The PPAI Expo 2019: Best Attended, Exceeds Expectations

Last week, Promotional Products Association International (PPAI), Irving, Texas, presented The PPAI Expo, the world’s largest and longest running promotion products industry trade show, with more than 13,000 promotional consultants from nearly 4,000 distributor companies and 30 countries in attendance. Promotional products industry professionals from around the world converged in Las Vegas to experience the…

Chocolate Inn/Lanco Combines Embroidery Business With Shoreline Monogramming

Chocolate Inn/Lanco announced the combination of its screen print and embroidery decorating business, Screen Printers Design (SPD), with Shoreline Monogramming Inc. to form SPD/Shoreline, as the group will now be called. Shoreline, founded in 1984 and based in Westchester County, N.Y., is a long-established leader in the embroidery and screen-printing business, servicing major retailer and…

Chris Jenkin on Getting People to Your Website, Marketing Your Promo Business Online

Back in 2011, the idea of anything being digital or something being “online” was nothing like it is today. Creating and marketing your business online has changed a ton. Everyone is online now, and they’re all searching the web. What are they searching for? You, as it turns out. Chris Jenkin, CEO and founder of gotcha! Mobile Solutions, shared some ways to help them find you…

Small Drinkware Maker Sued by NHL Over Stanley Cup Beer Mug Is Fighting Back

The NHL is waging a trademark violation war against The Hockey Cup LLC, contending that the Illinois-based company is jeopardizing its brand integrity by hawking a mug dubbed the “Stanley Stein.” Now, it appears that the small drinkware company won’t be backing down from the NHL’s litigation threat…

Paul Bellantone on PPAI Expo 2019, Tariffs, Shutdown, Industry Evolution and More

At the end of the last few PPAI Expos in Las Vegas, we’ve made it a point to catch up with Paul Bellantone, PPAI’s president and CEO. The conversations cover his feelings about the show, usually as it’s being broken down around us (as was the case this year, too), and tap into larger themes regarding the industry and the economy overall…