Incentive Market Primed For Uptick
A new survey suggests companies will be increasingly likely to use merchandise and incentive programs in 2010, largely because of expanding budgets and a willingness to spend recently untapped funds. Data from the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF) shows 32% of corporate professionals expect an uptick in incentive programs this year, while 34% anticipate unchanged spending.

"Cautiously optimistic is the term I would use to describe the overall message in the data from the survey," says Mark Peterman, chairman of the IRF Research Committee. "Our sense is that companies may have been sitting on budgets for the past 10 months or so waiting to see how things were going to play out and whether there was going to be more pushback from the media and community regarding incentives."

Video Report: Industry News Of The Week
In a new feature, Counselor PromoGram is offering a video news report that will highlight the top stories every week. Called Industry Update, each episode will detail the most important trends and news items impacting the ad specialty market.

In this episode, we discuss two Top 40 apparel suppliers coming together, the impact of a landmark Supreme Court decision, and the comeback of the incentive market. Click here to watch Counselor PromoGram’s Industry Update.

Supreme Court Removes Campaign Marketing 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.

Podcast: How To Get Better Sales Leads
On Tuesday’s ASI Internet Radio Show, the hosts took calls from audience members looking for ideas on how to generate more sales leads for their businesses. Looking for ways to get better quality leads for your sales efforts in 2010? Check out this podcast.

Click here to listen to the lead-generation segment from Tuesday’s show.

If you’d like to check out a recording of the whole online radio show, go to 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 am eastern time and give us a call at 215-953-4979 or e-mail us at radio@asicentral.com to participate on the show. We want to hear from you.

Take The State Of The Industry Survey
Counselor is currently polling professionals in the industry – both distributors and suppliers – to see how the market did in 2009 and to get impressions on where the industry is headed in 2010. We need your input. Please take some time to click the appropriate link below and complete the annual State of the Industry survey. Your responses will remain anonymous and you’ll be helping to create Counselor’s annual State of the Industry report.

Distributors click here to take the distributor State of the Industry survey.

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.

.

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

In The News
All In One (asi/34256) and Pacific Handy Cutter Inc. (asi/75650) have announced a new partnership. Per the deal, Pacific Handy Cutter will now focus its operations solely on large volume clients, while All In One will now serve distributors seeking in-stock quantity orders from Handy Cutter.

Ash City (asi/37127) has contributed $25,000 to help those in need in Haiti. The company will match, dollar for dollar, any additional donations made through its fundraising partnership with the Red Cross and UNICEF.

Atlas Embroidery LLC (asi/126900) has been named the official production facility for Reebok/Adidas' Super Bowl and NFL Pro Bowl apparel. The company is also producing T-shirts for the upcoming Winter Olympics.

Boxercraft (asi/41325) has released its spring catalog, featuring brand-new flannel pant offerings. For more information, go to: www.boxercraft.com/catalog.

Brother Industries Ltd. is donating approximately five million JPY ($55,000) to the Red Cross to support relief efforts in Haiti.

Heritage Sportswear Inc. (asi/60582) has announced it will offer same-day shipping (Monday-Friday) of apparel and accessories for customers in WI, KY, TN and Chicago, IL.

People On The Move
BrandCentrik (asi/349742) has appointed Cathy Anderson vice president of business development.

ASI SHOW