During a past life, I oversaw a business magazine that was sold on newsstands. Unlike PPAI Magazine, which is sent to promo companies as part of their PPAI membership – thank you, by the way – my old publication had to sell itself with each new issue month after month.

On newsstands, the most important part of the buyer journey comes after a potential customer has spotted an intriguing cover photo and looks closer to skim the other headlines and flip through the pages. That’s when the reader decides whether there is anything in the issue for them. In the newsstand business, we would say that each magazine cover needed a WIIFM factor: What’s In It For Me?

Well, at this juncture in our PPAI 100 rollout, it’s time to explain what’s in it for you if your company didn’t make the list.

We want PPAI Research to not only be your go-to for vital data you need to run your business, but also to be a force that causes advancement in the industry as a whole and tracks our collective progress. To do that, we need to recognize more than 100 companies out of the 35,000-plus in the industry.

Our overall PPAI 100 rankings include revenue as a major factor in identifying the industry leaders, which essentially limited the field of contenders from the start. But not every firm can make tens or hundreds of millions each year, and that’s OK. Companies can be incredible in other important ways, and we want to honor the leaders in those respects, no matter their size.

From the beginning, PPAI 100 was created to align with some strategic objectives in promo. These include revenue growth, sure – but also the industry’s digital transformation and improved corporate social responsibility. All three of those were scoring factors in the rankings because we want PPAI 100 to be a driver of industry progress on each front.

During the month of July, suppliers and distributors can visit media.PPAI.org/2023-ppai-100-surveys and take the same three questionnaires that went into scoring the overall list itself. This will give us the information we need to honor suppliers and distributors of all sizes. We’ll compare your business to those of roughly the same size and determine each segment’s leaders in innovation, responsibility and revenue change. If you’re a leader among your peers, you’ll earn PPAI honors for your efforts that move the needle with clients and potential new teammates. We’re also excited to announce new recognition for the fastest growing companies in promo.

At the same time, we’ll be able to create a variety of benchmarking reports on the key practices of firms of each size to help you compare where you stand and assess how you might level up.

As time goes on, this phase of the PPAI 100 project will allow us to compare year-over-year data on industry practices in these important areas, which we will share with you and use as a testament to the progress in promo when advocating on behalf of the industry.

I’ve said that the goal for PPAI 100 was to help create a rising tide that lifts all boats. What’s in it for me and my team? We get to help you and the entire promotional marketplace shine.

Ellis is the publisher and editor-in-chief at PPAI