."

Ruling that the campaign finance laws in question violate the First Amendment, the high court lifted both the corporate spending ban as well as the blackout period that stops groups from buying ads within 60 days of an election. Because the court's action essentially reversed a prior case first argued in Michigan, the decision will likely be applied to federal and state elections. "I am sure there are distributors that focus on election time, but I am amazed there is not a greater emphasis," says Bob Hechler, president of Windbrella (asi/97247). "Now we add this recent ruling to the equation and allow corporations and unions to spend on their candidate and avoid the $500 campaign contribution limit and the results should be significant."

While the court's decision has been welcomed by marketers, the White House has quickly and harshly criticized the ruling, with President Obama calling it "a victory for big oil, Wall Street banks, health insurance companies and the other powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans." Obama has pledged to work closely with Congress to mitigate the effectiveness of the decision, possibly by backing efforts that would require shareholders to vote before a corporation could spend money in elections.

The court's split decision fell along political lines, with Justice Anthony Kennedy serving to break the tie and writing the majority opinion.

Industry Provides Help To Haiti
As relief efforts continue in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, industry companies are rallying to provide support to those in need. One of the most notable contributions has come from Counselor Top 40 distributor Cintas (asi/162167), which has donated clothing and other supplies worth $330,000. "The people of Haiti have suffered immeasurable loss and we are pleased to do our part to help them overcome this tragedy," said Scott Farmer, CEO of the Ohio-based company.

In addition to sending supplies, some companies are providing a percentage of their January revenues to relief agencies. For example, Rona Inc. (asi/83546) donated 25% of its sales, from January 16-20, to support the Haitian recovery. Meanwhile, World Emblem (asi/98264) is printing T-shirts for fundraising events coordinated through Project Medishare. The supplier has donated its products and services to Project Medishare to assist with their fundraising efforts, including an event held at American Airlines Arena last weekend.

Also, several industry companies have teamed up to create a Facebook page called Promo For Haiti, while others are promoting the efforts of their clients. "One of the companies we work with called Threadless has partnered with the Red Cross in a campaign, so we offered to send out information," says Steve Kanney, general manager of Target Graphics (asi/90549). The client is donating proceeds from sales of a specific t-shirt (up to $100,000) to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund.

Tuesday Morning Radio Show Live On The Air
Every Tuesday morning from 10:30 a.m. eastern time to 11:00 a.m., a team of ASI editors debate the most important topics facing the industry. We also, of course, offer our own off-beat look at the market. This morning, we debated a recent Supreme Court decision, shared creative business card ideas, and talked about the sexiest products to sell for Valentine's Day. Plus, we even took calls from audience members looking for ways to get more leads into their businesses.

If you missed the show, don't worry. A recording is now available at www.asicentral.com/radio. And, don't forget to join us next Tuesday, February 2, for our next broadcast. Log on to www.asicentral.com/radio at 10:30 a.m. eastern time and give us a call at 215-953-4979. We want to hear from you!

Do You Have America’s Most Creative Sales Team?
For an upcoming feature in Counselor magazine, the editors are looking for distributors that have creative sales teams. Do you brainstorm until all hours of the night, present wild promotional ideas to clients, and generally approach the ad specialty market in a unique and creative way?

Hiring Freeze Begins To Thaw
According to a recent report, many companies are beginning to consider staffing up. After cutting staff down to the bone, a number are looking to add more employees, and at the same time fewer companies are planning layoffs, according to Careerbuilder.com. Of the 2,700 hiring managers and human resources professionals surveyed, 29% said they plan to increase the number of full-time employees this year. This was more than double the 14% that were looking to add salaries in 2009. Eleven percent plan to add part-timers. While the job market has been up and down, December marked the lowest level of jobless claims since July 2008, according to the Labor Department.

Holly Polston of Garment Graphics (asi/201682) in Tucson, AZ, is among the numerous distributors that are looking to bolster their existing staffs. "We are growing. We just put two ads on Craigslist. Although, I prefer to hire people based on personal referrals. It's great when that happens." In addition to a full-time admin and a part-timer, "we are always looking for salespeople. We're just not having a lot of luck now."

