Sourcing City Announces Strategic Alliance With ASI

TREVOSE, PA – January 23, 2012 – Sourcing City today announced it has formed a strategic alliance with the Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), the largest media, marketing and education organization serving the $18.4 billion promotional products industry in North America.

The two companies will work closely together to identify and introduce best practices and market development concepts benefiting the U.S. and U.K. markets.

Sourcing City and ASI created a three-year, multi-point strategic plan, with various elements to be rolled out over the next year.

To start, supplier members will be able to exhibit at both ASI and Sourcing City trade shows. In addition, a U.K. representative will soon begin serving on ASI’s Supplier Global Resource advisory board. And ASI magazines such as Counselor and Advantages will now also publish stories featuring prominent U.K. suppliers and distributors.

“We are very excited to be involved with ASI on such a close level,” said Alistair Mylchreest, CEO of Sourcing City. “In particular, we want to help professional distributors and suppliers grow their per capita spend in the U.K. market, and we are certain joining forces with a U.S.-based powerhouse like ASI is one great way to accomplish that.”

“ASI is delighted to align with Sourcing City, and we believe we can help members on both sides of the pond form lasting, mutually beneficial relationships,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI. “We benefited greatly from being invited to the Sourcing City Marketplace event and look forward to fostering an even greater understanding of customer relations and the needs of distributor partners in both regions.”

Sourcing City and ASI will announce further developments as the strategic alliance and joint projects develop.

About Sourcing City
Sourcing City is the market leader in the provision of specialist online digital and mobile trade services and networking trade events to the promotional merchandise industry. Founded in November 2002, Sourcing City has continually created and launched unique online and mobile services and trade events which had never been seen before in the U.K. promotional merchandise industry. The company now has a portfolio of market-leading and established brands to support distributors and to promote supplier products.

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) is the largest media, marketing and education organization serving the promotional products industry, with a network of over 27,000 distributors and suppliers throughout North America. ASI leads the industry in technology solutions, providing cloud-based e-commerce, enterprise resource planning software (ERP) and customer relationship management software (CRM). ESP Web is the industry’s leading tool for sourcing hundreds of thousands of products. A family-owned business since 1962, ASI also provides online research, marketing, advertising opportunities, trade shows, education, award-winning magazines, newsletters, custom websites and sell, market and promote their brands. Visit ASI at www.asicentral.com and on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and the CEO’s blog.