|
|
ASI NEWS
|
Media File Flying Off Shelves
Get your order in now for the essential sales and sourcing tool with thousands of products from hundreds of suppliers.
Find out more. |
ESP Search Surge
A recent jump in product searches may indicate an economic uptick.
Find out more.
|
|
ASI STORE
Find, review, and purchase the latest exclusive ASI products...
Find out more.
|
|
|
|
CA County Bans Kids’ Meal Promo Items Approving
the first local ordinance of its kind, supervisors in Santa Clara
County, CA, have banned restaurants from giving away toys and other
promotional items with high-calorie children’s meals. Passed in
a 3-2 vote this week, the limited ordinance targets any meal that
contains more than 485 calories, 600 milligrams of sodium or certain
percentages of fat or sugar. “This ordinance breaks the link between
unhealthy food and prizes,” said Supervisor Ken Yeager, in a meeting
on Tuesday.
Because the ordinance only applies to unincorporated neighborhoods
like Stanford and Burbank, the majority of San Jose-area restaurants
won’t be affected by the law. Hoping the fast-food industry will
voluntarily begin offering more healthy kids’ meals, supervisors
have decided to allow a 90-day grace period before the ordinance
is enforced. Eventually, the ordinance calls for a $250 fine for
the first violation, $500 for the second and then up to $1,000
for subsequent violations. “It’s just the way of government right
now to try to protect us from ourselves,” said Tim Appleby, owner
of Apple Advertising (asi/122990). “There are just too
many regulations.” |
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
ADVERTISEMENT
|
Located in central California, Santa Clara County has a reputation
for passing attention-grabbing ordinances. In 2008, the county’s
board voted unanimously to require menu-labeling for fast-food
restaurants, placing Santa Clara alongside San Francisco and New
York City in efforts to curb obesity. But while the county’s latest
health-related ordinance is making national news, it’s unlikely
to have an immediate effect on many California distributors, especially
since only about a dozen restaurants are located within the law’s
target zone. “I don’t think it will affect our industry very much,”
said Chris Savage, vice president of Burbank, CA-based The Corporate
Gift Service (asi/168924). “From my career in merchandising,
I can say that these are very large specialty orders and a lot
of them are direct to China.”
Santa Clara County’s supervisors will again address the ordinance
in a May 11th meeting. County leaders are urging other communities
across the country to adopt similar toy bans. |
|
BDA Buys Evigna To Form Second-Largest Distributor
As first reported yesterday in a Breaking News Alert, Counselor Top
40 distributor Bensussen Deutsch & Associates (BDA) (asi/137616)
has signed a definitive agreement to acquire fellow Counselor Top 40
distributor Evigna (asi/155460). Financial terms of the deal have not
been released, but the companies expect the deal to close in May. Evigna’s senior
executives will remain with the company in what will be known as BDA Detroit.
“It started pretty innocently,” said Jay Deutsch, CEO of BDA, making reference
to the deal. “We were introduced at ASI Chicago and realized we see eye-to-eye
on what clients need and what’s happening in the industry. Serious talks started
in late 2009.”
Per the agreement, BDA will now add the approximately 80 Evigna
employees to its staff. With total revenues of nearly $250 million,
the combined companies will become the second-largest distributor
in the ad specialty market. Already, its list of clients includes
Bank of America, Dell, GlaxoSmithKline, ExxonMobil, BlueCross Blue
Shield, Ford and Jaguar. “For many years we have admired what BDA
has built and we have worked hard to emulate their success,” said
Marc Belanski, CEO of Evigna. “We’re proud to join the BDA family
and are confident this acquisition will benefit Evigna’s distinguished
clientele.”
Without offering specifics, Deutsch said the deal will be “obviously
positive” in helping to increase BDA’s sales in 2010. Expressing
optimism, Deutsch said BDA enjoyed a “significant” rise in sales
during the first quarter of this year. “We are focused on doing
the best things for great clients,” Deutsch said. “BDA will continue
to look for opportunities to grow our business with the right companies
that fit with our culture.” |
|
Video Report: Industry News Of The Week
Every
week, Counselor PromoGram offers a video news report that
highlights the industry’s top stories. Called Industry Update,
each episode details the most important trends and news items impacting
the ad specialty market.
