Paul Bellantone, CAE President and CEO

In January’s column, I shared a high-level update on our progress toward implementing PPAI’s new mission to be the trusted leader delivering essential knowledge, resources and community to ensure the success of our members and the industry. Toward this end, the PPAI Board of Directors and staff are working on numerous strategies to help us deliver on our promise that is further defined by these four goals: drive member value and engagement; advocate for the industry; deliver and leverage strategic foresight; and manage an efficient and progressive organization.

Among the strategies is the Association’s overarching commitment to provide you with even more valuable, actionable, relevant and user-friendly industry research. Since 1965, PPAI has been committed to being your most reliable research source. To continue our leadership in this area, the Association recently engaged Survey Sampling International, the foremost company in survey sampling and data collection, to help us broaden our areas of research while maintaining the rigorous accuracy standards we’ve set over the years. For you, this means we’ll be providing many more types of studies, and drilling down to give you supplemental data and additional insights you can use with clients, in presentations and in your own marketing efforts.

One example is the 2017 PPAI Consumer Study, which was reported in PPB’s December issue and rolled out at The PPAI Expo in January. This study examines the reach, recall, resonance, reaction and relativity of promotional products using performance metrics to measure the role of our media among consumers. Among the valuable data this study revealed is that nine out of 10 consumers could recall a brand on a promotional product they received. This finding echoes our previous consumer studies that point toward the overwhelmingly positive and long-lasting impact of promotional products.

The study also reinforced another key fact: consumers keep promotional products they receive, repeatedly interacting with the brands on them. It’s a stark difference from other advertising channels where consumers actively avoid advertising by changing the channel or clicking to close an online ad.

Additionally, in this study consumers confirmed they were more likely to increase brand loyalty and do business with the brands on promotional products they received.

When consulting with clients about the effectiveness of promotional products and how they help achieve marketing goals, having powerful research like this at your fingertips is paramount to helping you close the deal.

In the coming months, look for PPAI to deliver more business-building research studies, including our 2017 Buyer Study, which examines buyers’ budgets, behaviors and perceptions of promotional products, and the annual Sales Volume Study, which reports and analyzes industry growth in the U.S. based on reported 2016 distributor sales.

Compelling information like this is just one of the ways PPAI works to earn your trust as the No. 1 source for industry research. I encourage you to take a look at the wealth of data and resources available to you at ppai.org/research.

Look for regular updates from me this year as we accomplish the goals within PPAI’s Strategic Plan and work to fulfill our mission to you, our valuable members.

As always, please let me know what PPAI can do to help you grow your business.