PPAI

The PPAI Expo 2013, the promotional product industry's largest annual trade show in the U.S., begins on Monday, January 14. Held in the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, the event offers a week of education, networking and new products for distributors.

A look at some of the acquisitions, partnerships and alliances that happened in Q4 2012.

During the Holiday season I had the opportunity to slow things down at bit. From my perspective, reflecting back on 2012, it's been an interesting year.

Heading to an industry show soon? Trade shows are an important part of our industry, and to get the best return on your time and monetary investment, we may have a few ideas to help.

For the past four weeks we have taken an in-depth look at the promotional industry from a marketing perspective. Today I am going to shift gears a bit and make all of this marketing mammer-jammer applicable to the selling function.

Whether you are working with large companies that have entire departments devoted to the marketing of their brand identity, or a small business with one department for every business function, defining the identity of their brand is of the same importance.

Milwaukie, Oregon-based HumphreyLine announced today that the company has hired Darryl Haddox as vice president of sales. Haddox has served in the promotional products industry for over 30 years, starting with a stint in sales and sales management for Hazel.

Under the agreement, PPAI members are invited to register for and attend the PSI Show 2013, January 9 to 11, 2013, in Dusseldorf, Germany, and likewise, PSI members are invited to attend The PPAI Expo, January 14 to 18, 2013, in Las Vegas. In addition, members of each association are welcome to attend the opening ceremony/general session for each event.

Promotional Products Association International (PPAI) on November 7 introduced the PPAI Health Care Planning Tool. In an effort to address the needs of its members, PPAI has added this new tool to help members navigate the Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

Click through for a list of companies affected by Hurricane Sandy that were able to reopen as of 3:00 p.m. EST today. Notes on each company's status have been provided where available. Companies that could not be reached for comment have been omitted in order to prevent confusion.