It’s quite common for everyone in business to be thinking to the year ahead, charting a course for growth, with the knowledge gained from the prior year.

Whether at a business or an association like PPAI, folks are mindfully planning for success in the coming year, while at the same time also thinking of how to navigate potential challenges over the next 12 months and beyond.

An essential question is how can we really know where we’re going if we don’t know where we’ve been? For that reason alone, it’s critical that each of us in the promotional products industry take a good look at the year that was 2022.

Like 2020 and 2021, 2022 was another extraordinary year. After this stretch, it seems we all could use a dose of ordinary, and perhaps the coming year will enable us to settle into a new normalcy. Until then, we should all be proud that we’ve learned to embrace the abnormal and thrive in spite of these once-in-a-generation challenges.

Our industry has rocketed out of the once-in-a-century pandemic. Although the official tabulations – including PPAI’s annual Sales Volume Estimate study – are still in progress, we know from PPAI's preliminary estimate of more than $25 billion in industry revenue that 2022 will be recorded as the year we met and exceeded pre-pandemic sales volume. This was a $24.2 billion industry in 2019 that slipped to $19.6 billion in 2020. Think of the progress our industry has achieved in the two years since.

Inflation has played a role in the expected revenue growth of the past year, certainly, and we all continue to warily assess its future outlook and impact on our economy and industry. Still, we should celebrate the fact that our industry continued to exceed clients’ expectations, even in a world of choked supply chains, taxed labor pools and tightening budgets in 2022.

This past year, in-person events started to approach normalcy as we once knew it to be. However, the unpredictable effects of the pandemic also elevated the value of promo for businesses. Amid the Great Resignation, more companies across the world took measured steps to emphasize culture and recognition as integral aspects of retaining and attracting talent. This should give us all reason to approach 2023 with an intentional sense of caution coupled with optimism.

Who can say what the future will hold? We know that nothing is guaranteed, and we’ve certainly all heard the predictions of a recession on the horizon, if we’re not already in one. Just remember, we’ve persevered before, and we will persevere again.

One certainty that we all can agree upon is that promotional products are firmly entrenched as part of the fabric of the global economy – universally valued and essential to every brand. This industry has weathered the storms of hard times and sailed briskly ahead through the blue skies of boom times.

No matter what 2023 may bring, we’re certain to succeed – together.

Who can say what the future will hold? We know that nothing is guaranteed, and we’ve certainly all heard the predictions of a recession on the horizon, if we’re not already in one. Just remember, we’ve persevered before, and we will persevere again.