The fourth annual Promotional Products Work! Week (PPW!W), PPAI’s week-long international event aimed at raising awareness of promotional products’ role in advertising and marketing, begins next week. Retooled and rebranded this year, PPW!W delivers the message that promotional products work to advertisers, marketers and media buyers.
After spending three years building the event’s culture and profile within the promotional products industry to establish its identity and create awareness among diverse stakeholders, this year’s program is setting its sights on informing and influencing the buying decisions of in-house and agency media buyers. PPW!W 2016 will use social media, online videos, research-driven content, direct marketing, traditional and digital advertising and events to get out the industry’s message. PPAI is also working with its partners and industry sponsors to create an ongoing stream of content aimed at promotional products and advertising media buyers, but ultimately PPW!W is designed to benefit distributors and suppliers by boosting the awareness and value of promotional products as a powerful advertising medium.
“Our goal is to increase our share in the media buy by enabling a deeper understanding of promotional products as an advertising medium among buyers, as well as sharing the benefits of working with certified promotional products professionals,” says Paul Bellantone, CAE, PPAI president and CEO.
The new PPW!W color scheme, graphics and messaging were created with buyers’ needs in mind. The campaign, which includes a new logo and icon, a co-op advertising campaign and publicity and advertising tool kits for organizers, also features a new PromotionalProductsWork.org website for buyers to find promotional products case studies, research and information, as well as a promotional products consultant locator search tool.
As in past years, numerous industry companies and organizations are finding creative, innovative ways to participate in PPW!W through a variety of programs and events. Regional associations around the country are getting into the PPW!W spirit in a big way, with factory tours, charity events and education seminars, and more to illustrate the power of promotional products. For example, PPAChicago has scheduled tours with Dard Products, Sharp Print and Shockwaves Apparel during PPW!W, and is holding a charity drive to collect donations for the Riverside Foundation, which provides residential support and training services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
PPAI is hosting an open house during PPW!W. Industry professionals are invited to the Association’s headquarters in Irving, Texas, for a tour and a presentation on the power of promotional products. As part of a special promotion supporting PPW!W, visitors to PPAI headquarters can learn more about PANTONE and take advantage of special pricing only available next week. (Unable to join us at our headquarters? Visit shop.PPAI.org and use promocode: PPW!W2016 to save on PANTONE products on shop.PPAI.org.)
In conjunction with PPW!W and its mission, PPAI leadership and industry professionals from across the U.S. will convene May 25-26 in Washington, D.C. to participate in the seventh annual PPAI Legislative Education and Action Day (L.E.A.D.). Advocates representing 30 states will conduct 250 meetings with senators, representatives and their legislative staffs on Capitol Hill to discuss pending legislation and issues relevant to the promotional products industry. Thousands more will advocate for the issues by writing letters, emails and social media posts throughout the week during the PPAI L.E.A.D. Virtual Fly-In.
Learn more about Promotional Products Work! Week and how to participate here. See how other industry companies celebrate PPW!W on PPAI’s Facebook page, and follow their tweets on Twitter using the hashtag #PPWWeek.
