TREVOSE, PA – January 18, 2010 - Advertising Specialty Institute today announced a commitment to invest $100,000 to boost education efforts that demonstrate the value of promotional products to end-buyers.

ASI’s education programs will encourage buyers to increase their use of advertising specialties in their marketing plans and will create more buzz about the power of promotional products. 

Initiatives include:

• Media blitz.  Aggressively pitching stories to media nationwide, highlighting the reach and effectiveness of promotional items.  A recent ASI story about the dramatic increase in sales of hand sanitizers resulted in nearly 100 media mentions nationwide, including spots on CBS Money Watch, Philadelphia Business Today and Live 5 News. 

• ASI Show-related publicity.  Increasing pursuit of media coverage of advertising specialties among the five metro areas of the ASI Shows.  Florida State Representative Kevin Ambler and Senator Paula Dockery visited the just-completed Orlando show and the Orlando Sentinel wrote an article about it (comments accepted online) and posted ASI TV videos featuring interviews with the politicians on its blog.  Orlando’s CBS station, Local 6 News, also provided a sneak-peek of the show.

• Successful Promotions magazine campaign.  ASI’s award-winning editorial team is sending a monthly e-newsletter to 600,000 marketers, filled with case studies and education.  A PowerPoint presentation about the positive return-on-investment (ROI) of promo products has already been featured, available to download here.  Also, a new Facebook fan page for the magazine will be launched first quarter, providing additional resources and editions of The Joe Show. 

• ASI Marketing Advisory Board.  This recently-formed board of business leaders is driving the industry forward by connecting with end-buyers and sharing their feedback and suggestions with the industry.

• Research.  ASI Research published an advertising specialty impressions study in 2009 for distributors to send to their clients and prospects, showing them the high ROI of promotional products.  The study will be updated this year. 

“ASI is determined to spread the message of the power of promotional products to end-buyers,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI.  “We are ramping up our education efforts throughout the year and casting a wide net, to communicate the fact that advertising specialties provide more value than virtually any other advertising medium.”     

In addition, ASI Education provides distributors with a wide array of multimedia resources available anytime to help them educate their customers and prospects about the power of promotional products, including the “Distributor Success System” set with 10 downloadable CDs packed with tips and strategies for marketing to end-buyers.  In addition, ASI’s Online Learning Center campus provides dozens of free educational webinars each year, featuring everything members need to become top ad specialty salespeople and brand consultants.

ASI also provides dozens of education sessions with industry experts for distributors, suppliers and decorators attending the ASI Shows and Advantages Roadshows.
 
For more information, contact Melinda Ligos, senior vice president of professional development, at mligos@asicentral.com.

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute is the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, with a membership of over 26,000 distributor firms (sellers) and supplier firms (manufacturers) of advertising specialties.  Supplier firms use ASI print and electronic resources to market products to over 22,000 ASI distributor firms.  Distributor firms use ASI print and electronic resources, which contain nearly every product in the industry from more than 3,500 reputable suppliers, to locate supplier firms and to market services to buyers.  ASI provides catalogs, information directories, newsletters, magazines, websites and databases, and offers e-commerce, marketing and selling tools.  Visit ASI online at asicentral.com and on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, the CEO’s blog and the ASI Social Network.