ASI Power 50 -- Part 2

Each year, the Advertising Specialty Institute, the major media & marketing organization serving the promotional products industry, releases its Power 50. It's a list of who it considers to be the 50 most powerful people in our business. And as I noted last week, once again for 2009, the combination of Geiger's CEO, Gene Geiger and our Executive VP, Jo-anLantz, is ranked #5 on that list.

As ASI describes it, the Power 50 all have significant influence on our industry. They are listened to, followed and respected to the point that many of their industry colleagues emulate their strategies and business beliefs.

If you're a regular reader of Counselor Magazine - the major monthly 'What's Happenin' periodical for the promo products industry, chances are you've seen Gene and Jo-an quoted regularly. Part of that is due to Geiger's prominence -- we're the only company that's remained in the industry's Top 10 largest distributor firms for each of the past 30 years. But more than that, both of them are leaders who have guided Geiger through quite a bit in the 19 years that I've been with them.

Over that time we've experienced the technology revolution, major booms and busts in the US economy, the soaring influence of China and lots more. And Geiger has emerged from all of this stronger than ever. Our sales volume has grown consistently, we've become an industry leader in Company Store programs, have made several acquisitions and have become a company that's poised for continued future growth.

The folks at ASI have certainly taken note, as has the rest of our industry, so Gene and Jo-an remain ensconced at #5, even as the names and rankings of others on the list have fluctuated.

For me personally, it reinforces something I've always felt and that is that I'm affiliated with the BEST business partner in our industry. We have a marketing slogan that says 'Geiger Gets It' and they really do. Gene and Jo-an communicate with our sales force regularly and keeping us up to date on the key issues impacting our industry as well as insights on where they think we're headed and what to be on guard for. A lot of the topics that I write about on this blog result from information that I've obtained from them.

Speaking for just myself personally, I've understood Geiger's prominence within our industry for a very long time. But every so often its nice to be reminded about what they're all about. And once again the folks atASI have done that with the release of their Power 50. Congrats to both Gene and Jo-an.

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The 50 Most Powerful People in Promotional Products

The Advertising Specialty Institute this week unveiled its annual list of the 50 most powerful people in the promotional products industry and Geiger is once again prominently featured on that list. The combination of our CEO Gene Geiger and Executive VP Jo-An Lantz together are ranked 5th -- same as a year ago.

This says plenty about Geiger's standing in our industry and reinforces my feeling that I play for the right team. I'll have more on this next week.

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The Geiger Advantage Part 3 --Exclusive Client Shows

One of the added value benefits that we at Geiger deliver to our clients is our exclusive annual client shows.

In the Greater Boston area, our recent Geiger Expo took place October 20 at the Sheraton Dedham/Boston. The event was a great success. Over 200 Geiger clients attended and they got to see literally hundreds of promotional product ideas. The Expo features our top production partners and because we hold it in the fall, it always features lots of great ideas for end of year holiday gifts.

The Sheraton was a new venue for us, and the feedback from clients and production partners alike was that we picked the right place.

Traffic was steady throughout the half day show, many stayed for lunch and all in all it was time well spent for all involved.

If you couldn't make it, I hope that you can get to next year's event. And if you're not located in the Boston area, Geiger puts on similar shows at various locations around the country throughout the year. Contact me for details on the one in your area.

Thanks to all who were able to get there this year.

The Power of Promotional Products II

Want more proof of the power of promotional products? Last football season, the Tennessee Titans were one of the top teams in the NFL. In the 2nd to last game of the regular season, the Titans beat their arch rival Pittsburgh Steelers handily to run their record to 13-2 and clinch the best record in their conference.

Several Titan players celebrated by unceremoniously stomping on a couple of the Steelers' famed 'Terrible Towels'.

Recently I posted about the Minnesota Twins Homer Hankie. The Terrible Towel actually predates the Hankie. It was the symbol of the Steelers' Steel Curtain Dynasty of the 1970's -- and like the Hankie, is still going strong even today. In fact the Towel is as synonymous with the Steelers as Mean Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw and the black and gold uniforms.

Needless to say the proud Steeler fans weren't too pleased with that little stunt.

Well, what do you think has happened since?

The Steelers recovered, and tapping in to the karma of a now sufficiently motivated Terrible Towel came together as a team and went on to win the Super Bowl. As for the Titans....they haven't won a game since!

Tennessee lost their last regular season game, got upset in their only playoff game and have started the current football season 0-6, with the exclamation point being their recent 59-0 drubbing at the hands of the New England Patriots.

Yet another illustration of the unique power of promotional products!

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A Few Tips on Calendar Advertising....

Following up on my last post, here are some ways you can maximize the promotional value that you receive from calendar advertising:

1. Distribution is Key

This is the one aspect of calendar advertising that most often gets overlooked and unfortunately it's the most important. Those calendars you bought won't do you any good if they don't leave the box. In fact, you shouldn't even commit to a calendar advertising program unless you've determined what kind of distribution plan will go along with it.