In this episode, we analyze a major distributor acquisition and
reveal one Top 40 supplier’s quarterly financials. Plus, why is
one California county acting out against promotional products? Click
here
to check out the trends and to watch Counselor PromoGram’s
Industry Update.
If you have any news you’d like to see covered on Industry Update
or in Counselor PromoGram, please send it to newsdesk@asicentral.com. |
|
Survey: Executives Optimistic About Growth
Leading
executives from several industries expect 2010 to be a year of
job creation and business growth, according to a recent survey
conducted by The National Association for Business Economics (NABE).
About 70% of survey respondents believe real GDP will expand by
more than 2% this year, while 24% are predicting real GDP will
grow by more than 3% in 2010. The findings reinforce results of
the latest Conference Board study, which suggest economic
growth is likely to continue through the summer.
Helped by rising labor demand, 37% of respondents plan to increase
employment over the next six months, up from 29% in January’s survey.
The net employment outlook index, which accounts for job additions
minus all cuts, jumped dramatically from 6 to 21 in the NABE survey.
In March alone, employers nationwide added 162,000 jobs, the most
in three years, according to U.S. government data. The financial,
insurance, real estate and service industries continue to show
the most positive employment scores.
With salaries
also improving, 26% of respondents reported higher pay trends,
while those showing
a decline in wages dropped to just 6%. For the third consecutive
quarter, profit margins increased as well, with just 11% of respondents
reporting declines, compared with 16% in January. The survey
additionally showed businesses are willing to invest in technology,
especially computer and communications equipment.
The NABE survey,
which includes executives from the
private sector and trade associations, was conducted from March
25 through April 10. |
|
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. |
|
Share
Your Story With Counselor Mag & Earn $100
Have you recently lost a client because he's had his budget cut,
moved on to another job or simply gone to a competitor? Share
your story with Counselor magazine's
reporters and we'll have a team of experts offer you valuable strategies
you can use to regain that client's business. Plus, we'll feature you in an
upcoming issue of Counselor AND give you a $100 American Express Gift
Card for your efforts.
If you're interested, please send an e-mail to acohen@asicentral.com and
tell us in 100 words or less how you lost a recent client (you needn't
reveal the name or company of the client) and any efforts you've
made to win him/her back. |
|
In The News BDA
(asi/137616) has been named the preferred premium vendor
for the NCAA, partnering to provide officially licensed co-branded
merchandise, consumer promotions and other initiatives.
Boundless Network (asi/143717) has launched Boundless
Network Europe with the addition of regional offices and local
customer support in London, England and Cologne, Germany.
Custom Chocolate LLC (asi/47919) has introduced a new
product called colorific chocolate bites, available in any combination
of 13 colors.
Imprints Wholesale (asi/62486)
has recently added three new styles to its Brightline collection,
which features dye sublimated items with antibacterial wicking
properties.
Promoshop (asi/300446) has announced that its subsidiary,
ecopromos.com, has chosen three organizations to receive 2009 allotted
donations. The recipients are: Heal the Bay, Cape Eleuthera Foundation
and Winter Wildlands Alliance. |
|
People On The Move Polyconcept
has promoted Michelle Armstrong to lead its product development
group in both Europe and North America, the latter of which includes
suppliers Bullet (asi/42424), Journalbooks (asi/91340)
and Leed’s (asi/66887).
|
|
EmailExpress SUPPLIER SPECIALS |
ASI
SHOW
The following are the dates and locations for The ASI Show in 2010:
New York: May 4-6
Chicago: July 13-15
Plus, don't miss the ASI Advantages Roadshow, the industry's #1 traveling show. Visit www.advantagesroadshow.com for the complete schedule and go to www.asishow.com for information on all ASI Shows.
|
SPONSORED
BY
|
Counselor® PromoGram® is
a trademark of the Advertising Specialty Institute. You were sent this
newsletter as a benefit of your ASI membership. Copyright 2010, ASI.
All Rights Reserved. |
If you'd like us to send Counselor PromoGram FREE to anyone else at your company (or to your off-site sales reps), go to www.asicentral.com/newsletters and complete the online form. |
Interested
in advertising in Counselor PromoGram? Send an email to ddienna@asicentral.com |
Click here to subscribe to Counselor® magazine. You must be a member of ASI to subscribe to this publication. The publisher has a right to refuse subscriptions to non-members. |
Advertising Specialty Institute®, 4800 Street Road, Trevose, PA 19053 |
|
|