The Careerbuilder.com survey shows that jobs are easier to come by in the West. Nearly a quarter (24%) of employers in that region planned to add staff this year followed by the Northeast (21%), the South (20%) and the Midwest (16%). The largest number of hires are coming in the IT field (32%). Professional and business services, as well as sales, made up 22% and 21% of prospective hires respectively. Also, emphasis on social media was a goal for a large number of survey respondents. Thirty-seven percent of employers plan to focus on social media this year. About 20% plan to add social media responsibilities to existing job roles and 8% plan to hire someone to focus at least partially on that aspect of digital media.

The Joe Show: 2010 New Products
In this episode of The Joe Show, Counselor Managing Editor Joe Haley takes a look at some of the hottest new products that suppliers have released into the market in 2010. Want to show your clients some of the latest industry offerings? Check out this episode of The Joe Show.

Click here to see this 2010 hot-products edition of The Joe Show.

Take The State Of The Industry Survey
Counselor is currently polling professionals in the industry to see how the market did in 2009 and to get distributor impressions on where the industry is headed in 2010. We need your input. Please take some time to click the link below and complete the annual State of the Industry survey. You'll be entered into a random drawing to win up to $1,000.

ASICentral: Introducing The New Tweet Tracker
If you're asking yourself ‘What's a Tweet Tracker?' you're surely not alone. Basically it collects all the posts, or "tweets," of the five ASI people who tweet for the company and places it all in one neat spot on the ASICentral homepage, and looks like this:

Learn more about the Tweet Tracker here.

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New Course Available on ASI Education's OnlineLearning Center 
Be sure to register at http://www.asicentral.com/asionlinelearning for some exciting new courses available exclusively to ASI members. Brought to you by ASI Education, Online Learning is the newest and most convenient way for distributors to get educated. Here are some of the courses from our New Distributor Success Track available now:

NEW: Green Apparel From A-Z: Grow Your Eco-Wear Business. Wearables makes up 30% of the nearly $20 billion ad specialty industry annual sales -- and that includes its growing eco-wear subset. In this course, we'll teach you about the most fundamental eco-friendly fabrics, the important global standards and practices, and the tips to help sell eco-wear and improve your business. 
Course Track: New Distributor Success
* Nailing Down the Basics
* Write Your Business Plan
* Marketing Your New Business
* Steps to Selling Success
* Creative Case Studies
* Avoid These First-Year Pitfalls
* Managing Your Business
* Wearables Crash Course
* Building Profitable Client Relationships.
Coming Next Month:
* Social Networking Tactics That Deliver Results

In The News
Crystal D (asi/47759) sponsored four families during December through The Salvation Army's Adopt-a-Family program. The $1,200 that was donated by the company and its employees was used to buy gifts for the families.

Digispec (asi/49716) and Visstun (asi/93975) have announced that they have combined their respective sales forces.

DYR (asi/48051) has announced that John Keith of Proforma Identity Pros (asi/300094) won the autographed replica of the framed recognition art piece presented to General Colin Powell at the ASI Show in Orlando.

Gildan has launched a charitable giving program called "I Support" that will award a selected non-profit up to $100,000. For information, go to: www.genuinegildan.com.

Newton Manufacturing Company (asi/283300) has named Beacon (asi/39250), BIC Graphic USA (asi/40480), Gold Bond (asi/57653), Hit Promotional Products (asi/61125), Hub Pen Co. (asi/61966), Leed's (asi/66887), Noteworthy Co. (asi/74360), Norwood, Sanford Business-To-Business (asi/84833), SanMar (asi/84863), Vitronic Promotional Group (asi/93990) and Warwick Publishing Co. (asi/95280) as its top 2009 suppliers.

Starline USA Inc. (asi/89320) awarded more than a dozen Wii gaming systems through its 2009 promotion. For more information and for contest results, go to: www.starline.com.

The Sunshine Group (asi/339525) has moved to a new location at: 125 South Swoope Avenue, Suite 101, Maitland, FL 23751. The company's contact information remains unchanged.

People On The Move
Spector & Co. (asi/88660) announced the hiring of Brian Porter as national accounts director.

Towel Specialties (asi/91605) has hired Matt Carter (Flanagan & Associates) to provide sales representation in GA.

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