Staples Reports Q1 Growth
In its public quarterly filing, Staples Inc. announced last week that its ad specialties arm, Staples Promotional Products (asi/120601), posted "double-digit sales growth" in its fiscal first quarter of 2010 when compared to the same time period last year. While Staples didn't provide precise growth guidance for its promotional products division, it said the company as a whole showed a net profit jump of 32% for a total of $188.8 million. This result came after the company's profit had declined by 18% the previous quarter. "Our first quarter performance was strong across the board," said CEO Ron Sargent. "With sales and profit improvement in all three of our businesses, the year is off to a good start."

The largest distributor in the ad specialty industry, Staples Promotional Products showed "particular strength" according to Sargent. Joe Doody, president of North American Delivery for Staples, said "one major new bit of business in that area heavily drove that growth" but also said the company "is still seeing an increase due to companies loosening up the purse strings." He later added that promotional products, among other initiatives, "are going to drive the top line to really generate long-term margin growth that we've committed to out there."

For the fiscal quarter ending May 1, sales for Staples rose by a little more than 4%, increasing to $6.1 billion from last year's total of $5.8 billion. Both retail and international sales were up by 6%, and sales for North American Delivery gained 2%, the first increase since 2008. The company was modest in its expectations moving forward, forecasting an increase in the low single-digits for both the current quarter and the year as a whole.

River's End Renews Jockey License, Acquires Facility
River's End Trading (asi/82588), a Counselor Top 40 supplier, will become the exclusive licensee of Jockey International in the promotional apparel industry, the companies announced on Thursday. The corporate apparel license for Jockey was formerly held by PremiumWear and its previous owner, Forsyth. River's End acquired the Jockey license in January when it purchased several of PremiumWear's other brands. With the licensing agreement up for renewal, both River's End and Jockey agreed to go forward with their partnership. "We believe that the Jockey and River's End partnership will be highly successful and we're pleased to work with a partner that has a demonstrated history of producing excellent products in this important category," said Milou Gwyn, Jockey vice president of domestic licensing.

Also on Thursday, River's End announced that it had purchased certain assets and inventory of a Clarksville, TN, decoration and distribution facility that was formerly owned by PremiumWear. The Minnesota-based supplier will assume all operations out of the 135,000 square foot facility, including the distribution and decoration of the Page & Tuttle brands. In the transition, River's End is planning to no longer use the PremiumWear name. Four of its brands, including Jockey, will be sold to the ad specialty industry through the Page & Tuttle Corporate division this year.

"This endeavor ensures River's End Trading Company, and specifically the Page & Tuttle divisions, will continue to move forward without disruption to our customer service levels and distribution and decoration of the Page & Tuttle brands to the corporate and golf industries," stated Richard Ward, the president and CEO of River's End.

Supreme Court Rules Against NFL In Licensing Case
The United States Supreme Court laid down a unanimous decision against the National Football League (NFL) in an apparel licensing case brought against it by apparel and hat maker American Needle. In American Needle v. National Football League, the apparel company claimed that the NFL violated antitrust laws when it gave Reebok a single license to make hats for all of the 32 teams in the league. American Needle argued that each of the 32 teams were individual business entities and should be allowed to make individual apparel licensing deals for their own logos and trademarks.

While a lower court ruled against American Needle, the Supreme Court yesterday sent the case back to the Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago, saying that the NFL isn't a single entity but rather a consortium of 32 separately owned teams that compete with one another. Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the unanimous decision for the court and said that the NFL teams compete in many areas – including sales of apparel and merchandise – so they should be free to sign their own licensing deals. Not only do the teams compete for fans, ticket sales and players, Justice Stevens wrote, they "compete in the market for intellectual property. To a firm making hats, the Saints and the Colts are two potentially competing suppliers of valuable trademarks."

The Joe Show: Rain, Rain Go Away
In this episode of The Joe Show, Counselor Managing Editor Joe Haley shows off the latest in promotional umbrellas. Have clients looking for the newest in rain-protection gear? Check out this episode. 

Click here to see this umbrellas edition of The Joe Show.

Want more videos? Subscribe now to our YouTube videos .

Online Ad Spending On The Rise
U.S. online ad spending is expected to grow by nearly 11% this year, according to a new report published by eMarketer. The market research company revised its original forecast of a 5.5% increase up to 10.8%, due to a surprisingly strong showing in the search and banner marketing categories. "As Google makes gains, so does a large slice of online advertising," said David Hallerman, senior analyst for eMarketer. "When Google reported a 21% jump in net U.S. ad revenues for Q1 2010 – compared with a mere 5.3% gain in last year's Q1 – that was a key signal that the tide was turning."

