"Because That's the Way We did it Before" . How Will You Start 2012?

As we turn the Calendar to 2012, many of us look to plan our engagement with partners and clients in many of the same ways that we've done before.

In Seth Godin's blog today "It's Always Been this Way," he reminds us what we need to remember that Change is Good.

For this next year, keep in mind some of the many things that we take for granted today, were not even a part of you day to day activities and practices 5, 10, and 15 years ago. Your customers will also be looking for you to be different, also, in order for your business together to grow.

Many in our industry will go to Expo, and spend much of their time with the usual suspects meaning Suppliers that they've always done business with, and customers that have brought regular business to Suppliers.

Make sure to spend some of your time, looking to find New Products, from New Suppliers and New Distributor partners also.  This will make you stand out to your customers back home, as well as help to breath new life into some of the partnerships that you have already.

Have a Great Expo Everyone!   

Top Suppliers at 2012 PPAI Expo for New Products and Ideas to Grow your Business

Handstands Promo    648
Awareness Line         759
Seven Sourcing        1283
Hartwell  Apparel     3069
Royce Leather Gifts  3631
Howard Miller          3952
Natural Trends          5641
Ovation Awards        7137

Color of the Year

Pantone Inc., who creates color standards for the fashion, beauty and home furnishings industries has announced their "Color of the Year" for 2012.

According the a Washington Post article yesterday:


The annual forecast for the next year’s dominant color takes into consideration both what Pantone thinks shoppers want and need. Those are influenced by the designer runways, fabric shows, news events, pop culture and consumer habits. “Part of what we do is look at the zeitgeist,” Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute, explained. “We have to look at everything in the world around us. It’s not an arbitrary choice.”

Consumer spending is a big player in reviving the economy and it needs adrenaline, she said. Orange is a more urgent call to action than last year’s hot-pink hue Honeysuckle, which was also supposed to channel cheerfulness coupled with nostalgia. Before that, there was the more serene turquoise and optimistic yellow.
“Color is really emotion,” agreed Beth Eckerstrom, director of trend and product development at Crate and Barrel. “Everyone thinks it’s a physical thing, but it’s really emotion.”

We at Incentives West enjoys learning all of the new colors that our Supplier Partners bring to market each year.  Sometimes it's an important color for a new event or brand logo, sometimes it's the "Canvas" where the message or logo is place onto, and sometimes it's some of the great new products that are all the buzz at the Beginning of the Year.

Looking forward to seeing many of our top customers soon and highlighting all the "Colors of the Year."

2012 Make it a Great Year!

Mark

Social Media Fail from Qantas and Lessons Learned

This article hit home. Doesn't it seem to you where some companies think that their Social Media platforms are simply another way to put out free press releases as well as send constant "E-Blasts" Marketing their products?

From the Harvard Business Review, Alexandra Samuel writes an interesting article on how to NOT execute a Social Media Initiative.

Not thinking through, the big picture of how the respondents will reply to your questions when you ask has put many people in harms way  How the twitterverse gets ahold of an opportunity like this Qantas info request is a great example.

It reminds me of a little sign in the back of the Nordstom's Mens Shoe Dept. where I worked while in College that simply said "THINK."

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, and may your next (well planned and thought out) Social Media Initiative be a success!

Wellness Programs & Incentives > A Great Combination

The research is being compiled by the day, but Wellness Programs work for companies that implement them, and for those Companies that do, Adding Incentives to their employees make a big difference on whether your employees will participate.

Brought to you by Royce Leather Collection including IPad and IPad2 Leather Cases 

After reading about "Hard Return" of the effectiveness and ROI of Wellness Programs in the Harvard Business Review late last year and now seeing how companies that implement a Wellness program have healthier, happier and more engaged employees . . .now comes some new reporting about how Incentives can help to have them even more engaging.


Corporate wellness programs that offer employees rewards can help significantly reduce the cost of health care, according to a new report released this week by the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), and reported by ASI.


Data shows that wellness incentive programs result in company savings-to-cost ratios of more than $3 saved on health care costs for each $1 invested. "Less than one in five employees will participate in wellness programs that do not offer rewards," said Rodger Stotz, spokesperson for the IRF.   "This changes dramatically when incentives are offered – four in five will participate. Clearly all businesses should consider this when looking at their wellness efforts."


The report, which examines existing research and case studies regarding workplace wellness programs, also cites the success of specific companies. For example, IRF research shows Johnson & Johnson saves an estimated $9 million to $10 million in health care costs every year as a result of its wellness program. Data also shows Citibank realizes a health care cost savings of up to $4.73 for each dollar it spends through its health management program. Finally, IRF says Union Pacific Railroad's medical self-care program achieved cost savings of $2.78 for every dollar invested by reducing inappropriate emergency room and outpatient visits.
"The U.S. is spending about $2.5 trillion per year on health care," Stotz said. "As much as 75% of that is spent on preventable conditions, so the potential savings through preventative health care measures that include workplace wellness programs could be as high as $1.9 trillion per year. And this doesn't even consider productivity gains or worker quality of life improvements."


According to the IRF report, 93% of large companies (5,000+ employees) already sponsor some form of a worksite wellness program. Further data cited by IRF shows 61% of current purchasers of vendor-supported programs view wellness incentives as a "must have" within their organizations and 89% predict a trend toward more similar initiatives. 