Will you mail them? Deliver them in person? Send them out with your drivers? Have people pick them up in your store? Some savvy marketers will go so far as to hang the calender in their client's office themselves (with their client's permission of course). What better way to guarantee proper placement of your ad?

2. Who's going to receive them?

Clients...prospects....high traffic places like your local convenience store or the post office? Think about where you're going to get the most eyeballs of people who will spend money with you or the most eyeballs in general if that's more appropriate.

3. Think about WHERE you want people to see your message.

This certainly ties into calendar selection. Where do your clients or prospective clients make their buying decisions? In the kitchen? If so consider a food themed appointment calendar. At their desk? Commercial or Year at A Glance calendars are prefect for this purpose, as is the much smaller desk calendar.

4. Remember it's not necessarily about which calendar YOU like......

It's which calendar best appeals to your target audience -- and most importantly which one is most likely to get hung on a wall. You may hate muscle cars and like Norman Rockwell, but if your client base is mechanics, which calendar is more likely to actually get used?

5. Think about the message you're sending about your company.

If you're a Mercedes dealer, chances are your customer base isn't going to be too eager to hang up your $1.30 wall calendar. By the same token if your plumbing company serves a working class area and you're handing out $10 calendars personalized with your customers names, some customers may decide that you'd be better served giving out a less expensive calendar and lowering your prices.

6. Don't order them too late in the year.

Ideally you want to get the calendars in your clients hands at some point in December, so don't wait until mid November to order them. As we move into November, production backs up and inventories of the more popular calendars can disappear. Remembering that distribution is key, handing out calendars in January is generally too late. So get them ordered early enough in the fall to allow plenty of time for proper distribution.

These are just some of the concepts that will help maximize the effectiveness of a calendar program. If you'd like to discuss these a little more in depth, just drop me an email at sboyages@promoresource.com.

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The Value of Calendar Advertising

Calendars are one of the most cost effective - and underrated - advertising vehicles out there. To touch on the old 'we practice what we preach' theme for a moment, I have used calendars for each of the 19 years that I've been in business, and if I were forced to only choose one promotional item to market my own business, I would pick calendars.

They are the oldest promotional product in our industry and with good reason - calendars are the way we mark time -- both its passage and to see what lies ahead. They're standard equipment in any office and necessary in all homes.

Some think that technology has rendered them obsolete. To that I say - nonsense! If you're in business, try operating without a wall calendar. You need to be able to see the current month, the next one and the previous one...which is the basic information that your typical Commercial Calendar (see above) provides. At home it's the same thing, only for aesthetic purposes and due to the generally limited wall space available, the smaller Appointment Calendar is usually the product of choice.


And if you want to promote your business, there is no more cost effective way to do it than to place your company's name on an advertising calendar.

Think about it. Statistics show that the average person working in an office looks at a calendar 12 times a day. Multiply that by 5 business days a week and then by 50 weeks a year. That's 3000 ad impressions a year!

What would it be worth to have your company's sales message viewed by a client or prospect 3000 times over the course of a year?

In the home, maybe that 12 times a day figure drops to 5 or 6, but also figure 7 days a week and all 365 days of the year. What's that type of ad space worth to you? The answer is a whole lot more than the nominal cost of purchasing the calendars.

But here are a couple of other numbers to consider: Statistics by the Calendar Marketing Association show that 83% of customers purchase products or services from the company that gave them their calendar. And 94% of calendar recipients can recall the advertising message on their calendar.

Finally, think of the waste involved with newspaper, magazine or direct mail advertising. You're paying for lots of impressions that lots of non-customers and prospects will see. Calendars allow you to control distribution and thus cost -- the only people getting them are people who you want to get them.

A calendar marketing program offers great value to any business, especially those with limited advertising dollars. The reason being that they provide lots of ad impressions each day at a very nominal price.

Of course, there are also some tricks for maximizing the value of the dollars you allocate to such a program. I'll cover those in my next post. Until then however if I can answer any questions about calendar advertising, please contact me at sboyages@promoresource.com.

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The Power of Promotional Products

More proof of the power of promotional products.....one of the most famous promo items in recent history, the Minnesota Twins Homer Hankie....which became famous during the Twins march to the World Series title in 1987....has made a reappearance.

It's being credited with the karma that's resulted in the Twins improbable 16-4 late season run that enabled them to tie the Detroit Tigers for first place in American League Central Division. The two teams will settle things Tuesday in a winner take all one game playoff in Minnesota's Metrodome with 50,000 Hankie wielding Twins fans trying to will their team to victory.

Can the Twins pull it off? With the Homer Hankies involved, why wouldn't they?

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