I’ve got some good news and some great news. I’ll start with the great news first: After a tenure of 51⁄2 years, Friday, April 25 will be my last day at Promo Marketing magazine. I’ve accepted a new position as a writer at an ad agency. So, herein is my final entry to my three-month stint as a PromoMarketing.com blogger (well, I suppose the part about the end of the blog might be the only bad news).
But, here’s the good news: Although I will no longer be a full-time staff editor at Promo Marketing, I will, however, continue writing for the magazine
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IT’S HARD NOT to detect a sense of pride in the tone of business owners who manufacture domestically. The whole thing can be likened to a proud father announcing the birth of his firstborn son. At this year’s PPAI Expo in Las Vegas, this writer marveled at the countless booths that donned the “Made in the USA” designation. From household items constructed of plastic derived from U.S.-grown corn to U.S.-manufactured T-shirts decorated with crystals, the selections were endless. Then, it suddenly made sense—despite all the hype of overseas manufacturing purported to being the wave of the future, American manufacturing continues to thrive in
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On the island of St. Croix, USVI—my native homeland—we have a saying that goes: “Hurry dog eat raw corn.” In phonetically written, local-dialect form, the saying would look (and sound) something like this: Huh-ree dawg eat rawh kahn. It simply means: those who make hasty and poorly-thoughtout decisions will reap the fruitless, sometimes harsh, repercussions thereof.
So, in the spirit of “Hurry dog eat raw corn,” this week, I wanted to highlight a few bloopers I’ve made as an editor for this fine publication over the years. Sometimes, it’s good to laugh at ourselves—actually, it’s often good to do so.
1. Hurry
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As part of an exciting sweepstakes event at this year’s PPAI Expo, Chicago-based R.S. Owens awarded a pair of tickets and an expenses-paid package to Brooke Ness of S&S Promotional Group, Fargo, N.D. Ness was the winner of a drawing that was held at the end of the Expo’s second day. She received a pair of tickets to the 2008 Primetime Emmy’s, round-trip airfare, two-night hotel accommodations, dinner for two and a limousine ride to the awards ceremony, which will take place in September at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Ness’s card was drawn from more than 500 registrants, and she will
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Crystal D, St. Paul, Minn., was selected as a gold winner in two categories and a silver winner in one category at the 2008 Promotional Products Association International Awards ceremony during January’s PPAI Expo, held in Las Vegas. Crystal D won gold in the “Etching-Engraving” and “Two or More Distinct Processes to Produce a Specific Visual Effect” categories. Crystal D submitted the crystal Columbus Award, which was both front- and reverse-etched to create a unique visual effect, for the “Etching-Engraving” category. For the category, “Two or More Distinct Processes to Produce a Specific Visual Effect,” the crystal NASCAR Car was submitted.
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T’S NOT THAT easy being green. When Icelandic musician, Bragi Thor Valsson penned this lyric decades ago—which later became famous in the 1970’s by everybody’s favorite frog, Kermit—he couldn’t have known how prophetic the words would one day prove to be. Aside from providing a lovable children’s puppet with a cathartic means by which to come to terms with his self image, the lyric has, for this writer, come to epitomize the largely unspoken sentiment felt by much of the industry—What exactly does it mean to “go green?” For many suppliers, such as Fenton, Missouri-based QuickPoint, going green has to do with the incorporation,
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I’m going to be a Big Sister soon! Well, that’s not entirely true, as I’ve been ‘big sister’ to Noelina, Ephra and Andrew for the last three decades.
I’m in the process, however, of being matched with a “Little Sister” through the nation’s oldest youth mentorship program, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America (BBBS), headquartered in Philadelphia.
As I was walking the showroom floor at the PPAI Expo two weeks ago, I received a call from a BBBS representative informing me that she’d found a potential match for me. I paused and listened closely to the rundown of the young
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I admit it, I love the man! At least I love those inspirational e-mails he sends out every week or so. Hi, Charley Johnson from SnugZ USA (I told him I would be blogging about him this week). Some of you may be receiving Charley’s e-mails. Don’t you just love them?
Well, the thing is, you can’t send a “self-help, live-your-best-life, seize-your-destiny” fiend thought-provoking, potentially life-altering quotations and not expect her to go bonkers!
I met Charley face-to-face for the first time at the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas. (It’s important that I specified “face-to-face” because we had been e-pals of sorts
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This blog is being written LIVE from the PPAI Expo in Las Vegas!
There’s so much to blog about, like the “Miss America” actresses that hoover outside the exhibit entrances (complete with red, slinky evening gowns and bejeweled crowns) directing conventioneers to a prominent apparel supplier’s booth to redeem a free shirt or the (little, old) lady that guards usage of the computers in the Internet Cafe like an angry hawk. Ahhh, sorry readers, but I’ve opted to take the high road and will instead highlight a selection of products in the famed New Product Pavilion. Perhaps, this is a topic more befitting of
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Bridgeport, Connecticut-based Prime Line proudly announced it has been selected as a winner of the 2008 PPAI Web Award for the category of Functionality/Usability. The award recognized PPAI distributor and supplier members in five categories for creative and effective promotional products Web sites. “We are very pleased to be recognized for the improvements we’ve made on our Web site recently,” said Jeff Lederer, executive vice president. “Some new features we’ve added include live inventory check, instant order-status look up and shipment tracking, as well as fast-and-easy product searches,” he added. Prime Line will be honored at The PPAI Expo 2008 awards presentation
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