PrintingNews.com

Advertising specialties run the gamut from clothing to gadgets to sports equipment, and everything in between. And this category is growing at a steady rate. The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI), the largest media and marketing organization serving the advertising specialty industry, monitors the health of this segment of our market. Timothy M. Andrews, president and chief executive officer of ASI, spoke to Printing News about where it is today, and where it's heading in the future.

Q: How is the ad specialty market performing so far this year compared with last year? Are your members struggling with the current economic downturn?

A: ASI recently published the annual advertising specialty industry sales estimate, and sales were more than $19.6 billion. That's a new record, was up more than 5 percent versus the prior year, and is 83 percent greater than what marketers spent on radio ads and 73 percent more than what was spent on Internet display ads.

ASI members report to Counselor magazine that the year so far is showing strong sales, and downturns related to the economy have been relatively minimal for promotional products. Advertising specialties are essentially gifts, and are strong marketing tools. People have a hard time throwing away gifts, especially ones that are personalized with their names.

Q: Where is the opportunity for small and mid-sized commercial printers in this market? How would they make money selling your members' products?

A: Many current customers who are having printing or graphics jobs done for events, marketing, or advertising purposes are likely already asking for promotional products for their campaigns.

For example, if a company is ordering a series of posters and marketing collateral for an event, a printer can also suggest complementary branded promotional products to hand out to attendees. In this case, the printer gets extra business, and the customer can extend branding beyond the event by providing memorable give-a-ways.

An appropriate promotional product for an event might be a logoed mug, or a USB drive mailed afterward with pictures from the event stored on the drive, or perhaps a logoed T-shirt or polo shirt.