Most years, the promo industry’s top markets stay relatively stable, moving by mere tenths of a percentage point. That makes 2025 – when leading markets gained or lost hundreds of millions of dollars in sales – especially noteworthy for the magnitude of the changes.
Here are key insights on the biggest risers and fallers:
Despite widespread concern over federal budget cuts, both Education (+0.8 percentage points) and Healthcare (+2.0) expanded their share of industry sales in 2025, solidifying their positions as the industry’s two largest markets.
Construction (+1.0) and Financial/insurance (+0.8) were also big winners last year.
Tariffs appeared to be a boon for the Manufacturing sector (+0.8), but their adverse impact on tourism contributed to Restaurants/Travel/Lodging (-1.0) suffering one of the greatest declines.
Meanwhile, no market dropped as much as Real Estate (-1.1), owing to housing inventory constraints and relatively high mortgage rates.
Technology (-0.8) too faltered as layoffs continue to plague the sector.
Read this full article here, and catch up on all of the stories from the Counselor 2026 State of the Industry.
