St. Paul, Minnesota-based Crystal D, a supplier of crystal awards, plaques, trophies and corporate gifts, announced it is sponsoring two athletes for the 2008 Kanto Plain Special Olympics at Yokota Air Base,Japan on May 17 and 18. Crystal D is sponsoring two male athletes participating in basketball, bowling, 200-meter run, 400-meter run, 100-meter dash, and softball throw. This sponsorship allows the athletes to participate and contributes to the athlete’s uniform costs. The Kanto Plain Special Olympics became a private organization in 1980 and remains the only program in Japan sanctioned by Special Olympics International in Washington D.C. “Crystal D wanted to sponsor
Read MoreBisconti Joins Sourcery as New COO
Former Home Shopping Network (HSN) executive Frank Bisconti joined New York-based Sourcery as its new chief operating officer. Bisconti brings to Sourcery career experience that includes having been senior vice president and division head at HSN, CFO of Pierce Distribution Services Co., and most recently, COO and CFO of Imagemark Inc., a major promotional products company. Sourcery was launched in 2002 by co-founders and co-presidents Noah Ross and Scott Milstein who quickly grew the start-up into a multimillion dollar supplier of branded technology products and custom design services. With offices and manufacturing capabilities in China and corporate offices in New York, Sourcery
Read MoreAdvance Corporation Wins Governor’s Safety Award
The Cottage Grove, Minnesota-based Advance Corporation—makers of the Advance Award Line—was awarded a 2008 Meritorious Achievement Award for excellence in workplace safety and health. This award is part of Minnesota’s Governor’s Safety Awards program, which is administered by the Minnesota Safety Council, and recognizes companies with better-than-average performance in incident rates, depending on type of industry. The award will be presented at the 74th Minnesota Safety & Health Conference this spring at the Minneapolis Convention Center. For more information on the Advance Corporation, visit www.advanceawardline.com Do you have a press release for PromoMarketing.com or Promo Marketing magazine? We are continually looking for the latest
Read MoreCrimes and Misdemeanors
So, Woody Allen is suing American Apparel. Huh.
It’s funny … give our industry one celeb and people go crazy. (And by crazy, I mean that in the entire history of our e-newsletter, that item had pretty much the highest click-through rate, well, ever).
I’m finding it increasingly hilarious that no one can seem to decide which of the involved parties is more distasteful: Woody Allen, for well-publicized reasons, or a company founded by a guy with, shall we say, a less-than-savory reputation.
My coworkers make fun of me because I have “views” about American Apparel. Yes, I cover the
Music to My Ears
The other day, at one of our staff meetings, our editorial director (Nikki Stella) was cheerfully humming several tunes from one of her favorite recording artists, none other than Mr. Lou Rawls. At that point, I couldn’t help but chime in with details of my recent purchase of a CD containing all the classic hits of the late, great Nat King Cole! Wooo-wee!
Admittedly, most people in my personal circle look at me kinda weird every time I talk about the CD. But, for those of you out there who really appreciate good music, you can understand why I like Nat King Cole: Consider
Extreme Makeover Office Edition
After one very raucous editorial meeting (including some very spicy Indian food) we’ve decided to jump on the reality bandwagon and have the first-ever Extreme Office Make Over in the June edition of the magazine. While we won’t be rebuilding an entire house while a deserving family enjoys a Disney vacation, we will be doing our best to put together an office that will put make everyone else in the building jealous.
After only one day, the response to requests for participation has been amazing. I want to thank the folks over at Leed’s, Prime Line, Journalbooks, SnugZ, Senator, Dart, PictureFrames.net, the
Breaking News… Just In From Bejing…
While normally we don’t take time out to highlight non-industry-related achievements, we felt in this case a few words must be said. One of the promotional products industry’s very own will be representing the good, old, U.S. of A. this summer at the Olympic Games in Bejing. This professional’s professional will hang up the cell phone and holster the Blackberry as he travels abroad to become one of America’s only two-sport threats—competing in both table tennis and synchronized swimming. While some have questioned his choice of sports, we at Promo Marketing pledge to give him full support (and possibly a place on the cover
Read MoreGoofing Around
I was pleasantly surprised (and tickled) today when I received a “BREAKING NEWS” e-mail from the marketing department of an industry distributorship stating its president and CEO would be taking a leave of absence to represent the United States at the upcoming Olympics in China. Some of you may have received the e-mail.
I was so impressed (shocked, maybe) by what I was reading about the CEO’s athletic prowess in the first few paragraphs of the press release that I was compelled to holler across the cubicles to Charles Plyter (Promo Marketing’s managing online editor) to see if he’d gotten the release. After a
The Way To Lead
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality.
« WARREN G. BENNIS
Leadership style and ability have come into question a great deal lately—most obviously on the national front, but even in the fishbowl that is our industry. For the most part, this year’s political battles have maintained a positive attitude without too much in the way of negative punches being thrown. Niceties notwithstanding, the Democratic presidential hopefuls continue to duke it out over who has more experience, who is tougher, smarter, more charismatic, ethical, and even whose moral fiber is woven more tightly. While all these elements are essential qualities in
iPROMOTEu’s Silverstein to Represent U.S. at Beijing Olympics
Takes Leave of Absence as CEO April 1, 2008 – Wayland, Massachusetts: Ross Silverstein, the Founder, President & CEO of leading industry distributor, iPROMOTEu, will represent the United States at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. Many people in the industry know of Silverstein’s aggressive and hard-charging style as he created and dramatically grew his very successful company. Few people, however, are aware that Silverstein is also a world class athlete. For years, Silverstein has competed at the highest level in both table tennis and synchronized swimming. “The opportunity to represent my country is too great
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