Quickpoint Turns 80, But Still Quick

Fenton, Missouri-based Quickpoint announced it is celebrating its 80th anniversary in 2008. The company was founded in St. Louis in 1928 as the Quickpoint Pencil Company, and was one of the first manufacturers of mechanical pencils in the United States. Quickpoint has been owned by the Goessling family since its inception and with president John Goessling, MAS currently at the helm is in its fourth generation of family leadership. While Quickpoint developed many patented products that have become core items in the promotional products industry, the company has also evolved into a multi-category product line supplier, featuring more than 350 items, including exclusive lines

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Eunice Seligson, Widow of Selco Founder, Passes Away

Eunice Seligson, widow of the Tulsa, Oklahoma-based The Selco Companies founder, Jack Seligson, passed away Feb. 24 at the age of 95 in Oklahoma City. Eunice moved to Oklahoma City in 1934 and opened Weber’s Jewelers, which later became Selco, a chain of 47 stores including Peacocks, Kays and Cardan & Co. In 1961, Larry Abels, Eunice’s son-in-law saw the opportunity to sell custom watches and in 1965 industry supplier Selco became the “Original Logo Watch Company,” the first watch company to enter the promotional products industry. In 1980, the jewelry stores were sold and today, the family’s fourth generation continues to focus on

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Industry Winners Get Good Directions and Witness Emmy’s

Pioneer Balloon Navigates Expo Wichita, Kansas-based Pioneer Balloon announced its 2008 PPAI Las Vegas Expo drawing winners. The winners of the daily drawings were David Fields, of Barker Specialty in Celebration, Fla; Jennifer Chase of Signet in Memphis, Tenn.; and Drew Davis of Specialty Incentives in Denver, Colo. One name was drawn each day of the Expo in Jan., to win a Garmin Navigator. Founded in 1917, Pioneer Balloon Company is a leading manufacturer of promotional products, branded as the Pioneer Line. It includes Qualatex and AdRite latex balloons, Qualatex Microfoil balloons, AdMax balls, and Ad Inflatable and Walking Ad Inflatable displays.

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Senator Launches “Wow” Site

After nearly a year in design and development, Greensboro, North Carolina-based Senator USA relaunched its Web site(www.senatorpen.com) comprised of new, interactive features to aid distributors. “We took time to research what is most important to site users,” said Jill Randolph, product marketing manager for Senator, “because we want to provide valuable and useful tools to our distributors, which they will feel safe sharing with their customers as well.” Any visitor can browse the online catalog to view client-safe details on Senator’s full line of offerings, but only distributors can log in to place an order. While the Web site makes product selection

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One Source VMS Opens West Coast HQ in SF

New York-based One Source Visual Marketing Solutions, CEO, Andrew Eisberg announced the opening of the company’s San Francisco office in March. As part of the company’s recent re-branding and growth initiative, the One Source VMS San Francisco-based office will cater to the company’s west coast clientèle. This initial expansion is part of a broader strategy to enhance One Source VMS’s ability to service its clients on a national level. One Source VMS west coast clientèle includes Google, Sephora, Stila Cosmetics, Too Faced, Bare Escentuals, and more. The company has expanded and grown by establishing individual visual marketing departments under the One Source VMS umbrella.

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Can Accessories Make Bank?

Staff Writer

I was checking out the Women’s Wear Daily Web site http://www.wwd.com/monday today and something caught my eye. According to writer Caroline Tell’s assessmentx of the most recent rash of Fashion Weeks around the globe, “the runways from New York to Paris were as much about the handbags and other accessories as they were about the clothes.” Now, I’m not a WWD subscriber, so I can’t read the rest of the article (oh technology, must you mock me so?), but it did get me thinking.
A lot of the promotional wearables news I’ve reported on in the past year has pointed to our industry taking

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The Pleasure Is Mine …

Staff Writer

I actually auditioned for “Oprah’s Big Give” reality show. For those of you who watched the first of eight installments of the show that aired on ABC last Sunday, obviously I did not make the cut … but it was quite an experience!

Last April—that’s when auditions were held in NYC—my sister and I jumped on a Greyhound bus (around 1:00 a.m.) and arrived in The Big Apple at approximately 3:00 a.m. You know how you see those outrageous lines of people on TV winding around buildings, bundled in every sweatshirt and fleece blanket they own? Yup, that was us on that early

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