The boost reflects the growing role that online advertising plays for marketers of all kinds – including ad specialty distributors and their clients. "I'm actually surprised that it's [only an 11% increase]—it's so easy for companies like us to get new clients on the Internet," says Rob Knaszak, president of PDS Corporate Sales (asi/290671).

eMarketer expects the search market to increase some 15.7% in 2010, helping boost the online ad sales market to $25.1 billion for the year, up from the $22.7 billion eMarketer had predicted in December of last year. "It's kind of amazing—you think back 15 years ago and nobody had a computer," says John Woodward, owner of Bug Art Studios (asi/149871). He says, though, that he just signed a deal with a customer who found him through his website, and will be using his company to print 5,000 postcards.

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 talked about the newest resume do's and don'ts and revealed some new trends in digital marketing. Plus, listeners called into the show to find out the best ways to cold-call right now.  

Register Now For Free Online Education
Counselor will be hosting two live online education courses this week sure to help you expand your business in 2010. On Wednesday, May 26, from 2:00 to 3:00 pm ET, we'll conduct a live webinar titled Improve Revenues & Margins With Green Products. Want to know how to capitalize on the growing eco-friendly market? Check out this online education session, moderated by Counselor Editor Andy Cohen and sponsored by green-product category leader Anvil (asi/36350). Click here to register now.

Get On Counselor's Hot List
Are you doing something unique, hip, fun or trendy in the industry right now? Do you know somebody who is? 

Counselor is looking for nominations of people for its third annual Hot List, which will be published in August – our Hot Issue. We're on the lookout for anyone in the industry who is taking an interesting approach to business, shaking up the status quo or simply networking like a maniac at all hours of the night. We're in search of those people who are making the industry a unique marketplace that's fun and energetic. 

Send an e-mail to Karen Akers at kakers@asicentral.com explaining in 50 words or less why your nomination should be recognized on Counselor's Hot List in August. And, please make sure to include a picture of the person you're nominating.

Nominate Your Company For The Best Places To Work Contest
For the third year in a row, Counselor is setting out to identify the industry companies that employees simply love to work for. These are the distributors and suppliers that have a loyal work force and that provide a work environment which employees want to go to every morning.

Counselor will be unveiling its second-annual Best Places To Work issue in September, and it will undoubtedly include an elite list of industry companies. Do you want your company to be considered? Getting involved is easy – and it's completely free to participate. The only necessary qualification is that a company has at least 10 employees. To nominate your company, or any others in the market that you think deserve to be recognized, simply click here. Also, there's no risk to participating. Only the honorees – those companies with the best scores from the survey – will be published in Counselor.

So, don't delay. Click here to register your company to be considered for one of the most exclusive lists in the ad specialty market: Counselor's Best Places To Work.

In The News
Ad-A-Day Co. Inc (asi/31040) announced it will be installing new phone lines on May 28, with the expectation that the company will return to full phone service for the first time since the March flooding in New England.

Castelli USA (asi/44305) announced that it has changed its name to Castelli North America Inc., which will consist of the company's Canadian and U.S. operations. All of the Castelli North American operations will now be run from its new 35,000 square-foot Nevada-based facility.

Concord Promotions Inc. (asi/166445) announced it has changed its name to Concord Marketing Solutions Inc. The company has also updated its website and moved it to a new domain: www.concordms.com. All Concord employee e-mail addresses are also changing to the new concordms.com domain name.

CSE (asi/155807) announced that The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has named it a Top 100 Workplace in southeastern Wisconsin for 2010.

Genumark (asi/204558) of Toronto, Canada, announced that it has joined the Legacy Buying Group.

Gill Studios (asi/56950) announced that it won four "Best of Category" awards at the Printing & Imaging Association's 2010 Graphex Graphic Excellence Awards Gala.

Leed's (asi/66887) has added 19 items to its offering of laminated, non-woven bags. Seven new designs have been added, including a lunch tote and a messenger bag. 

Prime Line (asi/79530) announced that it recently hosted a tour of its headquarters and factory for distributors, sponsored by SAAGNY.

Towel Specialties (asi/91605) has announced that it just started its Facebook fan page. Go to www.towelspecialties.com for more information.

People On The Move
Pro Towels Etc. (asi/79750) announced the additions of Angie Bidwell, Customer Service-West Coast Region and Debbie Smith, Customer Service-Southwest Region. 

Senator Promotional Group USA (asi/86390) announced that it has promoted Kim Lehere to vice president of marketing & sales operations. In her new role, Lehere will oversee the marketing and promotional strategies of the company, as well as the day-to-day sales operations of the business.