Are you proposing and closing Incentives and Promotional Products to be a  part of Your Clients Wellness Programs?


Look for more postings here and via Industry Literature soon, on how Wellness Programs and the use of Incentives can help all sizes of companies.

Thought Leaders Elevate their Learning at North American Leadership Conference

North American Leadership Conference gathers leaders from Across the Continent and Across the Pond.

Well over 100 Professionals from the US, Canada, Mexico and the UK gathered in the Colorado Rockies near Denver to hear and participate in timely and topical discussions.

The conference opened up with Annie Xu from Alibaba.com outlining their business and business models. One key Take-Away is for all of us to use the Internet as a tool. Alibaba posted sales of $863 Million last year and is poised to increase especially with their tools that allow Chinese residents and businesses to transact and/or purchase goods via their growing site(s).

Leaders of Tomorrow session gathered some up and coming Distributors and Suppliers to share in their successes. One of the key Take-Aways was for companies to remember to place those personal phone calls and mail notes. Emailing works and is necessary from time to time, but personalizing the relationship leads to more engagement.

Technology Trends were highlighted in a Session that Included some on-line Distributors and Service Providers that are highlighting many of the tools available . . .including those beyond Social Media, as well as Tags, QR codes, and the evolution of Mobile Marketing and Mobile Transactions.

A session on Increasing Your Profitability by Reducing Competitive Threats.

Suggesting to "Lead with Delivering Outcomes, not just Products"

Outcome - What does the client want to make them Happy?

Analysis - What does it mean to the Bottom Line?

ROI - How much is the client willing to pay for the "O" ?

Message - What do they do for a living?

Target - Who should be getting the message?

Vehicle - How should the "Target" get the message?

Jason Sadler gave a great Presentation Using Social Media to Build a Business

I Wear Your Shirt

Rory Aplanalp presented on the "Four Pillars of Leadership" always a great session with Rory. See Starfish Story for a solid message here.

Look out in the coming days for more information from the NALC on Top Trends and the importance of Safe Practices coming from the Safety Summit

It's not Rocket Science . . . oh, but in some ways it is.

Today when when America and the World, celebrate the liftoff of Atlantis, the last Space Shuttle mission today, it brings to mind how much has been learned and shared from our previous investments in space.

Over the past 50 plus years much has been learned to advance our knowledge in Health, Nutrition, Medicine, Biology, Sleep Study, Solar Energy, Physics, Chemistry, and the list goes on and on.

With this investment has come a lot of long term gain in the knowledge gained to further mankind.

Are you investing in your business and your people? Many promotional professionals have learned, that a little investment in their learning for their company and their staffs, can go a long way in the long run.

Take advantages of all of the industry learning opportunities that our industry and it's associations and regional association have in the way of professional development. Whether or not you find an immediate application for everything you learn, it will lay a foundation for further knowledge and opportunities.

Here are some great resources:

PPAI Education

ASI Education

Your Regional: Link to Your Regional and get started attending and participating!

Today's post brought to you by WD-40 available through Natural Trends. This really IS Rocket Science folks. WD-40 was originally formulated over 50 years ago, as an application to prevent rust and . . displace water . on Rocket parts. . .. "Water Displacement . . 40th formulation"

You can now also, provide a combination of Duck Tape and WD-40 to your clients with the Ultimate Fix All Kit.

The Top 10 Tips for Posting on your Brand's Facebook Page

Take a look at this update from Mashable that gives some really good insight:

http://mashable.com/2011/03/22/tips-brand-facebook-page/

Today's post is brought to you by Handstands and the "Roadster." Winning awards already in only it's first couple months in the market. **** See the Roadster in Action ****

7 Top Objectives for Building your FaceBook Fan Page

Mari Smith has just put on and excellent webinar on Facebook Fan Page Building and Marketin

Here are her 7 Primary Strategies for Building and using your Fan Page as a resource

1. Design Strategy

2. Content Strategy

3. Promotion Strategy

4. Engagement Strategy

5. Conversion Strategy

6. Track and Measure Strategy

7. Scalability Strategy

Here is where here webinar Slide Share is

Mari's slides http://www.slideshare.net/marismith

CA Governor Brown is Wrong! Promotional Products Work!

The News from Sacramento came down on Friday, that Governor Jerry Brown has placed a ban on the purchase of promotional products by CA State Agencies.

The Governor is simply short-sited and wrong by issuing this directive.

Promotional Products are Proven to provide lasting impressions for companies, institutions and yes, governmental organizations as they create awareness for wellness programs, health and safety initiatives, safe driving programs and more.

The state of California has well over 4000 (tax-paying) companies in the Promotional Products Industry that employ over 45,000 employees that are citizens that are tax-payers and voters in California.

California Residents:

Look for more information HERE on how to be contacting your state representatives to make our industry's voice heard, to turn over this directive.

For more information on the Professionals that deliver solutions throughout California for Businesses, Institutions, Schools and the State of California visit:

PMANC - Promotional Marketing Association of Northern California

SAAC - Specialty Advertising Association of California

and the International Association for the Industry at:

PPAI - Promotional Products Association International