The city of Detroit is buzzing with hopes of a Super Bowl for the Lions, currently one of the NFL’s most talented teams after years of losing seasons. On Tuesday, just two days after the Lions faced off against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the stadium hosted a pre-event party for the Michigan Promotional Products Association’s (MiPPA) annual Promotions That ROAR event.

The next day, the trade show and end-user experience saw suppliers setting up booths on the stadium concourse, overlooking the field. With more than 100 exhibitors, MiPPA has grown the Promotions That ROAR event over the last 10 years into one of the most well-regarded trade shows in promo.

  • A few large distributors – including QMI Group, Mercury Promotions and Fulfillment and Competitive Edge – rented hospitality suites in the stadium to host their top end users.
  • Throughout the show, attendees could try their hand (well, their foot) at kicking a field goal through the stadium’s uprights.
  • Locker room tours were available as well, with a special early tour for exhibitors, who would be unable to leave their booths as soon as the trade floor opened.

“There are just so many experiences going on and the field itself generates excitement,” says Paul Kiewiet, MAS, executive director of MiPPA and a member of the PPAI Hall of Fame.

Paul Kiewiet, MAS

Executive Director, MiPPA

The event was, it turns out, the last MiPPA event for Kiewiet, who conceived of Promotions That ROAR a decade earlier and is retiring from his role later this year. Over the years, the event has grown in size and popularity, at one point digging MiPPA out of a financial hole and into one of the industry’s most thriving regional associations. Tuesday’s party was turned into a surprise celebration, honoring Kiewiet, who had thought the announcement of his retirement wouldn’t come until October.

“This show is a culmination of a lot of people working together, especially Paul,” said Tony Shereda, MAS, president of MiPPA’s board of directors and vice president of sales and marketing at QMI Group.

The ‘Premier’ End User Show

Before the trade show officially opened up on Wednesday, distributors and guests sat for a presentation by Mark Ostach titled “Fostering Connection & Digital Wellness” about the dangers that smartphone obsession poses to our life and work.

“You’re going to meet people throughout today that you’re going to have the ability to impact and influence,” Ostach said to the attendees.

  • The session set the day’s tone for more intentional and present versions of connections on the trade floor with phones mostly put away.

As an end-user show, Promotions That ROAR has the unique ability to generate excitement over products by allowing suppliers to see and even participate in the discussions between distributors and their clients. By creating a spectacle out of the event, there’s the added bonus of further legitimizing the industry to end users.

“This event is so special,” says Charles Dugan, MAS, vice president of sales, North America, at Goldstar – the No. 16 supplier in the PPAI 100. “Not only is it at an iconic venue, but it brings in a ton of not only distributors, but also their clients as well. It’s the premier end user show in the country. It’s fun. It’s the buzz of the industry this time of year.”

More Than A Trade Show

Thomas Loftus is a lifelong Lions fan who was the kicker for the football team back in his high school days. He’d never kicked on an NFL field before. The line of promo professionals and end users became a little more nervous after realizing that they had to follow up someone capable of moving the starting kicking position back 15 yards.

“It’s so cool,” says Loftus, a marketing coordinator for SVS Vision, which was hosted at the event by QMI Group. “As soon as I heard they had this, I knew I had to sign up, especially with Roary [the Lions’ mascot] out on the field. You can’t beat that.”

  • There was a consistent line throughout the show to kick field goals on the Ford Field turf.
  • Roary kept those in line loose by tossing the football with them.
  • For the Lions diehards, even stepping on the field will be an extra source of bragging rights if the team indeed pulls off winning a Super Bowl in February.


For Loftus, the whole event served as an impressive showing for the promo industry.

“It’s awesome,” Loftus says. “Anywhere you go, you can find something different. There’s different stuff all across the boardwalk. Anything you want you can find here, and there are friendly people everywhere willing to tell you what they have.”