TREVOSE, PA – May 6, 2010 –The Advertising Specialty Institute announced today its New York trade show, held over three days in the world’s leading business and tourism destination, posted strong attendance of 2,500 distributors from 1,177 firms.

The show, which took place Tuesday, May 4, through Thursday, May 6, at the Javits Center, featured a crowded show floor and standing-room-only keynotes.  Exhibitors and attendees reported they enjoyed a terrific event.  Distributors were drawn to ASI New York from 38 states and 13 countries, including 49 from Canada, six from Trinidad and Tobago, five from Russia, as well as others from Columbia, Honduras, the Netherlands, Sweden, Turkey and the United Kingdom.

With thousands of new products and services for the start of the second half of the year, along with three days of free, industry-specific education, ASI New York delivered 344 suppliers, including 112 exhibitors who weren’t at ASI New York last year and 178 not exhibiting at Promotions East.

“In the city that never sleeps, ASI suppliers, distributors and decorators enjoyed a jam-packed schedule of education, networking and business brainstorming,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president of The ASI Show and president and chief executive officer of ASI.  “There was nonstop action, from a bustling show floor at the Javits Center and the debut of the ASI Women’s Summit to the glitz and glam of the Counselor Awards at the renowned Plaza Hotel.”

Tuesday, May 4, featured ASI Education (sponsored by Fields Mfg., asi/54100) that included the popular New Distributor Success Track. More than 400 attendees participated.

In addition, dozens of advertising specialty professionals participated in the inaugural ASI Women’s Summit (sponsored by Fields Mfg. and J. Charles Crystalworks, asi/62985) at the Millennium Broadway Hotel.  Real estate mogul and best-selling author Barbara Corcoran roused the crowd with a motivating lunch presentation, and “promo biz coach” Rosalie Marcus led an interactive discussion on how to leverage personal strengths to build a business.

The Counselor Awards – the industry’s most prestigious and anticipated awards event – took place Wednesday, May 5, in the Grand Ballroom of The Plaza.  Greg Muzzillo, founder of Proforma (asi/300094), and Vera Muzzillo, the company CEO, were jointly named Counselor Person of the Year.

Counselor also honored the outstanding sales achievement of the Top 40 distributors and Top 40 suppliers in the industry, and named the International Person of the Year – Nicolas Paillot, CEO of BIC Advertising & Promotional Products.  For all winners and photos, click here.

During the New York show, Counselor also announced the winners of its annual Product Design Awards, honoring the most innovative, functional and eye-catching products in the industry. Distributors voted for the best items in 13 categories.  To see the winners and finalists, click here.

Winners of all awards also appear in the May issue of Counselor magazine.

Thursday, May 6, featured a packed keynote by ASI’s senior vice president, Dale Denham, entitled “Build Your Brand & Your Business with Social Networking” (sponsored by RatePoint). Participants learned to how to grow their distributorships by using social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Google.

Suppliers were thrilled with steady traffic during two exhibition days and reported looking forward to mid-year sales.

“ASI New York has been pretty terrific,” said Michelle Mickelson, of Dard (asi/48500).  “We’ve had a steady flow of people who are interested in a lot of our product line and getting ideas on how to sell it.”

Jason Emery, of Logomark (asi/67866), agreed.  “This show has been fantastic,” he said.  “There aren’t many shows out there where we can write orders right on the show floor.”

Harry Rosenberg, of Ariel (asi/36730), said, “I’m glad we have three people working our booth – we’ve all been busy.  We like ASI Shows – they work well for us.”  Rosenberg was honored at the Counselor awards with the Marvin Spike Lifetime Achievement Award.

Distributors also left New York pumped up for the summer sales season.

“It’s a terrific time of year to talk to vendors on the show floor, as there’s been a bit of a lag from the winter shows,” said Rebecca Kollmann, of Adventures in Advertising (asi/109480).  “We can see all the products that have come out for summer and stay charged up for the rest of the sales year.”  

Ross Silverstein, of iPROMOTEu (asi/232119), said, “I love coming to all of the ASI Shows, and New York is particularly enjoyable because it’s such a vibrant city and there’s so much to do here, so it’s a fabulous location.  We have a large contingency of iPROMOTEu affiliates here who are learning a lot and spending time with the exhibitors on the show floor.”

Register today for the next ASI Show in Chicago, July 13-15, at www.asishow.com.  To learn more about exhibiting or sponsorship opportunities, contact Karen DiTomasso, vice president of sales, at kditomasso@asicentral.com.

About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI) 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.

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Dawn Marie,
Executive director of corporate communications

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