Advertising Specialty Institute

Lou Weisbach and Jo Gilley discuss their plans for making the Top 40 distributor an international branding agency powerhouse.

Incorporating social media listening and monitoring tactics in your strategy is the key to harnessing better insights about your customers, your brand, and products/services. Each platform provides data and information that you can use to prove ROI and support business decisions, but where should you start, what metrics should you monitor, and how can you take something as fluid as brand sentiment...

Brian Duran of MediaTree Rewards discusses the supplier’s explosive growth during the pandemic.

In this episode of Promo Insiders, Mitch Silver, vice president of marketing and sales at Printable Promotions (asi/299458) in Chicago, talks with ASI Executive Editor Sara Lavenduski about what he and his team have learned over the past 12 months and his predictions for how COVID will change what customers expect of their promo partners.

A great customer can become one of your strongest advocates, but if you play your cards right so can your employees. In this fun and educational Social Angle podcast, Melissa Newman talks with Carmen Collins, Cisco’s social media and brand lead, about how you can empower your employees to be your most powerful advocates, systems to fuel your content strategy's success, and the crucial role social...

Thinking about running a contest for your business, and maybe even hosting it on your social media platforms? Do yourself a favor and do your research. In this informative and eye-opening Social Angle podcast, Vinnie Driscoll and CJ Mittica discuss the dos and don’ts of running a contest, how you can protect yourself from legal ramifications, and who they think will win ASI Promo Insanity.

COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. The last year has upended the way we work, do business and socialize, but will any of those changes stick when this is all over? ASI Editors Theresa Hegel, Sara Lavenduski and Christopher Ruvo reflect on how the last year has changed their own lives and what they expect the future to bring.

In this episode of The Social Angle, Melissa Newman sits down with Nick Lateur, of HPG Brands, to give you a behind-the-scenes look at his process for creating fun and engaging video content on a dime. He’ll also share how increasing his social media marketing skills made him more marketable in his career, what advice he’d give to other swag professionals on conquering fear when it comes to filmin...

Demand for digital marketing services is rising and promotional products distributors are in a unique position to capitalize on it. How? By starting to offer such services to clients. In this podcast adapted from an ASI Education webinar and hosted by ASI Media Digital News Director Christopher Ruvo, Luke Freeman and Seth Rand, founders of digital marketing firm Wizard Digital, reveal how you can...

At the urging of her speaking coach, Jamie Young -- the founder of WA-based Uptown Screen Printing (asi/184812) -- went on Facebook Live for the first time. Just a few days later she picked up her biggest client ever. In this live video interview, Jamie talks with Vinnie Driscoll about how she did it, what she talked about why you, too, should be harnessing the power of going live on social media.

Business been tough? Winter blues got you down? Well, it’s time to break out of this funk and have some fun. How? With our new ASI Promo Insanity contest. Our goal is to crown people’s favorite promotional product. To do that, we’ve chosen 16 of the most popular promo items, put them in a bracket and seeded them based on their total number of searches in ESP last year. Each round, readers will vot...

End-buyers aren’t only looking for new and exciting promo products this year: they’re looking for new and exciting decoration methods too. Today we’re sitting down with Rachel Corey, promo fulfillment manager of leading decorator STAHLS’ to learn more about the latest print to order trends and technology shaking up the industry, plus how you can provide the most popular methods to your clients.

Anyone can post content on social media, but how do you make it pop? Taylor Borst of American Solutions for Business knows! In this fun Social Angle podcast, Taylor – who likes to infuse pop culture and music into her social media marketing mix – dishes on how to she stays relevant in a saturated market. What networks are hot? Is meme marketing a thing? And is Schitt’s Creek better than Parks and...

Wellness expert Martha Munroe shares her suggestions for a much-needed reset.

In this Social Angle podcast, Vinnie Driscoll and Melissa Newman talk to Danny Rosin of Brand Fuel about how he uses social media to help get the word out about fundraising for nonprofits.

One of the biggest issues facing the promo industry during the COVID-19 pandemic is the overabundance of paid time off. We all needed an escape in 2020, but with government-imposed lockdowns and travel restrictions, there was nowhere to go. Even employees that had plenty of PTO weren’t encouraged to use it because of pandemic-related staffing cuts. So, where did it all go? And for those that did g...

How can you build an authentic online presence and cultivate consistent engagement with your followers? Charity Gibson, national accounts coordinator at supplier Peerless Umbrella, certainly knows! Gibson, who’s also known as “Charity Poppins” for her love the promotional parasol, has mastered the art of social media engagement simply by being authentic, helpful and real. When she’s not hosting a...

It would be an understatement to say that a lot has changed in our industry since last year. While many distributors are aware of changes like the rise of PPE products, not as many are caught up on how decoration needs have changed as well. Today we have the pleasure of being joined by Ira Neaman, President of Vantage Apparel and Rob Watson, Chief Experience Officer of Vantage Apparel. We’ll break...

After one of the most challenging years on record for the promo industry, distributors are looking for fresh ideas to excite and inspire clients for the year ahead. To that end, today we’re speaking with Eric Simsolo, Director of Business Development at Next Level Apparel. We’ll explain what collection audiences are interested in this year, which selling points to emphasize on your sales calls and...

Valentine’s Day is coming up. How are you showing appreciation to your best clients and unstoppable staff? In this Facebook Live, ASI editorial staff Theresa Hegel, Sara Lavenduski and Melissa Newman will share ideas for how to tell the people in your professional life that you truly care all year long. And to keep it fun, they’ll also be sampling unusual and unexpected Valentine-themed foods.

It’s no secret that this year has been filled with challenges for distributors. While things are expected to improve, it’s important to understand what obstacles you face so you can not only survive, but thrive in 2021 – and as it turns out, you don’t need to be going through this alone. Here to tell us today about why community is so crucial for distributor success is AIM Smarter CEO Nikki Stella...

In this fun and informative episode of The Social Angle podcast, Melissa Newman talks to ASI's Rick Angeloni about hiring an agency for your social media marketing. What are the benefits and how do you make sure you hire the right one? Listen now to find out!

Promo pro Steven C. Peeke shares can’t-miss strategies for handling order debacles based on his experience with a $39,000 campaign that presented major challenges.

ASI's Vinnie Driscoll and Melissa Newman talk to Callie Rojewski, a marketing and brand strategist, about the customer journey: what it is, why it's important to your business, and the role social media plays in it.

Kevin Quinn of Boundless talks about the daily emails of encouragement he's sent to colleagues since the beginning of the pandemic.