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Filed under: Awards, General
 Suppliers, listen up!
Do you know of a cool, innovative product you think is worthy of recognition? Then you need to submit it for Counselor magazine’s Product Design Awards competition! Here’s how it works:
In order to nominate a product, it has to fall into one of the following 14 categories:
- Apparel/Caps
- Awards & Recognition
- Bags
- Calendars
- Computer Accessories
- Desk Accessories
- Drinkware
- Electronics
- Housewares
- Meeting Products
- Packaging
- Sporting Goods
- Watches & Jewelry
- Writing Instruments
Once you’ve identified a category, please submit the following three items:
- A sample of the product. (We recommend that the product be exclusive to the supplier that is submitting it, although this is not a requirement.);
- A quick description of the product, including any special features;
- The category that the product should be considered for. There is a limit of one submission per category, per company. All submissions will be judged on the following areas: design appeal, functionality and the ability to attractively feature a logo (when appropriate). Winners will be featured in the June issue of Counselor.
Please send all entries to: Karen Akers, Awards Editor, Counselor Magazine, 4800 Street Road, Trevose, PA 19053. Questions? E-mail Karen Akers at kakers@asicentral.com. Please note that only products from North American suppliers will be considered and that submissions will not be returned unless specifically requested.
And that’s it. Simple, right? Then what are you waiting for?! Get nominating!
Want to see winner’s from the past three years? Click here!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Guest blogger and ASI Marketing Manager Jake Krolick dishes on the newest ASI Store addition, ESP Results Screen Advertising, or ”Pay For Placement”.
 The world is a competitive place. Everyone is trying to get a leg up on everyone else. Just think about your everyday life: At the supermarket it’s good to be in the front of the line as opposed to the back, and it seems that on check-out it becomes a race with your fellow shoppers. I was at a concert last week and had seats in the 25th row. Now, my seats were OK, but I was watching the front rows with envy of their unobstructed sight lines and better overall experience. At the airport, first-class passengers and frequent flyers get the first rows on the plane, plus expedited boarding and check-in. Being ahead of shoppers, concert goers or passengers is not a necessity, but can make your life easier and more enjoyable. However, when it comes to business, being ahead of your competition is a necessity.
ESP Pay for Placement works just like the everyday examples above. You pay for an optimal spot at a concert or on a plane just like you pay for a product position in the first six spots in a specific category on ESP. Pay for Placement puts your product at the top of the page, where distributors are more likely to see and click through into your product details. This way your product is being seen more frequently and ultimately gaining that much more business for your company. You purchase impressions in those positions, so the more time you want to stay in those top positions, the more impressions you would need to purchase. FYI: An impression is counted as the number of times your product appears on the results page, loaded in the position you paid for, when your specific product is searched.
So should you use ESP Pay for Placement? That depends on a few factors: How many products you have, the amount of money you have to spend on advertising, how fast you’d like to grow, and how often you’d like your phone to ring. If you have only one product that is highly specialized, then perhaps Pay for Placement is not for you. However, if you sell a product that places you against several other companies with the same product, then it most certainly is a great advertising solution. Pay for Placement is not free, so you will need to work within your advertising budget to see what you can afford. I would recommend that you use 20%-30% of your budget for ESP Pay for Placement. If you’re happy with the business that you currently receive and would rather not be busier, then Pay for Placement is also not for you. But, if you would like more orders, then ESP Pay for Placement is one of the best and fastest ways to make your phone ring.
Interested in learning more about Pay for Placement? Click here.
Filed under: Research, Uncategorized
 Each year, Counselor magazine goes to great lengths to research and report on the health of the advertising specialty industry. Through its annual State of the Industry issue, Counselor reports on everything from profits and sales volumes to top markets and products.
But this research would not be possible without the data, which is why it’s so important that any and all ad specialty professionals should be taking the time to fill out our surveys — we want as many submissions as possible so that we know the research is accurate.
Of course, filling out surveys can be time consuming and we know time is money. That’s why Counselor is offering an added incentive to both distributors and suppliers to take the surveys. Here are the details.
- Distributors: Click here and fill out this survey and you will automatically be entered to win $1,000 cash or one of two $250 American Express Gift Cards.
- Suppliers: Click here and fill out this survey and your name will be entered in a drawing to win one of three thank-you gifts: A free one-page ad in Advantages, Counselor, Successful Promotions, Wearables or Stitches.
Please take the survey that applies to you today and help Counselor produce the most important research report done in the ad specialty industry each year.
–TeamCentral
Filed under: Education
As part of a new supplier education package, ASI will be offering the New Supplier Webinar scheduled for August 6 during the first week of every month. The presenter information & session description below will be the same each Webinar. This series of Webinars have been scheduled for the following dates:
New Supplier Success: Learn How to Use ESP Online to Increase Sales
Presenter: Candace Hershey
Time: 2:00 pm-3:00 pm
If you’re a new ASI supplier, you need to know how to maximize your products’ exposure in ESP Online, ASI’s online product database — the number one way distributors find the promotional products they want to buy. Join Candace Hershey, ASI’s Executive Director of the ESP Online Information Team, for a dynamic live ESP Online demonstration, where you’ll learn everything you need to know to get your products online and searchable today. When you finish this Webinar, you’ll know how to:
- Submit your catalog material for inclusion in ESP Online
- Understand industry pricing codes
- Review your product data in ESP Online
- Understand image requirements
- Learn product data tips to get better exposure, such as using hidden keywords
- Benefit from supplier ratings
- How and when to call the ESP Online Information Team for technical help
- For more ASI Webinars, click here!
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