10 Strategies of the World's Most Successful Businesses...

Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, representing more than 2,000 consumer electronics companies was one of the keynote speakers at the 2013 PPAI North American Leadership Conference.

He had some interesting things to say. Have you ever heard of a Chinese brand? Korea has Samsung, Japan has Sony, China has....?? There are several reasons for the lack of prominent Chinese brands and some of those reasons are covered here.

It's encouraging to note that Gary believes that our industry succeeds because we create a branding experience using the five senses. Obviously there was more shared in Chicago than I can convey in this column, but I'm going to give you some nuggets from his thought-provoking session on innovation.

Brand building in the broad sense is based on innovation, which of course is a driving force in the electronics industry. In the promotional products industry, aside from the incentive sector, our products are used to support our client's branding.

As we know, in our industry, suppliers bring in products, mostly from China. Many of the same products are sold by suppliers, which distributors use to logo for use by end-user businesses and/or organizations. These products are effective in providing recognition for our client's brand. 

What makes one supplier different from another supplier? There are differences. Included in these reasons to use a supplier are: service, quality, creativity, and our business relationships. Our purchasing decisions typically are not driven by brand awareness.

Surprisingly, in many cases, innovation typically isn't one of the motivating factors in a distributor's purchasing decision. But innovation, or creativity, can stimulate buying decisions and lead to profitable business for all. Suppliers who are able to offer innovative branding solutions and effectively share those solutions with distributors have a competitive advantage.