If you had to increase your prices 20 percent tomorrow, how would your customers react? After you absorbed unflattering comments and disappointment, your customers would buy fewer products, if they bought any at all. Beyond our industry, consider what we buy every day: clothing, footwear, housewares, electronics and so on. How would you feel the…
The U.S. House Republican tax reform proposal includes a recommendation to adopt a Border Adjustment Tax (BAT). If it passes in any form, it will increase the cost of promotional products significantly. The BAT will have a negative overall impact to the promotional products industry. You must start learning about BAT, and how it is…
On November 23, 2015, the world’s largest food manufacturer, Nestle, disclosed publicly that slave labor was being used to produce its seafood sourced from its supply chain in Thailand. An investigation had shown that Thai fishing operators lured migrant with false promises. The migrants were sold systematically and then kept in bondage and degrading conditions…
Trump! Clinton! Feel the Bern! Some can’t help but support their candidates both privately and publicly. Recently, Cheryl Rios, a marketing specialist, discovered the danger of talking politics online—she lost her largest clients. But, I’m not writing today to get you to stop talking politics. I want you to talk politics—even online—but directed toward your elected officials. Next…
When the discussion turns to delivering safe and compliant promotional products, and specifically how difficult it is to do, I usually go with this response: "You can either run toward the problem, or you can run away from it."
I've covered many topics through the years and this one is perhaps the most frightening. It threatens our livelihoods and puts a bright spotlight on the Consumer Products Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). Increasing awareness for product safety and CPSIA regulations is a good thing. Our industry needs to better understand what it takes to be in compliance with these regulations, but this story is outright scary.
Last Friday the Toronto Star published an article about one of its writers going undercover in a Bangladesh sweatshop. It's an incredible piece, and one I think everyone in our industry should read.
There's plenty bad about the government shutdown. Social service closures, work furloughs, dead air on C-SPAN—You name it, we're suffering through it. But there are a couple silver linings too, especially for the promotional industry. Check out these surprise upsides of total governmental collapse that are really helping our industry.
Marketers bombard us with claims every day: "Bigger," "better," and of course, "cheaper." But have you also heard "greener?" What about "greenwashing?" Have you heard of that term? Greenwashing is marketing-speak for product descriptions that are deceptively used to promote that an organization's products, aims and/or policies are environmentally friendly.
One of our biggest challenges is the question of how we can help those promotional product reps actually closing the sales and working with limited resources make it part of their decision to deliver safe and socially compliant product? It's all in the balance of risk and reward.
