TREVOSE, PA – November 4, 2009 – The Advertising Specialty Institute®, the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, announced today that ESP Online will begin running directly on Macintosh computers.

Development of ESP Online for Macs has been underway for several months, and demonstrations will be available at the upcoming ASI Show Orlando (Sunday, January 3 – Tuesday, January 5, 2010). 

ESP Online for Macs will not require users to install Windows or any third-party programs (such as Parallels), and it includes all of the core functions currently provided by ESP Online.  All featured upgrades to ESP, along with ASI’s high-level customer support, will also automatically be included. 

“This revolutionary development will change the way distributors and suppliers using Macintosh computers do business in our industry,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI.  “According to research and feedback I’ve received directly from our customers, we estimate that up to 15% of ASI’s members are now using Macs, so this new service is sure to help every Mac user find more time for selling and more ways to increase profits.”

ESP Online is the industry's leading sourcing and marketing program with 2.5 million promotional product searches conducted in a typical month.  About 32,000 distributors use ESP today to access products from 3,500 reputable ASI suppliers and market their products to end-buyers.

In addition, the program allows suppliers to view products (without pricing) from all suppliers included in ESP Online, to help them benchmark their offerings versus the competition.  Suppliers can also view all ASI Supplier Ratings, to learn more about the positions of other suppliers within the system.

ESP Online includes the best image quality in the industry and features catalog and decorator searches, management of client proposals and a purchase order tool, which all saves suppliers and distributors time and dramatically increases their sales.

There are no additional costs to current ESP Online users who switch to ESP Online for Macs, and ASI expects to complete the rollout and final delivery by the end of first quarter 2010.  

If you want to be among the first to receive ESP Online for Macs, register now at asicentral.com/macintosh.  For your chance at $250, participate in the ESP social media contest now at timandrewsblog.com.  For more information, contact Dan O’Halloran, executive vice president, distributor services, at dohalloran@asicentral.com.

About ASI
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.

Contact

Dawn Marie,
Executive director of corporate communications

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