It’s about time. The 2025 PPAI 100 is set for a spring research and release schedule, ready to once again unveil the industry’s leading distributors and suppliers.

The project began in 2023 with the goal of providing a holistic measurement of industry leadership by PPAI member firms as well as benchmarking data to help companies of all sizes improve. Its scoring takes into account eight different factors crucial to the future of the promotional products marketplace.

This year, PPAI is kicking off the project with the unveiling of a new podcast with a limited-series approach. Voice & Force | A PPAI Podcast is available at PPAI.org/podcast or on Spotify, Apple and anywhere you listen to podcasts.

The podcast’s digestible first season, Leading PPAI 100, was created to tell the backstory on PPAI 100’s origins and purpose, instruct companies on how to earn their deserved spots in the rankings or improve their standing over time, and provides helpful insights from executives at leading companies in the respective categories.

The 2025 PPAI 100 research project begins with company surveys – three each for both distributors and suppliers – set to be open Feb. 24 through March 9.

These surveys, covering Responsibility, Innovation and Business Fundamentals, remain essential to each company’s scoring for the third annual PPAI 100, which amounts to the highest recognition PPAI bestows on member companies and its flagship annual research project.

  • Each survey is estimated to take no more than 15 minutes to complete and will again be used for both PPAI 100 ranking purposes and to create benchmarking analysis of the industry.
  • Companies of all sizes and PPAI membership tiers are encouraged to take all three surveys, even those who do not expect to vie for a spot of the list. A full measure of corporate practices is essential to PPAI 100’s goals of charting industry progress and helping businesses compare themselves to competitors.

The Surveys

A primary contact and top executive will be requested for each company participating, however, any subject matter expert may be designated to take the surveys.

Some of the questions on each survey relate to industry benchmarking only and are not used for PPAI 100 scoring.

Preview the surveys here:

What’s New For 2025

PPAI has continued to tweak its approach to the list in an effort to score each company fairly. In 2025, for instance, the Employee Happiness category will again be supplemented by workplace culture recognitions such as PPAI’s Greatest Companies to Work For, but the majority of the category’s points will focus on employee turnover rate rather than employee tenure, as had been the case in 2024. Also in 2024, the Growth category attempted to evaluate sales expansion separate from new revenue by acquisition, but too few firms were able to supply the data correctly. In 2025, total growth will again be considered, as was the case in Year 1 of PPAI 100.

The same eight scoring categories return in this year’s PPAI 100, but just like in 2023 and 2024, they aren’t all worth the same amount of points. Revenue remains the most important category in any company’s total score, but the overall weighting mix will continue to evolve, as it did in 2024, when the Responsibility category took on a higher share of the scoring tally. The exact changes for 2025 will be revealed with the full release of the rankings in May.

Numerous adjustments were made from Year 1 of the program to Year 2, and the majority of those adjustments remain in place, including:

  • International firms who are PPAI members as of the eligibility date, March 9, 2025, will again be eligible.
  • A bonus and penalty structure will be applied to firms’ 2024 Revenue score based on the level of validation provided. Companies reporting their revenue through the PPAI 100 business fundamentals survey or giving estimate guidance will receive no scoring bonus or penalty. Companies reporting revenue and submitting verifying documentation will receive a score bonus. (Verifying documentation may include tax documents, communication with auditors, etc.) Companies not offering guidance of any kind will suffer a score penalty.
  • No company will have its revenue estimated – or be scored – above the recommended earnings range for its PPAI membership tier. Any tier adjustment must be confirmed by a PPAI account manager by March 9, 2025.
  • For the Industry Faith category, distributor scoring will again be based first on PPAI Credit Profile, powered by Forius.

Key Dates

The 2025 PPAI 100 distributors and suppliers will again be unveiled at North American Leadership Conference, slated for May 12-14 in Chicago. Registration for NALC 2025 is currently open.

Take note of these key dates for the 2025 PPAI 100:

February 19: The 2025 program is announced, including scoring changes, survey dates, questions and instructions, and content release dates.

February 24: Surveys open; a notification will be sent to the primary PPAI account contact at every member company.

March 9: All surveys close as of 11:59:59 p.m. (CT).

May 12-14: Attendees of PPAI’s North American Leadership Conference will receive the first look at both the supplier and distributor lists. Assets, including logos, will be sent to the PPAI account contact at winning firms, subject to embargo.

May 20: PPAI 100 distributors and suppliers revealed.

June: PPAI Magazine celebrates the 2025 PPAI 100.

July: PPAI Magazine unveils new High Marks for the Growth category and The State Of Growth: 2025 benchmarking report.

September: PPAI Magazine unveils new High Marks for the Responsibility category and The State Of Responsibility: 2025 benchmarking report.

October: PPAI Magazine unveils new High Marks for the Innovation category and The State Of Innovation: 2025 benchmarking report.