ASI's Groundbreaking Global Study Proves Power of Promo Products

7,000+ consumers in 21 cities across North America, Europe and Australia polled;
Latest ASI study finds commanding advertiser recall among 82% of surveyed recipients

TREVOSE, PA - September 18, 2013 - The Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI) today released groundbreaking global research proving promotional products deliver commanding advertiser recall among an average of 82% of recipients in every international city surveyed.

Promotional products remain a high-impact, cost-effective ad medium allowing even small companies to achieve as high an ROI as major corporations, according to ASI’s latest study. The comprehensive cost analysis provides buyers and sellers of logoed pens, caps, T-shirts and other branded items with powerful data to convince clients world-wide that ad specialties can increase sales and brand exposure.

ASI released the Global Advertising Specialties Impressions Study at the 2013 ASI Power Summit, held this year in Park City, Utah, and attended by entrepreneurs, multi-national CEOs and small business owners throughout the $19.4 billion promotional products industry.

Study results show promo products are consistently popular and persistent, with most people owning about 10 items they generally keep for six months, a far longer time period than any other form of advertising.

“ASI committed considerable time and resources to this study to give suppliers and distributors global data they can easily share with customers, prospects and end-buyers to convince them to spend more of their marketing dollars on promotional products,” said Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI. “No matter where they live or what language they speak, consumers consistently remember advertisers on branded items because they see their logos or wear their products day after day.”

At about a half a penny, promo products have a lower cost per impression (CPI) in the U.S. than ads for prime-time TV, national magazines and newspapers, and a similar CPI to spot radio and Internet advertising, the ASI study finds.

“Everyone in our industry can be proud of providing low-cost advertising that actually makes consumers feel good about advertisers,” Andrews said. “The real beauty is that local businesses and big brands alike can easily spread the word about a company, club or non-profit through useful items people will show off again and again at home, work or out on the town. As ASI’s study shows, that’s the proven power of promotional products.”

For the complete study, plus downloadable PDFs of charts, visit www.asicentral.com/study. Click here to watch ASI's YouTube video touting study results.

Highlights of the 2013 global study include useful statistics on:

Products and Income: Consumers in Sydney, Rome and Canada all own more caps than those in the U.S., with those earning $100,000+ most likely to wear branded headwear.
Cost Per Impression: Logoed bags used to tote things like groceries tie with writing instruments as having the lowest CPI of any promo item in the U.S.
Ethnicity: 52% of Latino consumers own a logoed T-shirt, the most of any racial demographic.
Age: Younger consumers (and Australians) are more likely to have branded desk accessories.
Advertiser Recall: 95% of those owning logoed outerwear like fleeces can recall the advertiser’s name.
Location: Of all of the metro areas surveyed, Phoenix residents boast the most logoed drinkware.
Party Politics: Democrats report owning more drinkware than members of other political parties.
Trends: 27% of Parisians own promotional USB drives vs. 11% of U.S. consumers.

Over a two-year period, researchers surveyed 7,145 consumers, in person and online, in 21 different metro areas in eight countries, from Los Angeles and Philadelphia to Paris, Montreal and Sydney, Australia, where ASI partnered with Pantheon Systems. In Berlin and Düsseldorf, ASI partnered with PSI, a member with Sourcing City of PromoAlliance, an international coalition that identifies best practices and market development benefiting the U.S., U.K. and European markets. The study’s demographics for U.S. consumers cover ethnicity, gender, age, income and political affiliation, since knowing the likely recipient of products is paramount for an advertiser.

ASI’s research studies are the most influential in the industry’s history, continuously cited throughout the B-to-B industry and across the advertising and marketing spectrum.

For more information, contact Larry Basinait, executive director of research for ASI, at (800) 546-1416 or lbasinait@asicentral.com.

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 25,000 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 catalogs to help members sell, market and promote their brands. Visit ASI at www.asicentral.com and on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and the CEO’s blog.

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